“Fuck!” I growl before I can stop myself. It’s a kneejerk reaction and the word springs forth the minute I see Lexi. I watch her flinch at what I said and I instantly regret it. The thing is, when I’m around her I can’t seem to stop myself from being an asshole. It’s my way to push her away, to pretend she’s nothing more to me than Brooks’ little sister. I’ve spent my life pushing her away, it seems. “What are you doing here, Lexi?”

“Charming as ever,” she mutters. She gets up off the ground, turning away from me. I bite down a moan when she bends over and her ass stretches against her jeans. Sweet mother of God, there’s not a woman alive that can fill out a pair of pants like Lexi.

She turns around, holding a hammer in one hand. I should probably worry she’s going to use it on me. Lord knows I’ve given her more than enough reason to.

“What are you doing here?” I ask again.

“Gee, I don’t know, Einstein. Camping?” There’s a bite in her voice.

“Camping?”

“That’s what I said,” she mumbles, walking toward the heap of material lying on the ground that I think is supposed to be her tent.

“Lexi.”

“What?” she asks, looking over at me.

“You don’t camp. Hell, you cringe at the thought of using a public bathroom, let alone going out in the woods.” I look around. She’s alone. She came out here alone? I don’t fucking like that.

“You don’t know me anymore, Beau. You never did, really,” she says, avoiding my eyes.

She’s wrong, of course. If she had any idea just how much I know about her, she would freak out. There was a time in my life where I lived for daily updates about her. Shit, maybe I still do, but I need to stop. Lexi is not mine and she never will be. This week is all about starting fresh and putting the past behind me. Just because the biggest problem with my past has shown up here, nothing has changed. It’s just a sign from the cosmic universe that moving on is long past due.

“You still with that Eddie boy?” I ask her. I remember she was with some loser named Edward Winslow the Third. Brooks would bitch about the little asshole daily, and I’d grit my teeth thinking of Lexi with someone other than me. He never fails to remind you of the third part either—which is rather stupid, since the dude used to work as a night manager at the local 7/11. Why she ever saddled herself with that waste of space I will never know.

She snorts. “No,” she says firmly, trying to ignore me and look at the mess that is her tent. She’s staring at the metal pole that loops in the ends of the tent like it’s a creature from outer space. I’d laugh if my heart wasn’t beating in my chest so hard that it’s painful.

“You finally kicked the guy to the curb?” I ask her, alternating between hoping I’m right and praying I’m wrong. It was hard enough to stay away from Lexi before. If she’s single… Fuck.

“We broke up, if you must know.”

“Brooks never mentioned it,” I mumble, more to myself than to her.

“Why in the world would he mention it to you? Besides, I’m not sure he knows.”

“Why wouldn’t your brother know?” I rub the back of my neck, hating that the fact of Lexi being single is getting to me so deeply.

“It may surprise you, Beau, but my brother doesn’t really want to hear about my personal life.”

“You can tell me all about it,” I tell her with a grin, doing my best to not let her know that the news of her being single has shaken me.

“Why? Do you need to take notes?” she asks, sweetly.

“Trust me, honey, notes on your personal life is the last thing I need,” I tell her, getting annoyed at the thought of her with anyone. Shit, all I can think about is showing her exactly how much I want her … as long as Brooks never found out about it. Christ, I can’t camp beside Lexi; there’s no way I’m going to survive.

She stretches the tent pole she’s holding. Too bad it’s the wrong part of the tent and she doesn’t have the pole set.

I bite back a laugh when once she has it stretched she takes a step back to admire her handiwork and the tent collapses in a sorrowful, sad mess. I look up at the clouds in the sky and sigh. If I don’t get a move on with my own tent, we’re both going to be sitting out in the rain. If I do get my tent up, Lexi will probably wind up in it with me… which will be a different kind of hell.