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“Are you serious?”

That smile was flirty again, and I wanted to ignore how it made me feel, but I couldn’t.

Instead I rolled my eyes and walked over to her, clasping her hands and pulling.

“Damn, you’re heavy,” I couldn’t stop myself from saying.

“I bet you say that to all the girls,” she said, not even bothering to help me as I tugged.

“Okay, either you put in some effort or I’m letting go,” I said. This was like playing tug of war between me and a team of football players. One of us was going to lose and it was going to be me.

Stace sighed. “Okay fine.”

Before I knew what was happening, she had pulled and stood at the same time until I lost my balance and fell right into her, our hands caught between us.

I let out a little scream and she laughed, a low sound in her chest.

“It’s okay. I’ve got you. Remember?”

This wasn’t the first time I’d been up against her chest, but this time she didn’t have a bunch of firefighter gear on.

Blood rushed to my face as she took a step back but didn’t let go of my hands.

“Hey, can I buy you a piece of pie?” Was that her thing? Buying girls pie as a form of seduction? That wasn’t going to work on me.

“Not tonight,” I said. “I need to get home.”

I didn’t, not really. But I needed to get away from her and her thighs and her smiles and the way she made me feel all hot and shivery at the same time.

“Sure. But maybe I could buy you pie another time this week? If you’re not too busy.”

“Are you asking me out?” I needed to know if she wanted to date me because I needed to set her straight. Not straight. I needed to tell her it wasn’t going to happen.

Stace wasn’t thrown by my blunt question. “Yes. If you’re up for that. If you’re not up for that, then I’d like to buy you a piece of pie anyway. I’ll take you any way I can get you.”

“Jesus Christ, Stace.” Who said things like that?

She just kept smiling. Had this woman ever had a bad day in her life? “So. Pie? This week?”

Against my better judgment, I found myself nodding.

“Great. Put your number in my phone.” She unlocked it and handed it to me. I hesitated.

“I could always just show up whenever you have a class on the schedule and wait for you. But somehow I don’t think you’d like that.”

No. I would not. I’d rather she just had my number.

Stace took her phone back and then mine buzzed with a new notification.

She’d sent me the pie emoji and a winky face.

“Mature,” I said, and she winked at me for real and my knees did that liquid thing again.

“I’ll see you later, princess,” she called, slinging her mat over her shoulder and walking out before I could ask her why the hell she was calling me princess.

Chapter Six

Stace