Page 75 of The Fire

“Totally innocent?” Gideon said. “Yeah, well. Reality is open to interpretation, isn’t it?” He lifted an eyebrow.

I shook my head again. “We don’t have that kind of relationship,” I insisted. “We’re friends.”

Cal laughed. “Bullshit. You forget I’ve seen you two together, right? At Ev’s, playing darts, and all the times you’ve come into the bakery?” He looked at Gideon. “They’re totally fucking. They just haven’t gone public yet.”

My face went red. “We… we’re… friends with benefits.”

“You?” Cal demanded. He snorted in disbelief. “Youhatebeing friends with benefits.”

“I know.”

“You once told me that term needed to be stricken from pop culture vocabulary,” Cal continued, his eyes narrowed.

“I know.”

“You once said that if two people are hooking up but claiming they’re just friends, it means one or both of them lacks the balls to admit their true feelings.”

I glared at my friend. “I had no idea you’d memorized our conversations.”

Cal shrugged. “So whatareyour true feelings?” He raised an eyebrow. “More interestingly, what are his? Because I’m pretty sure he just showed you.”

“The fuckingairturned green,” Gideon concurred. “Wonder what he would’ve done if I’d actually kissed you or something.Fuck.Missed opportunity.”

I opened my mouth then shut it again. I glanced out the window and saw that Jamie’s truck was gone. The fucker had actually left me stranded here.

“I’m going to kill him,” I said succinctly. “That’s my true feeling.”

Mr. I can do platonic if you want to.

Mr. Friends with benefits.

And now he was fucking jealous overnothing?And he’dleft me here?

I mean, granted it was like half a mile to his house, and a beautiful, sunny day, but I didn’t care. It was the principle of the thing.

I blew out a breath. “Gideon, can you give me a ride to Jamie’s house, and conveniently forget you ever saw me if the cops ask?”

“Sure,” Gideon agreed easily. “But come finish your fucking coffee first.” He grinned. “Let him stew, and I bet he’ll realize for himself what an idiot he’s been.”

“Devious,” Cal said, pointing at Gideon with narrowed eyes. “I like it.”

Gideon snorted.

I sat, as instructed, but I was pretty sureIwas the one stewing. If Jamie was jealous, did that mean…

Fuck. I was scared to even admit to myself what it might mean. But maybe it was time to take a stand and push things just a little because I was really tired of waiting.

Chapter Ten

Jamie

I heardthe kitchen door open and shut, followed by the clank of Parker’s keys hitting the counter. It should have felt weirder than it did to hear those things, but I liked Parker living here. I felt like this house was more of a home with him in it.

Even when he made me lose my mind.

I heard the shuffle of footsteps through the living room, the click of a lamp followed by a bright swath of light shining down the hall, and then Parker appeared in the doorway a minute later.

He leaned against the doorjamb and looked around the room for a minute, his eyes tracking over the walls in the twilight before coming to rest on me, where I was stretched out on a drop cloth he’d spread across the floor. He lifted one eyebrow and said nothing.