Friends With Benedicts - Staci Hart Page 0,2

my apron.

“Excuse me,” the lady said again with much less patience and an unkind look on her face.

“Be right with you,” I assured her.

Aggie waggled her brows from behind the lady before stepping in to help her in my stead.

Sebastian handed me the napkin with his number on it, the numbers square and his letters written in even, slanted caps. “My new number. Text me later.”

“Now you’ve got me wanting donuts, so bring some, or no deal.” I pointed at him and lowered my chin.

God, his smile could have powered half the town. “You’re gonna make me drive to Austin, aren’t you?”

I shrugged. “Do what you’ve gotta do, Vargas.” When he took a step back, I called, “Wait!”

“Yeah?”

“Did you need to order something?” I reached for my notepad.

“Nah.”

“Then why’d you come in?”

“To see you.”

“Order up!” Frankie pinged the bell like nine times.

I glanced back at him and stuck out my tongue when I caught him maddogging me. “I probably shouldn’t get myself fired on my third day.”

“Not on my account, at least. Go on. I’ll see you later.”

“All right,” I answered with hot cheeks and a truly outrageous smile on my face. For a second, I watched him walk away.

And then Frankie went bananas on his bell again.

I put my hands up in surrender. “All right, all right, sheesh. God forbid somebody have a conversation around here, Frankie. I’m gonna remember this next time I hear you talking to the salad dressings when you think no one’s listening.”

He rolled his eyes, but he was smiling just a little. I considered it a win.

As I stacked plates up my arm again, and my dopamine metabolized, dread took the place of my giddy excitement. Because I had a secret, one I’d been trying to tell him for those four years and approximately nine months since I’d seen him last.

And her name was Priscilla Marie.

2

Stuck On You

SEBASTIAN

I remembered the first time I ever saw Presley Hale.

It was twelve years ago and about a thousand degrees, a day much like today, I thought as I stepped out of Bettie’s with a smile on my face. That day, a pack of us had gone down to the bend in the river where the best rope swing was, only to find half the town’s high schoolers had the same idea.

I’d instantly caught sight of the Blum sisters sitting on the other side of the river, sunning on a rock overhang. They were impossible to miss. One of them could change the gravity of a room, but the three of them in close proximity could upset the balance of the solar system. Dark hair, electric blue eyes, lush lips, and completely unattainable. I’d seen enough guys try to know better than to put any faith in that particular endeavor.

What I didn’t know was who the fourth girl was. Taking her hair and eyes into account, she could have been another Blum sister, but I’d never seen her before.

If the Blum sisters could upset the balance of the solar system, Presley could have swallowed up the universe with the voracity of a black hole. I didn’t know if I heard her laugh or if I imagined it, but the sight of her face tilted up to the sun did something to my insides. I hadn’t realized I’d stopped until Wyatt Schumacher slammed into me and damn near sent both of us hurtling down the trail.

She looked over at us as the Blum sisters talked around her, and I think I knew the second our eyes met that I was going to fall in love with her.

It was then that I decided I was going to find out exactly who she was before staking my claim.

We were fifteen. That first summer was all stolen kisses and second base. But when she showed up the next summer, we hooked up the second we were alone. I guessed she’d been thinking about me all year like I’d been thinking about her. And every summer for three years was made for me and Presley Hale.

It was sick that she lived so far away. Long distance was never going to work, and we both knew it. And after I graduated high school, I left for college in Austin and left Presley in my past, the highlight of my high school years, the first girl I ever loved. My what if.

We’d spent one more summer together, the summer before I left for the Peace Corps and the last time I’d seen her. After that,