“Oh my God, River!” she says, and I instantly regret sitting here. Her tone is like a whiny teenage girl and her giggle sounds like a five year old.

Taking a swig of my beer, I lower my bottle then raise it in her direction. “Hey, great to see you again.”

Xander is grinning at me as he says, “Chloe.”

He really can be an ass**le sometimes. Calling me out that I didn’t remember her name wasn’t necessary. I mean really, he has a rotating set of girlfriends with him almost every time I see him, and this one isn’t one of my favorites.

Her voice is so high pitched it actually makes my skin crawl. “So River, I love your new house. When did you move in? Do you have a decorator because my BFF is one and I could so introduce you!”

Her lips are moving, but I’m not even listening. She lost me when she actually used the letters BFF in a sentence, but I smile nicely at her. “Sure, that sounds great.”

These are the kind of girls I could never stand. The ones who try to be seductive but sound more like a whining toddler. They think they are sexy but they couldn’t be more wrong. I feel like I dated a never-ending slew of them before I reconnected with Dahlia. She is nothing like those girls, and I couldn’t be happier.

My phone starts buzzing in my front pocket, setting my beer on the new coffee table, I stand up and pull it out. It’s a text from Dahlia.

I’m sorry we’re so late. Pulling in the driveway now. :)

Glancing at Xander and his over-bubbly brunette, I indicate with my chin that I’m heading toward the door. “Excuse me a minute, Dahlia’s here and I want to say hi before she hits the door.”

“Dahlia? Who’s Dahlia?” Chloe asks Xander.

Xander looks at me and answers, “The girl that has my brother pu**y-whipped.”

I just shake my head and shoot him a dirty look. I’m not going to argue the semantics of pu**y-whipped versus love with him, especially in front of the Valley girl.

“Aren’t I right, Loverboy?” he shouts at me as I walk away.

Opening the door, I brace my hands on the frame and watch her get out of Aerie’s car. The driveway reflectors shine upward and highlight her amazing shape. The shameless blaze in my eyes must be apparent, but I don’t care who sees it. She looks hot as hell in that little black number that Aerie must have talked her into buying.

Her dress is short, the neck is open, and her legs look a mile long with those shoes. When she turns to close the door, I have to shift a little to control myself. Her dress has no back and her blonde hair is up in one of those ponytail things so every inch of her bare skin is visible. Images of her and me alone together instantly flood my mind, and I really regret letting Bell throw this party.

Walking down the steps to meet her, I’m overwhelmed by her overall beauty. Saying hi to Aerie, I position myself right in front of Dahlia. She’s almost as tall as me in those shoes and when our eyes meet, she just looks at me, no smile, nothing, I can tell, even before her lips turn up, that she’s feeling seductive.

Her eyes seem to change color depending on her mood, and tonight her hazel eyes are almost brown. They look like a spinning whirlwind of dust clouds, and I love when they’re that color. I also love when her eyes turn goldish-green. There is an almost psychedelic twist to them. It’s as if I can see myself staring at the same raw images she sees. Her mind is like a camera, and just looking into her eyes makes any great view even better. I told once that I notice her eyes change color depending on her mood, she laughed and said, “So if you think my eyes are like a mood ring, what color are they when I’m being bitchy?” I just shook my head.

Leaning in, I inhale the sweet scent of her hair as I kiss the bare skin of her neck all the way up to her ear and softly lower my voice to an intimate level. “Hey birthday girl. You look beautiful, perfect really,” I say, pulling her h*ps to mine.

“Hey there yourself,” she says, placing her hands on my arms. “Sorry we’re late.”

Bending her neck, she allows me full access, and I can’t help but grin when I notice her goosebumps. Not being one to shy away from an invitation, I slowly work my way down her neck to her exposed collarbone. God, everything about her is just so sensual, and I’m so turned-on right now.

“That’s okay. If you’re late because of this dress,” I say, running my hands down the side of her body, “I definitely forgive you. You look so hot.”

“Umm . . .” she moans before saying, “Thank you,” in an extremely low and whispy tone.

Her seductive grin turns to a smile and she points to the driveway. “I thought you said a few people. This looks like way more than a few people. In fact, I’d say it looks like a party.”

Before I can explain, I hear Aerie yell from the top of the stairs, “Caleb you found the place!”

Caleb approaches us and I let go of Dahlia as she starts toward him down the driveway. She kisses him on the cheek and they hug each other. It shouldn’t bother me that his hands are on the bare skin of her back, but it does. There’s something about him I don’t like. Maybe it’s just because he was best friends with him, and most likely, he knows what I know.

She loops her arm through his, leading him back toward me. I can see the glint of that bracelet she still wears from him. I understand why she always wears if, but it bothers me. We talked about it last week, and she explained that she considers it to be her no regrets bracelet. What am I suppose to say to that? Since it makes her happy to wear it, I’m doing my best to be cool with it.

She walks back down to Aerie’s car with Caleb, and I extend my hand. “Hey man, glad you could make it,” I manage, trying to keep it real. I snake my arm around my girl and pull her close. I notice his uneasiness right away. Tonight will be the first time we’ll be together in a social scene and I’m interested to see how it plays out.

“How’ve you been? Sorry I couldn’t meet you two last week for dinner. I got hung up in a meeting with a new client that needed an entire security system installed in a matter of days.”

“It’s cool. We’ll plan it again another time,” I reply, trying not to grit my teeth.

“Come on, let’s go in,” I say and guide Dahlia to the front of me, purposely putting my hand on the small of her back and tucking my fingers inside the cutout of her dress. I swear I see her quiver.

We all stand around the kitchen table singing Happy Birthday, and Dahlia blows out the candles. I slip my arms around her waist, hugging her close to me as I stand directly behind her. Once all the candles are out, I kiss her neck and whisper, “Did you make a wish?”

She turns her head to look at me. “Of course I did, but you know I can’t tell you.”

I just smirk at her because we have gone through this wish thing so many times, but I plan to grant her more than one wish later, so I drop it.

Bell cuts the cake, and I grab Dahlia and pull her into the empty dining room.

“Happy Birthday,” I tell her since it’s after twelve and officially her birthday.

Glancing at my watch, she smiles at me. “I guess it’s my actual birthday. So, thank you.”

I kiss her and my tongue slips slowly into her mouth. Her fingers comb through my hair and I pull away. “Stay here.”

She gives me a questioning look but says, “Okay.”

As I walk, continuing to face her, my eyes drift the length of her body. Before I turn around, I mouth, “stay there,” and go back to the kitchen to grab a few things.

Xander is standing near the entrance and corners me. “Did you tell her yet?”

I just look at him and walk away. I told him I don’t want to talk about it and that I’m not telling her, so why doesn’t he just shut the f**k up?

Caleb is talking to Bell, and I wonder if she knows him. He sees me and turns around.

I’ve been able to avoid him all night until now, so I make it short and sweet. “Just grabbing a few things before Dahlia and I go to bed,” I say directly to Bell but I see Caleb flinch. “Don’t worry about cleaning up, I’ll take care of it tomorrow,” I tell her as I grab a cup of ice, a bottle of beer, and a piece a cake.

I kiss Bell on the cheek. “Thank you.”

“See, I knew she’d like it.”

My hands are full, so I say goodbye without shaking his hand. “Hey man thanks for coming. Don’t be a stranger,” I say to him as I walk away.

“River,” he says, and I turn around. “Take care of her.”

Not really sure of how to respond, I press my lips together before answering. Bell shoots me a disapproving look; so I know my expression mimics my thoughts, ‘Fuck off’. Swallowing the dislike down my throat, I respond the only way I can. “Of course I will.”

Soft fingers grip my side and turn me around, taking the cake from my hand she says, “Thank you, is this for me?”

We’re standing so close. Her eyes are now dark brown, and her expression tells me what I already know.

“Yeah, it’s for you.”

Leaning in, I whisper. “Come with me. I have something I want to give you.”

As we enter the bedroom, I take her cake and set it with the beer and cup of ice on the night table.

She eyes it and says, “Party for one?”

Giving her my most devilish grin, I walk over and run my hands down her body like I’ve wanted to do all night. “No birthday girl, that’s what I call a party for two.”

Raising an eyebrow, she grins, “Okay, I’ll bite. Spill it. What do you have planned in that dirty mind of yours?”

“Well first, I want to give you your present, and then I’ll be happy to share my plan for your birthday wishes.”

I grab the gift from the closet and lead her to the bed, where she sits down. As she unwraps the paper, I know this is the perfect gift for her. I was able to score the original hand-written lyrics to U2’s song, Beautiful Day. I had them framed in an old-looking black frame that resembles some of the broken frames I saw at her house.

When she recognizes what it is, she lifts her hand to her mouth and covers it. Tears start streaming down her face. That was not the reaction I was expecting.

“You don’t like it?”

She shakes her head no but says yes, and I have to ask, “Yes, you don’t like it, or yes, you do like it?”

A small sad smile turns up on her lips as she lowers her hand. “Yes. I love it.”

She stares at it for a few minutes, running her fingers across a few lines of lyrics before leaning it carefully against the table. She kicks her shoes off and stands up. I stand next to her and just watch. She unzips the side of her dress and pulls it down. She’s wearing a black lace bra and panties. Stepping out of the dress she steps closer to me. Her eyes are a brownish-green color. A color I haven’t seen before.

“God, I love you so much,” she whispers in my ear as she wraps her arms around my neck and holds on like she might sink if she lets go.

When she says those words to me this time, I feel like she’s trying to tell me something else. She moves her lips against mine and I open my mouth inviting her in.

I pause for a moment, pulling back to look at her, to tell her how I feel. “Dahlia, I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone or anything.”

She presses my hand over her heart and hers over mine. “Not only does my heart belong to you and yours to me, but I’ve known since the first time you kissed me that we were soul mates. I knew it that first night in Vegas.”

I try to tell her I feel the same way, but she moves her fingers to my lips. “Shh . . . Let me finish.” She grabs my hands, holds them tightly, and looks right into my eyes. “River, I don’t ever want to talk about this again, but this is something I want you to know. I loved Ben, I really did, but when we were together, I never believed in soul mates. I never even thought about it.”