Page 51 of Fire

His mouth quirks. “Yeah. She’s been glued to our kid since we left the club on Thursday night. Made sure she made the flight okay yesterday and has barely left our hotel room since.”

“I thought you said it was just an ear infection.” He had texted me and the rest of the guys that night to inform us that Marisa was okay. Z’s little family had become an important part of Manic, and it showed, especially when its littlest member was down for the count.

Everyone was worried.

“It was—is—but it took a while for her fever to go down, and we were worried to take her on the plane. Zara has been a godsend. Is there such a thing as a live-in doctor? Because I would seriously consider it to save my wife’s sanity. She gets so stressed when Marisa is sick.”

“Is she doing better now?”

“She’s starting to. The antibiotics Zara gave her just started to kick in, and her fever is down, thank fuck, but we’re gonna stay in today and let her rest. I just came down here because I needed to walk.”

“Yeah, you’re like a dog. You need fresh air and exercise at least once a day.”

“Twice if I’m good.” He laughs and then takes a sip of his coffee. A silence settles between us before he turns to me andsays, “Before I say what I’m about to say, just know I love you, man. But things have changed, and Elena and Marisa are now my whole world, so…if you fuck up things with Zara and send her packing, at least one of them will be really upset. And then I’ll be upset, and?—”

I hold up my hand. “I get it, Z. Don’t fuck the doctor. Again.”

“No, man,” he argues. “That’s not what I’m trying to say.”

I scoff. “Then what was that whole ‘I’ll kick your ass’ speech about?”

“First of all, I didn’t say I would kick your ass. No violence was threatened. Second, I was just trying to tell you to tread carefully. I am gathering that this thing between you two is more than just one night.”

I glare at him.

His grin is so wide, he could practically be a cartoon character. He’s enjoying this way too much. “And while this may be new territory for you, it doesn’t mean you don’t know what to do?—”

“That’s exactly what it means. I literally don’t know how to…” I don’t even know what to call it. Date? I haven’t dated anyone since high school, and that was mostly out of necessity to fit in. Since then, I’ve never really met anyone that I found even remotely interesting enough to put forth the effort.

Until I met a shy tutor during my senior year in college.

But I walked away then.

Would I walk away now?

“What do I do?” I finally say.

Zander makes a big show of setting down his coffee mug. He then weaves his fingers together and pretends to crack them all, like some supervillain in a children’s novel. “Listen closely, and let me teach you the ways, young padawan.”

He’s bringing out the Star Wars references?

Dear god, what have I done?

Two hours later, I’m standing in front of Zara’s hotel room, trying to gather the courage to knock on her door.

Fuck, this woman turns me inside out.

I still remember walking into my first tutoring session, and all the confidence I thought I had for impressing girls instantly vanished the second I saw her. It was like I reverted back to middle school, and the mere sight of a girl made me sweat.

And when I saw her in Edwin’s hallway, I knew nothing had changed.

Whatever good intentions Zander had, his quick and dirty guide to dating only seemed to make me more of a wreck.

Because now I knew all the ways I could fail.

And apparently, there are many.

What is it about someone that makes them stand out? Among the billion other people on the planet, what is it that makes you turn your head and think, yes…that’s the one?