night, Amelia.”
“Night, Knox,” I reply, my voice dreamy, which causes him to chuckle. “See you in the morning?”
He pauses at my bedroom door, his eyes raking over me one last night. “Yeah, babe. You’ll be seeing me in the morning.”
I don’t dream about Mrs. Vorhees chasing me with an axe in the middle of summer camp. No, I dream about the hunky dreamboat summer decided to bring my way and all the wicked things I can’t wait to experience with him.
SEE YOU IN THE MORNING.
Who knew five words could be so hard to say?
Who knew, after one single night, I’d become attached to a girl whose entire being screams for me to run away while beckoning me to reel her in?
Of all things I didn’t know at the time, I should’ve known that walking away from Amelia that night would become one hell of a regret.
You know why? Because Clay. The asshole.
I should’ve known better than to listen to him. After all, my kid brother is an idiot. And I’m one for listening to the bastard. It’s been nearly a week since the night at the drive-in with Amelia, and instead of moving ten paces ahead, we’ve barely moved one. It’s my fault. And my dumbass brother’s.
Leaving Amelia that night was brutal. Fucking brutal. The last thing I wanted to do was go home and hear about Clay making proposal plans for Maria when all I wanted to do was capitalize on the scary movie we’d just watched. Or, well, the movie she’d watched.
I wasn’t lying when I’d told Amelia I had a thing for horror. But there’s a good movie, and then there’s a sexy little vixen curled up against you, clutching you tight, with such expressive facial features you can’t just look away from. From the way she’d nibble her lower lip when suspenseful music signaled impending doom to the way her cheeks flushed at the couple having sex to the sharp intake of breath when the killer was revealed—I was entranced. Enthralled.
Aroused as fuck.
All the while, I knew that night would end all too damn soon. I didn’t know what it was about her that drew me in so completely, but fuck me, she’s got me, locked, loaded, and ready to freaking go. In a single night, I was hooked, and though I knew I should take a step back, all I wanted was to move in for the kill.
Not that I’d push her too far, too quickly. Hell, whether Amelia wanted to just make out or go further, I was all for it and I’d respect her wishes. Respect her.
But when push came to fucking shove, I walked away—boner raging—because my brother was waiting on me. Not that he appreciated it.
“What the hell are you doing back?” he asked, nearly jumping off the couch when I came through the garage door.
I sighed, throwing my keys on the counter and pouring myself two fingers of Grandad’s favorite whisky, which Dad had sent along with Clay. Gotta love my old man. I took a swig then dropped onto the couch with my brother, glancing at the television then back at him.
He simply shrugged. “What? Can’t a guy catch up on old episodes of Dallas when he’s home all alone?”
I stretched my arm out on the back of the couch. “Sure, Clay. If that’s what you’re into.”
“It’s not,” he mumbled. “But Maria loves it, so what can I say? Might as well figure out what she’s talking about when she rambles on with her theories of who shot some J.R. fella.”
I tipped my glass to him. “The things we do for love.”
“Speaking of, why are you here? I figured after your date you’d be all hot and heavy, staying at Amelia’s place.” He held his beer up to return my salute. “Who, by the way, is a smokin’-hot babe if I may say so myself.”
“Pretty sure you’ve told me that a time or ten already in the last day, asshole.”
“Just saying. Things not go well?” he asked, and I stared at him as if he’d grown two heads.
“Things went swimmingly. In fact, the sooner you get outta town, the better. I’ll be seeing a lot of Amelia this summer, and unless you bring Maria up here to entertain you, your ass has to go.”
Clay grinned at me. “Ah, how the mighty have fallen.”
“No fallin’, Clay. Just a summer fling. That’s all it is, all it’s going to be.”
“Amelia clear on that?”
I thought back on what we’d talked about. In