Page 5 of Marcus-stiltskin

Marti grins. “Looks like the feeling might be mutual these days.”

I shake my head. “I don’t know about all that. I had my most embarrassing moment in front of him when I was fifteen, but hedid just ask me if I wanted coffee at his place, so I’m going to head out.”

“Uh-oh, looks like someone’s going to have a good night after all,” Marti teases.

I roll my eyes. “It’s just coffee. I’m sure he still thinks of me as an awkward kid.”

“He was smiling at you a lot for someone who just thinks of you as an awkward kid.” Cara points out as she hands me my purse.

“A nice rack like yours can make a man forget a lot,” Ginger says, out of nowhere.

“Ginger!” Cara laughs.

“She’s not wrong,” Marti says.

I just shake my head. “I have my doubts.”

Ginger just shakes her head as she picks up her menu. “Never doubt the power of a nice rack.”

Chapter Three

In Which the Flirting Gets a Little Too Hot

Ifollow Marcus’s huge truck to the outer edge of the county and find myself pulling into the shared driveway that runs alongside the house I share with a few other girls from the Wild Hare. For a moment, I’m weirded out. Why is he driving to my house? It’s only when he turns to the left instead of heading right that I realize Marcus isn’t going down the driveway to my house, but is turning into the old abandoned fire station right off the highway. I park next to him in front of one of the three bays and hop out.

“Is this the place you bought?”

“Yes. It sits on twenty acres. Pretty good for what my uncle left me in his will.”

I touch his arm and point out the front porch light on my house, shining faintly through the trees. “You see that light over there? That’s where I live. We’re neighbors.”

“Seriously?”

“Completely. I live there with two other girls from, uh, work,” I tell him as I follow him up to a regular door at the side of the bay doors. He unlocks it and turns to me with a smile.

“Well then, it was definitely meant to be.”

I can’t help but smile back at him.

“Ladies first.” He reaches in and turns on the lights for me as I step inside what was once the main lobby of the fire station. To my left is a long hallway. Beside it, a wide staircase leads up to an open landing. Straight ahead is a tall counter.

As soon as he shuts the door behind us, I can hear it–the sound of an animal braying.

I turn back to him and grin. “Are you keeping the animals inside?”

He smiles. “Sort of. Do you want to come see?”

I do not want to “come see”, but I can’t tell him that. “Sure,” I tell him, returning the smile.

He guides me with a warm hand on the small of my back toward the hall. We move slowly down the speckled tiled floor, our heels tapping, the only sound in the echoey corridor as we walk toward what I’m guessing is the original truck bay. He pushes open the door and, ever the gentleman, allows me to go through first.

Immediately, I can smell it–the unmistakable smell of livestock. There are no horses, thank God, but a few donkeys are roaming around a makeshift pen Marcus created for them in the farthest corner. Marcus moves around me and heads to the pen at a slow but steady pace while I drag behind, moving as slowly as I can without looking too crazy.

He turns back to look at me and his face lights up at whatever he sees. “You coming, Sarah?” he laughs.

“I am.” I move across the bay reluctantly as dread fills my gut at the sight of so many large animals.

“So I’m guessing you’re not a fan?” he says when I finally make it to his side.

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