My eyes flicked opened.

Oh hell.

His lips were wet but oh so warm against my mouth. His tongue was smooth and strong as it worked with mine in a slow, intoxicating rhythm.

I was rooted to the spot, with soapsuds sliding down my slick skin, as more fractured memories slowly came back to me.

“Harlow, I don’t want to make love to you when you’re like this. When I make love to you, I want you to be sober …”

Oh hell. God. Holy Jesus. Fuck.

Had Heath really said that? Or had I dreamed it?

I dropped to the floor of the bath and drew my knees to my chin. Water gushed over my head and over my shoulders.

“Why not me, Heath?”

“What are you talking about?”

Oh my God. No! I covered my face with my hands.

No. No. No. No. No.

I was not that girl.

Not, some whiny girl having a cry about a guy not wanting me.

“What’s wrong with me? You want everything with a pulse … except me …”

Ugh! Apparently, I was.

I groaned and closed my eyes. Great. I’d thrown myself at Heath just like all the other girls and the thought made me feel sick. I would have to apologize. But could I make up for acting like such a whiny princess?

Rising to my feet, I let the water wash away the last of the soapsuds. Of course I could. I would apologize to Heath for … oh God, did he really have to hold me up while I threw up outside of the club?

After turning off the faucet I squeezed the water from my hair and wrapped myself in a towel. I was running a comb through my tangled hair when there was a knock on the bathroom door.

“Harlow…?”

“Yeah?”

“There is a spare toothbrush in the third drawer of the vanity. It’s yours if you want to brush your teeth.”

I retrieved the brush and gave my teeth a good scrub with minty toothpaste and rinsed them well. Slipping into the boxers and baseball shirt Heath had given me I flicked my hair back and stared at my reflection in the mirror. It was then I remembered.

“I think I’m in love with you Heath.”

Oh my god. I had mentioned the L-word.

I think I might be in love with you too H-bomb.

I gasped.

Oh hell.

Chapter Eleven HEATH

The look on her face when she came out of the bathroom told me all I needed to know.

She remembered last night. Or at least some of it.

When she hesitantly entered the room I knew she was feeling awkward. She looked adorable in my boxers and baseball shirt with Dillinger across the back. It made me smile. My name looked good on her.

She sat down next to me, curling one leg under the other. Her hair fell in dark wet strands around her freshly scrubbed face. She looked embarrassed and I couldn’t help but grin. Call me a dick, but she was so cute when she felt uncomfortable and I kind of enjoyed it.

“So I guess you remember a lot more about last night than I do, huh?” she said, looking so adorable that I fought off the urge to grab her face and kiss her.

“Considering the amount of alcohol you had … I’d say that is a fair assumption.” I grinned and she closed her eyes in embarrassment.

When she opened them again she said, “I’m so sorry Heath …”

I feigned ignorance. You know. Just to fuck with her. Yeah. Yeah. I was douche. But if you saw how amazing she looked sitting there, so pretty and sweet, looking all awkward … hell, she was perfect.

She bit her bottom lip and my dick felt the tiny flick of her tongue and the soft scrap of her teeth right through to its tip. It moved and pulsed and I could feel it growing. If she kept doing shit like that, I would have to take care of it myself. I hadn’t been laid in weeks and I had world of built up sexual urges begging for release.

“I told you I was in love with you, didn’t I?” she said, sheepishly.

“Maybe.” I glanced at her sideways.

“Sorry about that.”

My smile faded. “Don’t ever apologize for that,” I said.

She smiled sweetly. But our eyes locked and something passed between us. The air crackled with it. Something we both felt. A silent fork in the road. It was time to stop circling each other. It was time to admit how we truly felt about one another. I knew it. And in that moment, so did she.

She shook her head and stood up abruptly. “I can’t do this, Heath.”

I jumped up and took her wrists in my hands. “Why not? Why can’t this be right?”

“Because I can’t give you what you want.” She fixed me with those piercing sea-green eyes. “I won’t be this week’s flavor and next week’s leftovers.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked a little harshly.

“You can have any girl you want, and you’re choosing me?”

“Yes,” I cried. “Yes, that is exactly what I am doing.”

* * * * *

HARLOW

It was hard not to scoff.

“I’ve seen the girls you’ve been with. I don’t even compare to them.”

“No. You’re so much more than what they are.” Heath’s fingers slipped to mine. “I’ve never met a girl like you, H-bomb. I don’t want any other girl. The truth is, I haven’t gotten laid since I met you.”

“Bullshit. I’ve seen you with lots of girls.”

“Doesn’t mean I had sex with them.”

I eyed him suspiciously. “Why?”

He sighed. “Because none of them were you.”

“Heath, that’s crazy.”

“What’s crazy, is how I feel about you H-bomb,” he said with sudden enthusiasm, his eyes warm and soft. “You’re in every corner of my brain. From the moment I wake up to when I fall asleep. You’re all I can think about.”

I looked away. It was hard to look at him. Because when I did, I wanted him.

“Heath, what I said last night … I’d had too much to drink …” I said.

He frowned but my words didn’t deter him. “Don’t say that. Don’t reduce it to that level. We both meant what we said last night.”

“I’m leaving in a few weeks. If we … it won’t work … I don’t belong here.”

He took my hands. “You belong with me.”

I looked at him and bit my bottom lip. “What you want is impossible.”

“What I want is you.”

He was making it hard.

“How do I start something that I will only have to finish in a few weeks?”

His smile was soft. “We can face that when the time comes. We’ll work it out. We can do this, Harlow.” He gave my hands a gentle shake. “I want you to be my girl. My only girl.”

I found his eyes and was momentarily lost in the infinite blue. It would be easy to give into him.

But giving in would mean risking everything.

If I jumped into something with him and lost myself in him, it would only end badly. He was surrounded by too many temptations. Yes, he said he wanted me as his only girl. But for how long?

Until another challenge came along?

Could I risk my future when that was a real possibility?

Look at how quickly he had changed his mind about me the night I’d picked him up from hospital. One minute he wanted me; the next he was rejecting me.

Was that the sort of guy I could give up my future for?

I needed to go for a walk. I felt so muddled. I needed time to myself to think. My heart and head were fighting and it was an all-out war. My heart was begging me to take the plunge; while my head was gripping onto the edge for dear life.

“I’m going for a walk.” I grabbed my coat from the back of a sofa and put it around me. At the dining table I slipped my feet into a pair of Nikki’s sandals.

“I’ll come with you.”

“No. I need time.”

“Harlow …”

“You don’t know what you’re asking of me,” I said with more force than I had intended.

Choosing Heath would mean giving up everything. My life in Georgia. My plans for college. I’d have to face the wrath and immense disappointment of my daddy. Not to mention the venom of my mother. All for … whatever this was.