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John looked out of the window and spotted his friends as she backed in his truck. Jace and Ford stood together, mouths hanging wide open in shock and clutching their beers to their chests.

“Here, you need this,” Jace said, handing him a double shot of whiskey. He passed one to Ford and Alyssa too. “It’ll put some hair on your chest and replace your balls.”

Jace winked at Alyssa, where she hid her smile behind her shot glass. Ford was in the process of tipping his shot back when he laughed at Jace’s comment and spit half of it out. “That was a good one,” Ford said.

“Dude, you should just hand the keys to your fruity truck to Alyssa. She looks much better driving it.”

“Is that jealousy I smell?” John asked, and threw his shot back.

“Nah, I’m just busting your chops,” Jace said, and handed him another.

“Another?”

“Since when did you become such a light weight, Suzie? It’s summer. This is how we roll.”

John shrugged, Jace was right.

“Let’s make a toast,” Ford said. The four of them raised their glasses high. “Here’s to the good times and one epic summer.” They clunked their glasses togethe

r and threw the shot back. Alyssa cringed from the burn at the back of her throat. She definitely wasn’t a whiskey or bourbon kind of girl. She leaned toward beer.

“I’m pretty sure I’ll be growing that chest hair by the end of the night.” she coughed, her eyes watering. “That’s some strong stuff.”

“Get used to it, blondie. It’s what’s on tap tonight,” Jace said.

After their round of shots, they split up for a bit to mingle for the next hour. Everyone was relaxed, laid back and having a good time without a care in the world. Games were being played, cornhole–which she recognized–and music coming from trucks. Taking center stage was the bonfire. It was huge, probably twenty feet high by five feet wide and it blazed under the heated star covered sky. She was captivated by it.

Alyssa smiled. She loved everything about this night. Who knew she would come to love the little back pocket town of South Fork so much?

She walked around hand in hand with John. The whiskey was streaming through her veins, warming her blood and making her feel good. John kept her close and hardly took his eyes off of her. In fact, she didn’t see him even glance at another girl. Maybe this friends with benefits thing wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Considering the way he held her hand, or when he leaned against a truck with his arms wrapped around her while he talked to a friend, she was falling hard for him. She didn’t want to, she wanted to keep it strictly platonic, but he was making her swoon hard.

Not to mention, his southern drawl was pretty damn sexy.

Hooting and hollering and excitement pulled John and Alyssa toward the crowd growing around a truck. They had no idea what was going on, but as they shimmied their way through to the front it was quickly discovered.

Jace was doing body shots. At the sight, John burst out laughing.

His shirt was long gone and his shorts were hung extremely low on his flat stomach. A brunette girl rubbed lemon on his waist and then sprinkled salt across. When she was done, Jace looked behind and spotted John.

“Johnny boy!” he yelled with a big grin and glossy eyes. They slapped hands and said hi.

“Jace! Let me guess—you lost your shirt.”

He grinned.

“You can’t be trusted to be alone anymore. How do you always lose your shirt?”

“The fuck if I know,” he said. “But it’s not like I need one while doing body shots—hey girl,” he said when he spotted Alyssa. “Ever done a body shot?”

“Can’t say I have, Jace.”

“Ah, a body shot virgin. Well now’s the perfect time to do it. I’m lubed up and ready to go.”

Alyssa tried really hard not to laugh, but it was a futile attempt. She busted out giggling, feeling pretty tipsy at the moment. Jace was a funny guy.

“She’s good, Jace.” John answered, squeezing her hand.

“I don’t even know how it’s done.”