One long, very tan, smooth leg stepped out. The girl was wearing some beat-up Chucks, which didn’t take away from that leg . . . . Damn that was a nice leg. I let my gaze travel up until shorts finally ended the endlessly long leg and the rest of her appeared.

Who the hell was she?

Blue eyes the color of the sky framed by thick black eyelashes stood out on her heart-shaped face. They were studying me closely, as if she wasn’t sure just what she thought of me. I quickly took in the rest of her face, full pink lips, and a perfect little nose. All in a halo of blond hair that was almost too pale to be real.

“When did you become so cruel, Gunner Lawton?” The southern drawl in her voice was smoother than those I heard around here. It had more of a musical sound. One that you could listen to for days and never get tired of.

Wait . . . she knew me. I stopped memorizing her mouth and lifted my gaze to meet hers. Who was she? I’d remember her. There was no way I had ever met her.

“You don’t know who I am, do you?” she asked, and her mouth curled up into a crooked little grin. “Figures. It’s been a while. However, I knew who you were the moment I saw you. Your voice is deeper now . . . but your eyes are the same.”

I had to shake out of this trance. She was just a girl. A seriously smoking-hot girl, but she wasn’t going to have this crazy effect on me. “Can’t say I remember you,” I finally responded.

She let out a small laugh as she washed her hands and looked at me in the mirror. “It’s okay. Brady didn’t recognize me either,” she said, then dried her hands on a paper towel. She walked toward the door and tilted her head to the side as she stopped beside me. “The tree house looks the same” was all she said before she walked out the door.

The tree house . . . Brady . . . Holy shit! That was Willa Ames.

That Was Completely on Purpose

CHAPTER 5

WILLA

They had turned out much like I expected. Gunner had always been cocky and sure of himself. He hadn’t been cruel as a kid, but I wasn’t surprised at what I had overheard. Beautiful Gunner Lawton ruled this town. He had money and the power of his family name, and he was breathtakingly gorgeous.

But he didn’t give me butterflies back then. Not one. That was all apparently just for Brady. Figures I’d get butterflies over the good guy who would never accept me once he knew my past. The truth behind why I was back in Lawton. My nonna would make up some lie, and everyone would believe it. I’d have to go with it if I wanted to stay here.

“Willa Ames.” Gunner called out my name, and I smiled. It hadn’t taken him long to figure it out.

Glancing back over my shoulder, I saw him walking toward me with a grin on his face that said everything I knew he was thinking. “Go wipe that girl’s tears and be nice,” I replied, but I waited on him to catch up to me.

He rolled his eyes. “You have no idea the crazy that I was dealing with in there.”

Of course it wasn’t his fault. Never was. Gunner always had a reason why he wasn’t wrong. “So your penis accidentally fell into her vagina?” I asked in a mocking tone.

He chuckled. “No, that was completely on purpose. Damn you look good. When did you move back?”

He was over talking to the poor girl in the restroom. Maybe now she would be smarter in her next choice in a guy. Gunner wasn’t a choice. He was a fun time. “Nonna picked me up at the bus station yesterday.”

“So you’re living with Ms. Ames again? When were you planning on coming to say hello?”

I hadn’t been. Nonna didn’t want me at the big house. I knew that without her even saying it. So I shrugged. “It’s been six years.” That wasn’t a real answer, but it was all I had.

Gunner cocked one eyebrow. “And?” was his response.

“And I knew we would see each other at school. Wasn’t sure how you had turned out, or if our childhood friendship would carry into our teen years.”

Gunner looked me up and down like he had in the restroom. “I’m a guy, Willa. We can be friends or something else. Just whatever you might be up for.”

It was my turn to roll my eyes. That was the silliest come-on I’d ever heard. And I’d heard a lot of them.

“I’m up for making it to my next class on time and staying out of trouble. It was good to see you again, Gunner. I’m sure we will run into each other again. Small town, small school and all,” I replied, then turned and left him standing there in that hallway. Encouraging anything between us was wrong and pointless.

I didn’t make eye contact with anyone else as I made my way to room 143. I had to prove to Nonna I was worth it. I’d be the easiest teenage girl in the world to raise. I wasn’t giving her any problems. Besides, I’d done enough already to last a lifetime. No more regrets. I had my fair share.

A tall guy with the clearest blue eyes I’d ever seen caught my attention before I heard Gunner’s voice call out “Nash,” and his gaze left me. “Yeah,” he replied.

I didn’t wait around for an introduction. Gunner was trouble. He had no regrets. I did. I just hoped he never had regrets like mine, ones that were nearly unbearable to live with. We weren’t invincible. I’d learned that a little too late.

High school was the same everywhere, or at least inside the United States. No one got real original. You had the same groups, same silliness, and same stupidity. The only difference here was no one knew me. The kids I’d gone to school with as a child had forgotten me, and the two boys who did remember me weren’t telling everyone else who I was. In fact, Brady went as far as ignoring me in the one class we had together.