Page 31 of When We Burn

“Well, hello, you two. I have your table ready. Follow me.”

Dani frowns up at me, but I just shrug, and we follow Heather up a set of stairs to the open-air rooftop. There’s a bar up here and umbrellas over the tables, but we have an unobstructed view of the ski mountain and most of downtown.

“It’s pretty up here,” Dani says once we’re seated.

“I think so, too.”

She looks my way and then chuckles when she finds me just staring at her. “You’re just trying to be charming.”

“Me? No way. What do you like on your pizza, sweetheart?”

“Oh, I’ll eat anything.” She pushes the menu away and looks back at the mountain, so I reach over and take her hand in mine, getting her attention.

“But what doyoulike? If you’re home alone and you order pizza, what do you get?”

“We can get whatever you want. Really, I like anything.”

“That’s not what I asked you.” I narrow my eyes and lean forward. “Dani, I’m trying to get to know you. I’m learning you. I sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, want to know how you order your freaking pizza.”

She presses her lips together in a line and then says, “I like pepperoni with pickled jalapeños, pineapple, and mushrooms. It’s weird. So when I eat pizza with anyone else, we just get something normal, like pepperoni or Hawaiian.”

The waitress arrives, setting down the drinks we ordered when we got here, and says, “Are you ready to order?”

“Yeah,” I begin, watching Dani. “We’ll take a large pepperoni with pickled jalapenos, pineapple, and mushrooms.”

Dani’s eyes have widened and her jaw drops in surprise. Jesus, has no one ever ordered her pizza the way she likes it?

“Do you want hand-tossed or deep-dish?” Sandy, the waitress, asks.

I lift an eyebrow at Dani.

“Hand-tossed,” she says, and I nod at Sandy.

“What else?” Sandy asks.

“I think we need more carbs,” I add, “so let’s do some cheesy breadsticks.”

“With ranch,” Dani chimes in, earning a smile from me.

Good girl, I mouth to her, and her cheeks redden.

Fuck, I want to see her blusheverywhere.

When we’re alone again, Dani says in a small voice, “You didn’t have to do that.”

“It sounds delicious.”

She snorts out a laugh, but when I don’t laugh with her, she looks at me like I’m not telling the truth, and I don’t like that.

“There’s nothing on that pizza that doesn’t sound good to me.”

“Okay,” she replies, but I can tell she doesn’t believe me.

That’s fine. I’ll prove it to her.

“How long have you lived in your house?” she asks me, changing the conversation.

“About three years. I bought it because I liked the backyard and that it backs up to the woods, so it’s a little more private.”

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