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"Break-ins in Warrington?" I had never heard of anything like that ever happening here. Sure, kids would pull a few pranks every once in a while. Occasionally my dad or Paul would get called out on a domestic violence case, but that was it. Yes, my dad got murdered, but everyone thinks that was someone just passing through.

Tara nods. "Not normal break-ins either. Whoever is doing it doesn’t steal anything. They just break all the mirrors in the house. The papers call him the Mirror Man."

"What? Why would someone do that?"

She shakes her head. "Dad doesn’t know. He says that whoever is doing it must be fucked in the head. It’s been going on for a few months, and they don’t have any clues at all. But what has got him worried the most is that every place that has been broken into was the home of a single young woman. In fact, most of them were girls we went to school with."

"That’s just freaky," I say, starting to change my mind about Lucas moving in.

"Yeah, it is. Do you remember Kayla Thompson?" Tara asks.

"Yeah. I think Lucas dated her for a while when we were in high school. She was actually kind of nice."

Tara nods her head. "Yeah, I think it was our junior year. Her house was the last one that got broken into. It was the night we got back to town. It was worse than the rest. Whoever did it used pieces of the mirrors he broke to rip up all of her furniture. Dad said they found some of the guy’s blood at her place, but they haven’t got the results back yet. He said the lab in Mobile is so backed up that it could be months before they know anything."

"Maybe Lucas moving in isn’t such a bad idea after all," I finally agree.

Tara walks over and pulls me into a hug. "Don’t worry, Lindy. I will be here to keep his ass acting right."

I look at Tara and smile. "Don’t worry about him. You keep your eyes on me. If I start to fall for him again, I give you permission to kick my ass."

"I think it might be too late for that. I am pretty sure you never fell out of love with him in the first place," she says with a sad smile.

"That might be true, but I will just have to learn how to be good at pretending that I don’t love him."

CHAPTER FOUR

"Give me half of your fries, and I will give you half of my onion rings," Lindy says.

Lucas shakes his head. "If you wanted fries, you should have ordered them."

Lindy smiles at him. "You know the rules."

LUCAS

I had just finished carrying the last box into my new room. Dad and I had brought the bed in earlier, so now all I need to do is unpack and I’ll be officially living with Lindy. Well, I guess I am living with Lindy and Tara but that’s okay. I know what I want, and I’m not going to let Tara get in my way. She has butted her ass in every time I tried to talk to Lindy this morning, but she's gone to work now, so I’m going to use our time alone wisely. I walk out of my room, which just happens to be right next to Lindy’s, and head to the living room.

Lindy is sitting on the couch, eating popcorn and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer re-runs. I plop down beside her. "I cannot believe you still watch this shit."

She looks at me like I should be shot. "James Marsters is a God."

"Who the hell is that?"

She shakes her head at me like I am some sort of loser for not knowing. "He plays Spike. You see the hot blond vampire?"

I look towards the TV and see some funny looking dude with fangs. "I will have to take your word about him
being hot, but I see the blond vampire."

"That is Spike, and someday he is going to get his soul back. When he does, he is going to come all the way down to Warrington, Alabama and make me his wife," she says in the most sincere voice I have ever heard.

I burst out laughing, and she throws a handful of popcorn at me. "It could happen."

"Sure, the TV vampire could get his soul back and come down here to marry you. That kind of shit happens every damn day," I say as I start to laugh harder.

The next thing I know, Lindy is on top of me pounding me with her little fists, laughing the whole time. I grab her hands and we start to wrestle. Somehow she ends up underneath me. I am laughing so hard that I have tears in my eyes. Shit! I forgot about this. About how much fun Lindy was. She could make anything a fucking blast.

I look down into her eyes and smile. "Damn, Lindy. I missed you so fucking much."

She stops laughing. I can’t read the expression on her face, but I can tell that she is thinking about something. "I missed you too," she whispers.

I promised myself that I was going to take this slow, but I just can’t wait any damn longer. I bring my lips to hers and place a soft kiss on them. I pull back because I don’t want to scare her off, but she follows my mouth. I can’t stop myself. I kiss her deeper this time. My tongue explores her mouth. I can taste the popcorn and butter, but mostly I just taste her, and she tastes amazing. She pushes her body up into mine, and my cock climbs
my zipper all the way to the top button, the denim going tight, painful. Rubbing against her makes it worse, far worse. All I want is to be inside her heat. Now. Right fucking now. I moan into her mouth. I want to sink into her so fucking bad, but I know she will regret it later. Then I would lose my chance with her. I don’t want Lindy for a quick fuck. I want her forever. I pull away and sit up before she can stop me.

She looks at me like I grew another head. "Why did you… I mean, don’t you want to..."

She never finishes her question, but I know what she’s thinking. "Hell yeah, I want to, but we are not going there until I know you are ready."

"Maybe I was ready," she mumbles under her breath as she sits up, and I can’t help but chuckle.

LINDY

I cannot believe that I reacted that way to Lucas. So much for pretending not to be in love with him. I try to go back to watching TV, but I can’t sit still. It’s like every nerve in my body fired at once and now that it’s started, it won’t stop. I am just full of nervous energy. That
's not exactly true. The real problem is that I am horny as hell. I never felt this way with Chad. Sure, I got excited, but never like this. I keep wiggling around to ease a bit of the tingling between my legs, but nothing helps. Finally I jump up and look at Lucas. "Let’s go somewhere."

"Where?"

I shake my head. "I don’t care. I just need to get out of here."

Lucas smiles and stands up. "I’ll be right back. Go grab your swim suit," he says, as he walks towards his room.

I smile, because I know we are heading for the beach. We used to go there all the time when we were younger. At first with our parents, then later, on our own. I go to my room and pack my bag, then go back into the living room. I am sliding on my flip flops when he walks into the room. He is carrying a motorcycle helmet. He tosses it at me, and I just barely catch it.

I shake my head at him. "I am not getting on that death trap with you."

"It’s only dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing. Baby, I know what I am doing," he says with a wink.

"Fine! But if you kill me, I will haunt your ass after I am gone," I say as I stomp out the door.

I try to get the helmet on, but I can’t get it buckled up. Lucas pushes my hand away and fixes it, then he leans down and gives me a quick kiss. It is soft and sweet, so different from the kiss we shared earlier. I can’t help but smile at him. He smiles back, then kisses me again. He climbs on the largest motorcycle I have ever seen. It is black, with flames painted on the side. I get on behind him and wrap my arms around him, but he pulls them tighter.

"Don’t let your legs get too close to
the exhaust pipes. They will burn the shit out of you, if you touch them. Most importantly, hold on tight," he says as he starts the engine.

We drive through town and head south to the ocean. By the time we reach Gulf Shores, I decide that the motorcycle was the best invention ever made. We pull up to the beach, and I crawl off the bike. As soon as Lucas gets off, I pull him into a hug. "That was so much fun. You are going to have to take me for a ride every day."

Lucas kisses the top of my head. "I promise to take you for a ride anytime you want, Lindy Lou."

We head to the changing rooms and go our separate ways. As soon as I get into my stall, I get nervous. My whole body is shaking with anxiety, and I wonder if this is a big mistake. I pull out my blue bikini that is covered with tiny pink hearts. It is not really all that sexy, but it is definitely revealing. It covers the parts that
it has to, but it shows a lot of skin. Including my stomach that is now smaller than it has ever been, but it still bares the marks of years of being overweight. I thought it was really cute when I bought it; but, at the time, I never even considered that Lucas would see me in it. What if he laughs at me again? What if all this attention was just some kind of sick joke? I finally force myself to change, but I put my shirt on over my suit. I am still nervous when I walk out of the changing room.

Lucas is leaning against the opposite wall, wearing nothing but red board shorts. My God, he is so damn sexy. I saw a little bit of his tattoo at Mom’s house, but without his shirt on, I can see the entire thing. It is amazing. It runs up his right arm, wrapping around his neck, and ends on the top of his left shoulder. It must have taken forever to complete the piece. I am taking in every little bit of it, when he pushes off the wall.

"Where's your suit?" he says, as he walks towards me.

I shoot him a quick smile, trying to cover my nervousness. "I have it on. I'm just not used to all this sun, so I thought I better leave my shirt on."

He looks up and down my body, then looks back to my face. "You look like you've spent plenty of time in the sun to me."

Lucas is right. I have spent a ton of time outside over the last few months. I was required to complete 100 volunteer hours before I could graduate, so I spent three days a week helping kids learn how to play soccer at the YMCA.

I look down and try to hide my embarrassment. I hate to lie, but I hate being caught in a lie even worse. "I just don't want to burn," I say, looking down towards my feet.

He pulls me into his body and wraps his arms around me. "What's wrong
, Lindy Lou?"

"I don't want you to see me in my bikini," I whisper.

He puts his thumb under my chin and pushes my face up. "Why not?"

"I don't want you to laugh at me again," I say so quietly that he has to lean his ear towards my mouth just to hear the words.

He jerks away and walks a few feet from me. "Take it off," he demands, nearly shouting the words.

I shake my head and look back at my feet.

"Melinda, take that fucking shirt off right now!" I jerk my head towards him in surprise. Lucas never, I mean never, calls me Melinda. He is staring at me with eyes so angry that it sends chills down my spine.

"Why are you mad at me?" I have never seen Lucas act this way.

He shakes his head and walks towards me. He places his hands on my face. "I’m not mad at you, baby. Not at all. I am mad at myself for making you feel this way. Please, take the shirt off."

I place my hands on the bottom of my shirt and slowly pull it over my head. As soon as it is off, Lucas has me in his arms. "Now, I want you to tell me what I am supposed to be laughing at."

Visions of Lucas and his friends laughing at me fill my head. I try to shake them away, but I cannot get rid of them. "You did it before."

"Damn it, Lindy. I was barely eighteen when I did that shit. I'm not a stupid kid anymore. I am a grown ass man. I would never do something like that to you again." He blows out a breath. "Fuck baby, you’ve got to give me a chance. Please, let me prove myself to you."

I think about his words and realize just how childish I am acting. I am supposed to be a confident woman, not a self-conscious little girl. I know that it is time to make a decision. I have to choose whether I am going to hold onto the past or finally start living my life, and I have to choose what role I want Lucas to play in it. The only thing I can think of is how much I love him and how hard it would be to lose him again.

I look up and give him a sad smile. "I'll try, but you're going to have to work really hard to prove to me that you have changed."

"I will, Lindy Lou. I promise I will," he says and leans down to kiss my forehead. "Now come on. I can't wait to get your fine ass in the water."

LUCAS

We messed around in the water for about an hour before getting out. We didn’t get much swimming done. We mostly just let the waves take our bodies where they wanted. By the time we were done, I was starving, so we decided to head to one of the beach-side restaurants. I was so damn happy when Lindy just slid on her shorts and flip flops, then said that she was ready to go.

Not only does she look so fucking sexy in her bikini top and short shorts that my dick twitches every time I look at her. She must be feeling more comfortable with me since she didn’t put her top back on. I still cannot believe that Lindy thought I would laugh at her. That damn near tore my heart in two. Fuck. How can she not know how much I care about her? If she doesn’t, I must be doing something wrong.

We end up at Morgan's Seafood Shack. I look over the menu and tell her that I am going to get the shrimp po-boy, and Lindy gives me the evil eye.

"What's wrong?"

"If you get the shrimp, I'll have to get the catfish. I don't want the catfish. I want the shrimp," she says, frustration filling her voice.

What the hell is she talking about? "Don't get the catfish then. Get the shrimp, get whatever you want."

"Nuh-uh. I can’t get the shrimp. If we get the same thing, we won't be able to share," she says shaking her head.

I chuckle under my breath, remembering Lindy's food rules. You never order the same thing, and you always share. The funny part is that she says she doesn’t want catfish now, but when I order it she is going to eat part of it. Even if I don’t ask for any, she will give me some of her shrimp. In other words, we end up right back where we started.

The waiter comes over to take our order. Lindy opens her mouth, but I interrupt her. "I'll take the catfish po-boy, a side of slaw, some fries, and a beer, whatever’s on tap."

I look over at Lindy, and she is smiling at me like I just gave her the fucking moon. I wait for her to place her order then stand up. "I’ll be right back."

I head to the bathroom, smiling all the way. As soon as I'm done, I head back to our table, but stop dead in my tracks when I see my girl in the arms of another man. I lengthen my stride and am at the table within seconds. "Lindy, you want to introduce us?"

When the guy turns to look at me, I have the urge to punch him in the damn nose. But I keep my temper in check and stick my hand out. "Chad."

He looks from me to Lindy and back at me again. Then he steps towards me and takes my hand. "Luke. It’s been a long time, man. How’ve you been?"

I pull my hand back and paste on a fake smile. "Good. How about you?"