“You’re unbelievable.” I stared up at Clayton, still at a loss for words.

  “I love you both so much.”

  Because I couldn’t seem to put into words what I wanted to say, I stood on my tip-toes and pulled him down toward me, pressing my lips to his. “I hit the jackpot with you, Clayton Powell,” I mumbled against his lips and felt him smile.

  “Will you knock it off, you jackass?” I looked past Clayton’s shoulder just in time to see Palmer step into the clearing with Corbin close behind. “Or I’m gonna knock you over the head and throw you over a cliff. Then I will have to go back and break the news to your poor momma that her warped little boy fell to his death.”

  Corbin seemed completely unfazed by Palmer and her threats of violence. In fact, all he was doing was scanning her over from behind. He was either extremely into her or lost in a sea of lust.

  “Come on, sweetheart, I’m harmless.”

  “Harmless, my ass, and I am not sweet, Corbin.” She spun around to face him. “I’m sour and mean. If I catch you checking out my ass one more time, I’m gonna jab your eyes out with the nearest sharp object I can find.”

  She shoved against his chest. “Up here, you ass!” She pointed to her face. “My eyes are up here.”

  “But you told me to stop looking at your ass.” Corbin seemed to really enjoy tormenting her.

  “That was all of me, you idiot.” She spun around to face us and rolled her eyes. “How in the hell can you two possibly be related?” she asked Clayton, and Corbin grinned from behind her. “He skipped right over the charm and got all the garbage left over.”

  “I’m charming.” Corbin peeked over her shoulder and she shoved him away.

  “You are annoying and frustrating and—”

  “Cute?” Corbin interrupted her, holding his hands out to his side. I’ll admit I found him cute, but that had a lot to do with the fact that he was identical to the man I was in love with, so I had a reason. Palmer, on the other hand, looked murderous.

  “Cute does not make you tolerable.” She hung her head. “I have never wanted to commit a felony before,” she looked up at Clayton and me, “until now. I actually dream of sewing his mouth shut, or worse. He’s making me crazy, and I’m worried that I may actually hurt him.”

  “Please hurt me.”

  I wanted to help her, but oh my god I couldn’t. I laughed uncontrollably as I bent at the waist. They were by far the most hilarious thing I’d ever witnessed, and whether Palmer wanted to admit it or not, I seriously thought she had a thing for him.

  “Where’s Ethan?” Clayton finally broke through the craziness.

  “He’s with Dad,” Corbin replied, stepping around Palmer and joining us on the cliff. “They were driving the length of the drive over and over on the four-wheeler when we left. Ethan was laughing, saying ‘again’ each time they made it back to the house.”

  My eyes widened in horror and I was just about to have a mommy freak out moment as I looked at Clayton for help. But Palmer piped in as she normally did.

  “He’s wearing a baseball helmet that used to be Clayton’s, and their dad is going less than five miles per hour. Wipe the old lady look from your face and stop worrying.”

  Palmer did have a way with words that made everything seem funny. Corbin looked at her proudly and nodded his head. “She is so sassy.” There was a familiar gleam in his eyes, “I love it. Dynam—”

  “Don’t say it.” Palmer spun around to face him. “I swear to it right now, Corbin Powell, if you finish that sentence I will castrate your sorry ass right here and now.”

  Most men would cower at the threat of losing their manhood, but Corbin just smiled wide and squared his shoulders.

  Wait for it, I thought to myself.

  “Sour Palmer, though I still think you’re sweet, I would love for you to manhandle my junk.” He pushed out his hips and I buried my face in Clayton’s chest to hide my laughter.

  A moment of silence passed before Palmer took a step toward him and I peeked to find out what would happen next. Then she reached out, cupped his package and I waited to hear him squeal, but it never came. Instead Palmer let go quickly, stepped back, and stormed off toward the direction we’d all come from.

  Corbin watched her for a few seconds with a grin wide on his lips before looking back at us. “I knew all it would take is just one touch and she’d decide on a better way to use me.”

  He hurried off as fast as she had, and a few minutes later we heard a loud squeal echo through the trees.

  “I think we should wait a bit before we head back.” Clayton chuckled. “That is nothing I wanna walk up on.”

  “Agreed.” Tilting my head up, I kissed him. Why not take advantage of our time alone?

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Clayton

  “I heard the Powell boys were in town.” I turned around to face Dana, a girl I knew well. Though the last three and a half years had changed her into more of a woman, she was still the same: long blonde hair, big smile, and bright blue eyes.

  Dana Samuels was the girl I dated throughout high school. The captain of the cheerleading squad, prom queen, the it girl. She was also the girl I’d lost my virginity to in the backseat of her car after the state championships where we’d smoked the other team.

  She was also the same girl who cried when she’d found out I was going away to college instead of staying here with her. At one time she was mine, or so I considered her to be. She was the one I dreamt of at night when I closed my eyes and woke up thinking of the next morning.

  “Yeah,” I said, finally realizing I had yet to respond. “We’re back for a few days, just visitin’.”

  “Maybe we can catch up before you go back, grab a drink or a movie.” I didn’t miss the way she tucked her hands into her back pockets and pushed out her chest a little more. “It’s been real quiet around here without the Powell twins.” She bit her lip and that familiar stir ran through my stomach, only this time it turned quickly to discomfort. Dana was a pretty girl, there was no doubt, but she wasn’t my Em.

  I heard the babble of Ethan and looked to my left to see Emelie standing there holding him in her arms as he held onto a package of his favorite cookies. “Hey,” I said, clearing away the old dazed fog I’d been feeling. “You get everything you needed?”

  Emelie nodded her head looking over at Dana, not speaking a word. I could see the hurt look in her eyes and suddenly I felt a sense of panic.

  “Dana, this is my girl, Emelie,” I reached out for Em, only she didn’t move toward me. Instead, Ethan reached out and I took him into my arms.

  “I wasn’t aware you had a son,” Dana said as she watched me and Ethan with curiosity.

  “It’s not his son,” Emelie said quickly, and she may as well have kicked me in the junk; it would have hurt less. “We didn’t mean to interrupt.” Before I could stop her, she snatched Ethan and stepped back. “We’re gonna go pay for these.”

  “I got ’em.”

  “No.” She didn’t even look at me, only watched Dana instead. “I’ve got them."

  “Emelie,” I hollered after her as she moved toward the cashier at the front of the store. “I need to get going,” I told Dana, not waiting for her to respond.

  When I caught up with Emelie, I touched her hip from behind and she flinched. She had never done that to me before and again, I felt the worry in me take over. “She’s an old friend.”

  “Looked like she was more than just a friend.” Emelie still didn’t look back at me, though she kept her voice calm. I’m sure that had a lot to do with the fact that we were inside a grocery store with people all around.

  “We dated back in high school,” I confessed, feeling like there was no reason to hide it. It was high school and those times were over. “It ended long ago.”

  “You don’t look at someone that was just a high school girlfriend the way you were looking at her, Clayton.”

  “And how was I looking at her?” She stepped away from me and my hand fell freely at my side as she placed Ethan’s cookies on the belt.

  “Like she was someone you’ve missed,” Emelie stated, her face void of any type of emotion. “Just makes me wonder if you’ve really thought this all out. Or did you jump too soon?”

  Emelie pursed her lips and I recognized the movement as one she’s done many times before when attempting to fight off the hurt she’d felt. My heart fucking ached to the extreme.

  The more I tried to gain her attention the more unsettled she grew. When she gathered the bag with the cookies, she and Ethan moved toward the front door of the store and I walked behind, leaving just a short amount of distance between us. Ethan was rambling on and I reached in my packet to unlock the Explorer. I didn’t move in like I normally would to help her secure Ethan in his seat; instead I allowed her to handle it completely. When she stepped back and shut the door, I moved in quickly, caging her to the side of the car.

  “Just let it go, Clayton.” I sensed the defeat in her voice.

  “No.” One word, forceful to mirror the empty ache I felt inside. “I love you,” I told her even though I was speaking to the back of her head. “I’m with you because I can’t be without you, not because I feel like I have to be. I want you, Emelie. I wanted you before I knew about Ethan, and I wanted you more after. You are amazing and no one,” I forced her to turn around and face me, “no one,” I repeated the words when she was looking directly at me, “will ever fill the void your absence would leave in me.”

  She tried to look away and I stepped in a little closer, using my body to hold her securely against the car. “You’re all I want, Emelie.” I rested my forehead to hers. “I’ve never felt for Dana one ounce of what I feel for you. I know I never will, because you are it for me. You and Ethan are my world.”

  “I saw the way—”

  “You saw me getting lost in my younger years, remembering the excitement of the games, the roar of the crowd, the adrenaline you feel when you win. You saw me cement the fact that no other woman compared to you, because that is exactly what I was feeling.” I pulled back away from Em just enough to look into her eyes. “Dana is a pretty girl, Emelie, I won’t lie and tell you she’s not. But she is not you, and you are the woman I love.”

  ***

  “Are you sure this is okay?” Emelie asked my mother for the tenth time in the last hour. “Because though I really appreciate it, I don’t expect you to be forced to stay home and watch him while I go out.”

  My mother sat on the couch with Ethan in her lap. They held a book in front of them, all worn and tattered. The binding was split from the many times it had been read, and I recognized it as one from my childhood.

  “We are going to read a while, then we’re gonna go wash away the grime little boys seem to accumulate through a day’s time.” Ethan tipped his head back and looked up at my mom. “Then we’ll have us a bedtime snack.”

  “I just feel terrible for leaving him when we came to visit.”

  “And I feel honored to spend the evening with him.” My ma smiled at Emelie as she reached out and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “You kids go out, have dinner, enjoy your last night here. Please don’t worry."

  Em stepped back hesitantly, and before she could say or do anything more, Palmer grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the door. “Let’s go, Momma, time’s a wasting.” Did I mentioned how much I loved the fact that Palmer didn’t let Em get off too easily?

  When they reached the space near the door where Corbin and I waited, Emelie looked up and met my stare. I winked and suddenly her eyes averted toward the floor. We’d spent our entire day with this weirdness between us that was driving me insane. It had been there every minute since we’d left the grocery store earlier that day.

  Palmer and Corbin seemed to pick up on it too as they both gave me a questioning stare. Hell, I couldn’t explain it to them because I was still fucking lost myself. She thought I wanted something more, and even though I explained I didn’t, she still remained distant.

  We went to a burger joint across town, one that Corbin and I loved. It wasn’t your everyday burger stand, but one with crazy assortments. You name it, they put it on a burger, and even though some of the creations were so off the wall crazy, they still managed to taste amazing.

  After Palmer and Emelie decided what they wanted, they both snuck off to find us a place to sit, leaving Corbin and myself to wait on the food. I could sense he’d been dying to ask what was going on and wasted no time doing so the minute they stepped away.

  “How’d you piss her off?”

  “What makes you think I did something to piss her off?” I didn’t look at him, only leaned against the railing and watched as Emelie and Palmer found a booth near the windows.

  “Gee, I don’t know,” he said sarcastically. “Maybe because she can’t seem to look at you for more than two seconds. Or it could be the fact that when you touch her, she goes rigid. I know that look, man, Palmer has been tossing that shit my way since we left Gainesville.”

  “Because you annoy her.”

  “I’m wearing her down,” he interjected with a wide smile. “Before you know it she’ll be begging me to look her way.” My brother was an arrogant ass, much like I once was. Ya know, before I got knocked on my ass.

  “We ran into Dana earlier today at the grocery store.” I saw my brother hang his head out of the corner of my eye, which perfectly described the feeling I had in my gut. Defeated and exhausted—yep, that would sum it up. “Now Em has this crazy fucked up idea that she and Ethan aren’t what I really want and that maybe I jumped into this thing with her too fast.”

  “Did you?”

  I looked away from the girls, fully intending to give my brother all kinds of shit, but stopped when I saw the seriousness in his eyes.

  “No,” I told him without a second of regret. “Dana was a high school girlfriend. If I wanted her to be more than that, do you honestly think I could have left and moved to Florida for four years?” I looked back at Emelie and found her and Palmer in what looked like a heated conversation. “I could never walk away from Emelie and Ethan. That’s how I know this is real. Just the thought of not having either of them leaves me feeling empty, gutted.”

  “Then you just need to keep reassuring her of that very thing.”

  I had, and though it was exhausting I would continue to do so.

  Once our number was called, Corbin and I grabbed our trays and joined the girls. I chose to continue with Emelie as I would any other day, ignoring the fact that she seemed distant and quiet. Palmer obviously knew what was going on, and from the way she was continuing to force Emelie to get over it in her own little way, I knew she too saw no hesitation on my part.

  I leaned back in the booth, put my arm over Emelie’s shoulder, and pulled her in to me. She came, though I knew she was still on guard; I could feel it in the way she remained stiff against me. “I love you,” I whispered near her ear and I instantly felt her shoulders rise and fall as if she’d taken in a deep breath.

  Then she turned her head and looked up at me, observing my expression. “I love you too.” Suddenly I felt relieved, and up until then had no idea I had been so tensed waiting for her to respond.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Emelie

  I did my very best to let go of the worried feeling inside me, those thoughts of Clayton deciding that what we had wasn’t what he thought it to be. I knew I loved him; okay, I more than loved him, but the feelings I had were so indescribable I couldn’t even manage to come up with the words.

  Palmer had just given me the lecture of a lifetime and told me plain and simple I was being ridiculous and petty; I tried to move on from it. I was doing well, or so I thought, until we were leaving the burger place and practically collided with the girl who had left these concerns inside me.

  Of course she was dressed to impress, making me feel frumpy in comparison. Tight shirt, showing off all her assets, and a skirt that was short and barely covered her ass. She was perfect, long slender legs, and perky non-mom boobs. I had stretch marks, and this girl looked like a china doll without any imperfection.

  “Twice in one day.” She smiled brightly. “This has got to be a sign.”

  Clayton only gripped my hand tighter in his when I attempted to step around them. Apparently I would once again be forced to watch their exchange.

  “Oh my god!” A long shrill voice echoed around us and my body jumped in reaction to the sound. “Clayton and Corbin.” I looked around Ms. Perfection to see a short girl with red hair barreling toward us. Before any of us had time to register what was taking place, said girl launched herself at Clayton and he caught her in his free arm, hugging her close.

  “Squeak,” Clayton said with a laugh, “still breaking glass with that screech of yours, I see.”

  He lowered her to the ground and again I felt as if I was intruding on some type of private place in Clayton’s life. That was until he released my hand and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me in to his side tightly. “Penny, I want you to meet my girl.” The girl smiled at me without an ounce of distaste or malice. “Em, this is Penny, or Squeak.”

  “The girl who was right by our side causing all kinds of shit while growing up,” Corbin said as he practically tackled the redhead and lifted her up over his shoulder. He smacked her ass hard and she wiggled in his hold.

  “Touch my ass again, Corbin Powell, and I will make you squeal like the little pig you are.” He lowered her to the ground and she shoved against his chest.

  “I heard all about Emelie and Ethan from Bevin,” Penny said with a smile so wide it made my own cheeks hurt. “The girl who has stolen the heart of Clayton, made him grow up, and become a man.”