Evie had hitched a ride to work with her dad. Opening for lunch on a Sunday was something he’d never done before, but he was now hoping to cash in on the weekend business. Evie needed to figure out something else to do. It wasn’t that she hadn’t been putting some serious thought into her future, because that was all she’d done as of late. She had a high school diploma, and she was living with her parents, working for her dad, trying to keep his dream of the barbecue restaurant alive, but the reality was that the restaurant industry had the lowest success rate. More eateries died a painful, slow death than succeeded, and even her parents, as they’d sat at the kitchen table that morning, had come to the conclusion that something had to give.

Her dad could always start butchering again at the superstore, and her mom was picking up shifts again at the drycleaners. Evie needed to polish up a resume and start knocking on doors. There were always the local fast food joints, which seemed to have openings. It would be a minimum-wage job that would at least get gas in her truck, which was now sitting at home, empty. Or she could suck it up and walk next door to the chain restaurant, which was always busy, and pick up a job serving tables, hoping for more from tips.

She heard the ding above the door and turned to see Danny, dressed in blue jeans and a light blue western shirt with snaps and a heavy buckle. His deep red hair and blue eyes nearly had her knees giving out on her, and she took in his amazing build, remembering what it felt like to have him pressed against her, wanting her. She had to fight the warmth that filled her and could feel her cheeks start to burn again. She’d never in her life been uncomfortable around Danny, and now, seeing him walking toward her, she had to fight the urge to hide.

“Hi, was wondering if we could talk,” he said. The intensity with which he was staring at her had her fisting her hands on the counter to try to gather her footing again.

She wanted to say, Sorry, we’re busy working here, but not a customer had come in yet. Her dad was in back and would be able to hear everything, too, and that she couldn’t have.

“Dad, I’m going to take a break,” she called out, and she heard him yell back to go ahead. She walked around the counter and over to the corner by the window, where she pulled out a stool and sat. It was far enough away that her dad wouldn’t be able to hear. Danny pulled out the stool opposite her and straddled it. It wasn’t lost on her how much bigger he was in comparison to her petiteness. He smiled, and it was awkward.

“Okay, so talk,” she said. She could’ve made this easier, but she was a frickin’ mess, with how she was feeling after the day before. She’d barely slept, tossing and turning in the night and waking in a sweat at the image of her and Danny together naked in bed, skin to skin, feeling him inside her and on her. It was horrible, because she’d never allowed herself to think of him this way, and now this was the only way she could think of him.

He rested his hands on the round tabletop. He was so close she could touch him, but instead she was seeing those hands and imagining what they would be like running over her naked skin. “I’m sorry for what I did, for how I behaved.”

Her heart sank a little more. “For…” she prompted him, because it hurt to not be wanted.

“The way I reacted with you, chasing you down and kissing you and almost…” He stopped, and she could see the difficulty he was having saying it. Yes, he’d wanted her, but he was a guy, and guys were about sex. She’d just never expected that from Danny. It was a loss that she realized would likely haunt her forever.

“Well, I realize I’m not a stacked supermodel who’s all that experienced with guys, but I didn’t think kissing me could be that bad,” she said. She couldn’t figure out why her smart mouth always went to sarcasm. She thought he’d laugh, but instead his expression seemed angry.

“You don’t get it, Evie. That’s not what I’m saying. I care about you so damn much that I didn’t think, and then I was kissing you, and the problem was I was so close to ripping your clothes off and burying myself in you, riding you in that grass like an animal, and I didn’t want to stop, because I never expected to want to kiss you as I did.”

Whoa! She hadn’t expected that reaction, not from Danny. She didn’t have a clue what to say, as her mouth gaped and nothing but a squeak came out.

He sat up straighter, looking around at the emptiness of the place and back to Evie. “You’re my friend, and just the thought of tossing that friendship away because I can’t get clear on what this is? Then there’s Charlie,” he said, and that had her pulling back, sitting straighter, her hands fisted in her lap.

“So let me get this straight,” she said. “You think you have feelings for me, but then you also have feelings for Charlie, and you need to, what, take a step back, evaluate, figure out where I fit in? Or is it that you want to choose who you want in your life, and you want me and Charlie to just sit back and wait?” She gestured at him and took in the confusion on his face.

“That’s not what I mean,” he said. “What I’m trying to say is how important you are to me, and I’m bothered by the line I crossed, taking our relationship to something I never intended. I don’t know what’s wrong with me or why I did it or why it is I can’t forget that kiss, or you, and the feelings I’m now feeling for you aren’t those of a friend.”

She sat straighter, hearing what he was saying and feeling sick, because it was as if he was deciding who he wanted more, and she couldn’t be that girl. She couldn’t be the kind of girl who waited on the sidelines to see if she would be picked. She’d done that all her life in just about everything else, and it didn’t feel good, not at all.

“I see,” she said, swallowing the giant ache that was building in her chest and in her throat, threatening to erupt into something that could have her curled up in a corner, crying. Not that she was one of those girls, but everyone had a breaking point, and she realized Danny was hers. This here, this moment, could break her. Nothing in her life was going her way, and everything was such a damn struggle right now. “So you’re asking for what from me, exactly, Danny?” She pulled a breath, long and deep. Her hands were shaking, and she tucked them between her thighs as she sat straight, feeling the strain in her shoulders.

“I’m asking you to forgive me. I have school to finish, and then I’m off to law school next year, and I need to know that we’re okay, that we’re still friends, that…”

She tilted her head, sensing the “but,” or maybe he was trying to get her to agree to forget what had happened and pretend she didn’t know what it was like to have his lips on her, his tongue tasting her, his large hands rough and running over her, feeling her intimate curves, to feel his desire pressed against her. If he said it, it would crush her, because she never believed Danny to be that shallow. She could make it easier, or not.

“I don’t want to lose you in my life, and I just need some time to figure out me and what I want.”

“You mean who you want,” she added, and before he could say anything else, she slid off the stool and stood, keeping the table between them, taking in the way he wiped his face, the way he seemed on edge, returning to the quiet deep thinker she’d known him as. She rested her hand on the table, staring at the dings and scratches and tiny chunks taken out of the wood.

“I’ll make it easy for you.” She stared at her hand, refusing to look up at him. “I’m not interested in being a choice for you, the girl who’ll maybe be waiting for you, so you just go on with Charlie, and I’ll…” She stopped and then flicked her gaze up, taking in his shock, not sure whether he was relieved or hurt. “I’ll see you around,” she said.

Then she walked away back to the counter, pausing only once to see Danny slipping off the stool and standing there, watching her. Before he could say another word, she slipped through the doors to the back room, past her dad, who looked up from where he was butchering ribs, and she took off out the back, where Danny couldn’t find her.