above the top of my lace-edged thong. At the light touch of his fingers just there, I’m returned to reality. Whoa. What the hell is he doing in my bed? It’s not easy—I haven’t had sex in over a year—but I forsake the pleasurable warmth of his touch, roll abruptly away and almost end up on the floor. His hand hooks around my waist before I can fall. With a semblance of my sanity and balance regained, I scramble to a kneeling position before clumsily sliding off the edge of the bed. Now I’m standing in one of my long white t-shirts that I don’t remember putting on. Scott on the other hand is wearing a wife-beater that showcases his muscled chest and arms. He also has his customary morning erection. My sex contracts as I hastily avert my eyes from the sight of it tenting his navy boxer briefs. “What are you doing in my bed?” If I thought his voice was scratchy, mine sounds and feels like a well-used Brillo pad courtesy of secondhand smoke and alcohol. Watching me intently, he throws off the comforter that had been covering his lean, muscled thighs and swings his legs until his feet are planted on the floor. My toes curl into the carpet. Not a self-conscious bone in that gorgeous body. God, I hate him. I hate that he still has the power to make me—make me feel this. Quivery. On edge. Horny. Shh . I didn’t say that. “ I guess that means you don’t remember what happened last night,” he states, subjecting my body to a thorough perusal. It’s the kind of heated look he always used on me in the past when he wanted sex. Sizzling hot sex. But I’m not the same girl he schmoozed and charmed before. I’ve learned my lesson when all things Scott are concerned. “ What I do remember is you interfering where you had no business,” I snap irritably, secretly embarrassed at the situation I put myself in and the spectacle I must have made of myself. I’m not going to tell him how terrified I’d been that those guys were going to beat the crap out of him—that’d he’d get hurt real bad. Or that I’d almost died when I’d seen him get hit. And there’s no way I’m going to admit how grateful I am that he stopped me from doing something I definitely would have regretted. Cam may be hot but it’s obvious by what he did to Scott that he’s a total jerk. I can’t believe he and his friends were basically going to gang up on him, three against one. All I can say is thank God for Zach. “ Like I’m going to let you go off with some guy you don’t know sloshed out of your mind,” he replies, scowling darkly. I hate that he’s right. “It’s really none of your business what I do or who I do it with. You had no right to interfere.” I’m saying the words but my voice lacks the emotion. At this, Scott comes to his feet and looks down at me. “That guy practically knocked you down,” he growls, looking angry and imposing as he towers over me. “ It was an accident. He was trying to hit you .” “ That ass hit me in the back. Is that the kind of guy you’re hooking up with these days? Pansy-ass jerks whose idea of fighting is knifing a guy in the back?” His nostrils are flaring so I know Scott’s in a rage. “What the hell were you doing with him, Bec? You don’t even know the guy.” “ Well how do you think you get to know someone.” I know I’m being a bitch but it’s like I can’t stop myself from trying to hurt him. Hit him where he’s vulnerable. His eyes darken and his hand whips out, grabbing my wrist. Before I know it I’m being hauled into his arms, my breasts pressed up against his hard chest. “If sex is what you’re looking for, I’m right here. You don’t have to get it from some guy who’s been with half the girls in the school. You know me and I know you and sex is the one thing that was always good between us.” Despite the sexy growl of his voice and his erection hard against my stomach, I can tell by the hard glint in his eyes that he’s still