PreHeat (Fire & Ice) Read Free

embarrassed with my reactions to Carter over the last few weeks. I found myself watching him surreptitiously as well as thinking about him way too much. I didn't understand it. I'd known him for almost a decade, since he was a teenager, and to have these feelings for him now seemed inappropriate. Sure, he was an adult, but it didn't make up for the four year difference in our ages. I recognized my own double standard. I'd dated men four years older than myself, heck, I'd dated a man nine years my senior, it just seemed strange with the age difference reversed. I knew being a cougar was all the rage these days, but it just wasn't me. Not that it mattered. After tonight I wouldn't be seeing Carter again for probably months. With my schedule, I was lucky to be able to socialize the little bit that I did, and Cheryl wasn't giving many of her own parties since she'd gone professional with it. I tried not to let the disappointment of not seeing Carter take a foothold. It shouldn't matter, he was just a friend. Unfortunately, my mind had been wandering to him a lot, and not in a “friendly” manner.
    I squashed my inner monologue and got up to start making the salad I wanted to serve with the chicken pot pie I had put together for dinner. Since Carter lived alone I had made a smaller pot pie for him to take home with him, too. I cooked it in my orange mini Le Creuset dutch oven, not realizing at the time that I wouldn't be seeing him next week, but he had told me that I would be going live tonight, so I was going to have to tell Cheryl to get that back for me.
    I pulled the bag of spring mix and cucumber I had gotten from this morning's foray to the farmer's market and proceeded to assemble my salad. When I heard Carter behind me I jumped. “Geez, Carter, you scared me.” He hadn't, not really, but since he made me nervous I decided that it counted. “The food is just about ready. How's it going in there?”
    “All done. You obviously need to check it over before it goes live, but I've done everything we talked about. It looks great.”
    “I'm so excited. I can't thank you enough for this, Carter. I could never have gotten this done without you.”
    “It was my pleasure. The food has been well worth it. I'm going to miss these home cooked meals.” Okay, so I might have dropped off a batch of cheese enchiladas and a pot of gumbo, on my way to work the other day, but I had made them for posts, and it wasn't like I could eat it all. And it made me feel good knowing that he was going to enjoy eating it. So sue me. I couldn't help the flush of pleasure his words brought me, though, so I turned back to my salad.
    “So I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me?”
    It took a second to process what he was saying, but almost immediately my heart started pounding. Had he been thinking the same things as I had? “Go out?”
    “Yeah, you know, to dinner or something.”
    Oh crap. I hadn't been expecting this, but even though I knew I would turn him down, a sliver of excitement was trying to blast through my automatic refusal. Still, I tried to formulate a gentle way to say it without hurting his feelings. “Um. Well, I work most nights.”
    “I know. I was thinking maybe next Monday. I'm finished with your site and I know Mondays are your off days. I thought that instead of you having to cook we could go out. Then, maybe we could catch a movie or whatever.”
    It didn't sound like more than a friendly outing, one like I'd had countless times with Cheryl. “Just you and me?” When he nodded I decided to ask, just to be clear. “You mean a date?”
    “Well, yeah.”
    He was asking me out. It was good and bad in equal measure. The truth was that I would actually have enjoyed spending another evening with him without the excuse of the website, and if he was as anyone else, I'd have agreed. Unfortunately, he was Carter, and that made things impossible. “I don't know, Carter. That would be kind of weird, you know?” That was