Common Ground (The Common Ground Trilogy Book 1) Read Online Free

came in. I had a feeling that all the hot guys would be there, and man was I right,” she said happily.
    “Most of them were at this slide called “El Diablo”, which is ten stories high and has this old, freaky looking staircase. It has this huge tube that spins towards the ground with a five-story drop. There wasn’t much competition because most of the riders were guys. Hot, hot guys.”
    “Wait a minute,” I interjected. “You hate heights. It’s the one thing you’re scared of that I’m not!”
    “I know, I know,” she countered, biting her lip. “But, while I was standing there this guy came behind me and whispered in my ear: “What’s the problem? Life’s not worth living without taking some risks…” she blushed. “I turned and there stood the most beautiful guy I’d ever seen in my life. Zoe, you have to see him.”
    “Well, what does he look like?” I played along.
    “For starters, he’s ripped, but not in that nasty, bodybuilder way. He’s just solid muscle. He has black hair, which is actually almost as dark as yours. And his eyes, Zoe, you have no idea. They are this deep, midnight black. Oh, and he’s about as tall as you are,” she said in a trance. I grimaced at the reminder of my Amazonian appearance.
    “Anyway, I turned and told him that I was afraid of heights and didn’t trust the stairs, and was seriously scared of falling to my death,” she said, with the look of love in her eyes. I’d never seen Annie so love struck by a guy before. It started to frighten me a little bit.
    “He said he’d protect me if I got scared. So, you know me, I gave in right away. About half way up, I looked down and realized how high up we were.  I freaking’ slipped on the stairs and almost fell over the side of the rail!”
    Not noticing the look of concern in my eyes, Annie continued on.
    “I grabbed his shoulder and the weirdest thing happened,” she said thoughtfully.
    My muscles all clinched in worry, expecting the worst.
    “I felt this… I guess you could call it an electric shock,” she giggled. “It was a really weird feeling, but it didn’t hurt at all.”
    “Then what happened?”
    “I did it! But, unfortunately my stomach didn’t and I lost it as soon as I got out of the pool at the bottom,” she sighed. “He teased me and then asked me if I wanted to hang with him and his friends.”
    “Wow…” I sighed.
    “What’s wrong?” she asked.
    “How do you do it?”
    She snorted and crossed her arms. “It’s not that hard Zoe.”
    “For me it is,” I admitted. “Guys just don’t flock to me like they do to you. Never have and probably never will.”
    “Look,” she said in a friendly voice, “I know it seems like it won’t ever happen but I promise it will. You are beautiful, and someone will notice one day. We just need to get you in the right position for it to happen.”
    “Like you were?”
    “Exactly. What if you were there with me? I’m sure they would have been all over you too. No doubt.”
    “Maybe,” I said. “Maybe someday we’ll find out.”
    “We definitely will,” she responded, with a soft hand on my shoulder. “But, what do you think of Liam?”
    Only Annie could make such a quick transition from others to herself. I couldn’t help but laugh a little.
    “Liam?”
    “The guy Zoe, the guy! Try to keep up!”
    “Oh, well, he sounds cool I guess,” I started.
    “You guess?” Annie said, with a slight hint of suspicion.  “What do you mean you guess?”
    “To make you go on something you were scared of going on doesn’t seem very nice,” I said.
    “Liam was just trying to talk me out of my fears,” she replied quickly. “He’s really a cool guy, you just don’t know him. Besides, it’s no different than me trying to get you out of your shell.”
    She made a good point. Even though this guy Liam didn’t appear to be the best influence on Annie, what he did wasn’t really much different than what Annie was trying to do with