CHAPTER NINE

Hannah was glad to see Zach sitting on the porch alone when she came in from her evening jog. Seeing Jackie and Alex together earlier had reminded her about the first time she met Zach. He had agreed with her when she had made the smart ass comment about Jackie and Alex. She had wanted to pick his brain about the situation ever since, but the "quest for gold" kinda got in the way!

Zach was glad to see Hannah coming to join him on the porch. With all the craziness surrounding the group right now, he had a feeling she was going to be his rock until Nationals had come and gone. Tonight was the first night he'd actually taken time to look at her. The fact that her chestnut waves were pulled back in pigtails did not take away from how gorgeous she was. He must have been really stressed about handling the team professionally for her toned body and sparkling green eyes to go unnoticed.

Hannah could feel Zach looking at her and suddenly regretted not taking her hair down and touching up her make-up before coming out. It would be totally inappropriate for anything to go on with the two of them, but a girl still liked to be admired. She self consciously took a sip of one as she sat across from him.

"It's been quit a day, huh?" She asked him, hoping the conversation would distract him from continuing to stare at what a mess she was!

"Oh yeah. It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks."

"Well, maybe some good can come of all this. Ya never know."

Zach almost choked on his beer. Was she actually flirting with him? She was usually over-professional. So much that he first thought her to be uptight.

"What are your thoughts on the Alex and Jackie situation?"

He couldn't believe the quick disappointment that hit him when Hannah asked him that. They would be stupid to even think about getting involved with all that was going on right now.

"I know that it still bothers him to hear about her or see her on TV. He gets uptight every time her name is mentioned. And six years without seriously seeing someone? That seems a little odd to me."

"Yeah, Jackie's the same way. She gets this far away, almost sad look sometimes when something reminds her of him. It used to upset me, but now it just pisses me off."

"I can tell. So, what should we do? It's clear our friends may need some very hard pushing. It seemed like they were actually going to talk about it today, and then nothing."

"Well, that may be my fault. I walked in and gave them an excuse to scatter. I say if they nothing's happened by Nationals, we lock them in a closet."

"And until then let's try and think of something better." Zach said as he raised his drink to hers, and was mesmerized once again when she smiled.

The vibrating of her cell broke the silent staring between the two. Hannah was prepared to cut it off again, but was shocked to see that it was Mary-Ann, her former roommate. She excused herself and walked to the other end of the porch to take the call.

When she walked back over, Zach could tell the phone call was not good news. She looked somewhere between livid and upset. Instead of pushing, Zach refilled her wine and leaned back, waiting to see if she wanted to talk about it or not.

"All this time, I thought he was calling to apologize. Guess he just wanted to be the first to tell me he was marrying to slut."

Over the remainder of the Merlot bottle, Hannah told Zach the reason she had fled Minnesota and shown up at her cousin's house. She then told him how Jackson was marrying the "other bitch" and they were expecting their first child in about seven months. Not once did she cry, though. In fact, she didn't seem upset until she realized they were out of wine. She stood to get another one.

"I've got a better idea," Zach said, grabbing her arm to stop her. "Go get all gussied up and meet me back here in thirty minutes."

Against her better judgment, Hannah agreed.

While he waited, Zach made calls and nursed another beer. A few sponsors showed promise of sticking with the Dorsey-McKinsey team. He had just finished leaving a message for his final, and most important, call when Hannah walked out. Zach tried hard to concentrate on finishing his beer to keep from dating. Whoever invented the sundress was a god!

"Wow, you look great." He said as he rose. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and led her outside to where a car was waiting.

Hannah could not believe all the trouble Zach had gone to just to put her in a better mood! The car at taken them to dinner at a small restaurant where they were sure to go unnoticed and had then dropped them off at a bar on the water. It was so nice to just be out having fun with a guy that she could just have a conversation with. It had been a while since she had been this relaxed around male company. The two spent hours sitting on the bar deck just drinking and laughing. They finally realized how drunk they probably were and had the car come get them.

They laughed and sang along to the radio the entire way home. The driver was probably relieved to drop them off at the house and head home for the night. Instead of going to bed, the two decided to grab more drinks and head to the hot tub.

"Ya know," slurred Hannah as she was opening yet another bottle of wine, "I totally get now why James was so worried Alexandra was still in love with you?"

"Really? Well, you know what I don't get? How Jackson couldn't appreciate that he the most amazing girl in the world." Without thinking, Zach leaned over and kissed Hannah. Realizing what he was doing, he started to pull away, but when she started to respond, there was no hope.

After about ten minutes, Zach finally managed to pull away.

"What if someone sees us? As much fun as I'm having we really can't afford for the press to get wind of this." As he spoke, Zach looked around to see if anyone was on the street or out in the yard.

Hannah's face fell. "Crap, you're right."

Without saying another word, Zach picked up the bottle of wine and took Hanna's hound. He led her out of the hot tub and straight up to the guest room he was currently staying in.