Chase leaned against her rake in relief. Her arms hurt from the constant sweeping motion, her knees and back ached from the constant bending and scooping of the leaves, and she felt absolutely gritty from the dusty endeavor, but she also felt a great sense of accomplishment as she looked over the smooth expanse of fading grass. She’d tied her sweatshirt around her waist, and her hair had fallen in clumps from her scrunchie, so she knew she looked a mess. Zeke had shed some clothes, too.

Thank you, sweet Indian summer, for the gift of forcing that man to take his shirt off. Amen.

“You know, it’s kind of late to make the scouting drive. Instead we could grab some of the firewood stacked next to the shed and do a fire in the firepit.” Zeke slid her a sideways glance.

“A fire? We can do that here?”

“We’ve had decent rain, and as long as we clear a ring of ground around the firepit, we should be legal. And I’m nearly certain I have some graham crackers and marshmallows. We could make s’mores. Well, that is if I can find those Godiva chocolate bars my sister sent me on my birthday.”

Making s’mores. Another thing Chase had never done. Once her mother had taken her to the beach with some friends. At the end of the day, they’d gathered around a fire on the beach with hot dogs and big marshmallows, but her mother had gotten angry at one of the guys and dragged Chase back to their house before they lit the fire. Chase had been devastated to not sit around the fire eating delicious, sticky marshmallows while the adults played the guitar and drank adult beverages. She’d pitched such a fit that her mother had actually tossed her in her room and locked the door.

Chase smiled. “I would much rather do that. And if you can’t find the Godiva, I think Olivia has some candy in her room. She went to Redmond the other day to pick out a rug and new windows while I learned to reconcile my bank statement, and I saw her sneak a bag of Halloween candy into her room. Math makes me hungry, so I totally noticed.”

“Sweet. Let me ride back to my house, shower, and grab what I have. I’ll be back in twenty minutes.”

She wanted to go with him and see his place, but she also wanted to shower. She could suggest they shower together, but she wasn’t quite ready to take that step. She might not ever be ready, because she didn’t want to destroy what she had with Zeke. Sex felt like it could untie the closeness she felt with him as a friend.