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Alex walked away from Drew. She’d never imagined they’d reconnect. He’d been the childhood crush that she’d dreamed about when she was fifteen and sixteen. They’d kissed and done some heavy petting but hadn’t gone all the way. She’d always regretted that because they’d had such big plans for their junior prom. Then her dad had gotten orders to relocate immediately. Since they were needed so quickly, she and her mom hadn’t gotten the option to stay and follow at a later date. Weeks before prom, she’d had two days to pack up and say goodbye.

Over the years, no one had ever lived up to the way he got her. She’d waited until college to lose her virginity and talk about an underwhelming experience. She hadn’t known penises came that small. Soft, it looked like a cocktail weenie, and hard hadn’t made that much of an increase. Maybe that’s why he’d had them keep their pants on until right before he turned the lights off.

She had a couple relationships over the years, but nothing too serious. No one she’d ever considered marrying. Since shewasn’t into indiscriminate sex, her battery-operated boyfriends had provided any relief she needed.

To be face to face with Drew now had her wondering, if nothing else, maybe she could finally have that prom night encounter she’d imagined. It couldn’t be any worse than her micro-penis experience.

She needed to quit daydreaming and get to work. Her authors depended on her, and today would be a busy day. But wow, Drew had only gotten better with age. His skin was still that gorgeous darker color. With the beard he’d sported, the tattoos on his arm, and his T-shirt stretched over his muscles, he’d matured in all the best ways. The boy had turned into a man she couldn’t keep her eyes off of.

She was going to spontaneously combust if Drew didn’t quit touching her. He’d made it a point of dropping by tocheck on hermultiple times since the signing had started. She had been okay until he’d cupped her elbow, checking to see if she needed adrink. Or when he dropped by and whispered in her ear that he couldn’t wait to spend time with her tonight.

She’d never freaking considered the bend of her elbow an erogenous zone. But when Drew had touched her wrist while he was talking to her and then trailed his fingers to the inside of her elbow, she’d worked really hard not to squirm and squeeze her thighs together. She’d considered running to her room to change underwear if hechecked on heranymore.

He’d even had her meet Nat Logan, the author who had him on the cover of her book. Lexi knew her books but hadn’t met her in person. Nat had said she had two author assistants but wanted to add a third to do a couple specific things. Nat had asked for Alex’s card. Then Drew had asked Nat to take a picture of the two of them with his phone. His arm around her and his subtle cologne had her wanting to say screw the signing and take him back to her room.

He was so sweet and so sexy, but he was in a motorcycle club. She was curious if it was a one percent club or not. She’d find it hard to believe if he was involved in illegal activities, but a lot of time had passed since high school. They’d both changed a lot. Drew was so much hotter, but Alex just felt older. Drew had been the only one to call her Lexi. Hearing his special name for her was another thing. Lexi was the younger her who had thought the world would be perfect. Alex knew that the world wasn’t perfect, and sometimes the nice girl didn’t get all she dreamed of.

Her phone beeped with a text message. Although Drew had exchanged phone numbers with her on the pretext of finding each other later, he’d been intermittently texting getting-to-know-you questions.

Drew: Favorite activity that isn’t reading or sex.

Alex chuckled. He obviously thought she got a lot more sex than she did.

Alex: Horseback riding at the ranch. The wind in my face and nothing but blue skies. What about you?

Drew: My favorite is riding too but mine is an iron steed with a lot more horsepower.

Alex smiled and then walked back to the author’s table. She’d run to get some more small bills. She’d underestimated the number of readers paying in cash. She opened the cash bag and slid the bills in. She had to admit her favorite text had been the first one. He’d told her that they’d missed dancing under the stars and he was going to make it up to her. Under The Stars had been the theme for their junior prom. She couldn’t believe he remembered that all these years later.

She always smiled at readers and authors at these events, but today, she was also nervous. What if she and Drew could reconnect and finally get their happily ever after? Or what if, when they sat down, Drew didn’t live up to her dreams?

Chapter Three

Booker had made a reservation for himself, Compass, and Twist. Because he’d worried that more of the Bluff Creek guys might show up, he’d made the reservation for eight people. When he’d realized Lexi and Ms. Maureen were coming to supper, he’d texted Twist that their reservation only allowed for three extra people from Cider Creek. When Twist hadquestioned Booker, he’d had to let him know his crush from high school and her mom were joining them.

He'd had time to go up to his room and change. He slid on a clean shirt. His shirt had smelled of all the different perfumes of the people he’d hugged today. He wanted a fresh, clean one to be around Lexi. He slid his cut on and headed downstairs. Twist said he was in the lobby and Compass had just walked in.

He wanted everything to go perfect tonight with Lexi, but he did also need to catch up with Compass, even though he’d never met the man. Baron, War’s dad, had spoken highly of him. Just from his tone, Booker could tell Baron missed his brother.

The elevator doors opened, and Booker headed toward the restaurant. Twist and Compass were standing by the hostess stand with Twist leaning toward her. Of course, he was turning on the charm. Booker walked up.

“Compass, I’m Booker. I’m glad we could meet.”

“I’m always up for good food. But I suppose I should have been answering Baron’s texts, and he wouldn’t have sent someone to check up on me,” Compass replied.

Booker nodded, chuckling. “Well, it came at the perfect time. I actually had an event I needed to go to here. And I love Bluff Creek but just wasn’t able to settle there.”

“Yeah, what exactly was your event today?” Twist asked.

“So, besides reading books, I’m actually a cover model for romance books.”

Booker waited to see how they responded.

“You get paid for that?” Twist asked incredulously.

“Yeah, a decent amount too.”

“Where do I sign up?” Twist asked.

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