I woke up with my head pounding. Motherfucker, how much did I have to drink last night? I moved slightly and felt someone lying next to me. Oh, no. Oh, fuck, what the hell did I do? I started to panic before I realized I still had my clothes on. I slowly moved and looked over my left shoulder to see my sweet Ellie lying on her right side, facing me, and sleeping like a baby.

I didn’t want to move another inch for fear of waking her up. Holy shit, she was beautiful, and she looked so peaceful sleeping. I moved just a little more so that I could turn and watch her sleep. I wanted to see her eyes the moment she opened them.

If this wasn’t a fucking dream come true—Ellie, in my bed, all night.

Motherfucker! I realized I was so fucking wasted last night that I don’t even remember coming to bed. Why did she stay? Did I ask her to stay with me? I kind of remember asking her to stay with me. Did I spoon her at all last night? Fuck, I hope I didn’t try to make any moves on her. I’d never had a girl in my bed all night.

Wait, did Ellie ask me how many girls I’ve slept with? Did I answer her? Oh, shit, I hope I didn’t tell her. Fuck, my head was killing me. I needed some Advil and a glass of OJ in a really bad way.

No, even drunk, I wouldn’t be that fucking stupid to tell her how many girls I’ve been with. It’s not like it’s a huge number. I’m sure Jeff has me fucking beat by at least ten. It doesn’t matter, though. None of those girls could hold a candle to Ellie.

Ellie started to move. I watched her as she stretched out and then opened her eyes. Four blue eyes staring at each other. I could die right now and be a happy son of a bitch.

There was that smile . . . I couldn’t help but smile back at her. My heart starting beating faster the wider her smile got.

“Good morning, sweetheart.”

“Good morning, Gunner.” She practically purred my name.

I reached over and pushed her hair behind her ear. So beautiful . . .

“Drew.”

“What?” Ellie asked as she looked at me confused.

“My name, it’s Drew. I just wanted to hear you say my real name,” I said as I leaned over and gently brushed my lips against hers.

“Your name isn’t Gunner? How did you get that name then?” Ellie asked as she looked at me with a smile.

“Say it first. Say my name first. I want to hear you say good morning to me.”

Ellie let out a laugh. “Good morning, Drew. How did you sleep?”

The feeling that sped through my body when I heard her call me by my name was unreal. Why did that affect me so damn much?

“That’s two firsts for me.”

Ellie laughed. “Really? And what are they?”

“Well, first off, I’ve never had a girl spend the night with me and tell me good morning. And second, I’ve never had a girl call me by my real name. I wanted you to be the only one to do it.”

Ellie tried to hide her face, but I saw the blush creep into her cheeks. Shit, I would never, ever get tired of that!

She peeked up at me and started to laugh as she pushed my shoulder back.

“Tell me how you got the name Gunner.”

“Well, let’s see. My sophomore year I was on the punt team. There are two guys that split out, and they call them gunners. Their job is to go directly to the ball and try to make the tackle while all the other guys fan out into zones to try to funnel the guy with the ball. I played that position—gunner. My coach used me as an example once because I made the most tackles. He’d tell the guys they needed to tackle ‘like ol’ Gunner here.’ It stuck, and from that point on everyone called me Gunner for the rest of high school. I liked it, so that’s what I went by.”

“Everyone called you that? Even your teachers?”

“Yep, everyone called me that.”

“Did your parents call you that also?”

“No. They call me Drew. So do my grandparents,” I said as I traced her jawline.

“I like Drew, but I like Gunner better!” Ellie said with a laugh.

“I like Gunner better, too, sweetheart. But I also like the way Drew sounds coming from your lips.”

I leaned down and went to kiss her more deeply this time. She pulled back from me and jumped out of my bed.

“Um, I haven’t brushed my teeth yet,” she said as she walked into my bathroom.

Fuck, I could get used to this. Ellie waking up with me every morning and me being the first person she spoke to.

After we brushed our teeth, I watched as Ellie put her hair up in a ponytail.

“Let’s go get breakfast, shall we? I need something for my damn headache,” I said as I took Ellie’s hand in mine.

“Well, maybe that will teach you not to drink so much, Mr. Mathews. You were pretty wasted last night!” Ellie said with a laugh.

I immediately stopped and looked at her. “I didn’t, um, say anything to you that was out of line or anything, did I?”

Ellie smiled up at me, shook her head no, and stood on her toes to give me a kiss. I reached down and cupped her face in my hands and deepened the kiss. Ellie let out a small moan that traveled from my mouth straight to my dick.

Then I heard a scream.

Ellie jumped back and looked down the hall toward Jeff’s room. I looked over at the sofa and Jeff was already gone. He must have gone for a run . . . Motherfucker had more to drink than me. How the hell does he do that?

Ellie took off toward Jeff’s room and threw the door open. I was right behind her. We both came to a halt when I saw Ari standing in her pink sleeveless shirt and underwear. Jeff was wearing the same jeans he had on last night but no shirt on.

“You motherfucker! What the fuck were you doing?” Ari screamed at Jeff.

Jeff looked like he had one hell of a hangover, and Ari’s screaming at him was not helping. He also looked confused as hell.

Ari quickly started to put on her miniskirt and kept screaming at Jeff.

“I cannot believe that you slept in here with me! I woke up to you spooning me, you dirty bastard! You said you were going to sleep on the sofa, and Ellie, where the hell were you all night last night?”

Now Jeff really looked confused, and then he looked pissed . . . at me.

Jeff looked back and forth between me, Ellie, and Ari. Then he narrowed in on me. He started to walk my way, and I knew instantly what he was thinking. I threw my hands up in the air.

“Wait! Stop, Jeff—nothing happened!” It must have dawned on Ellie what Jeff was thinking because she stepped in between both of us.

“Get the fuck out of the way, Ellie, right now!” Jeff hissed between his teeth.

“Jefferson, stop! Nothing happened between us. Nothing! I slept in his bed, and that’s all we did—sleep. Gunner passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow,” Ellie said as she was trying to push Jeff away from me.

“Jeff, knock it off, man. You know me better than that!”

Jeff took a few steps back and ran both his hands through his hair and down his face. He turned to look at Ari and his face turned white.

“Oh my God, did we . . . we didn’t . . . I mean, oh, holy shit.” He looked down and saw that he was still dressed in jeans and he sat down on the bed.

“What? Oh my God! No we did not have sex, you fucking idiot! What kind of girl do you think I am, you motherfucking dickwad? I can’t believe you thought . . . Oh, that’s just classic Jeff. And in the same bed you fucked Rebecca in, too. Wouldn’t that have made my first time so special? Drunk and in the man whore’s bed to lose my virginity, yep, just like I always dreamed it would be.”

“Arianna, just shut up for two fucking minutes while I try to figure out how I woke up holding you in my bed!” Jeff shouted at Ari.

Ellie and I stood there stunned. Jeff looked back at me and then over at Ellie and back at me again. I shrugged my shoulders. Fuck if I knew how he ended up in here.

“When Gunner and I came in from outside you were passed out on the sofa, Jefferson, so you must have woke up in the middle of the night and came to bed. Sheesh, thank God I was in with Gunner!” Ellie said with a laugh.

Both Ari and Jeff looked at Ellie and gave her a dirty look.

“What? How weird would it have been to wake up with my brother spooning me?”

Ellie and I both started laughing. Jeff dropped his head, and I could tell he was laughing.

“Fuck off—all of you!” Ari said as she grabbed her purse and walked out of the bedroom.

Ellie went after Ari calling her name.

Jeff looked up at me, and I walked over and sat down on his bed. We both looked like hell, and I’m sure he felt as bad as I did.

“You don’t remember coming in here last night, dude?” I asked as I looked at him.

He smiled at me with a big shit-eating grin. “Nope, no memory of that at all, but I’ll never forget waking up with a hard-on pressed into the girl of my dreams’ ass!”

“Oh, fuck, dude, that’s just not right!” I said as we both laughed.

“Fuckin’ A, Gunner, this is the first time I’ve ever had a girl in my bed all night and not had sex with her! I actually enjoyed waking up and smelling her right there. At least I enjoyed it for about thirty seconds before she started screaming.”

“Dude, tell me. I fucking woke up in heaven this morning. If I died today, I would be a happy man!” I said as we both stood up.

“Holy shit, what’s happening to us?” Jeff asked as we made our way out to the living room.

“Hell if I know, dude . . . hell if I know.”