He wanted more.

His stomach sank as he realized how much more he wanted. Exactly what he’d been worried about happening had. His crush was more than just a lit match. It had matured into glowing coals simmering in the pit of his gut, sucking the oxygen out of the air, waiting for him to fan it into flame. It wouldn’t take much more for him to be a certified goner.

“So, you gonna ask her out?” Cat asked.

Quentin’s heart skipped because he’d been thinking of just that: how to ask Cat out. But Cat wasn’t talking about herself; she was talking about Sylvie.

“I’m...not sure.”

“Why not? She was gorge. And obviously into you.”

He laughed. “You really think she was into me? She talked about her crush in the past tense.”

Cat pursed her lips and ducked her chin, her eyes telling him he was a naive fool. “Are you kidding me? That woman practically suffocated you with her cleavage and then told you she’d always had a crush on you in front of me. That’s girl-speak for ‘come and get it, daddy-o.’” Cat mimed twirling a long cat tail behind her back, tipping an imaginary top hat.

Once again, he was laughing. “I’m not sure what that’s supposed to be, but I think you’re confusing my life with, like, an old-timey cartoon or something.”

She laughed too. “I’m just sayin’, I think you’re missing an opportunity there.”

“Actually...” Quentin said as he slowed his pace so that he could steal a few extra moments with her. His heart beat hollowly in his chest, like a stone clanging in an old tin pail. “It’s not her that I’m thinking about asking—”

“Ohmygawd,” Cat squeaked, grabbing Quentin’s arm and jumping halfway behind him. “It’s him!”

They’d just rounded the corner toward their building and standing on the sidewalk in front of the entrance was Jared, talking to someone through the open window of a cab. A moment later, beautiful blonde Lara unfolded herself from the cab, an overnight bag over one shoulder.

Quentin groaned. Jared had sworn on his—still-living—mother’s grave that the thing with Lara last weekend had been a one-off. That they weren’t getting back together. Yet, here she was, obviously about to spend the night again.

“I can’t believe this,” Quentin muttered, grunting when Cat bodily hustled him back behind the side of their building so that they could peek around and spy on Jared.

“Who is that chick?” Cat said, peering around the corner at the couple.

“Jared’s ex. Or maybe Jared’s current. It’s hard to keep track with Jared and Lara. They’re pretty messy.”

“Dang!” Cat stood up straight and snapped her fingers. “I’m always behind the eight ball with this guy.”

His heart somewhere in the general vicinity of his socks, Quentin stepped back and surveyed her. “You’re really into him, huh?”

Cat shrugged. “He’s stupid hot. And kind of funny. We run into one another around the building every once in a while.”