What the fuck was wrong with him? He had no right to kiss her. But he didn’t just kiss her. Son of a bitch. He’d nearly taken her right there on the counter in her kitchen. If she hadn’t spoken he probably would have.

Rick slowly extracted himself from her grasp. Her nipple fell from his mouth after he forced himself not to swirl his tongue around her one last time. Her other breast slipped out of his hand after he resisted the urge to brush his thumb over her nipple again. Her warm thighs separated from his painful erection when he convinced his body to move away from her.

He couldn’t look at her. If he did he knew he’d see her flushed skin, her pert nipples, her perfect upper half. Shit. He looked. She’d changed as she became a woman instead of the girl he’d known before. She was more beautiful than he remembered. Her subtle curves became more pronounced, making her that much more attractive to him. He wanted to dive back in to where he left off.

But he couldn’t. Sleeping with her would only hurt them both. He didn’t care about himself. If he did he would throw her over his shoulder and drag her to her bedroom and keep her there through her birthday. He would be the one with the present the next day if he did that. But he knew he wouldn’t be able to walk away again if he spent a night with her.

Which was why he had to walk away immediately.

“I’m sorry, Tare. I… fuck I’m sorry. I’ll leave.”

Rick turned and walked out the door without looking back. He let the door close behind him and stalked to Aaron’s car. His friend hung up his phone when Rick slammed the car door shut. “Everything okay?” Aaron asked.

“Just get me away from here. I told you I couldn’t do anything to help. I need to leave before I hurt her even more.”

Aaron started the car and turned toward home. They rode in silence back to Aaron and Michelle’s house. As soon as they pulled into the driveway, Michelle burst through the door. Aaron met her outside the car with Rick trailing behind, accepting the glare she threw at him. He deserved it.

“Don’t let him leave. He deserves to have his ass kicked. If you don’t want to do it, I’ll do it when I get home. But right now, I need to go peel your sister off the ledge this dumb ass led her to.”

Michelle kissed Aaron then sped off in her car. Rick knew it wouldn’t take long for Aaron to say, “What the fuck did you do?”