Page 55 of Burn With Me

I never thought I would meet anyone interested in what I do for a living. At least no one I would ever be interested in romantically. My palms are clammy and my chest tightens, so I do what any wise female does. I call my best friend.

“If you’re calling me right now, that means you’re alone, and if you’re alone, Luke did not do what I expected last night,” she says without saying hi.

Rolling my eyes, I say, “Hi Pam, how are you? I’m good, thanks for asking.”

“Are you good, or are you good, good after a good dick down last night?”

“Let’s just say he stayed the night, and I have no words for how good it was.”

Pam squeals, and I pull the phone away from my ear.

“I knew he would dust the cobwebs out of your vajeen!!” she yells into the phone.

“Yes, it was great. He even woke up, let Penny out and fed her, and then made me a full breakfast this morning, and I’m kind of freaking out about it.”

“Why are you freaking out? Did you drop him off on the way to the farm?”

“There’s no way this is real. None at all. Not only did I have the most amazing sex of my life, but he cooked and is now changing in his house right now and wants to come to the farm with me to help me test the water.” I start to bite my thumbnail.

“Listen to me. A healthy relationship is when the person you’re with shows interest and supports you in any way they can. In his case, he’s making sure to learn about your business because he knows it’s important to you. He doesn’t have to have an ulterior motive to be interested in your job . . . I mean, he already got laid. When it comes to him feeding you, well, we both know you eat like a toddler and would have rolled out of bed, grabbed a protein bar, and skipped lunch today.”

“You don’t know me or my choices. I might have woken up early enough to make a full breakfast,” I snap.

“Bitch, we’re basically twins. You one hundred percent would not have woken up early enough to make a full breakfast.”

“Whatever,” I say, knowing she’s right, but I don’t want to admit it. “Oh, shit, he’s coming. I’ll text you.”

“Remember, Luke isn’t Leo. Give him a shot, he’s good for you. Call me later, love you,” she says, and I hang up.

“Sorry I took so long. Sam apparently didn’t come home last night, so while I changed, I was talking to no one,” he says as he settles in the driver’s seat.

Took so long, he took maybe ten minutes . . .

I turn in my seat to face him. “What do you mean Sam didn’t come home? Do you think he stayed with Abs? They were acting weird toward each other last night, right?”

He puts his arm on the headrest of my seat and shoulder checks as he backs out of the driveway. “Yeah, but Sam isn’t used to a female he flirts with shutting him down so often. So I’m sure that frustrates him. What’s funny is I texted with him this morning, and he mentioned going back to bed. Maybe he dropped Abby off and went to a booty call’s house. Who was on the phone?”

“Pam called to check in like we do after a night out. I swear to all that is holy, I will murder Sam if he makes Abs not want to hang out with us anymore,” I say, looking out the window.

He puts his hand on my thigh and squeezes. “Sam might be a womanizer, but he isn’t dumb enough to mess with the friend group.”

Five minutes later, he pulls into the parking lot of the farm and we hop out to grab the animals.

I walk up to the door and enter my code to unlock it. Looking over my shoulder, I smile when I see him behind me with Ginny on his shoulder. “We have to put them in my office. If you want, you can hang with them while I test the water really quick.”

“No, I’ll stay out of your way, but I’ll hang with you if it’s okay?”

“It’ll be boring, but if that’s what you want.”

After we get the animals all set up, I grab the test kit we use from the shelf outside my office. We make small talk as I move about the different tanks to test them. We ask each other questions about random things, but he also peppers in questions about what I’m doing and why.

It’s weird to have someone genuinely interested in what I’m talking about. I’m not used to this type of conversation with someone I like where it doesn’t feel forced.

As we walk into one of the last rooms, he asks a question I should have expected but didn’t.

“Can you tell me what happened with your last relationship? If you aren’t comfortable, you don’t have to answer that question.”

I stop and look at him. “Um, yeah, I can tell you about it. It isn’t pretty, and I’m not proud of it, but if that’s what you want to know about, sure.” I pause, thinking about where to start. I figure I might as well start from the beginning, rip off the Band-Aid and tell him everything.

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