Claudia is home early from her date. An hour early. I’m happier than I should be about that. I’m also happier than I have any right to be about Owen and River taking the two recliners when we sat down to watch television, forcing her onto the sofa with me.

I’ve spent the night at the Bliss house countless times. Claudia and I have stretched out on this same couch and watched television side by side on many occasions. Lying next to her like this shouldn’t feel weird or awkward… or exciting. But it does. Nothing about being this close to her—or touching this way—feels normal. And it’s confusing the hell out of me.

Owen has gone to his room and River has bedded down in the guest room. I’m not disappointed they left. I want to talk to Claudia and explore these new sensations without them in my face.

“How’d your date with Connor go?”

“He brought me home at ten o’clock. How do you think it went?”

“Not good?” No guy brings a girl home early if he’s having a good time. Or getting to do anything he wants with her. That pleases me.

“Not good at all. Connor was so weird tonight. Not his usual cocky self at all. What did y’all say to him?”

No need to feign innocence. “We explained what would happen if he didn’t behave like a gentleman with you.”

“I assume it’s safe to say that explanation involved Priscilla since Owen had her out of the bag?”

The terror on that kid’s face when he heard the swoosh of Owen’s bat next to his ear was priceless. “There’s a good possibility Priscilla was used in our persuasion.”

“I figured as much.”

Our tactic ruined her date. I should feel bad about that, but I don’t. “Are you mad?”

“Nah, I didn’t want to go out with him anyway. I was glad when he said he was bringing me home.”

I’m surprised by how much it pleases me to hear she’s not into the guy. “Then why’d you go out with him?”

“Our friends were trying to be matchmakers. Guess I thought they’d leave me alone if I went out with him.”

“We scared the shit out of him for nothing.”

“Not for nothing. Word got back to me that he’d made a stupid bet with some of his buddies that he’d get at least one hand in my pants tonight. He deserved whatever you gave him.”

Hearing that makes me want to go find the little shit and put my hands around his throat. “You shouldn’t have gone out with him. He could have tried something with you to save face with his buddies.”

“You know I can take care of myself. You, Owen, and River taught me exactly what to do in that kind of situation.”

We made sure Claudia knew how to defend herself, but boys are typically bigger and stronger. A girl can never be too careful. “Knowing how to twist a pair of balls doesn’t make you invincible.”

“I haven’t been out on many dates but I’m always careful.”

I don’t like that she’s been out on any dates. “No boyfriend?”

“A few have asked but I’m holding out for someone.”

Holding out for someone? “You have a crush?”

“It’s far more than a crush, Duke.” I love hearing her call me that.

Claudia thinks she’s in love. And I don’t like it at all. “Does he know?”

“No. Pretty sure he’s never seen me as anything more than a friend.”

I’m wondering what kind of boy could look at Claudia and only have platonic thoughts. Maybe one who isn’t into girls. “You think he still only thinks of you as a friend after seeing the way you’ve changed?”

She deepens her voice. “You mean my new lovely young lady look?”

Yup. She’s still peeved about that. “I didn’t have a choice. I had to call it that in front of Owen and River.”

“Why?”

“We both know they would kick my ass if they heard me say that you were smoking hot.”

Claudia twists her body and peeks at me over her shoulder. “You think I’m smoking hot?”

What the hell is wrong with me? I can’t tell a seventeen-year-old girl, even if this is Claud, something like that. “It doesn’t matter what I think.”

She turns onto her opposite side so we’re lying face to face. “What you think matters to me, Duke. Much more than you’ve ever realized.”

Her body is pressed against mine. Her lips mere inches away. Her sweet breath on my face. Nothing about those things reminds me of the kid I’ve always considered a little sister. And my cock doesn’t think so either.

No two ways about it. Being next to her this way—and liking it this much—is wrong.

I’m twenty-three. A college graduate. A man. She’s seventeen. A high school senior. A girl. Off-limits. Forbidden fruit. “Whatever this is… it shouldn’t be happening.”

“What is this? What’s happening between us?” Her voice is soft, low… seductive. I don’t think she realizes how much.

Giving this a label means admitting to the thoughts I’m having about her. Confessing the intense desires that she stirs inside me. Revealing how much she turns me on. I can’t do that and expect Owen not to tie me up by my balls. “That’s a conversation we can’t have.”

She presses a palm to the side of my face and her eyes search mine. “But I want to have that conversation. And I think you do, too. I see it in the way you look at me.”

I see it in the way you look at me. Fuck, if she sees it, does that mean others do, too?

“I’m too old for you. And I’m Owen’s best friend. Nothing can happen between us.”

She wraps her leg around my waist and presses her body against the bulge in my jeans. “Something is already happening. I feel the proof of it right there.”

“This is wrong.” I place my hand on her hip and push her body away from mine. “This is what’s going to happen. You’re going to get up, go to your bedroom, fall asleep, and tomorrow you’ll wake and pretend none of this happened.”

“The last thing I want to do is pretend this didn’t happen.”

Shit. This has already gone further than it should. I’ve as good as admitted that I want her. “We aren’t going to speak of this again.”

The urge to pull her body against mine is almost overwhelming, but I obey my gut and push her farther away. “Go now, before Owen or River comes back and finds us like this.”

She looks at me for a moment before pulling away. “God, I’m so stupid.”

“No. Don’t say that.”

“I can’t believe I thought you…” She stops midsentence and covers her eyes with her hands. “I shouldn’t have said anything. God, how humiliating.”

I don’t want her to be embarrassed. “Hey, come here.”

I sit up and reach out for her hand—unsuccessfully—as she steps beyond my grasp. “No, Duke. I’m not a kid anymore. I don’t need you to say things you don’t mean just to make me feel better.”

“Claud…” I don’t want her to walk away believing she misinterpreted anything that happened between us, yet I can’t encourage her. I can’t tell her how she really makes me feel. But I also can’t let her walk away believing our relationship has changed. “Dove? Are we okay?”

She looks up and rapidly blinks. “Yeah. We’re okay. This never happened. Just like you said.”

She says the words but I know in my heart they’re not true. Something significant has just taken place. Nothing is ever going to be the same between us.

My heart aches with an incredible pull to go after her. Tell her everything she said is true. Tell her I feel the same things as she does. But I don’t do that. I can’t. Instead, I stay on the couch, spending the rest of the night seeing her behind my closed lids.

The first few hours I imagine myself having her in no less than ninety-nine different ways. The horny lobe of my male brain was more than happy and able to supply all the images to accompany the fantasies happening in my head. My favorite was the one where she was lying on the bed, begging me to bury my face between her legs.

Fuck. There is something really wrong with me.

I can’t stop thinking about her being just down the hall, wearing only that tight tank top and short boxers. The ones with the big leg holes. The ones I can easily slip my hands into. My dick knows just how little effort it would take to get her naked and the fucker stays stiff all night. Putting me in agony.

Claudia has grown up. The desire to have her is making me fucking miserable; every inch of her sweet little body is calling out to me.

My dick and the devil sitting on my shoulder pair up and try to convince me all I have to do is walk the short distance to her bedroom and I could be inside her within a few minutes. They tell me I could cover her mouth with my hand and no one would hear her moan when I push my cock through her tight virginity. I could spend all night with her legs wrapped around me and we’d be so quiet that Owen and River would never even suspect.

Damn, I need to get off so that I’ll stop thinking about her. Maybe that’ll bring some relief from the ache in my balls—or at least make the discomfort bearable, perhaps better equip me to handle being in the same house as her.

I slip my hand into my shorts and grasp my cock, leisurely stroking up and down beneath the quilt as I recall seeing Claudia tonight for the first time since late summer. I close my eyes and pump faster as I picture her lying on the bed naked and waiting for me.

Damn. Those lips. Those curves. Those tits.

Are you thinking of me while you do that, Duke? Want me to do that for you? Imagining those words coming from her mouth is all it takes for me to detonate. “Uhh, fuck.”

Claudia Bliss. Within my reach yet completely unobtainable.

Fuck. Me. I’m in deep shit.

My best friend’s little sister is all grown up. And I want her.