“Daisy! Daisy, come here! Bad dog!” I hear a woman calling and watch as the dog skitters to the side, rounding Zeus and me. A wave of purple runs by, chasing the small dog, and Zeus jerks me forward as he follows.

Within seconds, he’s managed to wrap around the girl dressed in purple workout clothes, tying the three of us together while the small dog stands a few feet from us, yapping incessantly.

“Daisy!” the woman screeches, pulling on Zeus’s leash in an attempt to lift her foot out.

My eyes travel over the tight black pants, up to an even tighter purple top, and stop at her face. It’s the girl from the gym.

Her dark hair whips to the side as she curses and grunts, and then stops when her eyes meet mine.

“It’s you. Oh. My. God. This is totally insane!” Her voice lilts as a giggle joins her smile.

I feel my stunned expression slowly fade as I remind myself to smile at her.

“I was totally hoping I’d run into you again. I never caught your name from last time. I’m Erin.”

Standing this close, I can see her blue eyes, which are actually closer to gray, closely resembling steel, and a pattern of freckles that covers her nose and cheeks.

“Max,” I return.

“Max, that’s hot.” She smiles at me again, and my eyes travel over her face and dark hair. She looks nothing like Ace.

She’s perfect.

Zeus whines, breaking me from my mental comparison, and I lean forward to grab his collar so I can release the leash and unravel the knot we’re tied in.

“Your dog looks like a bear. He’s fuckin’ ginormous!”

I release her from the nylon, allowing her to grab her dog that’s still barking. “Yeah, he’s a beast.”

“What’s his name?”

“Zeus. His name’s Zeus.” I’ve never introduced him as my dog before, and it’s both a little strange, and painful. The slow creep of melancholy threatens to seep over me, and I shove it away with a smile.

“Well, Max and Zeus, would you like to hang out with Daisy and me?”

I nod absently. “Yeah, sure.”

Daisy yaps a few more times, looking slightly demonic as her beady little eyes focus on me. Her entire body convulses as she yips.

“Maybe we ditch the canines, though.”

“I was planning to ditch a whole lot more than just them.” She looks at me with an inviting smile, and my body internally wages a war so fast my thoughts can’t keep up as lust and desire work to conquer this strange devotion I can’t seem to shake.

“My house is six blocks south of here. Why don’t I give you my number you can drop her off and give me a call.”

“Sounds perfect.” She smiles again before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to my cheek. I swallow the scent of her perfume. It’s a thick, musky vanilla that makes my lungs feel slightly polluted.

I look over at Erin lying beside me, and a cold wall of discomfort hits. I’m balanced on the very edge of my bed while she lies on the far side, asleep on her stomach. Her dark hair covers most of her face and is fanned across my pillow. What in the hell am I supposed to do now? I can’t just leave her here to wander downstairs and chance her meeting the others. What will she be like if I wake her up? Will she be pissy or embarrassed?

My alarm clock says that it’s nearly six. I really need to get up and get her out the door before the others start waking up.

“Hey,” I say softly.

She doesn’t move.

“Hey,” I try again, reaching forward to gently nudge her shoulder.

Still nothing.

“Erin,” I say, gripping her shoulder and rocking her to consciousness. Her hand slowly raises to her face and pushes her hair aside so her eyes focus on me. Her makeup has been smudged from sleeping, leaving traces of it on my pillow.

She lets out an exaggerated yawn and reaches her hand forward then trails it down my shoulder, over my bicep and to my bare chest.

“You wore me out,” she says with a grin.

“I’ve got to get going.”

“I’ll help you forget about those plans,” she whispers, scooting closer to me, exposing a small hint of her cleavage. “You know you want to. They like you too,” she whispers, leaning closer and pulling the blankets back, showcasing her large, naked chest. My body instantly reacts as her hand trails further down and grips me, holding me almost aggressively in her fist.

“He says you want to play,” she whispers.

I push forward on the bed, knocking her back, and cover her body with mine. Then snake a hand down to prime her. She moans against my shoulder as I insert a second finger and pump them inside of her a few times, not focusing on her reactions to my touch, just looking for a result. I slide them out, leaving her mewling and scratching at my chest, as I reach behind her to open my nightstand and produce a condom.

I tear it open and slowly slide it on without even seeing her. As I close my eyes and reposition myself above her, I see blond hair splayed across my pillows, large brown eyes holding a look of love and desire with a tinge of self-consciousness. Her lips are parted and her chest rises and falls with anticipation.

My eyes squeeze shut, and when they open, I see Erin’s steel eyes are closed, her face slightly contorted, and her mouth open in a small “o” as she breathes a moan. Looking down, I realize that she’s working on herself. This should be hot. I should be feeling half crazed with the sexual confidence and desire she exudes.

I never realized how much I craved Ace’s excitement for me, for what I could do to her, for the brief timidness that turned into carnal desire within a few lustful moments that transformed her into a confident sexual minx.

I grip Erin’s wrist and pull her hand away, earning me a string of profanities and objections before I press into her in one hard move.

When we finish, she heads to the bathroom and I reach for the clothes that I’d worn yesterday. I sit on my bed, debating excuses for Erin to leave. When the bathroom door opens, a wave of coconut impales me. It’s the same familiar scent that escaped the bathroom when she would shower. The sensation makes my chest ache with guilt.

I’m hoping she’ll tell me she has to leave so we don’t have to do a song and dance routine. I already know Kendall’s going to be pissed. As soon as she saw me arrive home with Erin last night, I’d heard her bitching to Jameson, begging for him to intervene because otherwise I’d lose Ace. I wanted to ask her what in the hell she thought had happened.

“You have some great shampoo in there, too bad you don’t use conditioner,” Erin says, combing her fingers through her hair, causing the scent to roll over me like waves.

I shake my head in disbelief. My shampoo sure as hell doesn’t smell like that. Am I imagining the scent? “That’s not my shampoo, where did you find it?” I can specifically remember raiding the bathroom and throwing her things away. It was one of the first rooms to be swept.

“It was on the edge of the tub, behind the shower curtain. You like, don’t care that I used it, right?”

I look at her for a moment dumbfounded. She’s still haunting me six months later!

I shake my head again. “I hate the way it smells,” I lie.

“Really?” She pulls a few strands to her nose. “I guess it is kind of strong.”

I nod and grab a sweatshirt. I need to get out of here before my head starts to cloud with more thoughts of her.

“I need to go. I’ve got classes,” I lie again. It’s a little frightening how easy it is for me to lie to this girl, and slightly more, how much I don’t care.

“Okay, well, here, let me give you my number. We’ll do this again.” She winks at me as she grabs for my phone. I could lie again or tell her to leave, but maybe this is a good thing. Maybe this is what I need. I let her enter her number and stare at the smile pasted across her face for a moment, waiting to feel a sense of accomplishment or relief to conquer the nerves I’m feeling.