Ryan had taken over in the office so I could leave early. But traffic had been awful, and there’d been an accident that slowed the freeway to a dead crawl. Now it was two-thirty and the bus terminal was nearly empty. The last goddamned thing I’d wanted was to let her down…

I scanned the room, looking for a skinny girl with big brown eyes. There was only a man with a brown paper sack, asleep under a trash bag, and a woman with two small children standing at the ticket counter. A slim, leggy blonde stood near the windows, the sun flashing strawberry highlights in tresses that just touched the curve of her ass. Cut-off shorts and a white tee showed off tanned legs and perfect breasts. But it was the boots that almost made me forget why I was there. The girl was sexy as hell… and didn’t even seem to know it. I dragged my eyes away to look at my watch. Maggie’s bus had arrived and left almost half an hour ago. Where the hell was she?

I sat down on a smooth wooden bench just as my phone started to vibrate. “Dean?”

“Hey, Joey. I’m sorry, I didn’t make it out of class in time. Is Maggie with you? Can I talk to her?”

“She’s not here. The bus was on schedule, but I got here late. She must have taken a cab…”

“Hang on, I’ll get back to you.” The phone went dead in my hand. I slipped it back in my pocket and sighed. Dean had gotten a slower start than the rest of us, but once he’d grown out of his partying days, he’d enrolled in the local community college. He was studying to be a nurse, and I was damned proud of him. At thirty, it seemed he was finally growing up, becoming more responsible. I knew he was looking forward to seeing Maggie, too. It had been years since we’d all been together.

I headed to the ticket counter as the woman led her children toward the restroom door. The man at the desk wore a logo t-shirt stretched over a middle-aged belly and a name tag with Tiny printed in white letters. “Did a Maggie Blake come in on the last bus?”

“Don’t give out names,” Tiny answered. “If you don’t see her, she probably ain’t here.”

I ran a hand through my hair and turned around. No one had come out of the restrooms. And new passengers were beginning to trickle in for the next bus. I shot a glance at the girl in shorts and watched her pull her phone out of her worn leather bag. She was half-turned away… I wanted to see her face, but settled for the view of long, lovely legs. She tossed a thick mass of hair over one shoulder and I heard her laugh. The sound of it was under my skin in a second… throaty and deep. The kind of voice a man imagines waking up to in the morning… or in the night… It was sexy and vibrant, just like the girl herself. For the first time in years, my fingers itched to be holding a camera. The light through the clerestory windows struck her hair just so, bringing out a coppery hue in the blonde strands. She crossed one leg over the other and I felt a surge of heat. I hadn’t felt this kind of animal attraction in years… or maybe ever. She was exquisite.

“I’ve been here waiting,” I heard her say. I inched closer and watched her weave a strand of hair between her fingers. “No, I don’t think so… I’ve just been sitting here…”

She stood and turned to look around the room. For a moment, the sun was in my eyes. Then I shifted, hooding them with one hand. I heard her breath catch.

“He’s here… No… I’ll meet you at the cottage… Yes, I’m fine. Me, too… see you later…”

I stepped away from the shaft of blinding light and saw her. Really saw her… Only a few feet away, face to face for the first time. Her eyes were too big, too brown, just the way I remembered them…

“Joe…?”

I struggled for a second, trying to fit my memories to the beautiful girl standing in front of me. Christ… the desire she’d stirred in me… and all the while it had been little Mags…

“Maggie?” I swallowed hard and pushed back a whole host of conflicting emotions. “My God… look at you…”

She smiled, and for a moment she was that little girl I’d left behind. Then she threw her arms around my neck, stretching up on tiptoe to pull me close, and she was all woman. Grown and luscious, her breasts pushing into my chest as she dug her fingertips into the back of my suit jacket… My arms moved on their own, wrapping around her little waist, grazing the swell of her hip…

“Mags… I didn’t even see you… Didn’t recognize you,” I corrected, putting my hands firmly on her waist and pushing her gently away from me. “You’re… taller… than I remember.”

“And you’re just the same,” she smiled up at me. “A little broader, maybe. Same serious expression… Oh, Joe. It’s been so long.” I held her gaze, as a riot of warring impulses shot through me. I watched as her lips parted softly.

“I’ll get your bags.” I bent down, collecting her suitcases. She reached down to pick up a backpack and I caught a glimpse of round, creamy…

“The car’s this way.” I turned away fast and headed for the double doors. I could hear the click of her boots on the tile behind me, and groaned inwardly. How the fuck was I going to handle those legs in the tiny sports car… so damned close… and with my hormones pushing common sense out the window? This was all so fucking wrong.

I held the car door as she climbed inside, closing it as she tucked those goddamned boots underneath her. I slammed it shut, harder than necessary, and went to work stuffing her bags into the tiny trunk. For all my thirty-three years, I was acting more like that dumb-ass kid I used to be. So was my traitorous dick. Hell, Maggie wasn’t my sister, but she was my best friend’s.

This was all so fucking wrong…