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“Then just keep being her friend and control your feelings,” she said as we walked along the leaf-strewn path. You had to be careful in the fall because the leaves were slippery and one minute you were stable and the next your feet were flying out from under you. I didn’t need to hurt my ankle again. Although, I wouldn’t mind that much if Stace had to come and rescue me again in her fire gear. If we were going to have a sexual relationship, I definitely would have asked her to role play with her turnouts and the rest of her uniform. That would be so hot. I hadn’t done a lot of roleplay because that seemed like the kind of thing you did when you had known someone for longer than an hour, but the appeal was there.

Something told me that Stace would find taking role playing seriously difficult. She’d probably break character and laugh and show those dimples, but it wouldn’t matter because she was so fucking cute.

“Hunter? You there?” Reid asked, and I realized I had completely drifted off into the fantasy and forgotten about Reid.

She grabbed my arm so I wouldn’t trip over a branch.

“Yeah, thanks,” I said, blushing.

“Would it be so bad to just see where things go with Stace instead of cutting things off before you even figure out if you could have a relationship? You don’t have to jump into anything. No one is going to force you to fall in love with her.”

I snorted. Stace would. She wanted to make me fall in love with her. It was almost hilarious how she thought that was something she could do. That she could just decide that for me.

“It doesn’t matter. She’s going to stay in the friend box. I’m not risking it.”

My phone went off and I found a message from Stace. Speak of the devil.

It was a picture of Stace and her two little brothers. The younger one, Carson, was in her lap, and Eli sat beside her. All three were making funny faces and I couldn’t help but smile.

I was dragged to the apple orchard for apple picking and a hayride. Cross your fingers I don’t get paged and have to bail. LOL. Bail on the bales.

I choked on a laugh and Reid gave me a look. I ignored her and typed out a response to Stace.

That’s one of the worst puns I’ve ever heard in my life. Congratulations.

Her answer made my entire body tingle. Thanks, baby.

We were going to have to talk about her calling me that.

My walk with Reid was more intense than she had prepared me for, but she took me for lunch after which included huge bowls of ramen before she took me to get some of my second-favorite cookies.

“Sorry for pushing you,” she said through a mouthful of double chocolate chip cookie.

“It’s okay. I need to do more cardio.” I had a membership at the gym where I taught, and I should probably take advantage of it. Stace could definitely give me some pointers, probably in exchange for helping with her yoga.

“Fuck, I don’t want to go to work,” she said, rubbing her face.

“I’m sorry,” I said, because she didn’t want me nagging her. She just wanted sympathy. “Written anything new lately?”

It was an open secret that Reid wrote fanfiction in her spare time. She’d get grumpy when we mentioned it and she still hadn’t told us what name she posted under or where she posted, so Cade and I had been speculating for ages about it.

“Not really. Inspiration hasn’t been hitting me. I need a new show with a good ship.” I was always on the lookout for her because I knew what she liked in fiction. Reid was an avid book lover and had recommended me some of my favorites. Every time I saw her, she’d found something new.

“I haven’t been watching much TV lately. Sorry. Anything new to read, though?” Maybe instead of ruminating about Stace I could use that time and energy to read some really good romance. Since I wasn’t going to have it in my life, I loved getting to lose myself in fictional love stories that always had happy endings.

“Mmm, yes. How do you feel about orcs?”

I nearly choked on my cookie. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Orcs. How do you feel about them?”

I got back after seeing Reid with a list of five new books I wanted to try. It had started drizzling just as I parked my car, which was perfect. All I wanted to do was spend the rest of my afternoon and evening reading.

After making a pot of tea, I settled in to chill the rest of the night, but just as I’d opened my first book, I got a message from Stace.

Fireworks are a menace. Just thought you should know.

Is there context? I asked. Or is this just a general sentiment?