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“She’s not hurt, ma’am.” Gray put me on my feet, and I flew into my mother’s arms. “It was just a snake.”

More panic ensued, and I was carried straight into the house and fussed at for leaving the yard, wandering off by myself. Everyone forgot my savior.

Everyone but me…

Eight years passed before he saved me again.

Ovarian cancer stole my mother’s life, and I’d sneaked out of her funeral, hoping I could outrun the pain.

I ran and ran until I dropped to my hands and knees on that same dirt path. Grass stains ruined my fancy church dress, and I dug my nails into the damp earth, letting out another scream.

This time my screams were the pain of loss. My ribs cinched like a vise over my lungs. My body doubled with the pressure of my sobs, and I held onto that ground for dear life, convinced I’d never stop screaming, until a warm body appeared beside me.

Those same arms wrapped around me, and he held me on his lap, rocking me, rubbing my back, and saying quiet words of comfort. I don’t remember what he said. I only remember holding on to him for dear life as grief ripped me apart.

Stormy eyes reflected my anguish back at me. Gray had come to our town to live with his uncle after his mother died. He knew my pain.

We didn’t say much afterward. He went back to being Danny’s best friend, and I went back to being Danny’s little sister. Occasionally I’d catch his eyes on me, which meant my eyes were on him, but it wasn’t until last summer our relationship changed in a major way.

Danny and Gray were home from college, and we were all here at the lake house, hanging out. Ruby and I walked down to the pier where the boys were splashing and dunking each other in the brown water.

I took off my white cover-up to reveal a matching string bikini. My body had changed a lot in five years.

When I met Gray’s eyes, they weren’t frightened or sad. They were fire and lust, and every part of me lit up in response. He swam away from the guys to where we were sitting, and when he pushed out of the water, I learned a new kind of hunger.

The skinny shoulders from hi

s past were now broad and strong. Lines cut across his torso, and his stomach rippled where his muscles flexed. His gaze was possessive, and my body answered with feelings I’d never had before.

When I was younger, he’d saved me from dangers I understood.

This was new and intoxicating.

It drew me to him like the ocean to the moon.

We kissed for the first time that night. We shared all my firsts that summer, and when he tried to slow us down, I learned my power over him.

Gray might have told me I was too young to decide, but I’ve been his since the day he carried me out of that brush…

The game room is cooler than the crowded upstairs. It’s dim, and the only light is from the neon-blue Pabst Blue Ribbon sign over the pool table and the lamp post outside on the pier.

He sits on a barstool, reclining with his elbows on the leather edge. A casual grin is on his lips, but his steel-blue eyes are so intense, so heated as I walk through the door. “Hey, Drew-poo. How’s high school?”

His manner, using my brother’s silly nickname, it should put me at ease, but his eyes contradict all of it.

“I hate that nickname.” I try to be sassy, but my voice comes out soft and high. “Anyway, I graduated.”

“That’s right.” He sits up and smiles, but no dimple appears. “You’re headed to State with Ruby.”

“How did you know?” I walk slowly toward him.

He shrugs. “Word gets around.”

My fingers play with the hem of my skirt. “How’s your uncle?”

“Same as always. Ornery. Complaining that he’s tired all the time. Wanting to know when I’m coming back to work.”

“But you got your degree.” I don’t want to disparage his uncle, at the same time...