Page 18 of Keeping Zita

“Hi,” she said when she got close.

His gaze ran from the top of her head down to her shoes, then back up. And the appreciation and pleasure in his gaze warmed her from the inside out.

“Hey,” he returned. “You left your hair down.”

Feeling a little self-conscious, Zita ran a hand down the silky-soft strands. “Yeah.”

“It’s beautiful. I knew it would be. And longer than I expected.”

Her hair was long. It went midway down her back and chest, which was why she wore it up when she worked. The last thing she needed was her hair getting in the way of CPR or bandaging a bloody wound.

“Love the shoes too.”

Zita smiled. Had she ever had a man compliment her eclectic taste in footwear? No. Usually the guys rolled their eyes or asked if she was trying to relive her childhood. Because Zita had quite the collection of bright-colored canvas shoes. All different brands. The brighter the better. They made her smile. And she needed as many things as possible in her life that made her happy, since her job was damn tough at times.

“Thanks. They’re one of my favorite pairs,” Zita said, sticking her foot out so he could see it better, and so she could admire the shoe for herself.

“You ready to go?”

“Yup.”

Sage opened the door and held it for her as she climbed inside the Jeep. He pulled the seat belt down and handed it to her, which was an extremely polite and caring gesture. It wasn’t as if Zita would ever ride in a car without a seat belt, but it was nice of him to assist her in getting it on.

He walked around the front of the Jeep and got behind the wheel, putting his own seat belt on before turning on the engine and heading out of the parking lot.

It was a nice night, and the windows were rolled down slightly, letting in the fresh evening air, but not making it impossible to talk over the sound of the wind.

“How did the rest of your day go?” Zita asked. “I hope it got better.”

Sage winced. “Well, if you call being in meetings all day, and Edge spilling his coffee all over me better, then yes.”

Zita couldn’t help but giggle. It was kind of rude to laugh at his misfortune, but she couldn’t help it.

He turned to her and smiled, letting her know he wasn’t offended by her chuckles.

“He didn’t do it on purpose, did he? Edge?”

“No. Of course not. He was reaching for a map on the table and bumped it. Thankfully it wasn’t full, but we all still scrambled to get the maps out of the way of the liquid so they wouldn’t be ruined. Apparently the table isn’t as level as we thought, because the coffee—cold coffee, thank God—made a beeline for where I was sitting and ended up in my lap.”

Zita could picture the scene, and her smile widened. “At least tell me you got the sand out of your underwear.”

“Finally, yes. Took a long shower after getting home tonight, and I’m pretty sure I got it all…until tomorrow morning, when Casper decides to make us all sugar cookies again, just to be a dick.”

That made Zita laugh out loud.

“He’s been stressed out for some reason, and none of us know why. And we’ve noticed that Laryn, his girlfriend, has been cranky as well. Something has to give, because while we respect and admire Casper, we don’t like being treated as if we’re privates in basic all over again. He needs to lighten up, for his sake and ours.”

“Will he be there tonight?” Zita asked.

“He should be. When I reminded everyone about tonight before we left base, he said he and Laryn would do their best to be there.”

Zita hoped the tension between the team leader and the rest of his friends wouldn’t be too awkward. If they had some beef with him, the last place she wanted to be was in the middle of it.

“Buck and Mandy will be there as well. And the rest of the guys.”

“Can you remind me of their names?”

“Sure. Pyro, Chaos, and Edge. Casper and Pyro usually fly together, as do me and Buck, and Chaos and Edge.”