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It was almost like he knew what to do, and how to make it less painful for me. I rolled over in his arms, needing to see him. To my surprise, his eyes were open and a small smile was on his face. My hand went to his cheek.

“Here I was thinking I imagined last night,” I whispered, feeling like what happened last night was too good to be true—as if it wasn’t possible.

His lips were on my cheek within a second of me saying that.

“You know we are going to have to get our stories straight,” I said, as his lips moved down my neck.

“You and I. That’s all I care about.” He kept kissing down my neck and then stopped, his eyes locking with mine. “Or was that your way of telling me you aren’t interested?”

I knew this conversation was going to come. I knew it as soon as I’d agreed to have one night with him. But who was I kidding? I wanted more nights, more time—more quality time with him. I wanted to fall asleep next to him. I wanted to wake up next to him.

But the reality was that zero of those things could happen.

My hand went to his cheek. “You have a girlfriend, Brad. One you might be fighting with now, but you do have one.”

His eyes hardened a bit while locked with mine. “Is that your only question?”

I frowned. He couldn’t be serious. “How about the part where my dad will kill you if he finds out?”

“We’ll deal with Reaper when the time is right.”

My mouth fell open. “You aren’t serious right now? Telling Dad? Please tell me you are kidding!”

“I want you, Hannah, and if that means I have to take a few bullets to be able to hold you without everyone thinking I’m your friend, then I’ll take them.”

He was insane. Completely and utterly insane. I pushed him away from me and sat up. “You have no idea what you are suggesting.” I turned to look at him, rather furious at this point. “I told you all I wanted was one night. That was it, Brad. One night. No strings. Just because you…took my virginity, doesn’t mean you have to be with me.”

Okay, I thought I was furious till I saw his expression. He looked the most pissed off.

“So that’s all I was to you, one night?”

I shook my head and exhaled sharply. “No, Brad. I love you. Which part of that don’t you understand?” I threw the blankets back. I needed to get space from him. “I want you, okay? I want what we did last night to be repeated over and over.” I turned to look at him, tears welling in my eyes. “But the reality is I’m not good for you. I can’t give you what you need. I can’t give you a real relationship. We would have to sneak around, I would be asking you to lie to your best friend and then there is the case of your girlfriend!”

Why did I have to be the sensible one? Couldn’t he see all the flaws in what he was suggesting? This had to be a one night stand. This couldn’t be any more.

He slowly got up, “I don’t love Andrea. I love you. I told you that.” He walked slowly toward me. “As for lying, I don’t give a fuck, and really, we won’t be lying. You and I have always been close, so nothing will change.”

“So you want me to lie to everyone and accept the fact that you are willing to turn your back on your girlfriend of years because you really want me?”

“I love you, Hannah, and I’ll do anything to be in your life. But as much as I want you, if you only want to be friends, then I’ll somehow cope with that. But I need to know.” He stopped in front of me. “Do you love me back?”

Did I love him back? Of course I did! But I was thinking maybe I should lie. Maybe I should tell him I didn’t; which would put an end to his crazy talk. Leaving Andrea. Lying to Dad. Being with me.

But as I stared up into his eyes, I couldn’t lie. “You have no idea how much I love you.” I said the words that could possibly be my undoing. Let’s face it, I had just showed him my heart and at any minute he could stab it.

He placed his hands on my hips. “I’ll handle Andrea. We’ll play it smart.” He dipped his head, looking at me in the eyes. “But when you are ready, I’ll tell your dad.”

“You’ll be getting a bullet in the head for that.”

“Maybe.” His lips twitched up. “But I’ll die a happy man.”

I inhaled sharply and placed both my hands on his cheeks. “I love you, Brad, but you haven’t had much sleep, so I suggest, if you feel the same in a few days, then we will talk about it.”

I knew there was a large chance Andrea could talk him around. I knew there was a large chance he would change his mind. Lying to his best friend and president as well as club brothers wasn’t something someone decided on lightly.

“You know what I’m thankful for?” His hands went to my lower back, pushing me into him. “I’m thankful you have always let me touch you. For all the movie nights we have had together. Because now we can use them to our advantage.”

I giggled. “You really want this?”

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