Goddess of Love (Goddess Summoning #5)(7)

She'd never walked into a room and not turned heads. Pea would bet the great raise she'd just got that gorgeous Griffin had already forgotten her. Men always did, but she would also bet that the firemen were discussing her hot blond neighbor all the way back to the station. And then someone might say something like: "Oh, yeah, that other girl was there, too." Pea was the other girl. The forgettable girl.

"So will you do it?"

"Huh?" Pea said, realizing Stacy had been talking and she'd not heard anything she'd been saying.

Stacy sighed in exasperation. "I said, it's not even noon yet. You have plenty of time to go into that fabulous kitchen of yours and bake a big plate of your to-die-for brownies and deliver them to gorgeous Griffin at the station as a thank you."

"Let me think about that." Pea paused for half a blink. "No."

"And why not?" Stacy didn't give her time to continue. "Because you have so many men beating down your door to go out with you tonight? Because you're in an incredible relationship with your dream man? Hmm? Which one is it?"

"You know I'm not dating anyone, and thanks for reminding me," Pea said through her teeth, and then thought for the zillionth time.

"Okay, so is it because you don't find Griffin attractive?"

"As you very well know that's definitely not the case."

"Then is it because you're hateful and rude and you don't believe in thanking the man who just saved your weird Scottie cat's life?"

"Chloe isn't weird and she wasn't about to die," Pea said.

"She definitely could have broken something if she'd fallen out of that tree."

"Stacy, it's stupid and pathetic to bake brownies as an excuse to see a man who has no interest in me."

"He smiled at you and asked about your nickname," Stacy countered.

"He was being polite."

"Maybe. Maybe not. If you don't bake the brownies, you'll never know."

Pea opened her mouth to say no. Again. But Stacy interrupted. Again.

"Take a chance, Pea. Just one small chance. The worst that can happen is that a bunch of overworked firemen will get a treat. On the other hand, maybe your brownies will work magic and you might actually live out one of those fantasies you usually only dream about...." Stacy waggled her brows at Pea.

"Fine!" Pea surprised herself by saying. "I don't have dance class till this afternoon. I'll bake the damn brownies and drop them off on my way to class."

"Finally I'm victorious with the Pea-and-men issue! Okay, look, be sure you write a little thank you note, too. On the stationery that has your new work title and letterhead."

"Huh?"

Stacy rolled her perfect eyes. "It serves two purposes. He'll know how amazingly successful you are, and he'll also know how to get in touch with you."

"Great. Yeah. Okay. Whatever." Pea called Chloe and started to retreat up the steps to her homey porch.

"You'll write the note?" Stacy called.

"I'll write the note."

Chapter Two

S he never knew what to wear. How did most women do it? How did they figure out how to put the right clothes with the right hair with the right shoes? (Shoes! That was a truly nightmarish subject! She could never seem to pick out shoes that didn't look like a cross between someone's grandma and someone's cutesy two-year-old daughter.) Pea pulled at her sweater (why did it look so shapeless? She did have boobs. Really!) and checked herself in the rearview mirror of her fabulous new car. Pea groaned. Her makeup looked wrong. She couldn't put her finger on exactly what was wrong about it, but it just wasn't...wasn't...wasn't anything. It wasn't cute or sophisticated or sexy. And why did the new eye shadow she'd just talked herself into buying yesterday suddenly look orangish instead of the lovely blushing peach color it had seemed to be in the store? Naturally the eye shadow now clashed horribly with her mauve lipstick, which was all over her teeth. Pea rubbed it off vigorously. Then she glanced at her hair. How could the sky be clear and there be zero humidity today in Oklahoma, but her hair was still capable of frizzing out like the puff ball on a dandelion? What had she been thinking when she left it down? With a sigh of resignation, she pulled the scrunchie out of her purse and wrapped it around her hair. Then she grabbed the plate of brownies and walked through the parking lot to the front door of the fire station.

It didn't open. Were they closed? It was Saturday, but still. Fire stations didn't close. Did they?

They'd been at her house earlier that day. And fires happened twenty-four seven. No way could they actually be closed. Had she gone to the wrong door? She stood there, chewing her lip and looking around what she had assumed to be the front entrance to the old fashioned brick fire station. Maybe she should just leave the plate of brownies. They were wrapped in aluminum foil; they'd be fine. And she had written a quick thank you note (signed by Chloe), so they'd figure out who they were from, and probably wouldn't worry about being poisoned by them or anything. Did firemen worry about being poisoned by thank you food? Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea.

Pea chewed her lip some more.

This kind of thing was exactly what Stacy had talked to her about time and time again. Stacy wouldn't just stand out here, undecided and pathetic with zillions of questions zinging through her mind. Stacy would have gone to the right door or whatever. Who was she kidding? The firemen would have caught one glimpse of blond and beautiful through the obviously two-way glass that framed the door (oh, great - were they all in there watching her right then?) and there would have been a mass rush to get the door open for her before -