Luke frowned as Elise escaped into the house. While he had hoped to kiss her sometime today, he hadn’t planned to do it before the party even started. But she’d stood there, smelling like heaven, in her sexy outfit with her skintight top and shorts that showed off her legs, looking at him with her big eyes, and he’d wanted her something fierce.

He hadn’t been able to resist teasing her about their night together, and he’d enjoyed the blush that spread from her face down to her chest. She’d flushed like that when she came, too. Luke adjusted himself in his shorts, grateful that he was alone in the garage at the moment.

The sound of more car doors shutting told him that more guests had arrived. He directed everyone to the backyard, where the previous guests were, after showing them where the food and drinks were located. He was starting to wonder who the host and hostess of this party were when he saw a figure coming up the driveway that caused him to run scared into the house.

Elise was alone in the kitchen, cutting up the fruit that Rachel had previously been working on.

“Where are they?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “Sean! Rachel!” he called down the hall.

A second later, their bedroom door opened, and they stepped out. Rachel was finger-combing her hair, and Sean was tugging down his shirt.

Oh, nice.

So, while they had been getting it on, Luke was preparing himself to fight off unwanted attention all day. This was supposed to be a fun, relaxing holiday.

“Why the hell did you let Molly bring her little sister?” he asked his friends.

Rachel covered her mouth with her hand as she tried not to laugh.

Luke pointed a finger at her. “This is not funny.”

“It kind of is,” she countered.

Sean sighed. “For the record, I told Rachel no, but Molly begged Rachel to let her come. Something about how her sister was sad because she’d just broken up with her boyfriend, and Molly couldn’t leave her home alone.”

Luke threw his hands up in exasperation. “Great. Now, she’s going to be even clingier than usual. Doesn’t that girl have any friends of her own?”

“Apparently, they all went away for the week or something,” Rachel said.

“Wait a second,” Elise spoke up. “What am I missing here?”

“My friend Molly has a younger sister who”—Rachel paused, as if searching for the right words—“has a bit of an interest in Luke.”

Luke snorted. “A bit of an interest? The girl—and, when I say girl, I mean, girl because she’s only, like, nineteen—will not leave me alone whenever I see her. I practically have to peel her off me.”

Elise laughed.

“Oh, Barbie’s not that bad,” Rachel said.

Elise laughed harder, clutching her stomach. “Her name is Barbie? This keeps getting better.”

“Ha-ha,” Luke said sarcastically. “It’s hilarious.”

“Sorry, man,” Sean told him.

Inspiration struck, and Luke snapped his fingers. “I know. Elise, pretend to be my girlfriend. She’ll leave me alone then.”

Elise shook her head, still giggling. “No way. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

“You suck. I hate you all,” Luke told the room.

He stomped out of the house, Elise’s and Rachel’s laughter trailing behind him.

He went over to the stereo on the deck, plugged in his iPod, and cranked up the music to a loud but tolerable level. Then, he grabbed a beer and threw himself into a chair to pout. He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and pretended to be busy on it while sipping his beer.

It didn’t work.

Ten seconds later, Barbie sat beside him, and he groaned into his drink. She had her platinum-blonde hair in big, fluffy curls, and she wore what looked like a truckload of makeup. Her outfit was way too revealing for an afternoon barbeque. She looked like she was ready to go out to the club.

“Hi, Luke,” she said, full of excitement.

Luke leaned his head back against his chair. “Hey.”

He had to tread cautiously with Barbie. He didn’t want to lead her on or give any indication that she had a chance with him. Yet he had to be very careful that he didn’t hurt her feelings. She was at an age where she was finding herself, and he didn’t want to be the jerk older guy who crushed her spirit and made her hate men forever.

God, he was glad he wasn’t in college anymore.

“How are you, Luke?”

He looked around for Molly, who knew that her sister had a thing for him, but she was off in the corner, talking to someone. So, Luke sipped his beer and tried not to fidget.

“Good,” he answered Barbie. He didn’t want to be rude, but he also didn’t offer any more information than that.

He spied Elise walking out of the back of the house.

Although I could be better, he thought when he saw her.

She stood close enough to listen to him and Barbie but didn’t approach them.

“And you?” he asked Barbie, whose back was to Elise.

Barbie shrugged. “I’m doing okay.”

Clearly, she only said she was okay, so Luke would ask why. But he wasn’t about to mention that he’d heard about her breakup because he didn’t want her thinking he’d been talking about her. She would surely take it as a sign that he was interested.

His phone buzzed in his hand.

He nodded. “That’s good,” he said as he unlocked his phone and pulled up his messages.

Elise: She’s cute.

Luke: Ugh. She reminds me of my little sister.

Luke looked over at the deck. Elise stood there with a smirk on her face, looking at her phone.

“Yeah, I just broke up with my boyfriend,” Barbie said, her head down as she gazed up at him through her lashes.

Luke quickly looked away as his phone buzzed again.

Elise: Can she be any more obvious that she wants to do you?

Luke: God, I hope not.

“Oh, that sucks. Breakups are no fun,” Luke told Barbie.

Buzz.

Elise: What is it with women wanting to sleep with you?

Luke: I’m irresistible. Although not irresistible enough. You don’t want to sleep with me again.

Elise: Who said I didn’t want to sleep with you again?

He read Elise’s text just as Barbie said, “Yeah, I’m hoping to have a little rebound sex.”

Holy hell.

He’d been in the middle of taking another sip of his beer and practically choked on it after reading Elise’s message and listening to Barbie blatantly hit on him.

It was a good thing he was coughing from his drink going down the wrong tube, so he didn’t have to respond to Barbie right away. Meanwhile, Elise was trying not to die from laughter.

Luke quickly picked up his phone when it buzzed again.

Elise: Bwahahahaha.

Luke: If that’s not true, then how about you come over here and sit on my dick again? That’ll let Barbie know I’m interested in only you.

Elise: And give everyone in the backyard a show? I don’t think so.

Luke: Okay then, how about you please get your sexy ass over here and rescue me?

Elise: I don’t know. I like watching you squirm. It’s not every day that Luke Long is uncomfortable. I’m kind of enjoying this.

Luke: Please. I’m begging you.

Elise: Okay, but you owe me.

“Luke,” Barbie said, “are you going to be okay?”

Luke was still coughing, so he hit his fist against his chest a couple of times, trying to clear his lungs. “Yeah, I think I’ll live.”

“About what I said…” Barbie started but didn’t get to finish because Elise approached them.

“Hey, Luke?”

“Oh, hi, Elise. Elise, this is Barbie. Barbie, this is my good friend Elise.”

“Hello,” Elise said cheerfully.

“Hi,” Barbie said, clearly unhappy.

Luke smiled at Elise. “What’s up?” he asked Elise, pretending like they hadn’t been texting back and forth.

“Could you come into the house for a minute? Sean needs you.”

Luke jumped up from his seat. “Oh, sure.” Feeling slightly bad for Barbie, he turned back to her. “Sorry. Gotta go.”

“Bye, Luke,” she said, obviously disappointed that he was leaving.

Luke threw his arm around Elise’s neck, pulling her close as they walked toward the house. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he whispered in her ear.

Elise wrapped her arm around his waist. “You’re welcome.”

“I owe you.”

“How about you just watch my back? Because, with the daggers Barbie is sending my way, I’m afraid she might go a little Fatal Attraction on me. Make sure you inform the police about your admirer-slash-stalker when I turn up dead.”

“She’s not my stalker. I rarely even see her. It’s just that, when I do…”

“She wants to have rebound sex with you,” Elise said with a laugh.

Luke shuddered. “Please do not say that again. I wasn’t lying when I said she reminded me of my sister. It creeps me out.”

They reached the sliding glass door and dropped their arms to turn toward each other. Elise had an odd look on her face.

“What?” he asked.

She shook her head and smiled at him. “Nothing. You’d better get in there and help Sean before Barbie sics herself on you again.”

“You joke, but it’s true.”

She laughed. “Go on. Find something else to do for a few minutes. I’ll keep an eye on Barbie and make sure she doesn’t follow you inside.”

Luke kissed her on the cheek. “Thanks, babe.”