“She said I was hot, huh? Interesting. I promise you, kiddo, I’m not sick, but thanks for checking on me.”

I held my hand up and they each high-fived me before they ran off.

Kacie came around the corner and my mouth started salivating. She had on a white, lacy tank top and khaki shorts that showed off more of her legs than I had seen before. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun with a few random pieces falling onto her collarbone. The closer she got, the more her green eyes sparkled. She looked simple, yet incredibly sexy. I was going to need a fucking straight jacket to keep my hands off of her all night.

“Hey,” she said, smiling at me.

“Hey there.” I leaned forward, giving her a quick “friendly” hug.

She smelled unbelievable; a lethal cocktail of flowers and her pheromones sent my mind into a goddamn tailspin. I wanted to drop to my knees and beg her to blow off the friend idea right now, but Viper’s words kept ringing in my ear. ‘Turn the tables, prove her wrong, and then make her beg.’ Still drunk on her scent, the thought of Kacie begging for anything was enough to make me hard right there in the foyer.

“Ready to go?”

A small, skeptical smile splayed across her lips as she nodded at me. I stepped back and opened the door for her, following her out. She turned left off the porch, heading for my truck.

I reached out and grabbed her hand, tugging on it gently. “This way.” I nodded to the right.

She looked surprised. “That way? There’s nothing over-”

“Shh. Follow me.”

She didn’t resist again, gripping my hand back and following me around the side of the house. We didn’t talk while we walked across the backyard or for the couple hundred feet down to the lake. I peeked back at her, silently congratulating myself at the confused look on her face.

When we got to the edge of the yard, I made a slight left, still pulling her behind me. We stepped onto the creaky wooden boards of the pier and I looked back at her again. Her eyes were fixed on the blanket and candles at the end of the pier. She looked at me and smirked, shaking her head.

“What?” I joked, defensively.

“The candles—those aren’t exactly ‘friend’ candles.” She nudged my shoulder without letting go of my hand. Any physical contact with her was a bonus. She could give me a noogie and I’d consider it a win.

“No, they aren’t ‘friend’ candles, they’re citronella. I didn’t want you to get the wrong idea and start hitting on me or anything.”

She laughed heartily and I silently put another tick in the win column.

As we got to the edge of the pier, I regretfully let go of her hand so I could go around to the other side of the blanket. I waited for her to sit first, then I followed suit.

She glanced down at the dinner I’d thought long and hard about. “Pizza and beer, huh?”

“Hey, if we were on a date, I would be trying to impress you. Since we’re just pals, this is all you get.”

She playfully stuck out her tongue and grabbed a Miller 64 out of the cooler. She twisted the cap off and raised the bottle to her mouth, licking her lips before the bottle touched them. My khakis felt tight; I looked out at the water and talked to myself.

Speed boats. Green grass. Pringles. Jay Cutler.

I took a deep breath and looked back at Kacie, crisis averted. Her eyes were narrowed, mouth closed with her tongue running along her teeth. “What were you just thinking about?”

Ripping your clothes off and fucking you right here on this pier.

“Um … I’m just wondering how this friend thing is gonna work? I normally talk about beer and sports with my friends. I know that you’re clearly not a hockey fan, so what should we talk about?”

She looked down at the pier, embarrassed that I’d reminded her that she didn’t know who I was when we met. Little did she know that was one of the many things that attracted me to her.

“Let’s talk about you,” she said.

I pulled out the paper plates and handed her one. “Me?”

“Yeah, I blabbed enough about me the first night we met, now it’s your turn.”

“Ok, what do you want to know?”

“Why don’t you tell me about your last relationship?” She grabbed a slice of pizza and started nibbling on the end.

“I’ve never had a relationship.”

“Liar.”

“No joke. I’ve dated, but never anything serious. Hockey has been my life since I was ten years old. In high school, I was too focused on playing in college to date. Once I was in college, I was too focused on playing professionally. Now that I play professionally, I’m wary of every girl I meet.” She searched my face, looking for a clue that I was being truthful. “I promise you. Google me, you won’t find too many articles about me with girls.”

“I already did, and you’re right. No articles about girls, but I do know that you love fountains.”

“Ah, you read about that one, huh? Did you see the mugshot too?” I scratched my head, wishing I could delete that completely off the Internet. “It was a fun night, but it got a little out of hand.”

“That’s a story I want to hear…”

“Long story short, I was dared. We were playing in Chicago, and my buddy Viper and I went out after the game for drinks. I had too much liquid courage in my system and Viper dared me to drop trou and splash around for five minutes. I had two minutes left when a couple of bike cops pulled up and dragged my ass out of there and cuffed me. They realized who I was and might even have let me go had I not made some obnoxious remark about them ringing a bell instead of having a siren. They didn’t appreciate that too much.”

“Viper, huh? Sounds like someone who would definitely be involved in the sport of fountain skinny dipping.”

“Speaking of skinny-dipping…” I raised my eyebrows at her.

“Not a chance,” she said, shaking her head back and forth.

I grabbed the collar of my shirt and acted offended. “I wasn’t asking, geez. Who do you think I am? I’m not that easy.”

“Oh, I highly doubt that.”

“Someone who is sitting on a pier in a white tank top should be careful of the jokes she makes, don’t you think?”

She laughed nervously, wondering if I was brave enough to toss her into the lake. I wasn’t.

“Speaking of the pier, how did you pull all this off, by the way?”

“Well, it’s not always easy for me to sit in a restaurant or bar and talk in peace, but I wanted to get you out of the house and have you to myself for a while—just as friends, of course—so a picnic was the next best thing. And what better place to have a picnic than on a pier? I looked out the window from inside the house and saw that it was private, so I put my plan into action.”

“I’ve never had a picnic on the pier,” she said matter-of-factly.

I reached over and high-fived her. “Me either.” I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly and continued. “I’ve also never had sex on a pier.”

She shook her head again, pushing the pizza box out of the way.

“What are you doing?” I asked, hoping she wasn’t cleaning up to go in.

“It’s pretty dark, let’s lay on our backs and look up at the stars.”