“I’m not nervous.” I chewed the corner of my bottom lip while his gaze was riveted on my mouth as though he couldn’t look away.
I swallowed. “Danny, I don’t—”
He placed the tip of his finger gently over my lower lip. “Shush. Just—please, listen. This summer has been good. Maybe the best of my life. With you and Rach—mostly you.”
I twisted my fingers together in my lap and nodded.
He moved toward me, his eyes intent upon mine. “I want to kiss you, Mo. Is that okay?”
My chest filled with hope while I inhaled a shaky breath and my hands trembled.
Danny slipped his hand to my nape, pulling me toward him. His lips grazed the corner of my mouth. Light flooded the car.
Danny groaned. “That didn’t take long.”
Rachel knocked on Danny’s window. “Everything all right?”
My shoulders drooped, but my heart hummed a little tune.
* * *
As soon as I pull up outside the Jennings’ guest house—my house, Danny jumps from the car. I put the sunshade in the windshield while he shuts the door.
I let out a huge breath. It’s as though I’ve held it the entire drive. Maybe I can avoid him the whole summer. Even just for a few days would be nice.
I turn toward my front door. He leans against it.
Crap.
Why didn’t he go up to the main house?
I ask, “What do you want?”
He lifts one shoulder in a half-shrug. “Just thought I’d see what you’ve got going on this afternoon.”
“I have plans. Big plans. Busy for days.”
“Oh? Who with?”
“None of your business. Why do you care anyway?” I straighten to my full height, all five-feet and four inches, which means I’m still dwarfed by his six-foot frame.
Danny pushes away from my door, but doesn’t move off the tiny porch which he fills with his thickly muscled body. “Rach is worried about you. I told her I’d make sure you’re okay without her. This is me following through on my commitment.”
He says commitment like he should get a prize for being a responsible adult.
I let out a harrumph. “I release you from your obligation to watch out for me. I’m a big girl; I can take care of myself. Thanks.”
“Aw, now, don’t be like that. I don’t want to break a promise to my sister. Hell, she’s the only one I keep my promises to. I have a perfect record. Don’t go fucking it up for me.”
“Rachel isn’t here all the time. I have other friends. I’m hanging out with them later, and I have a date after that. So, please, do your thing. I’ll see you around. No promises will be broken.”
He doesn’t move. I push past him to the door and let myself inside. He follows.
Great.
That first summer, after Mom passed away, Danny and I were friends—of a sort. I thought there could be something more between us. He hung out with Rachel and me almost all the time. He was nice back then. Something in him was still good. He seemed to care about stuff—his future, the world, even me.
Since graduation, he’s decided I’m beneath him. And he’s made sure I know it at every turn. Plus, he’s gotten a rap sheet for indecent exposure and public intoxication. The paparazzi love him as he’s a never-ending source of tabloid headlines. Almost every Hollywood starlet and famous rich-girl-wannabe has been caught with him. I can just imagine the angina it must give his parents. Danny’s more like a demon than the son of a big time TV preacher.
No. Danny’s not good any more.
Now, he’s—he’s just bad.
SO. BAD.
I saunter inside Mo’s domain. It still has the same furniture and pictures on the walls as when she moved here. It’s like she never really settled in. Then again, what do I know? I haven’t been through these doors since that first summer. Not sure why I came through them now. Mostly because she’s trying to get rid of me and I’m feeding that crazy-ass part of me that loves fucking with her head.
She’s so damned uptight. All I want to do is get under her skin and under her skirt. My dick stirs at the thought of what’s under that skirt.
Does she ever go commando? Probably not. Too goody-goody for that.
Damn, she needs a good fuck, if for no other reason than to loosen her up.
She turns on me, glaring. “No one invited you in.”
“I don’t have to be invited. You do live on my family’s property, in this house provided by my family. Seems I have the right to go wherever I want, whenever I want.”
Mo’s tiny growl makes me smile.
She asks, “Oh, really?”
She’s so easy to mess with.
I step closer. “Yes. Really. And while we’re discussing your living here—at my family’s pleasure—I’d rather you not use the pool this summer.”