I stood up, turned the shower on and stepped in, leaving it on cold for a few minutes.

The rest of the afternoon, things were awkward with Kacie and it was killing me. She avoided looking at me and left the room when I entered it. She obviously didn’t want to be around me. I wanted to talk to her and apologize again so we could go back to normal, but I couldn’t get her alone. I had a hemorrhoid named Ashley following me around everywhere I went.

Fred kept me up-to-date on the latest weather reports.

“Looks like they’re going to re-open that bridge tomorrow at 5AM, assuming the rain slows down overnight like they’re saying it will.”

I’d learned that Fred spent his evenings up in his apartment watching old cop shows and listening to his police scanner, which I assumed was how he had the insider info on the bridge closures.

“Really? Well, that’s good. I’ll work on getting my truck out before dark, then tomorrow I’ll be on my way, bright and early.”

Fred looked over at me and nodded slowly. He seemed a little bummed to hear I’d be leaving.

“I was thinking, maybe later in the summer, I could come back and you can show me what kind of fish we can pull out of that lake back there?”

“That sounds great, Brody. You just come back here anytime you want. Maybe next time you can rent a room and ditch that old couch.” He reached across the island to shake my hand.

“Fred, did we just have a moment?” I teased him, grabbing his hand and giving it a firm shake back.

Fred laughed loudly. “I guess we did.”

I missed dinner, instead spending the next three hours cramming branches under the tires of my truck to get it unstuck. I came inside and everything was pretty quiet. The kitchen was cleaned up except for a plate of food covered with Saran Wrap on the island. I walked over and was thrilled that the note on top had my name on it. I didn’t know Kacie’s handwriting, but I was pretty sure she left this out for me. If pot roast and red potatoes were her idea of a peace offering, I was going to marry that girl tomorrow. I sat down and dove right in.

“Hey.”

I looked up from my plate to see Kacie standing in the corner of the kitchen, nervously playing with her silver necklace. I stared at that necklace all night last night trying to see what was engraved on it. She probably thought I was staring at her boobs—she would have been right about that too. I cleared my throat.

“Hey. Uh … thanks for this. It’s delicious, beyond delicious,” I replied, hoping I didn’t have gravy all over my face.

She smiled shyly and walked over to the refrigerator, grabbing the gallon of milk.

“No problem. Did you get your truck out?” she asked as she poured me a tall glass.

“Yeah, thankfully. I really didn’t want to have to wait for a tow truck. Who knows how long that would have taken!”

“Fred said you’re leaving tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I’d like to try and go early, before Ashley grabs a hold of my leg and tries to go with me.”

Kacie chuckled, but not a sincere laugh like I’d heard over the last couple days.

“Listen,” I continued, “I was hoping to talk to you before I left, but you seemed like you didn’t want to talk to me all afternoon so I didn’t push it. About today, in the bathroom-”

“Don’t,” Kacie cut me off. “Really, it’s fine. I know it wasn’t your fault.” She bit her lip and started playing with her necklace again.

“I know it’s not my fault, but I still feel bad about it. You seem so … uncomfortable around me now and that’s not how I want to leave things. I told Fred I might come back again soon, to fish with him. It’d be nice if you didn’t hate me.”

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t hate you, I was just embarrassed. It’s been … a long time … since anyone has, you know, seen me like that. I wasn’t exactly prepared.” She stared off into the family room, avoiding eye contact.

“Listen, what can I do to make things go back to the way they were this morning?”

“Nothing, really. It’s fine. I’m gonna head to bed, I’m beat. Maybe I’ll see you in the morning?” She gave me a polite smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes and turned down the hall toward her apartment. I knew with that smile she wasn’t done. She didn’t want me to leave like this either. My mind reeled with what I could say or do in that ten feet she had left to walk to make her stay out here and get things back to normal.

Light bulb moment!

“Kacie!” I called out in a loud whisper. By the time she turned around, I had pulled my t-shirt off and dropped my jeans down around my ankles, standing there in nothing but my boxer briefs.

“Oh my God! What are you doing?” She giggled and covered her eyes the way I had earlier.

“I thought it was only fair. I’ve seen you, now you’ve seen me and we can go back to normal.”

She peeked through her fingers at me, closing them quickly when she realized I was in no rush to get dressed again. She continued chuckling and said in a muffled tone, “Put your clothes back on, you lunatic.”

What the hell was I doing? This might be the dumbest thing I’d ever done and I’d done a lot of stupid things. I was standing in front of this girl I was unusually attracted to in nothing but my boxer briefs, talking myself out of getting hard right there in front of her. Every time she grinned at me or looked south, I had to think of non-sexual things in my head.

Remote control. Pepper spray. Winter jackets. Golf clubs.

“I will … if you promise to hang out here with me for a little while. If you continue down that hall, I’m going to follow you, just like this.”

“Even you are not bold enough to do that.” She was challenging me.

I never back down from a challenge.

“Actually, it’s pretty hot in this house, don’t ya think? Maybe I’d be more comfortable with these off?” I wiggled my eyebrows at her and started playing with the elastic band of my boxers.”

Her eyes followed my hands as her mouth fell open. She threw her hands up over her face again and turned around, facing the hallway but not moving forward.

“Okay, okay. I’ll stay, just pull your pants up.”

I lost all control of my body and let my head fall back on Brody’s shoulder as he softly kissed his way down the side of my neck. His fingers lightly raked up and down my arms, covering them in goose bumps as I let out a soft moan.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for two days,” he murmured against the base of my neck. “And now that I’ve finally touched you, I’m not going to be able to stop.”

His words were intoxicating and my body was already drunk with lust. My breasts felt heavy, my nipples poking against the constricting cotton fabric of my bra. He continued kissing my neck as he slipped one hand inside my bra, teasing and kneading my swollen, needy breast. When his fingers clamped gently around my nipple, I let out a hiss and reached around behind me, feeling his excitement through his jeans.

“You keep making noises like that, this isn’t going to last very long.” He growled as he spun me around to face him. I grabbed at his jean button and fumbled to get it open.

His eyes were on fire, egging me on with their blaze. “Slow down, Kacie.”