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  We dig into our meals and, as expected, the food is amazing. The restaurant regularly wins awards and is voted one of the best for Tex Mex cuisine in San Antonio on a lot of travel and food blogs. All of it has to do with Savannah. She’s been running the restaurant since she was twenty-two.

  “So, we need to find you someone, Strawberry Lemonade.”

  I want to tell her to stop calling me that name, but I know it will do no good. “I’ve been looking, just, it’s hard when you work in a profession like I do. The only cutie we have in the infusion center is gay.”

  “No sexy doctors?” EJ asks. I make a face. They both know I want nothing to do with doctors. “Okay, then, maybe we should hit the clubs or go down to the River Walk this week.”

  I roll my eyes. “The River Walk, really? I don’t want to pick up tourists.”

  “Why not?” EJ asks. “They are the perfect pick me up. No strings, no worries.”

  I’ve never been into casual sex. I don’t find anything wrong with it, or with EJ’s view on it. But I do have an issue with it. I cannot fall into bed with a guy unless I’m emotionally attached.

  “Oh, right. See, that’s your problem. Maybe you need a little house cleaning. You don’t want to end up like Savannah.”

  That’s true, although, the stress she deals with makes it hard for her to even date at times. Savannah’s family business hinges on her ability to keep all the balls in the air. It’s a lot for anyone to handle, let alone a twenty-eight-year-old.

  “Okay. Maybe. We could go out early in the week,” I say. “That works better for you, right, Savannah?”

  She nods a she shovels food into her mouth. I’m thankful she’s at least eating.

  Austin arrives back at our table. “Here you go, ladies…and Savannah.”

  She scowls her brother but says nothing as she continues to eat.

  “Thanks, Austin,” EJ says smiling at him. He grins back at her, and I wonder at these two. Both of them are alike in many ways. They attract the opposite sex on a regular basis, and I have noticed that Austin tends to date taller more voluptuous women like her.

  “Let me know if you need anything,” Austin says before leaving us to our drinks and food.

  “Damn, that man has the best smile.”

  “Nope,” Savannah says as she dips a chip into the queso.

  “What?” EJ asks.

  “I was just explaining to Strawberry Lemonade here that she shouldn’t date nice people. She needs a yang and so do you.”

  EJ looks at me. “Please explain to me why the virgin thinks she should be giving us advice.”

  I smile. “She might be right. You are both kind of doggy when he comes to the opposite sex.”

  Savannah snorts but says nothing as she picks up her fresh margarita.

  “Doggy?” EJ asks.

  I shrug. “You’re both bright stars and attract a lot of attention. You probably need someone a little different from you.”

  “There you go. Yang,” Savannah says.

  “And besides, tonight is about us and not men. Let’s do girls’ night right,” I say holding up my glass. “To us.”

  “Yes,” Savannah says holding up her glass. EJ smiles and does the same.

  “May we not remember some of the embarrassing things we say,” I say.

  We clink our glasses together. As I sip my margarita, I remind myself that this is the kick off to my staycation and worrying about Ed is just a waste of my time.

  Chapter Four

  It’s just past nine o’clock on a Saturday night, and I can feel my body wanting to give in to sleep. The Rangers are on, but I’m barely paying attention. Instead, I feel my entire body screaming for me to head back to bed. Before ten o’clock on a weekend night. What the fuck has become of me? I know what’s become of me. The damned shop. The one I love all of the time and hate some of the time. Fritz and Harry give me shit, but they aren’t the ones who are keeping baker’s hours, up at three in the morning to make sure I have time to get everything ready before we open at six.

  At least I finally have a part-timer. I haven’t had time off in the eighteen months since we opened, other than holidays and my Sundays and Mondays. There has been no one else to handle the baking. It’s thanks to EJ, who told Harry they were abusing me, that I have any help. Thanks to Allison’s friend, I was going to be able to have my first three days off in eighteen months.

  And, just like that, I’m thinking about Allison. Sure, I used a roundabout way, but don’t judge me lest you be judged, or some shit like that. Granted, the woman is on my brain too much. I want her in a way that is a little scary, and it is getting worse by the day. I know part of the reason is because I have been a monk lately. But every time I think about going out, or meeting an attractive woman at the shop, Allison’s face pops up in my mind. And those plump lips, that curvy little body…fuck.

  I groan as my dick twitches. She thinks of me as a brother, and here I’m thinking about how good it would feel to slide into her tight, wet pussy. I close my eyes attempting to gain some self-control, but it does no good. I get a flash of her naked in my bed, her legs spread, her pretty little cunt dripping with need.

  Fuck me. Not a very brotherly thing to do. It’s another indication that I’m no good for her.

  I come from nothing. Less than nothing. My mother was an addict who abandoned me. I have no fucking idea who my father was. I bounced around from foster home to foster home, until I aged out and entered the Army. That was a godsend. Before I entered, I was on a one-way track to disaster. Drinking, smoking a little weed, definitely getting in fights. The Army gave me discipline, a purpose. Along the way, I picked up two of the best friends a guy could ask for and found out I make the best fucking cupcakes a man could ever hope to make.

  I chuckle. The truth is, I would have never seen myself doing this if it wasn’t for Fritz and Harry. They were the ones who said we had a chance to make a living without putting our lives on the line. I kind of liked that idea. The Army was offering some bonuses to get out early and all three of us decided to do just that. Being in business with them is better than I could have hoped for. Two years after we came up with the idea, and eighteen months after we opened, we’re considered one of the best up and coming bakeries in San Antonio. We get regular write ups in statewide and national magazines, along with regular mentions on blogs.

  So, yeah, I have a good life right now, but I understand that I’m lucky to have it. Fucking it up by taking Allison to bed would be a stupid move.

  My phone rings, pulling me out of my thoughts. I grab it up off my end table and see the name. Austin? Why would Savannah’s brother be calling me?

  “Hey, Austin. What’s up?”

  “It’s the girls.”

  The girls? Then I remember I’m on call for Allison and her friends.

  “They need a ride home?”

  “Yeah, they…well, Savannah talked them into shots.”

  Of course she did. Damn, I owe Fritz twenty bucks.

  “Okay, on my way.”

  “Thanks, man. I called Harry but he was on a date.”

  “Please tell me he’s still on it.”

  “Yeah, he said if I didn’t get hold of you, to call him back.”

  As if on cue, my call waiting pings. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes or so, depending on traffic.”

  “Thanks again.”

  I click over to Harry. “Yeah?”

  “Did you talk to Austin?”

  “Austin who?”

  “Don’t fuck with me.”

  I chuckle. “Yep. I’m on my way to round up the girls, as Austin called them.”

  I would never call them that because, well, they were three very sexy women. But I didn’t grow up with them.

  “Thanks, Ed.”

  I understand why Harry is the way he is. He was sixteen when his mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer. As close as he and I are, Harry rarely talks of it, but Allison has mentioned that’s when his control issue
s started. I understand that. If I had a mom like Mrs. B, I would freak out too. Hell, I would freak out now, and she’s not even my biological mom.

  “You still on your date?” I ask.

  “Yeah.”

  I let loose a breath I didn’t know I had been holding. “Don’t fear, big brother. I’ll handle your sister and her friends. Put them out of your thoughts.”

  “Gotcha. Can you text me?”

  Jesus, Harry really needed to learn how to relax. Even though I knew he needed some tough love on his control issues, I wasn’t going to rock the boat. “Sure. I’ll let you know when I pick her up.”

  “Great.”

  Then he hangs up. Harry never wastes time. I scrub a hand over my face, then stand up. My back protests, thanks to an injury on my last deployment. That tells me one thing: rain is coming. Great, I’m officially an old man. I’m predicting the weather because my body is in pain. That’s what I get for spending my twenties in service to Uncle Sam.

  I shake my head, slip on my shoes, then grab my keys and my wallet. The sooner I got out there, the faster I would get home. Besides, how much of a problem could three sweet women be?

  Chapter Five

  Three hours later, I can’t feel my face. And, I feel like I’m on one of those swing things at amusement parks. You know, the ones that take you up high and make you fly through the air. The wind shifts through your hair, and you feel like you might fall out of the swing at any minute. Like that. Exactly like that. Also, how many times did I just say feel. A lot.

  I know I’m drunk, even though I ate enough for someone twice my size. It should have soaked up some of the two massive margaritas and three…no five!…Tequila shots.

  We’re all a mess. EJ is getting louder by the moment and Savannah is singing. She only does that when she’s plowed, and it’s never pretty. In fact, she sounds like a cat being slowly strangled to death.

  “Allison,” someone says. I turn and almost fall out of the booth. Big hands grab me before I fall on the ground. I look up, then up some more. I know before I see his face that it’s Ed. He smells of sugar and cinnamon and sinnamon. Get it? Sin.

  “Hey, Ed,” I say smiling. “You came out to eat with us?”

  His mouth twitches. “Not exactly.”

  “Thank God,” Austin says stepping up beside Ed.

  “Thank God for what? For Ed?” I ask. “I say we should thank God for Ed every damn day.”

  “Here, here!” EJ yells.

  I look up at Ed and wonder about his expression. He has kind of fair skin thanks to that red hair, and his face turns a little pinker than usual. Ed Cooper is blushing? And just how far does that go down? Like is his chest pink from blushing?

  “I have this one,” he says to Austin.

  Austin nods. “I can handle the other two. They live five minutes from each other.”

  “Come on, Allison.”

  “Nope.”

  There is a beat of silence. When he speaks, his voice isn’t as amused.

  “Excuse me?” he asks.

  I close one eye and look at him. There is a tone in his voice that would probably make most people run in the opposite direction. But I am not most people. I’m Strawberry Lemonade.

  “What do you mean you’re strawberry lemonade?” he asks.

  EJ and Savannah dissolve into giggles.

  He glances at them, but then his gaze comes back to me and I feel like I won the lottery. People look at the big bear of a man and think he’s some kind of hard ass. He is, in a lot of ways. But there is this gooey center I want to reach. Not on the level I can now. The friend’s sister, the one who cannot be anything but a sweet irritation. I want to be the woman who brings him to his knees.

  He snaps his fingers in front of my face. I frown and bat his hand away.

  “Stop that. Having a fantasy.”

  He rolls his eyes. “Come on, Allison. I told Harry I’d take care of you tonight.”

  “Awe,” EJ and Savannah say together.

  I turn and say, “Isn’t he the sweetest?”

  Apparently, Ed has had enough of my antics. He grabs my hand, tugging me out of the booth. Then, like I weigh nothing at all, he picks me up in his arms.

  “Ed,” I say as my face heats. “I can walk.”

  “I asked you to leave. You didn’t.” His tone of voice tells me he doesn’t find this funny at all.

  He turns to leave but EJ calls out to him. She’s the bestest friend, saving me from the uber sexiness of Ed. Being carried out like this is too romantic, and I can’t resist the man now. Not that he is doing anything other than dragging his best friend’s drunk sister out of the restaurant.

  “Stop!”

  He sighs and turns back. That’s when I see her holding up my purse.

  “She needs this.”

  She slips out of the booth and hands it to me. “I thought you were saving me from embarrassment.”

  EJ laughs and says, “Just helping you get your yang.”

  “That’s it?” he asks.

  “Yeah, we know she’s safe with you.”

  He nods and then turns to leave. This time he takes me past giggling patrons and waitstaff out into the sultry Texas night. Once we get to his SUV, he sets me down on my feet and I sigh. Being pressed up against him is the best thing ever. I’m completely surrounded by his scent, that sugary sweetness along with his own masculine scent. I just want to lick him up and down. Like start at the top and go all the way down to the bottom, spending most of the time in the middle because that’s the interesting parts. Like his mouth and that amazing butt. And the dangly bits. Plus, he’s all hard and warm.

  “Allison,” he says, his voice strangled.

  “What?”

  “You’re killing me here. Why are you thinking I’m hard and warm?”

  “Did I say that?”

  He looks down at me. It’s dark in the parking lot, but not that dark. I can see his beautiful blue gaze watching me. They aren’t completely blue actually. There’s more grey than blue in his right eye, and it has always intrigued me. Then, I let my gaze drop to his mouth. I know it’s wicked. I know a man like Ed could make me come wit that sinful mouth.

  “Allison,” his says, his voice just above a whisper.

  “Yeah?”

  He sighs again—he seems to be doing that a lot tonight—and shakes his head.

  Without saying anything, he opens the door and helps me in. My foot slips off the step and I almost fall down. Ed catches me as I giggle. I take a step back and my ass hits his groin as I bend down to grab my purse.

  “Allison.”

  “What?” I’m still giggling.

  “Get. In. The. Fucking. Truck.”

  Then, as if he doesn’t trust me to do it, he grabs me by the waist and practically throws me into the passenger seat. He slams the door and stalks around the front of the SUV. He settles in the driver’s seat, then looks over at me. There has never been another man so beautiful. He’s all beardy and sexy. Wait, is beardy a word?

  “Put on your seatbelt,” he orders.

  “Huh?” I ask, because I’m still trying to figure out if beardy is a word.

  Another sigh as he leans across my body and grabs the seatbelt. I can smell him. That sugary scent that seems to cling to him no matter how many showers he takes.

  “How many showers do you take a day?”

  He growls and doesn’t answer my question. Instead, he connects the belt and moves away from me. Which makes me uber sad. Why am I using the word uber so much tonight?

  “I don’t know.”

  I look at him. “What?”

  “You asked why you were using the word uber so much.”

  “Oh. I thought I was just thinking that. You know. Thinking thoughts.”

  His mouth twitches. “Yeah?”

  And there it is. The humor. He will always see me as the goofy younger sister of his best friend. I will never attract him in any way, and it irritates me. Life is not fair. I want to be the kind o
f woman Ed would see as sexy. Why doesn’t he? Because I’m boring, that’s why.

  “Allison?”

  “Never mind. Just take me home.”

  He sighs, the sound loud and obnoxious. When he speaks, he sounds so annoyed. “Now why are you mad?”

  “Nothing. No reason. Just…go.”

  He rolls his shoulders and looks over at me. I don’t want him looking at me like I’ve lost my mind, because there is a good chance I have. Instead, I cross my arms across my chest, lean back in my chair, and close my eyes.

  What a great way to start off my staycation.

  Chapter Six

  As I drive through the dark streets, there is little traffic. My brain isn’t actually running on full power but, thankfully, I can still drive without causing an accident. I shift in my seat as I take the exit off of 1604 that leads to her neighborhood. My cock hasn’t settled down since her very ample ass connected with my groin. Of course, I haven’t been able to think straight since she held onto me and called me hard and warm. Jesus, the woman was pushing all my buttons tonight. Why, I have no idea. I glance over at her and, from her even breathing, I can tell she’s asleep. That apparently is all I need to give me a hard on. Allison…breathing.

  I glance over at her again. She has no idea how sexy she is or what kind of power she holds over me. Seriously. For years, I went for women who were a little bit more athletic, and definitely taller than Allison. But, once I moved to San Antonio, I found myself dreaming about her soft curves. I crave a woman who is a little more bottom heavy. I’ve seen her in jeans and almost walked into a wall when she bent over to pick something up off the ground. It was in the shop, and I almost passed out from the loss of blood in my brain.

  I pull up into the driveway of her house and look over. Allison has been asleep for about fifteen minutes now. After getting mad at me for whatever reason, she closed her eyes. It was a needed break from her antics. I know she won’t remember any of this, and she didn’t mean the things she said about me. It was just the alcohol. Lord knows I won’t get any sleep tonight. It’s bad enough I’ve been dating my hand during the last year, but now I will have that memory of her voice. Calling me hard. I glance down at my jean-encased dick. She has no fucking idea how true that statement is. And warm doesn’t get close to what I feel.