PROLOGUE

Pittsburgh

6 years ago

Liam

“Stay where you are, don’t move, hands up!” A female voice said warningly behind me.

It was not exactly the way I expected my morning to start. And, considering how much I drank last night, I didn’t expect it to start any time soon for that matter.

“Easy there, Sweetheart,” I said, still standing with my back, my completely naked back, to whoever was in the room with me now. No matter how exhausted or smashed I was, I never went to bed dressed. Not that my boxers would suddenly strangle me in the middle of the night, but I was just that guy who loved freedom, in everything.

“Who are you? And what the hell are you doing in my room?”

“Your room?” The wheels of my beer-plus-vodka-intoxicated mind started to turn.

Last night, my friend Stanley and I went to Storm - our favorite place all over the city - to celebrate the beginning of our summer vacation. After the party was over, we went to his place to celebrate some more and at some point, I must have passed out because I didn’t remember a damn thing about what happened after we opened the second bottle of vodka and up until a few minutes ago, when I woke up feeling so damn thirsty, I could drink a gallon of water if I got a chance to get to the fridge. I got out of bed, reached for my clothes lying on the floor and then she entered the room.

“Crystal?” I said, as the realization hit me. She was Stanley’s youngest sister. It must have been in her room where I passed out last night. I knew she was out of the city, and she was definitely the last person my naked ass expected to see first thing in the morning.

I reached for my clothes again.

“Keep your hands up!” She said again.

“Calm down. It’s just me - Liam.”

The lights came on and she gasped. “Liam? What the fuck?”

Slowly, I turned around and started to laugh. She was holding a hairbrush in one hand and an emery board in her other hand.

“Don’t you know that it’s not polite to meet guests armed to the teeth, Sissy?” I knew she hated me calling her that, but I loved the name I gave her once, and I never missed my chance to use it.

“You scared the hell out of me!” She breathed a sigh of relief and put her ‘weapons’ on her vanity table.

I chuckled. “Do you still mind if I put my hands down?” Not that I was ashamed of standing in my full glory in front of a girl. But she was not just any girl, she was Stanley’s sister and I was sure he would cut my balls off for the mere thought of getting naked in front of her, no matter how old she was.

Her chocolate eyes slid down my torso and all the way to my manhood.

She crossed her arms, her lips curled into a cat-like smile. “I do mind, actually… You haven’t answered my question, remember? So, what are you doing in my room?”

I ignored her question. “I always knew you wanted me naked in your bed.” I winked at her. I don’t know why, but Crystal and I had never been besties. We either were saying something perky to each other, or pretended we didn’t know each other at all. Even when kinds, we always fought over something stupid, like a piece of a chocolate pie that she and I both loved more than anything in the world, or a TV show to watch or a seat on a carousel that was too small for two people. In short, she had always been a pain in the ass.

“You give yourself too much credit,” she snapped, suddenly turning red.

I always loved making her blush, apart from other things I loved doing to give her a hard time.

In a low voice I said, “Then why does it look like you are enjoying the view?”

Her eyes stayed locked with mine. There was something in her gaze that I couldn’t get. It had always been like that. No matter when or where we met, I could never read the thoughts running through that smart mind of hers. Even though I was four years older than her, I always felt like she was ahead of the curve.

“Go to hell, Liam,” she hissed after a short pause.

“Can I take a shower first? I don’t want the devil to think I’m a pig.”

She smirked, her eyes slid to my manhood again. “Make sure the shower is cold.”

My gaze followed hers. My ‘rise and shine’ was too obvious to not see it. But Sissy didn’t seem to be embarrassed witnessing it.

Crap… Perfect timing, man.

“It’s all your fault,” I said, as I put my hands on my hips. “You showed up when I least expected a female intrusion.”

“Does your tool react the same way to every girl its owner lays his shameless eyes on?”

“Shameless eyes?” I laughed. “Look who’s talking! You wouldn’t let me get dressed, remember? Which makes me think that my assumptions about your desire to see me naked in your bed are not so far away from the truth after wall.”

“Take your shit and get the hell out of my room. Now!”

“Or what?” I stepped closer. She didn’t step back.

“Or I will tell Stan you wanted to seduce me.”

“Go ahead, call him.” I knew she would never do that.

Or maybe I should have thought twice before jumping to conclusions...

“Stanley!” She opened the door and shouted as loud as she could.

“Oh, you gonna pay for it.” I grabbed my boxers and jeans and started to put them on, which was not easy I must say, considering my moves were still a bit slow to dress up in ten seconds or so.

Just when I zipped my jeans, Stan walked into the room.

“Morning, sunshine,” he said to his sister, kissing her on both cheeks. “I didn’t know you were going to be back today. I thought you would stay at the lake house until your graduation ball.”

“The weather got worse. Besides, I wanted my return to be a surprise. But it looks like a surprise has been waiting for me.” She pointed at me.

“Liam? What are you doing here?” He looked suspiciously at my naked chest. “Didn’t I tell you to take the guest room?”

“I must have entered the wrong room. You know I could barely stand on my feet last night.”

“Right.” He looked at Crystal. “Sorry, sis. I should have shown him the guest room.”

“No worries, Liam and I have had a great morning conversation, right?” She blessed me with her best bitchy smile. “But next time you feel like getting drunk, make sure it’s not my bed where you crash to sleep it off.”

Stan gave me a disapproving look.

“I’ll remember that,” I said. Then I grabbed my shirt from the floor and put it on.

“Will wait for you in the kitchen,” Stan said, leaving the room.

I stopped in front of Crystal and said quietly, so that her brother wouldn’t hear me, “Next time you want to see me naked, you are welcome to come and wait for me in my bed. You know where I live, right?”

“Get out, Liam.”

“Have a nice day, Sissy.”

She pushed me out of her room and slammed the door shut behind me.

I laughed and shook my head. She and I were a lost cause.

I hadn’t seen Crystal for almost a year. Last time we met, she was about to start her final year of high school and I was at the beginning of my fourth year of college. She looked like a typical nerd, never letting a book out of her hands. Whenever I was around, she treated me like I was the worst person in the world. Though I still didn’t know why I deserved such a special attitude from her. None of Stan’s friends had ever received as many ‘compliments’ from her as I did.

But this morning I saw a completely different girl. It was not the Crystal I knew. This new Sissy was more confident and even more beautiful than ever…

I shall admit it, Crystal was the most attractive nerd, I had ever met. And with time, her attractiveness became even more obvious. A pair of torn jeans that she was wearing today outlined her every curve. The bottom of her snow-white shirt was tied in a knot, right above her navel. Her dark-brown hair was tied in a high ponytail, making me want to wrap it around my hand and pull her closer… No matter how wrong the thought was.

She was off limits for many reasons. But all of them went down the drain the second I drowned in those magnetic eyes of hers. I had never met her boyfriends, or heard about her going on a date, but I was sure she had a long list of admirers who wouldn’t mind waking up in her bed, accidentally or not.

As for my choice of bed last night, my conscience was telling me that it was far from being accidental. I knew exactly where I was, only I had no idea why I suddenly felt like going to her room instead of the guest room. I remembered stopping at her door and hesitating. Then I let myself in and probably fell asleep the moment my head touched the pillow that smelled like roses. Did I want the owner of that pillow to be with me at that moment? I sure did not… Or did I?