The sun is slowly dipping behind the coppery hills in the distance as I drag myself up the ratty, metal staircase.

My heart is still fluttering wildly and I can practically feel his lips on mine.

I know that it was wrong to kiss him and I know I promised myself I wouldn't but I can't deny how good it felt. Everything about it felt natural and familiar but new and exhilarating at the same time.

My mind has been struggling to shut Ben out from the day I came back to this town but now that I've tasted him again, my entire body is singing for more. That kiss weakened my defenses and I'm no longer sure I have the armor to win this war against my lust.

When I open the door, Sophia is balled up on the couch with a plastic container of brightly-colored cupcakes balanced on the curve of her belly. "Hey!" she says cheerily, licking frosting off of her fingers as she looks up from the laptop sitting beside her.

"Hey!" I toe off my slushy sneakers on the front mat and hang my puffy coat on the hook. I stroll into the room and plop onto the couch. "What are you up to?"

"Just trying to sell some stuff on Craigslist." She shoves the container my way and I gladly grab a pink cupcake.

"What kind of stuff?" I take a big bite. The mix of chocolate and cayenne hits my tongue and it's absolutely delicious. 

My sister and her best friends, Nova and Reese, have this weekly get-together, Cupcake Sunday, they call it. Reese experiments with recipes for her cupcake shop while the other two happily scarf down samples. I'm just happy for the leftovers.

Sophia sighs. "Just useless shit that Josh bought me when were together. Fur coats, jewelry, a gold-plated flogger..."

My cupcake goes down the wrong pipe. I cough. "A gold-plated flogger?"

"Yes—a gold-platted flogger was once purchased and gifted to me by my former fiancé. That's what happens when an overgrown fratboy with an active imagination has unlimited access to his daddy's Black Card."

Laughter sputters from my nose. "Did I ever tell you that your ex is a heavy-duty douchecloth?"

She sighs ruefully as her palm circles her belly. "In fact, you did. On several occasions. I should have listened to you."

I lean my head on her shoulder and give her a one-armed hug. "Oh, Soapy. I'm so sorry that jerk did this to you." I always had a bad feeling about that preppy asshole. "I should have kicked his ass when I had the chance."

She cups a hand around her mouth and whispers. "Or maybe I shouldn't have hooked up with a guy I knew from day one was a heavy-duty douche cloth." Falling back against the seat, she laughs. "I thought I could change him but there's no changing a person who's perfectly comfortable with who they are."

My sister is so brave. I never realized she was such a strong woman. We grew up comfortably our dad worked damn hard to provide a good lifestyle for his family. But when she started dating Josh, my sister's lifestyle got upgraded to the next level—Jet-setting. Luxury vacations. Gold-platted floggers, apparently—And then he pulled the Persian rug from under her, dumping in the worst possible way. Now, she's struggling to prepare for this baby. And she's doing it with grace. I'm damn proud of her.

"Anyway, speaking of shitty exes, I sort of had an 'encounter' with mine today." Gross understatement. My stomach knots up when I say it.

That gets her to straighten up and chuck her laptop aside. "Ben? You ran into Ben?" 

I tilt my chin and glare. "Your excitement is the inappropriate response. You should be exhibiting disgust, repulsion, at the very least, mild annoyance. After what Ben did, excitement is not the appropriate response." I realize that I'm flailing my arms and dropping sprinkles all over the couch. There’s probably smoke puffing out of my ears but I don't care. 

But Sophia sort of loved me and Ben together. Everybody sort of loved me and Ben together. 

My sister rearranges her facial expression in a show of solidarity. Eyes narrowed, lips forced into a pout. "I'm totally repulsed right now. Benjamin Riggs. Ugh! The man is appalling." She can't keep up the act for long, though. That gleam of excitement comes rolling right back into her eyes. "Anyway, I want all the scoop."

I should probably start at the beginning and give her all the details in between, but I spring straight to the 'good part'. "He kissed me," I blurt out. Then, I squeeze my eyes shut and scratch the side of my face in frustration. "I mean, I kissed him. Or—I don't know." The words sputter quickly from my mouth. "There was a kiss. And he was a party to it and I was a party to it. And it was so good. And, ugh!" 

I peel one eye open and find her staring at me, slack-jawed. She's just sitting there, mute. So words keep tumbling from my mouth. I tell her about the fire drill, about Ben swooping in and throwing me over his shoulder, about kissing him in the stairwell.

"Say something, Soapy..."

She shakes her head, falling out of her trance. "I'm just a little surprised."

"You and me both." I nod in agreement.

"Because you made it clear that you sort of hate him."

"I sort of do."

"But you sort of don't."

"I sort of don't."

Sophia starts giggling and I join in. Before long, we've fallen to a fit of sisterly hysterics. I’m glad I have someone to laugh with or else I'd be pulling my hair out right now.

She straightens up and faces me. "Look—this is just my take on things, so don't hold it against me...I think you owe it to yourself to explore things with Ben. At least physically. I'm not telling you to throw your heart at him and hope blindly that he'll catch it—"

My laughing interrupts her. "You're telling me to throw my ass at him?"

One brow arches high on her forehead. "Pretty much," she deadpans.

My jaw falls open. I'm scandalized. "Sophia!" I ease over to the far end of the couch. "I can't believe I'm hearing what I'm hearing."

"Okay, okay. Maybe I'm oversimplifying things," she concedes. "But you two have unfinished business. It's clear that you're not over him. And from what you're saying, he's not over you. You two need to address that, at least in the bedroom. Get it out of your system. Avoiding him won't work in this tiny ass town. And it won't solve anything. Get the sexual baggage out of the way and then you'll be able to think clearly."

My brain tells me that's the most illogical advice I've ever heard and that having sex with Ben won't solve anything at all. But my body? Oh, my body is fully on board with the idea. 

That kiss in the stairwell reawakened a craving that had been buried deep in my cellular memory. It was a reminder of everything I've been fighting so hard to forget all these years. The feel of his arms around me melted my armour. One brush of our lips together unraveled years of my resolve. And the sweet things he said to me, I keep replaying them in my head.

And Sophia isn't helping matters. She's determined to be my shoulder-devil tonight. "We're both adults so let's just keep it real. What you need is a pair of fuck me stilettos and a body hugging dress. Then, you need to sashay your butt into his house with your Beyonce swagger turned all the way up. Show that man what he lost out on. You're hot. You're smart. You're a fucking doctor. Make him drool a little. Then bang the hell out of him. When it's all over, you can just move on with your life."

Easy-peasy, right? 

Blame it on my overactive hormones but I choose not to overthink it. I throw all common sense to the wayside as I grab my phone from my pocket. I open up the CheekyChat app and scroll to SmallTownHotBoyXXX’s profile. Skipping over the dozens of unopened messages he’s sent me since that night at the Opal Lounge, I send him a message of my own.

LadyElectraHuskyLover: Offer still open for that drink?

His answer comes within a few minutes.

SmallTownHotBoyXXX: of course :) when?

I smile wryly as I type out an answer.

LadyElectraHuskyLover: tonight

SmallTownHotBoyXXX: There's a bar on Main Street by the ice cream shop. Or I'm sure the coffee shop is still open

Mmm…No. That just won’t do.

LadyElectraHuskyLover: Let's meet at your place...if we can be alone...