Kaitlin stared at the ceiling in the morning light, unblinking. The paltry three hours of sleep she’d managed hadn’t erased the previous night’s events from her mind. Hell, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it.

About him, was more like it.

Her face flamed and she covered her mouth with the pillow and let out what she swore would be her last muffled scream of humiliation.

How could she have gotten it all so wrong?

She tossed the pillow on the floor and threw back the covers. Putting off the inevitable wasn’t going to change a thing. She’d get up, and get on with her day and just hope that, with time, she could face herself in the mirror again.

Facing Michael? That was a whole other story.

She rubbed her eyes and shuffled out of bed and to the bathroom. A hot shower usually did the trick to clear her head. After shutting the door and waiting for the steam to completely fill the room, she stepped in and let the water sluice over her, heating her weary muscles.

Michael Blade.

His name floated into her thoughts and she tried to force it out.

How could she not recognize that hard body? Sure, Rick took care of himself, but Mike was ripped to shreds. His hands, so rough, but so strong. Definitely not the hands of a doctor. And the voice? Rick’s was smooth, silky, with an air of intelligence. But Michael’s – his was lower, gravelly.

She closed her eyes and it all came back to her in a rush. The faint scent of gasoline on his skin. The stubble on his chiseled cheeks tickling her neck.

A hot stab of lust shot through her, settling low in her belly and she gasped.

Nope. No way. She needed an intervention, and fast.

She shut the shower off, wrapped her red locks in a towel and threw on a robe. Half-jogging, she made her way to her cell phone by the bed. She picked it up and pounded at the screen until the phone cooperated, dialing Cheri.

“C’mon, pick up, Cher…”

She needed to speak to someone she could trust.

“Mm…hello?” a sleepy voice finally answered on the other side.

“Cheri, it’s me – Kaitlin.”

A long pause followed by an elongated yawn floated through the phone. “No shit, Kitty. I have caller I.D. It’s the 21^st century. Anyways, who else would I pick up for at eight in the morning?”

“Right. Sorry,” Kaitlin mumbled.

“So what’s up? I worked a double yesterday, so this better be something good. How did it go last night? I want details.”

“Blerg…yeah. No. Not good. In fact, a total shit-show.”

That woke Cheri up, and Kaitlin could hear her friend’s mattress springs squealing as she bolted upright. “Crap, what happened? No action from Dr. Studmuffin? I find that hard to believe after seeing how sexy you looked in that bustier.”

“Oh, I got some action,” Kaitlin murmured miserably. “But not from Dr. Studmuffin.”

She paused to think of how to say it, but couldn’t pull the trigger. It was just too humiliating for words.

Cheri finally deadpanned, “You’re killing me, kiddo. I’m literally dying here.”

Kaitlin took a breath for courage and let the words bubble from her lips in a rush. “I seduced the wrong brother.”

A moment of silence lingered on the line for what felt like an eternity before laughter roared through the receiver.

“You--” Cheri struggled to catch her breath, “you slept with Michael Blade? You can’t stand Michael Blade, remember?”

“I didn’t sleep with him.” Kaitlin was beginning to lose her patience. “And it’s not funny. I was mortified. I mean, how could I be so stupid?”

Being true blue like she was, Cheri stopped laughing and flipped into bestie mode.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay. Throw on a pot of coffee and get dressed. I’m coming over and I don’t want to show up to a mopey mess wearing sweatpants and weeping into a tub of cookie dough.”

Kaitlin reluctantly agreed and hung up the phone. She slid into a pair of jeans and threw on a light green blouse.

In the kitchen, she dumped the last of her coffee grounds into the basket of the coffeemaker and flipped it on. Even though the strong Colombian brew filled the house with an aroma that could wake someone from the deepest of slumbers, she swore she could still catch the faint scent of skin that haunted her dreams last night.

The thought of him triggered another dreadful realization – she had to go back over there. Technically, she was still getting paid to work for them, even if it was just enough to cover her own cost for materials.

Who could’ve known a month ago when Rick had asked her to help with the rehab of their gran’s house that something like this would happen? She’d loved Honey and had been broken up when she’d passed away last year. The Blade brothers had finally decided to sell their childhood home, and it had seemed like a fitting gift to sweet Honey to help her beloved boys get the house back in shape. Now though?

She wished like hell she’d never even come back.

Stirring sugar into a cup of coffee, she wondered if Mike was just as distraught as she was.

Highly unlikely. His cocky ass was probably laughing it up at her expense.

“Kill me now,” she muttered and slumped forward to rest her head on the cool, walnut cabinet.

She was still in that same position when Cheri sailed in a few minutes later, a bouquet of flowers in tow.

“Awww. Thanks, Cher,” Kaitlin said, wrapping her arms around her friend for a quick hug before taking the sunflowers from her.

Cheri nodded and yawned. “Yeah, yeah, no problem. Now where’s the coffee? This is wayyyy too early for me.”

Kait made her friend a mug of joe and the childhood friends sat across from each other in Kaitlin’s mom’s tiny breakfast nook, two steaming cups creating a haze between them. Kaitlin braced for the inevitable barrage of questions that she knew was coming.

“So tell me,” she started, “how exactly did you end up fucking the grease monkey instead of the doctor?”

“First off,” Kaitlin retorted, “I told you before, I didn’t--” she peered around and then irrationally lowered her voice to a whisper, “fuck him. We just kinda…made out a bit. I mean, nothing too crazy. And he’s not a grease monkey.”

“Innnnteresting. So you’re defending him now?”

Kaitlin’s eyes grew wide at the accusation. “Oh shut up. You just make him sound sleazy--”

“Well, I’m not one to judge, but he did sleep with half our high school and God knows who else since then. And hey, I’m here for you. I was just trying to be supportive. I actually think he’s dead sexy, so if you decide you don’t want him…”

“I don’t!” She knew it was a lie the second she said it, and judging by the smirk on Cheri’s face, so did she. Kaitlyn cut her hand through the air with a groan. “Look, it doesn’t matter. Point is, I humiliated myself. So now what?”

Cheri cocked a suspicious eyebrow and took a long draw of coffee.

“So you went over there in nothing but lingerie and didn’t bang the guy? Okay. I’m going to believe that – but only because you’re my best friend and I know you wouldn’t lie to me. But how the hell did you mix him up with Rick? I know they’re supposedly identical, but c’mon. You’ve known them for what, fifteen years? And Mike is so much more masculine than Rick.”

“I don’t know,” Kaitlin wailed, rubbing at her now-throbbing temples. “Once I knocked on the door my adrenaline took over. Then he opened the door looking all good and the hormones just kicked in. It was dark and…” she buried her face in her palms and shook her head, “I guess looking back, there were some pretty dead giveaways.”

“Yeah, like?”

“Well, first of all, his stubble. It’s, I don’t know. Like you said, manly. And the body. He’s absolutely rock hard.”

Sweat began to bead up on her forehead. She wasn’t sure if it was from the warm air and too much coffee or reminiscing the night before.

“Okay, okay,” Cheri cut in, “I think I get it now.”

“Good. Now tell me what to do from here. Do I ignore him and quit? Do I confront him and tell him I’m sorry?”

“God, no,” Cheri said with a snort. “You don’t do any of that. You offered to work on the yard as a favor because you cared about Honey. You can’t take it back now.”

Her friend was right. Kaitlin thought back to the day the Blade brothers had moved in. From what she’d pieced together through the years, Honey’s daughter had basically dumped them off when she decided that scoring meth took precedence over raising two young boys. But sweet Honey, bless her heart, had taken her grandsons in and raised them like her own. In fact, Honey treated all the kids in the neighborhood like her own.

A pang of sadness ran through Kaitlin as she recalled knocking at the door each Sunday morning. Honey would swing it open with a smile, the smell of cooking butter and maple syrup wafting past her.

“Hi, babe. Come on in, the pancakes are almost ready.”

Tears stung the back of her lids and she blinked them back.

Nope. No way was she going to back out on her offer. She’d told Rick that she would help get the house back in shape because that’s what Honey would want. To give her beloved boys the best inheritance she could. It was the least Kaitlin could do for the woman who had been a safe-haven of stability when her own house was like a war zone.

The sound of hammering from next door broke into her thoughts and she shot a glance out the front window. Nerves bubbled up in her stomach.

Great. Speak of the devil. He was awake and already working. And whistling, no less. Clearly he was far less affected by the night before than she was.

Kaitlin turned her attention back to Cheri, more desperate for answers than ever.

“So what, then? What do I do?”

“Nothing.” Cheri smiled. “Since I’ve walked in, all you’ve talked about is how hot Mike is. You haven’t once mentioned how this would affect your chances with Rick, and you even considered going over there and apologizing to him. Seems to me like he was more than willing to accept your sexual advances.”

Kaitlin realized with a start that she was right. Through all of it, she hadn’t even considered the fact that she might have blown her chances with Rick. Even now, when she thought about him, it was with warm affection. Nothing at all like what she’d felt in Mike’s arms.

Wild.

Bold.

Sexy.

In other words, nothing at all like the real Kaitlin.

Which was exactly why she had to nip this in the bud, and fast. Wild was the exact opposite of what she wanted. After years of watching her parents’ screaming fights after her father cheated.

Again.

She just wanted stability. And there was no one less stable than bad boy Michael Blade.

Rick was the man she wanted. The man she needed.

Then why can’t you stop thinking about Mike?

“Cripes, I feel sick,” Kaitlin breathed. “I have to go work over there. Today. This is so bad.”

“Don’t worry about it. Maybe he won’t even come outside. Just go over there, do your work and be nice. If you play it cool, so will he and it will be like nothing happened.”

Mike’s whistling had only grown louder and more chipper and she nodded. She could pretend to be cool. For once.

“Maybe you’re right.” Kaitlin pondered for a moment. “Orrrr…you could come help me.” She batted her lashes at her friend pleadingly.

“Not gonna happen,” Cheri deadpanned with a shake of her head.

“Oh, come on. It’ll be fun! I’ll teach you everything I know about landscape design. You could learn something useful.”

“Dude, I live in an apartment. And I know you better than anyone – you’re going to use me as a shield.”

“I promise I won’t. Just, you know, it’d be nice spending some time together.”

“Digging up weeds and mapping out flowerbeds? No thanks.”

“Please?”

Cheri stood up from her chair and went over to the sink to dump the rest of her still-warm coffee. “Nope. You’re gonna have to suck it up and do it on your own. I have to go,” she said, running a hand through her short cap of bleach blonde hair.

“Where do you have to go?”

“Back to bed,” Chari announced and made her way to the front door. “Good luck with Mikey. I believe in you!” she called out from the foyer. And with a slam of the door that shook the house, she was gone.

Shit.

Cheri was right. Better to just face it head on, like nothing happened.

Surely there was no rush, though?

She marched over to the little radio her mom kept on the kitchen counter and flipped it on, turning the volume up loud enough to drown out the whistling. First, she scrubbed the kitchen, then the bathroom. Then she decided to organize the spice rack.

Two hours later, the little house sparkled, but she was just as conflicted.

“Stop being such a baby, Kait,” she muttered to herself.

She marched into her bathroom and spent about ten minutes brushing her teeth. Then, she changed her clothes half a dozen times before realizing how stupid it would be to do yard work in a blouse. Instead, she slipped on her favorite black v-neck and decided to call it good.

Here she was, tripping over a guy that she never had feelings for until the unfortunate mix-up the night before. All this nonsense was just that.

Nonsense.

An unbidden memory of a night, seven years before, flickered in her mind. A cool summer night, a drunken kiss of gratitude…a kiss that had wound up causing her a month of sleepless nights.

She pushed away the memory with a groan and slip on her sneakers. She wasn’t eighteen anymore. But Michael Blade might as well have been. He was nothing but trouble.

She checked her teeth and touched up her makeup one last time in the mirror. Not for him, of course. Just looking put together gave her confidence, was all.

But as she forced herself to walk the green mile toward Mike’s backyard, she couldn’t quell the butterflies fluttering like mad in her belly.