Chapter Eight

Her cheeks heated and her breath caught. If she wasn’t careful, she’d wind up having an asthma attack from her own nerves.

“Come on, beautiful,” Lance said, taking her hand.

Anna stopped and waited for him to look at her. She needed to make things clear from the beginning, so there were no false expectations.

“You don’t have to do that, you know,” she said. “Call me things like baby or beautiful. I’m not expecting that⁠—”

“Wait. Why not? Do you not like that? I would never want to offend you,” he said, frowning.

“Oh, no,” Anna replied. Dammit. Now she would have to explain. “I am not offended, Lance. I just mean, I’m a realist. Men don’t do that kind of thing with me. I am always the geek who gets friend-zoned by the end of the night. I just, well, before this goes any further, if that’s the case, it is okay. I don’t mind being your friend. I just don’t want to confuse things⁠—”