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A fter Endy brought Sebastian to the parking lot, she helped him limp to his car. She couldn’t help but feel like he was faking the need for her assistance a little. But in all honesty, she didn’t mind one single bit and was maybe taking her time getting him settled into the driver’s seat.

She held on to the door and roof while Sebastian used her shoulder for support in sliding into the car. His handprint burned through the strap of her Dri-FIT tank top, and Endy felt she might go up in flames.

After Sebastian adjusted his seat, Endy stepped back and started swinging the door shut, but Sebastian held it open with an arm, his biceps bulging from his T-shirt sleeve. “So … what do assistant directors of racquet sports do after work?” he asked with a slow smile.

Endy felt the blood rise up her neck to her face and her heart pounded again. “Oh, well, I need to put some time into the Picklers fundraiser, and I have about fifty unanswered emails, and—”

“I said after work. And I didn’t mean for the rest of the year.” Sebastian grinned. “I was kind of wondering about, like, tonight.”

“Tonight?” stammered Endy.

“Yeah, I’m just here visiting for a while, and I don’t really know very many people,” replied Sebastian. “I’m kind of bored of my own company.”

“You know Joel,” Endy asserted.

Sebastian laughed. “I’m not that bored of my own company.”

Endy bit her bottom lip.

“I mean, we’ve bumped into each other four times. That’s either random or you’re some kind of creepy stalker.”

“I’m not a creepy stalker!” Endy exclaimed. The butterflies in her stomach went berserk. Sebastian was keeping track of how many times they’d met? Did he also feel the connection and attraction between them?

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Sebastian chuckled. “Come on. I’ll swing by here at five o’clock,” he said.

And then he looked at her so earnestly, so intensely with those extraordinary light blue eyes that Endy couldn’t refuse.

“See you at five,” she said, smiling, looking at Sebastian, and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Sebastian waited outside the pro shop, in the driver’s seat of his own golf cart, his knee wrapped tightly in a supportive brace. Endy felt her face light up as she approached the cart, and she spied two folding lounge chairs and a small cooler in the back.

This was her favorite time of the day, when the sun was lowering behind the San Jacinto Mountains, the clouds were glowing pink and purple, and the sssssssh-chk-chk-chk of the sprinklers could be heard watering the grass tennis courts.

“Since I can’t really walk anywhere, I thought we could just take a drive.”

“Sounds wonderful.” Endy smiled as she climbed into the passenger seat. “Do you have a place in mind, or can I suggest one?”

“Like I said, I’m just a visitor, so by all means.” Sebastian put the golf cart in reverse. “You might want to hold on.” He stepped on the accelerator, throwing her off balance and making her grab hold of the dashboard, sending Endy into a giggling fit.

At the farthest end of the country club’s land, the cart climbed a small hill and then came to a rest. Looking northeast toward mountains shadowed in gray-blue, they watched a freight train crossing in the distance, pulling car after car loaded with huge metal shipping containers.

Around them, towering palm trees reached sky-high, their fronds trembling.

Sebastian and Endy breathed in the dry, dusty air, the sultry breeze caressing their skin.

While Endy was taking in the view, she felt Sebastian’s eyes on her and she felt her face flush again. She popped up from the passenger seat and turned her head away from Sebastian, willing her blush to fade.

“Here, let me set these up.” She lifted the chairs and cooler, then placed them facing the view.

Sebastian hauled himself from the golf cart and then limped to a chair, lowering his strong, lean body down.

He reached out to the cooler, lifted up the top, and pulled out a bottle of wine.

He handed it to Endy and then pulled out two plastic cups, a sheepish look across his face, but Endy just uncorked the bottle and poured.

“Classy,” Endy teased, eyeing the plastic cup. She took a sip, then smiled, appreciating the wine Sebastian had chosen. “Hey, this is actually really good. Very sweet of you to bring it.”

Sebastian pulled the cooler closer, then propped his foot on top. “It’s more for the pain in my knee,” he said, grimacing.

“You’re sure milking that injury,” Endy replied with a twinkle in her eye.

“What, you’ve never had an injury?” asked Sebastian.

“Not rea—”

“—maybe hurt your face?”

“My face?”

“Because it’s killin’ me,” Sebastian finished, chuckling and eliciting a groan from Endy. They continued joking around, keeping the conversation light, until the bottle of wine was empty.

Music drifted on the warm breeze from a cover band at the nearby Marriott playing “Brown Eyed Girl.” Sebastian quietly sang along, his voice smooth. And when Endy looked up and caught Sebastian’s warm gaze, her lips lifted in a small smile.

Sebastian reached over and put his hand on Endy’s leg. “Maybe we can do this again. Sometime soon.” He squeezed her knee softly, causing goose bumps to erupt across her entire body.

Endy worried when she recognized the fluttery feeling … the feeling of falling head over heels for someone. Seriously, how could she already be so smitten with Sebastian when they’d only been around each other for a few hours?

The answer was obvious. Sebastian was dreamy. Besides those mesmerizing light blue eyes rimmed with his dark eyelashes, and his mop of tousled, chocolate-brown hair that caressed his cheeks and curled around his ears, the way he carried himself was just plain sexy.

Even with an injured knee, his body moved with a fluidness that seemed almost animal-like.

When he lowered himself into the camp chair, his arms had taken the brunt of his weight, and she’d once again noticed his strong biceps straining the sleeves of his T-shirt.

Endy felt her breath hitch when she thought about what those arms and biceps would look like if he were holding her hips.

“Yeah, maybe we can do this again sometime soon,” she repeated, trying to be casual, but fighting the urge to tumble blindly into love.

Endy’s last relationship—the big one, the long one, the important one, the one with Bennett—had started with her tumbling blindly into love. But when it ended, the heartbreak it caused her was immense. So much so that Endy had vowed to never ever again let herself fall for someone so hard and fast.

And that’s what had her worried now with Sebastian.