He could still see her face when she said it, too. Lit up like a kid at Christmas, her smile bright in the dark. The minute she grinned, he got a swell of male pride smack in the middle of his chest. Jake slammed his beer on the TV tray that doubled as an end table. What right did he have to feel proud about anything, let alone be called a hero? Heroes sacrificed their lives, they saved lives. Pushing himself from the sofa, he hobbled to his side window. Next door Zoe’s house was dark, except for one lone window on the second floor. Her bedroom perhaps? Awareness shot to his groin, causing him to groan. He didn’t want to feel this pull of attraction any more than he wanted to feel pride. Mere arousal he could deal with. After all, a man couldn’t always help his physical reaction when an attractive woman crossed his path and he’d be kidding himself if he didn’t admit Zoe was an attractive woman, in her spunky, wet-kitten kind of way. This pull, though… All day long, his skin twitched, while his chest felt tight and empty at the same time.
