There’s a special place in hell for a man like me—a man who shamelessly sleeps with his best friend’s little sister, knowing he’ll never be what she needs. A man who takes without giving anything in return, because the only thing he has to offer is a broken past that’s destined to destroy his future.

Adley Allen presses her naked body against mine and sighs. Her silky skin brushes against my chest, testing my strength—strength I’ve already proven I don’t have when I’m around her.

She looks up, her dark brown eyes finding mine. “That was the best celebratory sex I’ve ever had.”

“Damn right it was. We’re going to start celebrating everything. You wake up. We celebrate. You eat. We celebrate. You shi—”

“Don’t even say it.” She laughs, slapping at my chest.

“Fine, I won’t say it, but just so you know, we’re celebrating it.”

Shaking her head, Adley rests her chin on my chest. “I can’t believe this morning was my last final. No more college.”

“Believe it.”

“No more clinicals or homework. All I have to do now is take my state board, and once I pass, I’ll be a real nurse.” She blinks, and her face sobers. “Unless I fail. What if I fail?”

“You’re not going to fail.” Cradling the back of her head, I lean down and kiss her nose. “You have a big, beautiful brain.”

Her shoulders visibly relax. “You’re right. I’ve spent the last four years preparing for this. I’ll pass.”

“I know you will.”

“But what if I kill someone?”

“What?”

“What if I pass my boards, get a great job, and accidentally kill someone?”

She’s so cute when she’s flustered. I smooth the wrinkle out on her brow. “You’re not going to kill anyone.”

“You don’t know that. What if I give someone the wrong medicine or—”

My lips put a stop to her crazy words. Adley’s body melts against mine. She swings a leg over my hips, straddling me. “Are you trying to distract me?”

“If I was trying to distract you, I would’ve done this.” Curling my fingers around Adley’s hips, I roll her against my erection. Her eyes gloss over, the same way they did five months ago when I kissed her for the first time.

A kiss that never should’ve happened.

A kiss I couldn’t stop even if I’d wanted to.

You were supposed to be off limits, I think to myself, my mind drifting back to the warning Rhett gave me the first time I met his little sister…

“Who’s that?” I asked him, nodding to a girl at the end of the bar. She was perched on the edge of a stool, her long, dark hair falling down her back and a cherry red stiletto hooked on the bottom rung.

Rhett had followed my gaze and then glared at me. “That’s my little sister, jackass, and she’s off limits. She’s not even twenty-one.”

For five long years I managed to look past Adley’s soft curves and seductive smile, refusing to acknowledge the pull I felt every time she walked into a room.

That all changed last December when we ran into each other at The Broken Boot. We shared a basket of wings, a few drinks, and then I offered her a ride home from the bar. What should’ve been an innocent drive ended with a heated kiss that snowballed into an unexpected affair that neither one of us seems able or willing to walk away from—not yet, at least—despite our mutual agreement to keep things light and easy.

School has been Adley’s main focus, and I have way too much shit going on in my life for a relationship—I always will. That’s why whatever this is works. No strings. No commitment. Great sex. Can’t get much better than that.

Outside of the bedroom, our lives are entirely different. But get us stripped bare and under the covers—or against the wall, or on the kitchen counter—and the rest of the world falls away. Which is why, similar to that first fateful night, I’m unable to stop myself now.

Wedging a hand between our bodies, I slide two fingers inside of her.

Lips parted, Adley places her hands on my chest and drops her head back, exposing the porcelain skin of her neck. Skin I’ve spent countless hours exploring.

“I have a million things to do this afternoon,” she mumbles.

“What could possibly be more important than this?” I rub my thumb over her clit and prepare to tell her all the ways I’ll bring her pleasure if she stays, but the sight of her hips rocking against my hand and her breasts swaying in front of me dissolves the words right out of my mouth.

Sitting up, I capture a breast with my lips and suck her nipple deep into my mouth. Adley pushes her hands into my hair, holding me against her as my tongue falls into an easy rhythm with my hand. Her muscles contract around my fingers, and her breathing turns ragged.

I move from one breast to the other, teasing and sucking, and when I pinch her clit, Adley flies apart. She’s a gelatinous pile of moans and convulsions and sinful words. I continue to pump my fingers in and out until her body slumps lifelessly against mine. I release her breast with a pop, pull my fingers from her wet heat, and look up. Adley’s dark hair is a wild mess of waves from the hours we’ve spent celebrating. Her lips are puffy, cheeks flushed, eyes dilated, and she’s never looked sexier.

There’s nothing I want more than to flip her over, press her delicate body into the mattress with my much larger one and make love to her the way I’ve wanted to for the last several months. Our affair was supposed to have an expiration date, but somewhere along the way, we blurred the lines. We went from walking away after a round of hot sex to having sleepovers and breakfast in bed, and I can’t keep my hands off of her, which makes it difficult when Rhett invites me to his parents’ house for Sunday dinner.

I can’t pinpoint when my feelings for Adley started to shift. But one day it was just there, a little voice begging for something more. It’s that voice, that yearning, that drives me out of this bed before I do something stupid like make love to her, because I don’t make love.

I fuck.

And right now, I can’t fuck Adley. I’m too raw and vulnerable, wondering what’s going to happen between us now that she’s finished school. And if there are two things I hate feeling, it’s raw and vulnerable.

I need to sharpen that line between us, get us back on track with no-strings sex before one of us gets hurt, and there’s only one way I know how to do that.

With a kiss to her sweet lips, I smack her ass and nudge her off of me. She pulls the sheet over her naked breasts and watches me.

“Why do you always do that?” she asks.

“Do what?”

“Pull away from me.”

“I’m not pulling away from you.”

“Yes, you are.”

Finding a pair of sweats on the floor, I slip them on, forgoing my underwear, and turn back toward Adley. She looks like an angel in my bed, and I don’t know how long I can keep doing this. Whatever this is between us, it’s coming to a head. I can feel it.

And she’s right—I pull away all the time. I like to tell myself it’s to protect Adley, but that would be a lie. I do it to protect myself.

I walk back to the bed and lean down, pressing my hands to the mattress. “I never should’ve offered you a ride home that night.”

“I hate that you feel that way. Maybe that day was the start of something wonderful.” She brushes her fingers across my cheek. The frazzled mess inside my head calms at the touch of her hand.

So, yeah, this is where that special place in hell part comes in, because I will never be her something wonderful. My parents made sure of that. But that doesn’t stop me from wrapping my fingers around her wrist, pulling her hand to my mouth, and giving her false hope.

“I said I shouldn’t have asked, not that I regret asking.” I kiss each of her knuckles.

I can’t bring myself to regret a damn thing that happens between me and Adley, no matter how bad I want to.

Releasing her hand, I trail my finger from the base of her neck, down her chest, over her collarbone, and along a pink nipple. Adley arches off the bed when I flick the tight bud, and if I didn’t know better, I’d swear I see the same yearning I feel reflected back at me.

But that can’t be, because men like me don’t get women like her. At least not to keep. I was the kid who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks with shit parents and clothes that had been handed down one too many times. I stole to feed my sister, fought to protect her, and I will always be the guy your parents don’t want you to bring home.

I’m Adley’s walk on the wild side. Her dirty little secret. And I’m okay with that.

Ninety-nine percent of the time.

Today is just that one percent when it doesn’t sit well with me. For some strange reason, I want to be here to celebrate all of Adley’s victories, not just this one. I want to be here when she gets her first job and take her out to dinner after her first shift. I want to be the person she calls when she has a bad day or saves someone’s life.

Shit. I need to get a handle on these damn feelings.

I pull my hand away, stand up, and reach for my shirt. “You should get going. You have lots of things to do, right?”

With a loud grown, she flings her legs over the side of the bed, the sheet pooling around her waist, and my eyes drop to her chest. Her nipples tighten under my gaze, and I grin.

“Stop doing that,” she says.

I move my eyes back to hers. “Doing what?”

“Looking at me like that. It’s like I have no control over my body when you’re around.”

“That’s a bad thing?”

Her lips part and then snap shut, and she looks down at her hands. “No, it’s not a bad thing.” Head tilted to the side, she glances up at me through thick, dark lashes. “And for the record, I’m glad you offered me a ride home that night. I just wish it hadn’t taken you five years to notice me.”

Is she crazy? “You think I didn’t notice you?” I admonish.

She shrugs, but that’s not good enough. I’m in knots over her, have been for months—years if I’m being honest. “Trust me, sweetheart, I noticed.”

“Oh yeah?” She arches an eyebrow and pushes up from the bed. With her eyes locked on mine, Adley bends over, scoops her shorts off the floor, and steps into them. Her silky underwear ride up her ass, leaving very little to the imagination. Slowly she stands, dragging her shorts up as she does, and the conversation fades into something I’m much more comfortable with.

This I can handle.

She wiggles her ass. “Is this what you noticed?”

I slide an arm around Adley’s waist and lower my lips to her ear, tickling the soft skin with the scruff on my jaw. “Wiggle that ass again, and it’ll be mine.”

She turns in my arms. “It turns me on when you get all possessive. Makes me want to do it again just to test you.”

“Do it. I promise you won’t make it to whatever appointment you have today, and you’ll be walking funny tomorrow.”

Her eyes widen, lips part, and for a second I think she’s going to take me up on the offer.

“Monroe will never forgive me if I miss our appointment at the bridal shop.”

I kiss her sweet lips and smack her ass before stepping away. “Get out of here before I make us both late.”

“Fine.” She pouts but grabs her shirt off the floor where I tossed it a couple hours ago.

She came by after her final test, and I was more than happy to help her celebrate.

Pulling her shirt back on, she looks up at me. “What are you doing this afternoon?”

“I need to run by Dad’s, and then I’ll head over to The Barn for a few hours to get some training in. Is your gas tank full?”

She grins and slips her shoes on. “Yes.”

“Good girl. Text me when you get to Heaven.”

“Always,” she says, turning toward the door. “Goodbye, Lincoln.”

“See ya, sunshine.”

She blows me a kiss and slips out the door.

I’ve always been a man of control. I know when to bend and when to stand strong. I make my mind up about something, and I stick to it, no matter what. But Adley tests that control.

She tempts me to wish for more—to hope for the things I’ve told myself I’ll never have. She’s so sweet, her skin so soft and supple, her body so inviting… Letting her walk out of my home is getting harder and harder.