“Uh, thanks,” I gulped as his leg pressed along the length of mine. The whole time, his eyes never left my face. My heart was beating so fast I thought I'd pass out.

Daniel slowly reached up and ran his fingers through the messy waves at the side of my face. Crap. Was this really happening? My tongue darted out and wet my bottom lip. Danny's eyes dropped to my mouth to follow the motion of my tongue. His eyes seemed to smolder a bit and I had the crazy thought that he was about to kiss me.

That was seriously nuts. Why would he kiss me? He was with Kylie Good. Miss Perfect Blow Job herself.

But here we were, sitting so close together, we could be breathing each other's air and we were just staring at each other. I could see that Daniel's breathing had gone a little shallow and his hand still moved through my hair in a lazy fashion, as though he did it all the time.

The moment went on forever and I thought I would lose it if something didn't happen soon.

“RACHEL!” Kaitlyn yelled from her bedroom. Well something happened all right. Kaitlyn's bellow snapped both of us out of whatever was going on between us. Daniel jumped back as though he was on fire and I hopped to my feet.

“I guess I should see what she needs,” I said lamely, hurrying down the hallway. Away from the thing that almost was.

Chapter Five

~Daniel~

Idiot!

What the hell had just happened? I watched Rachel as she scurried down the hall to her sister's room. My hand lay in my lap. The same hand I had just run through Rachel's hair. It was like a compulsion, I hadn't been able to stop. I sat there and glared at it for the treasonous thing that it was. My fingers clenched and I took a deep breath.

Something had just gone down between Rachel and me and I wasn't sure I wanted to think too long about it. Because she hadn't been Rachel-my-best-friend-since-birth-Bradfield. No. She had been someone else entirely.

I had wanted to kiss her.

Hell, I had wanted to do more than kiss her if I was being truthful with myself.

What was that about?

My mind was whirling a thousand miles a minute and I was having a difficult time settling down other parts of my body. Certain areas below my belt had been called into action just by looking at my best friend. When the f**k had that started happening?

I needed to get out of here. I needed to breathe and I needed to think. My nose was full of the smell of Rachel's shampoo and it was not helping with getting my raging hormones under control.

What was wrong with me?

I barely noticed Rachel come back into the room; I was so knee deep in my thoughts. She snapped her fingers in front of my face, causing me to blink. “You awake over there?” she asked me lightly. But I could hear the forced casualness in her tone.

I was almost scared to look at her. But I couldn't help myself. I had to look at her. Maybe the whole wanting to get her naked thing was a fluke.

Yeah. It was a fluke.

I had myself pretty well convinced by the time I lifted my eyes to her face.

Her beautiful, perfect face.

And her amazing body that I knew was just as amazing without clothing.

Shit! Not a fluke! SO, NOT A FLUKE!

I dropped my eyes back to my lap. This was going to be a serious problem. I leaned over and started shoving my stuff back into my bag. “What are you doing?” Rachel asked in confusion. And I hated the sound of the hurt in her voice.

Just great. I was hurting her. Again. Why couldn't I stop being an ass**le for two seconds? Oh that's right, because my insides were currently a flipping mess because of a sudden realization that my best friend was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.

“Uh, I just remembered that I was supposed to get together with Jake in a little bit. I'll study later.” I said lamely. That excuse was weak at best. I still couldn't look at her. Scared that if I did, I would attack her. And by attack, I mean maul her face with my lips.

I started thinking about pressing her tiny, pert little body against mine. Running my hands along her sexy curves. Tasting her tongue as I...

I squeezed my eyes shut.

Think about Granny Lowe naked. Ugh. Okay, now think about Granny Lowe and Stephen naked. Together.

Yep, that did it. My burgeoning erection was now limp in my pants. Thank god. Last thing I needed was for Rachel to see me at half-mast as I ran from her house.

I got to my feet, confident I wouldn't reveal a tent under my zipper and headed for her front door. I just had to leave. I had to put some distance between me and the girl who had somehow morphed into a sex siren in the span of forty-five minutes.

“Daniel. Are you okay? I mean...you're being stranger than usual.” Rachel sounded worried. Upset even. I knew that in her mind this was just me blowing her off again. But I knew, without a doubt, that if I sat in her living room, just the two of us, for a moment longer, I would make a complete and total fool of myself. I would touch her and kiss her and hold her in a way that would ruin everything we were.

Because Rachel Bradfield was my best friend. And she deserved a hell of a lot more than an ass**le like me. She deserved a guy who could be her prince charming. Not a douchebag who didn't know his ass from his elbow. A guy who had spent his entire life screwing up everything he touched.

Rachel was better than me. She could do better than me. And damned if I didn't want more for her than my sorry ass.

I stopped at her front door and hefted my book bag up on my shoulder, steeling myself to turn around and face her. I swiveled on my heel, a smile firmly in place. Rachel would never know the out of control thoughts running through my brain.