Not even for the past.
I wanted him to scorch me.
And that’s the moment I realize:
I’m not playing with fire.
I’m begging it to burn.
Chapter 6
Levi
Aweek later I’m standing at the bake sale watching Sadie do her thing and cursing the moment she sauntered back into my life looking like sweetness and sin.
This bake sale was supposed to be safe.
Low-risk. Low-heat. Low-chance of me losing my damn mind.
I should’ve known better the second I saw her step behind the folding booth in cutoff jeans and a fitted Devil’s Peak Fire & Rescue fundraiser T-shirt tied in a loose knot at her waist.
Flour dusts her fingers. Her hair is pulled into a messy ponytail that keeps slipping over her shoulder every time she leans forward. She’d been flirting with customers for the past hour like she was born to command a crowd.
“Two dollars for a cupcake,” she says brightly to an old rancher, sliding the tray closer. “Five if you want me to smile while you hand it over.”
The rancher laughs and hands her a ten. I’m standing behind her pretending to reorganize napkins. I’m not reorganizing napkins.
“You’re enjoying this way too much,” I mutter.
She glances back at me over her shoulder, eyes dancing. “You jealous?”
“Of baked goods?”
“Of the attention.”
I snort. “You think I care about attention?”
She turns fully, hip bumping into the table behind her. “You care about control.”
My jaw tightens. She’s not wrong.
“You’re playing a dangerous game, Hotshot,” I say quietly.
She tilts her head. “We’re fake dating, remember? I’m supposed to look smitten.”
“Do you?”
Her smile falters for half a second before she recovers. “That’s the assignment, Lieutenant.”
I lean closer, lowering my voice. “Careful with that tone.”
“Which tone?”
“The one that makes me forget this is a church fundraiser.”
Her breath hitches.
The church parking lot hums around us—kids running past with lemonade cups, Mrs. Dottie barking instructions about raffle tickets, Sawyer across the way pretending not to watch us like we’re about to set off a five-alarm situation.
