The Firefighter and the Girl From the Coffee Shop

The Firefighter
And The Girl From The Coffee Shop

Copyright 2012
by Terry Towers

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Cover by: Terry
Towers

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"You only have
a week left Alyssa, then he's fair game."

With annoyance
welling within her Alyssa Thornton narrowed her dark eyes and
glared over her shoulder at Samantha. Her attention was turned back
to the task at hand; admiring one of the most magnificent things
she'd ever seen through the side pane glass window of the coffee
shop, while pretending to wipe down the tables in the dining room.
Evan Saunders.

Evan was the
newest firefighter employed at the station across the street. And
like her, he usually worked the overnight shift. The girls at the
coffee shop had a rule, you must "claim" a man you're interested
in. This would make him off limits to the other girls at the shop
and you were given a month to seal the deal with him otherwise he
came up for grabs again.

Alyssa claimed
Evan from the second she laid eyes on him, but there seemed to be a
slight problem... Over the past few weeks - nearing a month - they
seemed to have established a good, solid
friendship.

"Ta ta
ladies," Samantha purred as she exited the coffee shop, after
finishing her eight hour shift, leaving Alyssa and her co-worker
Jenny to work the overnight shift.

As Samantha
strutted across the parking lot to her vehicle, Jenny - a no
non-sense woman in her mid-fifties - came up behind Alyssa to stand
beside her. While watching Evan as she pretended to assist with
cleaning the dining room. "You realize as soon as the week is up,
she'll be on him faster than you can blink."

Alyssa
groaned. Yeah, she knew all too well that Samantha would literally
pounce on him the minute her week was up. Samantha was the
equivalent of a piranha when it came to men. She got whomever she
wanted and devoured them fast, moving on to the next one. And
sweet, sexy-as-sin Evan was very succulent prey.

"Do you want
me to talk to him for you? All I had to do was give Jade a little
push and look how it turned out for her."

"Yes, I know,
she's engaged now." Alyssa sighed. She was happy for her, Jade was
a sweet girl. In a few weeks Jade would be tying the knot with
"Officer Hottie," as he was known as around the coffee house, an
absolute dream of a man. She turned and wagged her finger at Jenny.
"I don't want you interfering. I'm twenty-eight for heaven's sakes,
I think I can wrangle up my own date."

A grin touched
Jenny's lips and she raised a sceptical brow at Alyssa. "All I know
is that my ninety year old grandmother can snag a man in less time
then it has taken you to build up enough courage to ask him. This
isn't the fifties anymore Alyssa. Women
can
make the first
move now."

Crossing her
arms over her chest Alyssa cocked her head and eyed her co-worker.
"First of all, I've met your grandmother and that woman is spry for
her age. And secondly, I've given the signals."

"Signals?"

"Yeah." She
reached out and touched Jenny's arm lightly. "Like gently touching
his arm or shoulder, you know, establishing physical contact."

"Uh-huh."

"Asking
leading questions dropping subtle hints. He'd just not really
interested I guess. Alyssa gave a long sigh before admitting her
biggest fear to Jane. I think I've been shouldered into the friend
zone."

Jane gasped,
this was every girl’s nightmare. “Oh God, we definitely don’t want
that.” Planting a fist on her hip Jenny gave Alyssa a stern look
and pointed a long slender finger over at Evan. "You see that man
over there."

Alyssa glanced
over and her eyes took in the sight of him: tall, large, powerful
build, short cut dark brown hair and deep green eyes. And his
voice... he had a deep, powerful voice that made her melt. Yeah,
she saw him, most evenings she spent a good chunk of time watching
him from afar like some love struck teenager.

"Yeah, I see
him... And."

Wagging her
finger in his direction Jenny clucked her tongue off the roof of
her mouth and shook her head. "That man does
not
put women
in the 'friend zone,' as you young people like to call it. Either
you're giving off some fucked up signals that's making him unsure
about you or he's already involved with someone..."

"Nah," Alyssa
shook her head, "he's not with someone already. I already know that
much."

Shrugging,
Jenny picked up the dishrag from the table she'd just finished
wiping down and turned to walk back to the kitchen. "In that case
you're doing something wrong. He's interested. He wouldn't be
coming over here to chat with you several times a night just for
the fun of it. If you know what I mean.”."

“You need to
make your move Alyssa, time’s ticking. Tick -tock, tick- tock.”

Jenny huffed
as she walked away not bothering to look back.

Alyssa sighed,
as she contemplated on all what Jenny had told her. A ding sounded
in the earpiece of her drive-thru headset signalling a customer at
the speaker. She rushed to the drive-thru section, her usual
station for the majority of the night, as she pressed the TALK
button on the control box, hooked to her belt and asked to take
their order.

****

"Visit number
one of the night coming up," Jenny announced over the headset as
Alyssa came out of the walk-in freezer with an armful off meats to
prep the sandwich bar with. She glanced over her shoulder at the
clock in the kitchen as she passed by it and noticed it was
slightly early for him to be showing up. It wasn't even two hours
into her shift yet. A shiver of anticipation rushed through as she
quickened her pace to deposit the food in the cooler up front so
she could meet him outside for her first break.

"Do you mind
if-"

Jenny rolled
her eyes and grinned. "Go ahead. But for the love of God get a date
out of the man already."

Alyssa
returned the older woman's grin as she removed her headset, dark
brown visor, and hairnet and then shook her long dark locks free of
the clip holding them into a loose bun at the back of her head.
"How do I look?"

Jenny snorted.
"Good. Same as you do every other night."

A bang on the
side window, courtesy of Evan, had Alyssa rushing to the side door.
"I'll be back in fifteen," she called over her shoulder as she
unlocked the side door and stepped out into the warm summer night
air.

"I know I'm
early tonight. Bored." Evan crossed his arms over his broad chest
and reclined against the brick wall of the coffee shop.

Damn, he's
sexy.
"Isn't that a good thing?" she asked, closing the door
behind her and standing a couple feet away from him, her hands
stuffed into her back pockets.

Evan huffed
then gave her the sexy, dimpled smile that sent her heart racing
each time she saw it. "Yeah, I suppose. I can only handle playing
cards for so long though. Ralph is in a mood because his wife left
him-"

"Again?"

Evan shrugged,
"-And Jeremy is studying for some college exam he has to take next
week and well... you
know
that Troy and I do not get along.
So..."

"So, you might
as well spend some time chatting with the coffee shop girl
huh?"

His grin
deepened. "Something like that." He jerked his thumb in the
direction of the firehouse, "Besides you're a hell of a lot more
pleasing to the eyes than those clowns over there."

Alyssa's brow
furrowed. "Thanks. I think..."

He raked a
hand through his hair and sighed. "Yeah, and a... there is this
thing coming up next month."

"A thing?" her
heart leaped at the thought that he might finally ask her out on a
date.

"Yeah, like an
annual city wide fireman's ball thing. It's a formal thing."

"Formal ball
thing huh?" Alyssa teased as she rocked back on her heels and her
dark eyes caught his. So was he simply sharing the information for
the sake of conversation, or was he hinting? Damn it! She hated
having to read between the lines, if there were lines to be read
between. She groaned inwardly. How she wished she had the
confidence of Samantha, to simply see a man she wanted and go and
get him. Life would be so much easier, at least when it came to men
anyhow.

But she wasn't
Samantha.

He paused not
saying anything more for close to a minute, as if waiting for her
to say something more about it; when she didn't he shrugged. "Yeah,
will probably just offer to work it so the other guys can go."

Alyssa heart
sank. For one glistening moment she thought he was finally going to
break the ice and ask her out. But nope, instead she feared she'd
just sunk a little deeper into the friend zone with him. She
silently cursed herself for letting the opportunity pass her
by.

Frowning, he
pushed himself off of the wall and took a step towards her, his
massive frame towering over hers. "What have you been doing in
there? You have a little something..." he slowly, hesitantly,
touched the side of her cheek with his hand, his thumb grazing her
jaw, wiping away the smudge.

Closing her
eyes, Alyssa sighed basking in the soft caress. She could feel him
moving closer, and his breath intermingled with hers. When she
opened her eyes back up, they immediately locked onto his hunger
filled ones, his mouth mere inches away. She could feel the heat
rising between them, like a simmering fire, waiting for the ideal
moment to rage out of control.

She felt her
cheeks growing warm.

Thinking back
she remembered that before cleaning the dining room she was
powdering some of the donuts so she must have gotten some on
herself. She was like a little tornado of disaster; wherever she
went, whatever she touched, became a disaster in virtually every
aspect of her life. A prime example, aside from the powder on her
chin was the man standing before her. All she needed to do was take
a chance, lean into him and let the chips fall as they may... It
seemed like such a simple and easy thing to do.

They stood,
gazing into each others eyes, their breaths continuing to mix until
their breathing became synchronized. Both longed to make the
contact, but neither one was willing to take the risk.

Headlights
passed by, breaking the moment - and she noticed a couple of cars
entering the parking lot, heading for the drive-thru speaker.
Stepping back she ran a shaky hand through her long dark hair and
shrugged, giving him an apologetic smile. "I gotta go. I'm sorry. I
think the bar rush is beginning." Walking over to the side door she
grabbed the handle, and then turned back to him. "See you
later?"

Hesitating a
moment, he straightened to his full six-foot-three and nodded,
thrusting his hands into the pockets of his black pants. "Yeah, I
ummm." He nodded and let out a loud huff of air, "I'll be back
later."