My eyelids are heavy and my mouth is dry. I groan and roll over, reaching my hand out for the bottle of water I keep on my night table. My fingertips don’t wrap around the crunchy plastic though. Instead they plop against the smooth, tender warmth of a woman.

For a second, I slide my hand over her soft skin, down her arm, keeping my eyes closed like a man who lost his sight and now sees the world through touch. My meaty hand engulfs hers and our fingers lace together as she lets out a sleepy sigh.

I open my eyes, letting them travel over her long black hair, tousled over the pillow. I gaze over her glowing bronze skin, soaking in her eyelashes, still closed, down to her thick lips and then down even further to where her breasts are barely covered by the crisp, white linen.

How did I end up lying next to this gorgeous woman? I try to piece together the night. At first, it comes back in fragments. Just glimpses of moments. The way she threw her head back when she laughed. How her chocolate eyes twinkled right before I kissed her. How we walked down the street with our arms wrapped around each other the five blocks to her house.

The gaps begin to fill in as I kiss her shoulder, pressing my morning wood into her full, supple ass. I see flashes of the night replay in my mind, like how her long hair dangled over the edge of the bed as she took my cock in her mouth. And the way her tight pussy clenched against me as we fucked.

Those last memories certainly got my blood pumping. I’m awake and ready to make some fresh memories as I kiss a trail over her lean neck and suck her earlobe into my mouth. Charlotte’s eyes flutter open, a sweet smile kissing her lips.

“Mmm, good morning,” she grinds her ass back against my cock and I roll her onto her back, pinning her to the bed with my hips, hovering my face over hers.

“I’m about to make it a great morning,” my voice is raspy with need. Grabbing the base of my cock, I can’t help the groan that escapes my lips as I tease her slick clit with the tip. She’s already so wet for me. Charlotte throws her head back, moaning.

“You like that, baby?” I whisper, nipping her earlobe.

“I love it. I need to feel you again, Connor. I need to feel your cock stretch me out.”

“Yeah? Well, this time I’m gonna take my time with you,” I circle her wrists in my hands, yanking them over her head and kiss a trail down to her breasts. I take a dark nipple in my mouth, rolling my tongue over the tip.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

“Charlotte? You in there? It’s time to get ready for church!”

I jump up, watching her face transform from passion to fear as her eyes grow wide.

“Is that your roommate?” I whisper, trying to piece this interruption together.

Charlotte throws her finger over her lips and looks at me with wild-eyed panic, “Shhh! No, it’s my brother,” she hisses at me.

Thump! Thump! Thump! The banging at the door continues.

“Charlotte! You hear me? You told me you’d fill in for Ms. Douglas at Sunday school, remember? You gotta get it in gear, you know I can’t be late,” the voice rumbles through the door.

“Yeah! I’m up,” she yells back.

That’s her brother? Fear runs cold in my guts as I study her face again. Shit! “How old are you?” I eye her suspiciously. Did I go home with jailbait last night? I jump out of her bed and locate my boxer briefs in a strewn pile of our clothes and put them on.

“Shhh,” she begs for my silence as she looks from her bedroom door to my face. “I’m not a kid, Connor. I’m twenty-seven. Relax,” her voice is hushed.

Thump! Thump!

“Lottie! Don’t you fall back asleep on me,” her brother persists, “you need to run Sunday school. You promised me. If you don’t show your face at this door in five seconds I’m dragging you out of that bed!”

Wait, my stomach flips and it has nothing to do with the booze I drank last night. “Lottie?” I barely breathe the name I haven’t heard in forever. Now it’s my eyes that are wide as I study her features again, scrutinizing the details of her face.

“Five!” Her brother’s voice booms.

There’s only one girl I’ve ever known who went by “Lottie” and that was my best friend’s little sister. I squint into her eyes.

“Four!”

“Shit, I need to get dressed!” Her voice squeaks as she jumps from her bed and begins tossing clothes on so fast the fabric colors blur together. I can’t move. I’m stunned and stuck to the spot, standing in my underwear trying to process if I just spend my night with a girl I haven’t seen in the better part of fourteen years.

“Three!”

A girl I knew my entire childhood. The one with kinky short hair and terrible teeth. The one who then grew taller and had slightly longer hair and braces.

“Two!”

My former best friend’s sister. Lottie King. I can’t believe my eyes as I realize it is her. And she ain’t a little girl anymore. She’s most definitely a woman. A sexy, beautiful, mesmerizing woman.

“One!”

A woman who is definitely off limits.

The door creaks open and Lottie, I mean Charlotte, starts screaming for her brother to get out. I turn and stare at the guy I once called a blood brother. I haven’t seen him since he was eighteen. Since just before I left this town and didn’t look back. He’s barely aged at all, not that I have a ton of time to analyze his face because his dropped jaw clenches as tight as his balled-up fists do at his sides and his black eyes narrow down.

“Connor McLean! Lottie, you can’t be serious right now,” his eyes briefly flit over to his sister before staring me down.

“Marcus, let’s not get crazy,” I hold up my hands. “I had no idea this was your sister, man. It’s not like that.”

“Oh, I see how it is,” his voice booms as he lunges at me.

Fuck.

I scoot out of the way and Marcus thuds into the wall. He stands up and gives his head a shake before coming at me again, “Sandra wasn’t enough? You had to hit even closer to home? Huh?” He yells, chasing me around in a circle while I try to pick up my pants from the floor. My feet slide out from under me and I hit the carpet but manage to grasp the edge of my jeans in my fingers. Marcus lands on top of me just as I try to get back up and my head hits against the floor.

“Marcus! Leave him alone! I didn’t tell him who I was. This is my fault. You have to remember your temper,” Charlotte screams.

“Lottie, you stay outta this. It’s between me and him. Get your ass ready for church. You’re gonna make me late for my service,” Marcus answers her through gritted teeth and swings at me. I move my head and he hits the floor as he yowls.

His service? “You’re a priest?” I twist my hips hard to the left and shimmy out from under him. “Look, you’re a man of God, aren’t you supposed to be all about forgiveness?” I give it my best shot as I spring up and pick up the last of my things from the ground.

Marcus shakes his hand in the air then stands back up. “I’m a Pastor, not Jesus. And if you don’t get out of my house right now, I’m gonna be praying for my own forgiveness when I go grab my bat,” he swings at me again, rage blinding his sight.

That temper. I remember it well. I’ve felt the sting of its bite in the past. If Marcus says he’s gonna beat me with a bat and work it out with God later, I believe him.

With an arm full of my clothes, I race past him out the door of Charlotte’s room and take the stairs from the basement to the main floor two at a time. Behind me, I can hear Marcus breathing heavy as he tries to chase me down. He’s not far from my heels and I only hope he doesn’t lunge forward and grab my ankles, throwing me down the stairs.

Luckily, I make it up without incident and rush for the front door as Marcus lumbers after me like an angry grizzly bear. I don’t have time to stop and put on pants. I don’t have time to try to calm him down. I hastily yank open the front door to the house and rush through the other side, racing down to the sidewalk as Marcus yells at me.

“I better not see you around here again, Connor. Or next time I’ll break your face. And Lottie is off limits. I know you don’t know what that means, but I’ll be happy to teach you!” He alerts the entire neighborhood with his thundering voice.

I scoot down the sidewalk, trying to avoid the stares of people I can see peeking out their windows at me. I’m just grateful for the underwear I managed to put on. The last thing I need is a public indecency charge on top of everything else.

Little Lottie King is all grown up, and she just landed me in a heap of trouble. Now the question is, how can I see her again?