"Oh no!" I moaned as I looked around. I was cursing myself for being so careless when I heard a familiar voice.
"Did you ladies leave your things unattended?" a male voice asked. I turned and found myself face to face with Cam Connor.
Chapter Nine
Cam
"Hello, Alex Pierce." I smiled as I handed her one of the two backpacks I was holding.
"Nice try." She laughed and reached for the other one before asking, "What are you doing here?"
"Well, that's a nice way to greet a guy who rescued your belongings from certain theft," I said, still smiling at her. She looked even more beautiful than I remembered, with her hair covered in snow and eyes shining.
"Sorry," she quickly replied as she turned and handed the second backpack to the friend who had been pelting her with snowballs moments before. "This is Liz Baker. Liz, this is Cam Connor. You remember him, don't you?"
"Nope, not at all." The other girl grinned as she stuck out a hand. "But it's nice to meet you just the same, Cam Connor."
"It's nice to meet you, Liz Baker," I said as I shook her hand and let her give me the once-over. I could tell she was suspicious, and I didn't blame her a bit. If the situation had been reversed and it had been Leo, I would have done the exact same thing.
"What are you doing here, Cam?" Alex asked again.
&nb
sp; "Well, I just...I came by..." I stammered, suddenly realizing that I didn't have a prepared excuse because I wasn't expecting to have needed one.
"You're here because you wanted to see Alex again," Liz said bluntly. "It's cool, Cam. She wanted to see you, too."
"Liz!" Alex gasped and then blushed a deep shade of red. "You're not supposed to say that!"
"Why not?" Liz shrugged looking back and forth between Alex and I. "It's true, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is," I admitted, deciding it was better to tell the truth now that I'd been caught. "I wanted to come see you again and not have to rush off to another call."
"I'm glad." Alex smiled at me before shooting Liz a semi-dirty look. "I wanted to see you, too."
"All right, now that we've gotten that established, are the two of you going to agree to go have dinner together?" Liz asked, looking at her phone before looking back up at the two of us. "I've got a date at seven, so I need to get going, kids."
"Would you like to go to dinner with me, Alex?" I asked, feeling self-conscious about being put on the spot to do what I'd come here to do.
"I'd...yes, I'd like that." Alex nodded. Her face was still tinged with a light shade of pink from the blush that was slowly fading. She looked up at me with a slight frown, saying, "But I'm not really dressed for a date."
"No problem, we can go somewhere casual," I suggested. "Maybe somewhere close to the hospital so that you don't feel out of place?"
"I'm going to leave the two of you to negotiate this on your own," Liz said as she slung her backpack over her shoulder and turned toward the street.
"Do you want a ride?' I called as she trudged through the snow.
"Nah, I'm good, I've got a cab coming," she called as she waved. As she reached the street, a cab pulled up, and we watched as Liz climbed in. I felt a little nervous now that our buffer was gone.
"Are you hungry?" I asked as I looked down at the pretty young woman in front of me.
"Honestly, I'm starving," she said. "We didn't get much of a lunch break today because the ER was so busy."
"Then how about we go get a couple of big, juicy burgers and some beer to help rectify that?" I asked as I turned and gestured toward where my truck was parked. "I'm over on the side street."
"That sounds like a great plan." Alex nodded as she turned and started walking in the direction I'd pointed to.
Halfway down the walk, her foot hit a patch of ice and she slipped. I quickly reached out and wrapped an arm around her to keep her from falling.