And I might be falling for her.

My laughter dies off.

“What’s wrong?” Sabrina asks immediately.

“Nothing,” I lie. It’s either that or tell her what I’m thinking about, and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want to hear it.

I don’t even want to imagine what her response would be if I admitted that I’m falling for her. We’ve fucked twice and gone on one date. It’s way too early to bring the L-word into the conversation.

“You sure?” She sounds concerned. “You got a really deep crease right…here.” She smooths two fingers over my forehead.

“Naah, I’m good.” I shift in my seat and ease closer to her. “I’m having a great time.”

“Me too.” Her bottom lip pokes out a bit. “I wish…”

“You wish what?”

She sighs. “I wish we could go back to my place, but I’ve got to be up at four in the morning. This isn’t a good night for me to be up late.”

“Same. I’ve got practice at seven.”

“So no sex,” she says glumly.

“Not unless you want to get it on in the truck again.”

Interest flickers in her dark eyes before fading to resignation. “Tempting, but I’d feel weird having sex when Carin is like ten feet away.”

“I’m pretty sure Carin isn’t paying any attention to us right now.”

Sabrina shakes her head. “Trust me, they won’t be in there for long. She has a strict no-sex-on-the-first-date rule. Fitzy’s only going to get a make-out session.” She snickers. “And probably blue balls.”

“What about me? Are my balls gonna hate me when I get home?”

“I don’t know. You tell me.” Then she slides over the console and kisses me.

When her tongue swirls seductively over mine, it sends a bolt of lust to my balls. I groan against her soft lips. “Yeah,” I croak. “I’ll definitely be icing the boys tonight.”

“Aw. You poor baby,” she whispers, then proceeds to torture me with hungry kisses and the lazy glide of her palm over my crotch.

We make out for a while, neither of us anxious to take it further. But it’s still hot as hell. The windows of my truck fog up, and I’m hard as a goal post by the time we break apart.

“I should get home,” she says regretfully.

I nod, offering a wry smile. “Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide who knocks on their window?”

It turns out to be unnecessary, because suddenly there’s a knock on my window. I roll it down to find Carin’s flushed face peering down at me. Her lips are swollen, her hair a tangle of red curls.

“Sorry,” she says with a sheepish shrug. “But B said she needed to leave by ten-thirty. It’s past that already.”

Very, very reluctantly, I slide out of the pickup and then hurry around to Sabrina’s door to open it for her. Her expression is as reluctant as mine.

A tousled-haired Fitzy is leaning against the side of my truck, and Carin smacks his ass as she makes her way back to her car.

“We’ll do this again?” I murmur to Sabrina.

“Naked paint night? I don’t know. Once might be enough.”

“Another date,” I correct. “You’ll call me when you have some free time?”

I half expect an argument, but she simply lifts up on her tiptoes, kisses me on the lips, and pulls back to say, “Absolutely.”

15

Tucker

December

Me: I miss u

Her: I miss u 2

Me: Any chance we can change that by meeting up? I’ll bring my dick…

Her: LMAO isn’t that sort of a given? U 2 are a package deal

Me: Package is the right word. A really big package ;)

Okay, so I’m laying it on pretty thick, but damn, I miss this girl. I haven’t seen her in a week, which is about, oh, seven days too long. Since our double date last month, we’ve tried to see each other at least two or three times a week. With our hectic schedules, it’s a miracle we’ve managed to find the time, so it was bound to happen that our schedules would catch up to us.

These past two weeks, we’ve both been busy with school. I’ve had some brutal practices and games, and then Thanksgiving rolled around and I’d already committed to spending the holiday with Hollis and his family. I was tempted to bail and see Sabrina instead, but she was working and admitted she’d rather I didn’t hang around at the strip club while she waited tables. Apparently Boots & Chutes is Bummer Central during holidays.

I’m dying to see her, so when I read her next message, I do a mental fist pump.

Her: If u don’t mind the drive, come to Boston 2nite? Working on my Con Law paper, but I can take a bunch of breaks if u wanna keep me company.

I don’t even hesitate.

Me: On my way.

I already showered and changed in anticipation of possibly seeing her tonight. I hurry downstairs, hoping to slip out of the house unnoticed.

“Tuck, get in here! We need a grown-up’s opinion.”

Damn. So close.

I follow Garrett’s voice to the living room, where I find him and Hannah on the armchair. She’s in his lap, he’s got his arms around her, and they look so happy and at ease that I feel a pang of envy. They’re not alone, though. Logan, Fitzy and Logan’s friend Morris are on the couch, video game controllers in their hands. The first-person shooting game they’re playing is paused on the flat screen.

“What’s up?” I try to hide my impatience. “I’m on my way out.”

From the couch, Logan arches a brow. “You’ve been on your way out a lot lately.”

I shrug. “Places to go, people to see.”

“Are you ever going to tell us her name?” Hannah asks in a cheerful voice.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I reply innocently.

Garrett waves a hand. “I don’t care about Tuck’s mystery girl right now. I need someone to back me up—pronto.”

I grin. “Back you up on what?”

“Dean and Allie.”

Ah. I was wondering when we’d be having this powwow. We all came back from our various Thanksgiving trips to discover that Dean and Allie are officially a couple.

I wasn’t surprised to hear it, because I already suspected they’d hooked up, but I am a bit stunned that they’re actually going out. Dean hasn’t had a girlfriend since I’ve known him.