I swivel around, and our eyes connect. I wrap my arms around his neck, fiddling with the small waves along the back of his head. My heart skips a beat from the smoldering heat in his gaze tonight. Instead of his best friend’s twin sister that he grew up with, for once, I feel like a girl he wants to take home. A rush of heat pumps in my veins from the lust and desire pouring from his unwavering eyes. In all the years I’ve known him, he’s never looked at me like he wanted to whisk me to a bedroom and have his way with me.

In slow motion, our hands explore each other. His fingers inch under my shirt and rub along the bare skin of my back above the waistline of my jeans. From the shivers shooting up my spine, my back arches, and I push my breasts out as I lick my lips from his fingers touch.

A sheen of determination crosses his vision, and I’m absolutely certain he’s going to kiss me. I lean in, my imagination already ramped up with the dream of his lips on mine. This will be our first real kiss, not counting the one when we were fourteen. It was a peck, if anything, but now, on this dance floor, he’s going to fulfill my dream.

Tanner’s tongue snakes out of his mouth. He licks his lips, and I close my eyes, waiting for him to break the minute distance. The breeze of his breath chills the wetness on my lips, and my heart races. It’s coming . . . almost—

“Tanner!” Brad screams.

Screech to a damn halt.

“Crap,” Tanner mumbles.

His hands fly off my body as fast as a thief with a gun to their head. I slowly open my eyes, half-praying it wasn’t my brother’s voice booming through the crowd. My prayer goes unanswered when Tanner looks away, and his hand runs down his face. Guilt replaces his desire with the sound of Brad.

Brad slaps Tanner on the back, and Tanner’s focus snaps up to meet my brother’s.

“What’s up, man? Sorry I’m late. Taylor wanted—”

“Ahem.” I purposely clear my throat.

My brother notices me and then skeptically looks back to Tanner to assess the situation. Brad’s silent for a second, and my heart pounds until an easy smile breaks his lips.

“Shit. Sorry, Piper.” Brad walks over and wraps me in a bear hug, lifting my feet off the ground.

The worst part is, I can smell his new girlfriend, Taylor’s, perfume on him. I’m surprised he hasn’t kicked her to the curb yet. One girl is not Brad’s style.

Pushing him off me, I distance myself from the two men in my life. Thankfully, Brad doesn’t notice Tanner’s ping-pong eyes bouncing between us. He’s too self-absorbed while spouting off facts about Taylor in some nonchalant guy code. He acts like I couldn’t have a clue to what his innuendos mean. His sex life repulses me.

“Excuse me you two.” I slide between them, hoping for one last brush against Tanner.

What I don’t expect is for Tanner to sneak a hand out, grazing his finger along my lower back, as I pass by. Once I’m a safe distance from them, I can’t help but turn, and I notice Tanner’s classic smirk on his face while he admires me leaving. All of this is going on while my brother continues to ramble in his ear about how great Taylor is in bed.

When I reach the kitchen, I see a few girls lingering around a table full of guys playing beer pong. Diverting my steps to the open area by the sink, I grab another red Solo cup and make myself a concoction from all the hard liquor strewed around. Mindlessly pouring a little bit of each one and dribbling some Coke in the cup, I become ignorant to my surroundings.

“Hi, Piper. How are you?” I hear Taylor’s sweet Southern voice alongside me.

I roll my eyes. This is what I hate the most—the part when girls try to kiss my ass because I’m Brad’s sister. Brad doesn’t usually see a girl more than once, much to my dismay and shame for the female species. Taylor though has held Brad’s attention longer than most, and I wish I could figure out why. She’s attractive, yes. She’s nice . . . for the most part. She’s a little too clingy . . . definitely.

I can’t stand clingy girls, and from an early age, I swore I’d never be one. Being an outsider, watching girls lose their dignity by tossing their own interests and lives aside for Brad and Tanner, is to blame.

Leaning against the countertop, I cross my arm across my chest and bring the cup to my lips with my other hand. “Taylor,” I respond like the chill bitch most think I am.

“So, I heard you and Jake went out on a date.”

This is her way of making small talk? A lame rumor about Jake Lincoln practically molesting me at a party? Someone referring to it as a date shows that the person obviously didn’t see how he accosted me.

“You heard wrong.” I sip my drink, trying not to engage in more conversation. I’m not naive enough to think that she won’t switch the topic to Brad and ask me if he’s dating anyone else.

“Well—” she steps closer to me and lowers her voice a smidge. “I just saw Jake on the porch, and he was asking about you. I think he really likes you.”

“I think he likes my tits.”

A nervous giggle escapes her while my face remains straight.

“Oh, Piper.” She laughs.

I watch her manicured nail on her right hand swipe at my shoulder. Seriously, I need to get myself out of this predicament.

“Nice talking to you, Taylor, but I gotta find Beatrice and jet out of here.” I push off the counter and notice her fake smile turn down at the corners.

“Okay, Piper. Talk to you later,” she calls out to me after I’ve already escaped halfway across the kitchen.

I raise my hand and wave it in the air while sipping my drink. Not completely paying attention, I bump into a body. When I peer up to see who it belongs to, I regret not staying with Taylor.

“Piper,” Jake slurs, his hands reaching out for my hips.

I smack his hands away with my free one, and his eyebrows furrow. I try to stifle my laugh while remembering his bugged out eyes in disbelief when he thrust his tongue into my mouth last weekend, and I bit down hard with my teeth. He was shocked that I didn’t want Jake Lincoln’s hands and mouth on me. He’s another football egomaniac. Michigan is full of them.

I cross my arm around my chest, and his sight zeros in below my chin. When I glance down, I notice how I’m pushing my breasts up, giving him a clear shot of my cleavage.

Quickly unhooking my arms, I gulp another sip of my drink. “Jake.”

I attempt to pass him and his gang, but Jake sidesteps.

“Funny. Let me get through.” I try the easygoing approach.

I place my cutthroat façade in place, but the Neanderthals don’t care.

“Piper, I thought we kind of had something going.” His one finger twirls my strands of hair.

I smack his hand again, but this time, he doesn’t stop. Instead, he swaggers closer into my space, and I suffocate in the smell of pot embedded in his clothes.

“Wrong.”

“Wrong?” he questions.

Judging how sloped his eyelids are, I’m surprised he recalls my name.

“Yeah, fucking wrong,” the deep male voice of my savior rings out.

I suck my lips in to refrain a smile.

Jake twists around and releases a big, empty laugh. “Should have known Tanner McCain wouldn’t be too far away from Piper Ashby.”

He faces me, and I give a cocky shrug of my shoulders, secretly thankful that Tanner is here to rescue me.

Tanner squeezes between the two of us, swinging his arm around my shoulders. When he pulls me close to him, my heartbeat slows down from the safety he brings.

“You should know better than to mess with Piper. I thought we handled this already?”

I pull my head back and stare up at his chiseled jaw, but he never looks down.

“Well, I thought the agreement was off since I saw you lip-sucking with the redhead a minute ago.” Jake chuckles, thinking he got one up on Tanner.

Honestly, he did—if Tanner and I were a couple, but we’re not. Reflexively, I step to the side, away from Tanner’s nearness, but he tightens his hand on my shoulder and draws me closer.