What the hell? As soon as we walked into Halcyon, I could not miss the dirty looks the girl behind the bar was throwing my way. I was so happy before we walked in there. Even if Gunner’s reference to me being “his girl” was just to make a joke, it still felt good. Then we walked in and this Crysti bitch is all but taking her breasts out of her shirt and flirting with Gunner. I mean, come on, skank. I knew we were not on a date, but she didn’t know that. Good grief. Wait until I tell Ari about this bitch.

I wonder if Gunner went out with her. What the hell did he see in someone like her? I looked up at her, and sure enough she was staring. I looked over at Gunner and he was looking at me with that melt-my-panties crooked smile of his. If he went out with someone so beautiful as the blonde behind the bar, he would never want someone like me.

You will never be wanted by anyone . . .

“Hey, I’m sorry about Crysti being so rude like that. She’s just a bitch and that’s her problem. Don’t let her spoil our fun day, okay?” Gunner said as he took his hand and lifted my chin up to look at him.

God, his eyes. I tore my eyes away from his and looked at his lips. I would give anything to kiss him. Just then, I saw him leaning down toward me . . . oh, shit . . .

“Is she an old girlfriend?” I just blurted out in my sheer panic. Shit! Gunner instantly stopped and sat back. He moved his hand through his hair. God, why did that turn me on so much? I looked away because I thought I already knew his answer.

“No, Ellie she’s not an old girlfriend. She is just some girl I took on a date once,” Gunner said as he looked back over at the bar. Why did he seem mad all of a sudden? I guess I had no right to even ask. I mean, maybe I was just imagining all of this. Was he really leaning down to kiss me? No, he wasn’t, you fool. He’s just being nice to you because of Jefferson. Or maybe he looks at you like a little sister. I don’t know. I was getting mixed signals here. Shit, who was I kidding? I didn’t even know what signals to look for!

For some reason, my mouth was talking before my brain thought it through. “So how come you went out only once? She seemed to act like she knew you pretty well.”

Oh. My. God. Did I just really say that?

Gunner let out a small laugh. “I only went out with her as a favor for Jeff.” Oh? This has me intrigued now. “Jeff asked Crysti’s roommate Jemma out, and she said the only way she would go out with him is if I went out with Crysti. So we all went out on a double date. Longest four hours of my entire life. She is a self-absorbed bitch. Same went for Jemma too. Jeff was not the least bit interested after about two hours into the date. It was more like five minutes into the date when I lost interest. I remember I kept checking the Rangers game on my phone pretty much the whole time.”

I let out a laugh at the way Gunner described their double date. Come to think of it, Jefferson had never really had a long-term girlfriend. I wondered if Gunner has. According to Jefferson, he hadn’t.

“Have you ever been in a long-term relationship with anyone?” I asked just as they called out Gunner’s name for our drinks. Gunner jumped up and walked over to the bar. He said something to the guy at the bar who I could tell said “sure thing.”

Gunner set our drinks down at the table and then slid back in. This time I noticed he sat a little closer to me. I could practically feel his body heat. Hells bells, there went that ache between my legs again. I squeezed my legs together to try to relieve it. Jesus, why did I never feel this with Ryan? What was going on with me?

Friends, Ellie . . . only friends.

Just when I thought I was going to explode, Gunner started to talk. “To get back to your question, Ellie: no, I’ve never been in a long-term relationship. Longest I ever dated one girl was maybe four or five dates? I don’t remember. It was when I first came to UT,” Gunner said as he took a sip of his drink.

Okay, so shouldn’t I feel relieved that he has never been in a crazy-love-fest relationship? Or did this just confirm what I was also thinking, that someone like Gunner would never settle down with a girl, especially a girl like me. Totally unworthy of him, that is all I was.

Once we finished eating our lunch, the guy who Gunner talked to at the bar earlier brought out our tableside s’mores. It was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. It was a big wooden bowl and in the center was a little burner. Around the burner in the bowl there were two sticks, some marshmallows, a Hershey’s candy bar, and four packs of graham crackers. Gunner picked up one of the sticks and stuck a marshmallow on it. He handed it to me, and I roasted it over the little flame. He opened the crackers and the candy bar and had it all ready to go since my right hand was still sore. Good God, could this guy get any better? Just then, my marshmallow caught on fire, and I laughed. Gunner grabbed my hand to blow out the fire, then took the charred marshmallow and sandwiched it in between the crackers and the chocolate. I was still trying to recover from him grabbing my hand and sending electricity through my overly sensitive body when he took the cracker and put it up to my mouth for me to eat it.

Holy crap, he was feeding me the s’mores. Yes, yes, he could get better!

Gunner started to laugh when the marshmallow trailed from my mouth to the cracker he was trying to pull away. I reached up and tried to break it. Shit, it was getting everywhere.

We both laughed as he tried to make and feed me s’mores. I totally forgot all about the bitch working behind the bar. At one point I looked up, and if looks could kill, I’d be dead on the spot right now.

Gunner finally ate his last s’more and walked up to get two glasses of water. That bitch Crysti was trying to make a conversation with him, but I could tell Gunner was not the least bit interested. For one brief moment I let myself believe we were here on our first date. It could not have been any more perfect.

Gunner set the water glasses on the table and then slid back in. “Thank you so much for lunch, Gunner. This really was fantastic. I’ll never eat a s’more again without thinking about you!” I said as I used one of the wipes to clean my hands and mouth.

“Good, because that was my plan all along,” he said with a smile.

“What was your plan?” I asked as I looked at the piece of marshmallow that was smeared across the side of his perfect mouth. I could not pull my eyes away from his mouth.

“What’re you looking at, Ellie? Is there something on my face?”

I don’t know what came over me, but I reached up with my left index finger and tried to wipe the marshmallow off his mouth. Gunner grabbed my hand, and before I knew what he was doing he put my finger into his mouth and sucked on it.

Holy hell, I’m pretty sure I let out a moan. The ache between my legs grew ten times stronger. I stared at him. I could not tear my eyes away from his mouth. It was the hottest damn thing I’d ever experienced in my life. I didn’t want him to stop . . . ever. He slowly took my finger out of his mouth.

“Now that was the best thing I’ve tasted all day,” Gunner said with a wink and sexy smirk. I just sat there stunned. I don’t even think I was breathing. How did he do that? How could he make me want him so damn much? Did he know what he was doing? Surely he knew that was going to turn me on.

Okay, I had to clear my head and get away from him because I was so ready to just jump on him.

No! I could not do this. Gunner was not looking for a relationship, and I certainly was in no way looking to let someone in just to get hurt again.

“Um, I guess we should leave, don’t you think?” I said as I looked up at his beautiful eyes. His smile faded for one quick second and then it was back.

“Sure, you probably need to get things ready for tomorrow,” Gunner said as he slid out of the booth. He took my arm, helped me up, and guided me out the door with his hand on the small of my back. God, please help me, because every time he touched me, I thought I was going to explode.

As we stood and waited for Gunner’s truck to be brought back up, he made small talk about graduation. What time was it, how long did I think it was going to last? Once we got the truck and got in and started toward my house, he started to talk about the graduation party.

“So did you invite any other friends to come tomorrow night?” Gunner asked, trying desperately to make small talk.

“Um, yeah, I think Ari was going to invite our friends Amanda and Heather. They’ve been to a few UT frat parties with us, so yeah, I think they will be up for it.”

“So just three friends are all you’re inviting, Ells? I mean this is your party, so you can invite whomever you want. You know that, right?” Gunner said as he watched me very closely.

Huh? What was he expecting? For me to say I was inviting a guy? My heart sank for just a moment. Was Gunner going to have a date there? I started to get angry just thinking about it.

Really, honestly, Ellie, it’s not like he’s your boyfriend.

“I know. I really only have a few close friends, and to be honest, I want to start moving away from the high school crowd. I’ve been dying to come to one of y’all’s parties for so long. I’m pretty excited about it!”

Gunner let out a laugh. “I know how that feels . . . wanting to get away from everything high school. Um, so tell me, what frat parties have you and your friends gone to?”

Oh, shit . . . busted. “Gunner, please don’t tell Jefferson! He would be so pissed at me if he knew. I mean, he is so overprotective, and I’m so shocked he is even having this party for me and . . . and, well, I mean, we only went a few times and it sucked each time we went. My God, those college guys had their paws all over us. It was disgusting! Although, Amanda lost her virginity at one of the parties, but—”

Just then I heard Gunner start choking. Oh . . . Oh no! Oh, holy shit, I swear I have zero filters. Zero.

“Oh my God, are you okay? I mean, oh my God, oh my God! I can’t believe I said that out loud. I mean, oh, holy shit, oh no! Please, Gunner, don’t repeat that . . . ever! Oh God, first I slip about Ari to Jefferson and now Amanda! Holy hells bells, Amanda is going to kill me, and if Jefferson ever found out that one of my friends . . . oh my God, I almost said it again . . .” There it went . . . my mouth talking when my brain clearly had checked out again.

“Ellie, please . . . just please stop talking! You’re making it worse!” Gunner said as he had tears running down his face. Thank goodness we were stopped at a traffic light. I looked over at Gunner and busted out laughing. I laughed so hard, and it felt so good. I could not remember the last time I laughed so hard or had so much fun. I loved spending time with him. I didn’t want this day to ever end.

Everything about him made me happy. His eyes, his smile, his touch, his laugh. We must have laughed for a good five minutes. God, it felt so good to just be carefree and relaxed.

I was surprised Gunner knew where I lived. I don’t ever remember him coming over to the house. “How did you know where I lived?” I asked as we were driving down the street that lead to our simple three-bedroom house.

“I’ve been here plenty of times, Ellie. You were just never home. I think you might have been home one time, but I usually just waited out in the truck for Jeff,” Gunner said with a smile. He looked up and his smile faded and was replaced by a look that scared the shit out of me. I looked over toward my house as Gunner parked his truck.

Holy hell. Ryan was sitting on the steps to my house.