I woke up from a total dead sleep. I sat up confused for a few minutes. Where the hell was I? My heart started to beat rapidly. I looked around and realized I was in Jefferson’s room. I looked down at my hand. I was surprised it didn’t hurt nearly as much as it did yesterday. I pushed back the covers and walked out into the kitchen. I heard someone and my heart started to flutter. Was it Gunner?

“Hey there, honey! Did you sleep well?” Jefferson said in a very chipper mood.

“You must have had a good night last night to be so happy first thing this morning,” I replied back with a yawn. I was not a morning person. I sat down on a barstool at the kitchen island.

Jefferson let out a laugh. “You never were a morning person, Ells. And no, my night sucked. I couldn’t wait to get home. Did you have any more nightmares?

“Nope. I slept like a baby. Soooo, what’s with this date last night? How come it sucked?” I asked as Jefferson handed me a plate of scrambled eggs and a glass of Sunny D. He looked over at me like he really didn’t want to have this conversation and started to whip up more eggs.

“It sucked because the girl who I went out with is a cheerleader who cannot take no for an answer. I got tired of giving her excuses, so I thought it would be easier to just get it over with it and go out with her.”

“Hmmm, so there is no special girl in your heart, Jefferson?” I asked as I took a bite of eggs. God, I had missed his eggs! How crazy was that?

Jefferson let out a small laugh. It almost sounded like it was filled with sadness.

“Ells, the only special girl I have in my heart is you, honey. Always has been, always will be.” I smiled up at him, and my heart melted. I was starting to put two and two together. I really was beginning to think that Jefferson just might have feelings for Ari. Maybe I was way off here, but something just was not right.

Speaking of things not being right . . .

“Um, where’s Gunner? Is he still sleeping?” I asked, trying not to sound like I cared too much where he was.

“Shit no, that cowboy is not still sleeping. Even if he is out partying until three a.m., he is up by six and headed out to the gym for a workout,” Jefferson said as he grabbed his plate and a bottle of Sunny D from the refrigerator. “He runs up to the gym, works out, and runs back damn near almost every day. He puts my workouts to shame.”

“Oh, wow. No wonder he looks . . .” I shut my mouth before the next words came out. Good God, I needed to get a grip. This was just insane how this boy, no, not boy, man . . . it was insane how this man affected me. I was starting to bounce my leg up and down hoping I would not miss him before I had to leave.

“Do you have to work today, Jefferson? I mean if you do, I can give Ari a call to come and pick me up. I still have to go clean out my locker since I didn’t do it yesterday. I guess I need to go home today also. Not that Mom would even notice I didn’t come home last night,” I said as I got up to clean off my plate.

“Yeah, honey, I’m sorry. Gunner’s last day was last week, and today is mine. This internship has been great experience though. I’m kind of bummed out it’s over. Gunner is excited because all he wants to do is head out to his grandparents’ ranch,” Jefferson said with a smile.

From what Jefferson has said around me about Gunner, he absolutely adores his grandparents. Any free time he gets, he heads out to their ranch. God, I wanted to go to the country!

“It’s okay. I can just give Ari a call and see if she can come and pick me up. I know she was planning on working on her speech for tomorrow.” Just the mention of Ari’s name and I saw Jefferson tense up. Yep, there was something there whether he wanted to admit it or not.

I heard the front door open, and I looked up.

Holy fucking hell, I think I’m going to faint.

Gunner came walking into the kitchen, no shirt on, sweating . . . really sweating . . . looking really H.O.T. I had to remind myself to breathe. Fuck me, this guy was too good-looking for his own good. Oh, holy hell . . . his tattoo was so sexy . . . and . . . he had two! My eyes traveled up and down his perfect body.

Jefferson walked up and took his finger and used it to close my lower jaw.

“Breathe, sweet girl, breathe,” Jefferson whispered in my ear. It snapped me out of my temporary moment of insanity. I mean really . . . no one deserves to have a body that fucking amazing.

“Hey, morning, Ellie. How did you sleep? You need anything, pain pills or anything?” Gunner asked as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

“You headed off to work, Jeff?”

“Yep, leaving in a few minutes. Can’t believe this is my last day. Hey, Gunner, Ellie needs a ride back up to the school to clean out her locker and then she needs to head home. You busy? Would you mind giving her a lift?” Jefferson asked, as he looked at me with a shit-eating grin on his face. I knew exactly what he was doing. I couldn’t believe my own brother was selling me out, the bastard.

Before Gunner could even answer, I shot back, “No, that’s okay, I’ll give Ari a call. She can come and pick me up, it’s no big deal,” I said as I gave Jefferson a dirty look and turned to look at Gunner. I had to quickly look away. Every time I looked at him, I got a dull ache between my legs. Jesus, I needed to just get away.

“Nonsense, Ellie, it would be my pleasure to give you a ride, swee . . . um . . . I can give you a ride to wherever you need to go,” Gunner said with the sweetest smile. It was not lost on me how he was about to call me “sweetheart” and stopped.

Shit! I can’t believe I even said anything last night.

“Yeah, besides, I thought you said Ari was working on her speech today for the graduation tomorrow,” Jefferson said as he started to walk to his bedroom. I sure as hell hoped that he could feel the daggers I was throwing his way with my eyes.

“That is very sweet of you, but I need to go to the school, clean out my locker, and then head home. I’m sure you have other things you need to do,” I said as I turned to see him staring at me.

Gulp . . . it was hard to swallow. Hard even to think with him standing there with no fucking shirt on looking at me like that. Squeezing of legs . . . again . . .

“Nope . . . not a damn thing to do but take you to clean out your locker and then home; sounds like those are my plans for the day. Maybe we can even stop and get a coffee at Halcyon after we clean out your locker,” Gunner said as he started to walk past me. He stopped and pushed a piece of my hair behind my ear. He sure liked doing that. He brought his hand down and ran it lightly down my jawline.

Oh. My. God. I literally felt a jolt of electricity run from where he touched me down to my toes. I was barely able to open my mouth, let alone talk.

“Okay, um . . . yeah. I, um, I’ve always wanted to go there,” I said with a smile.

Oh, shit, I felt the blush moving up my face. Gunner just laughed and tapped my nose with his finger. “Damn, sweetheart, you’re cute as a button when you blush. I’m going to go take a shower and get ready to leave. Give me a few minutes and then we can head out, okay?”

“Sure, I still need to get ready myself. So . . . okay . . . meet ya back out here, so yeah, we can head out after that.”

Holy hell, I just needed to shut the hell up. At least he called me “sweetheart” again. My stomach got butterflies the moment he said it.

I got up to head back to Jefferson’s bedroom to get ready to go. Oh my gosh, I sure as shit hoped I had something decent to wear packed. Jefferson came walking down the hall dressed in dress pants, a button-down shirt, and a tie. Wow. I had to smile at how good-looking my own brother was. He just grabbed me and spun me around.

“You have a good day today, Sis, okay? I’ll talk to you tonight, and hey, invite whoever you want to the party tomorrow night. Talk to you later, honey, okay?” He leaned down and kissed me on my cheek.

Just then my I heard my cell phone ringing, so I ran into the bedroom to grab it.

“Hello?”

“Sooo, bitch, tell me how it went last night! I can’t imagine much happened since Jeff was there the whole time.” Ari didn’t waste a minute just jumping right into it.

I just laughed. Never one not to just get right to the point . . . that was just Arianna.

“Well, actually, Jefferson went out last night, so Gunner and I ended up watching a movie.” Silence.

“Ari, are you still there?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry about that—I’m still here, Ells. I guess I was just shocked to hear that Jeff would have gone out and left you alone with Gunner. Wow. He must really trust this guy to leave him alone with his little sister.” I had never heard so much disappointment in Ari’s voice. It broke my heart that she was so stuck on Jefferson, and he just would not give her the time of day.

I started to speak again when I saw Gunner walk out of his bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. He had walked into Jefferson’s bathroom and came right back out with something in his hand. Then I heard his bedroom door shut. Next thing I knew, I heard a loud thump on the floor. I tore my eyes away from the door and looked on the floor.

Oh, holy shit, I dropped my phone! “Ari?”

“Jesus H. Christ. What the hell, Ellie? I mean, I was talking and then next thing I know, I hear a loud noise!” Ari was yelling in my ear.

“Can you be quiet just one second, Ari?” I said as I got up and shut the bedroom door all the way.

“Holy shit, Ari. Gunner just walked out of his bedroom wearing nothing but a towel! I mean, I thought the sight of him walking in shirtless and sweaty was enough to make me go into shock . . . this just fucking topped it all. This guy is killing me! I’ve never had these feelings before, Ari, and I’m starting to get freaked out. I even had a dream about him last night,” I whispered as I went back and started looking through my bag. Shit! What was I going to wear? Just then, I saw a short denim skirt and a light blue tank top.

“Ari, did you put your outfit in my bag?”

Ari started to laugh. “I sure as shit did. I had it next to your bag so I threw it in there yesterday . . . you never know when you are going to need a cute little outfit.”

“Oh my God, you just saved me! Gunner is taking me to school to clean out my locker and then downtown to Halcyon for coffee. I didn’t have a thing to wear. You’re my hero,” I said as I stripped down to just my T-shirt.

“Of course I am . . . the only thanks I want are all the juicy details of this coffee date you’re going on with hotty Gunner. How hot did he look with his T-shirt off, ’cause yesterday he looked mighty fine with the T-shirt on, and if my ears just heard right, you have now seen him twice with no shirt on. Once when he was all sweaty from doing just what?” Ari said as she laughed her ass off.

“First off, it is not a date, he’s just doing me a favor by taking me to school and then home. Second, oh, hell yeah, he looked hotter than hot with his shirt off! He has a tribal tattoo just like Jefferson, but it starts on the right side of his massive chest, goes over his shoulder, and then down his arm a bit. He also has a tattoo on his abs. I think it’s the brand for his grandfather’s ranch. It was an M inside a triangle,” I said as I slowly opened the door back up and ran into Jefferson’s bathroom.

“Oh, holy hells bells! Okay, if that does not sound sexier than shit! Speaking of sexy, is Jeff dating someone now?” Ari asked trying to sound all casual, but I knew damn well the moment I mentioned “Jefferson” and “date” in the same sentence her world stopped spinning.

“No, I guess it was some cheerleader who would not leave him alone until they went out. Listen, I really have to jump in the shower really quick. I’ll call you when I get home! Get that speech written, girl. Oh, Jefferson said we could invite a few friends over tomorrow night, so if there is anyone you want to invite. Make sure Amanda and Heather know about it. Amanda will have fun at a party full of college guys! Just keep it to a few close friends of ours, okay?” I started up the shower and took off my T-shirt, bra, and panties.

“All right, girl, I’ll get on it. Have fun! Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do! Ha!” Ari said as she started to laugh.

“Bye, Ari.”

Just as I was about to hop in the shower, I realized I had forgotten my razor. If I was wearing a skirt, I was doing a quick once over on my legs. I grabbed the towel off the rack and wrapped it around my body. I opened the door just a tad. Gunner’s door was shut and it sounded like he was on the phone. Should be safe to make a quick run and grab my razor. I bolted out the door and into Jefferson’s bedroom. I grabbed my razor out of my bag and turned back to run back into the bathroom. Gunner’s bedroom door was literally almost directly across from Jefferson’s bathroom. As soon as I made it out the door, Gunner came walking out his door, still on the phone and still in his towel! I slammed right into him. I don’t know who was more surprised or more embarrassed because he turned the shade of the red towel that was, thank God, still wrapped around me, and I am pretty damn sure my face was just as red if not more.

Gunner dropped his phone and I dropped my razor. Unfortunately, we both bent down at the same time to pick up our stuff.

“Fuck!” we both shouted as our heads hit.

“Holy shit, Ellie . . . I thought you were in the shower!” Gunner said as his eyes took a sweep from the top of my body to the bottom. I was pretty sure he liked what he saw because he started to lick his lips and there went his hand through his hair! Oh, holy shit, now his hair was wet and it was even hotter.

Oh Lord . . . I think my legs are about to go out from underneath me. I started to sway a little bit. Gunner reached out and grabbed me.

“Ellie, are you okay, sweetheart? Does your head hurt? Do you need to sit down? Dammit, did I hurt your hand?” Gunner’s eyes were filled with so much worry and . . . love? No, he was just worried that he hurt me, that was all. I mean, my God, look at him. What could he possibly see in me?

“Um . . . oh, shit! Shit! Shit! . . . Gunner, I’m so sorry. I thought it would be safe if I ran out and grabbed something. I’m so, so sorry. Um, no, my head and my hand . . . they’re fine, really,” I said as I looked down to where his hands were still holding onto both my arms. He followed my eyes and immediately dropped his hands.

“Good, good, I, um, I’m glad you’re not hurt,” he said as he smiled down at me. Fuck. A. Duck.

I smiled and started to walk into the bathroom. As I was shutting the door, Gunner was just standing there, frozen. Once the bathroom door was all the way shut, I had to lean against it for support. Damn . . . if only his towel had dropped. I had to giggle that I even thought that. Hey, I was human after all. The dull ache in between my legs was starting to become a familiar thing when I was around this guy.

I jumped in the shower and tried to go as fast as I could. Just the thought of spending more time alone with Gunner gave me butterflies. I had to remember though: we could be nothing more than friends. A guy who was that good-looking and had that much of a rockin’ body, yeah, he would never waste his time on someone like me. I need to just keep telling myself that. Now if only my body would listen.