Page 36 of Five Alarm Kiss

Damn.Those big, innocent eyes got him every time.

“You’re welcome.” He sat down next to her. “You look pretty.”

She did, but there was something different about her.

“Thanks.”

There was that blush again. When was the last time he’d gone out with a girl who blushed?Hadhe ever gone out with a girl who blushed? It was adorable.

“You really do,” Emery told her. “And I love the blue streak in your hair. It’s fun.” Laurel looked a little uncomfortable, but Emery seemed oblivious. “I dyed my hair black once—not the best look for me, by the way—but I should try a little pop of color sometime.”

“I like it red,” Gage told her.

“But don’t you think green or something would look good? Not my entire head,” she clarified, “but a little streak, like Laurel’s.”

“It would match your eyes,” Gage said, “but I think you look gorgeous exactly…”

Jake didn’t listen to what Gage said next. He was too focused on Laurel self-consciously pushing the blue section of her hair behind her ear and pulling some brown strands forward to try to cover it. Yep. She didn’t like the blue any more than she had the yellow.

“And I love your eyeshadow.” Emery was back to her conversation with Laurel. “I can never get mine to look like that.”

That’s what was different. She had on dark, smoky eyeshadow. A big contrast to the barely-there makeup she’d worn the other times he’d seen her.

“Me neither,” Laurel confessed. “My friend insisted on doing my makeup.”

So, she’d cared enough about their date that she’d had a friend do her makeup? Good to know. She didn’t need any help looking beautiful, in his opinion, but the knowledge she’d done it especially for him, made his chest puff up.

“I think she went a little overboard, but I didn’t have time to redo it, or else I would’ve been late.” As soon as the words left Laurel’s mouth, she squeezed her eyes shut and scrunched her nose. “Which I was. Sorry.”

“You were worth the wait,” Jake told her.

She looked slightly uncomfortable by the compliment.

Hmm, she didn’t take compliments well. Either that, or she hadn’t been complimented enough.

Yeah, that’s gonna change.

“The guys tell me you’re a grade school teacher,” Emery said, changing the subject.

Jake could’ve kissed her for it because Laurel lit up. Well, he could’ve kissed her if he didn’t mind Gage punching him. The man was possessive when it came to Em, especially since the first time he and Jake had met, Gage thought Jake’d had a thing for her. And to be honest, way before Gage was in the picture, he had asked her out when she’d first moved in with Jessa. She’d put the kibosh on that quickly, however, since she was hung up on some guy she’d “met” when he’d called into the late-night radio talk show she’d hosted about five years back. Jake still thought it was crazy the guy ended up being Gage. Go figure.

Anyway, now Em felt more like a sister than a conquest, and she gave him as much shit as Jess did.

“I teach first grade,” Laurel told Emery. She seemed much more relaxed, and the pride in her voice confirmed she loved her job.

“That must be exhausting,” Emery said, “dealing with an entire class of kids all day.”

Laurel laughed. “It definitely can be. There are days I just want to go home and fall into bed.”

I’d like to fall into bed with you.

Jake took a quick swig of his beer and tried to concentrate on the conversation instead of the image of Laurel laid out on his sheets.

Her tension melted away as she spoke about her class. She’d majored in primary education in college and started teaching right after she’d graduated.

“Did you go to BSU?” Gage asked. Boise State was the local university.

“Yes. If I didn’t, I think my parents would’ve had coronaries. They teach there,” she clarified in response to Emery’s raised eyebrows. “It’s bad enough I chose to teach first grade instead of becoming a college professor like my parents wanted, but if I’d gone to a different college, I think they would’ve disowned me.”

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