Lark (First & Forever 5)

He smiled at me, but it was obvious he was trying to hide his disappointment. “It’s okay. I come up with a lot of impulsive ideas, and that probably seemed weird.”

“It didn’t. There’s just a chance I wouldn’t be here when you arrived. Plus, it seems like a lot of trouble for you to go through for a short visit.” I clearly wasn’t as spontaneous as he was, so it was hard to wrap my head around this idea.

“It wouldn’t be any trouble at all. You’re only ten or fifteen minutes away, since there’s no traffic right now,” he said. “I just thought it sounded fun, but I don’t want to pressure you or anything.”

After a moment, I surprised both of us by saying, “Okay. I’d love to see you, so come on over.” I hesitated before adding, “I need to be upfront about something, though. It’s probably weird to bring this up since we just met, but you should know I’m not looking for a relationship. I think it’s important to put that out there before you invest your time in me, because I’d never want to lead you on.”

I felt like such an ass for saying that. Why assume he’d want a relationship with me in the first place? But being honest about where I was seemed like the right call.

His expression remained perfectly neutral as he told me, “That’s fine. I’m not looking for a relationship, either.”

“Okay. I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

Lark asked, “Are you open to a friends with benefits type of thing? Because I like you, Dylan, and I think we could have a lot of fun together.”

“Yeah, I am.” I’d never done that before and had no idea how it would play out, but given my limitations, it seemed like our only alternative.

“Great! I’ll see you in about ten or fifteen minutes, assuming my housemate lends me his car. He probably will, because he’s a nice guy. If I get there and you and the fire truck are missing, I’ll just turn around and come back home. No biggie.”

“Alright. See you soon.”

“I can’t wait to give you a hug,” he said. “You seem like you could use one.”

He wasn’t wrong.

10

Lark

Okay, so I’d told a bit of a lie.

I’d said I wasn’t looking for a relationship when I absolutely was. But if Dylan couldn’t offer me that, what was I going to do, walk away? No chance. Being friends with benefits was so much better than nothing at all.

I tumbled off my bed and stuck my feet into a pair of rainbow Crocs as I shot Casey a text, asking to borrow his car. He replied: Go right ahead. It’s in the driveway. I’m at Theo’s, but my spare keys are hanging on a hook by the door. I sent back a thank you with six exclamation points as I jogged down the stairs.

When I reached the ground floor, I found Yolanda and JoJo cuddled up on the couch with glasses of wine. Yolanda asked, “Where are you off to?”

“I need to go hug a fireman. I’ll be back soon. Casey’s letting me borrow his car, just so you know.”

I grabbed the keys, and as I hurried out the door I heard JoJo say, “I feel like ‘hug a fireman’ is a euphemism for something, but I don’t know what.”

Yolanda replied, “We probably don’t want to know.”

Once I was in the car with the engine running, I shot Dylan a text which said: On my way! Then I tossed my phone onto the passenger seat and fastened my seatbelt before jerkily backing out of the driveway.

Okay, so I hadn’t actually driven a car in a few years, and Casey’s ancient Honda Civic was oddly responsive. I barely touched the gas, and it went shooting forward. Lightly grazing the brake pedal almost threw me through the windshield. But somehow, I managed to lunge and jerk my way across town.

When I pulled up across the street from my destination, I sent Dylan another text letting him know I’d arrived. Then I got out of the car and paused to take a look at the vintage firehouse. It was on a corner lot, cream-colored with red trim, and its architectural style blended in with the neighborhood’s Edwardian apartment buildings. The ground floor garage held one huge fire truck and two smaller ones, and the second story apartment’s tall windows were lit up and looked welcoming.

The bay door was open, so I ran across the street and looked up at the huge, red truck from out on the sidewalk. When Dylan appeared—oh so sexy in a form-fitting T-shirt that showed off his big arms and shoulders—I said, “This looks exactly like a toy I had when I was little. Mine wasn’t as shiny though, because it came from a garage sale.”

“Come on in, and feel free to look around.”

“Thanks. Oh, and hi.” As I said that, I grabbed him in a hug. I’d warned him I was going to do that when we were on the phone, but it still seemed to take him by surprise. At first it was like hugging a mannequin, but then he relaxed a little and put his arms around me. A few moments later, he relaxed even more and held me securely as I tucked my head under his chin. He felt warm, and strong, and solid.

Dylan asked, “How are you so much smaller than I remembered?”

“I was wearing four-inch heels at the party.”