“Son of a bitch! What the fuck?”

I shut off the blow dryer and threw it onto the bathroom countertop as I spit out what had gotten in my mouth when I’d been freaking out, and rubbed at my eyes so I could look in the mirror. My entire head was covered in white powder. I was going to shank the bastard.

“You okay?” Bryce’s voice filled my hallway seconds before he appeared behind me. “What the hell happened to you?”

“I swear to God I’m going to kill that motherfucker!” I screeched as I pushed past Bryce and stomped down my hallway.

And I mean stomped. I looked like a little kid getting ready to throw a fit over not getting any ice cream.

“Language, Maci, and where are you going?”

“Probably to jail.”

“What? Wait, stop walking!” Bryce grabbed my arm and turned me toward him. His eyes bouncing over my head and shoulders with confusion. “Who did this? What is all this, baby powder?”

I scratched at my head and neck and shook his hand off as I turned back to open my apartment door. “Probably.”

“I said stop!”

“I just need to kill him, Bryce. I’ll be back in five seconds!”

“Maci!”

I flung open Connor’s door and stormed over to where he was standing in the kitchen. Arms crossed over his chest, smirk on that stupid pretty face.

“You should really lay off all the coke,” he said. “Or I can get you help, if you need it.”

“I will fucking murder you, you stupid piece of shit!”

“That’s the sweetest thing you’ve said to me all day.”

“Maci!” Bryce barked and I turned to look at him. “I said stop, and I mean now. Get back in your apartment, don’t make me say it again.”

My head jerked back. I’d never seen Bryce like this. Usually he was carefree, ready to have a good time . . . his only problem was his incessant need to be on time and to suck up to his incredibly rude parents. This was the first time I’d seen him look and act just like his dad. I couldn’t move or say anything; I just stood there staring at him with my mouth wide open.

“I think you need to leave.” Connor’s voice was no longer teasing. It was dark, terrifying—­and if I was being honest with myself—­kind of hot. I felt his body press up against my back, and had to force myself not to lean into him.

“Maci.” Bryce spoke as though Connor never had and wasn’t currently standing behind me. “Do you know how ridiculous you’re making yourself look right now? Let’s go.”

“I’ve never understood what you see in this tool,” Connor mumbled under his breath. Stepping around me, he walked up to Bryce.

Even though Connor was a few inches shorter, it wasn’t hard to see why Bryce backed up. Connor and his intensity. I wanted to smile.

“I can’t stop Maci from seeing you, because she’s an adult. But I can make you leave my apartment, and I strongly suggest you do it voluntarily, before I force you to.” He didn’t stop walking toward him, and he didn’t stop talking. “I don’t like you, never have. You don’t take care of Maci, and even after all this time with her, you don’t have the balls to step up and be the man she needs and deserves.”

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up. Who the hell is this, and what did he do with Connor Green? My eyes were probably bulging out of my head as I watched Bryce step toward the open doorway.

Bryce’s head shot up, his eyes piercing mine. “Maci, get over here. We’re leaving.”

“I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but if I ever hear you talking to Maci like she’s a child again, this is your only warning that I won’t even bother waiting for her brothers. I’ll make it so you’ll never want to look in her direction again, do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Mac—­”

“Leave.”

I watched in disbelief as Bryce backed out and Connor shut the door on him. I grew up with four older brothers. Brothers who wouldn’t let other guys get near me, but also didn’t cut me slack when it came to . . . well . . . anything. I’d always had to fight for everything, growing up. So I didn’t need Connor coming to my rescue, but, hell, that was the hottest thing I’d witnessed in a long time.

And now I was confused all over again. I thought I was Mini to him not even twenty-­four hours ago. I thought he’d been making it obnoxiously clear that I didn’t mean anything to him. He’s so damn confusing. And why the hell does this baby powder itch so freaking bad?

Connor turned and walked quickly back to me, but I’d just remembered why I’d come into his apartment in the first place. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, I punched him in the stomach as hard as my little muscles would allow.

“Fuck, Mace!” he wheezed.

“This shit burns, and it itches really bad! I keep scratching my head and skin like I have lice, or a rash or something, and it got in my mouth! Since when does baby powder itch like this?”

He laughed as he straightened up, his hand rubbing at his stomach. Pussy. “It’s not baby powder.”

I stopped mid-­scratch before starting up furiously again. “You have five seconds to tell me what I’m covered in.”

“Itching powder. Good to know it actually works.”

No words came out of my mouth as I stood there gaping at him. After floundering for something to say and coming up empty, I did a very girly and unattractive screech before stomping around him and back to my apartment. Bryce was pacing inside, and as soon as I entered, he leveled me with a glare and pointed in the direction of Connor’s place.

“Who the hell was that?”

“My neighbor. He’s one of my brothers’ best friends, so he’s kind of protective.”

“I don’t like you living next to someone like him, and I don’t appreciate you letting him order me around.”

I slammed my hand down on the counter after grabbing my phone to research how to de-­itchify myself, and turned to look at him. “Are you serious right now? I didn’t let him do anything. You were being a douche and he didn’t like that you were ordering me around. Neither did I. You know what? I don’t even know why you’re still here! You should go, Bryce. I’ll see you tomorrow or Sunday when you’re not being such an ass.”

“Maci, this is dumb. We’ve got to stop this game we’ve been playing. It’s stupid, and your neighbor kinda had a point, even though he didn’t seem to have all the facts. It’s not just me keeping us a secret, but I’m done with it. I’m almost twenty-­four, Maci. My parents expect me to be married by the time I’m twenty-­five.”

“Oh Jesus,” I whispered when he started walking toward me.

“I become a partner in Dad’s firm on my twenty-­fifth birthday, I can’t go into the firm single. You know this.”

No, I so did not know that.

He grabbed my hips and pulled me close, his eyes roaming over my whited-­out hair. “We’ll get your hair back to blond, and we’ll take this out,” he murmured, tapping the small hoop on my left nostril. “As for the tattoos . . . we’ll cover them when we make appearances.”

“Appearances? Wh—­”

“Babe, you know I think you’re hot . . . God you’re so sexy, but I need the tame-­looking Maci in public. You can be this when it’s just us. Okay? As soon as you look normal again, we’ll announce our engagement.”

I’d known Bryce had always thought we’d end up together. Just like I’d known he’d expected me to go back to the old me. I just hadn’t realized that when the conversation would finally happen, it would hurt so much. When we were with friends, he didn’t care who saw us together. But saying that if we were to continue with an actual relationship, I could only be me in private? That I needed to get back to “normal?” This was my normal.

My eyes welled up with tears and my throat tightened as the crashing realization hit me that not only was I not good enough Connor Green. I wasn’t even good enough for someone like Bryce anymore. It’d been my idea to keep us in the friends-­with-­benefits zone. But he’d still been the only guy to ever show any type of affection toward me. The only guy to show he cared about me as something other than a sister.

“Babe, don’t cry. It’s just, like this, you look like the mistress . . . not the wife. I need you to be my wife.”

A sob burst from my chest and I slapped my hand over my mouth as I tried to pull away from his arms.

“You and I both know it’s time. It’s time for us to move forward, and it’s time for you and me to grow up. We need to stop acting like we’re still in college, and we need to look ready for the world. No one is going to take you seriously when you look like this and dress the way you do. It was one thing in school, but now—­”

“Get. The fuck. Out.”

My eyes shot up past Bryce’s shoulder to see Connor standing there. His face was slowly turning red in anger.

“I swear to Christ I will break your neck if you say one more word to her.”

Bryce breathed heavily through his nose before turning his head to look over his shoulder. “Now you’re in an apartment that isn’t yours. It’s your turn to leave, we’re talking about something important.”

“Yeah, no, I heard. You can talk about it again another time when you’re not making her cry. And I’ll give you a clue if you haven’t caught on yet, she’s not crying because she’s happy.”

“You’re really starting to piss me off.”

“Go,” I choked out. “Please, go.”

One of Bryce’s arms left my waist to gesture toward the door. “You heard her.”

“You, Bryce.”

He turned back to me, his eyebrows pinched together. “What?”

“Go. Just . . . please. We’ll talk later.”

“Fine,” he huffed softly and released me. “I’ll call you tomorrow, babe. I know you have a lot to think about.”

I did. I had so much to think about, but not about what he was insinuating.

He left after a long glare directed in Connor’s direction, and once the door was shut, Connor looked at me like I’d betrayed him. He closed the distance between us and stood there watching me for a few moments before setting an Aveeno box down on the counter.

“It’s an oatmeal bath to help with the itching,” he answered my unspoken question, and looked at me sadly. Grabbing my left hand, he glanced at it for a brief second before dropping it and stepping away, his head shaking slowly back and forth. “I hope like hell you didn’t say ‘yes’ to him.”


I JOLTED AWAKE and grabbed at my phone, ringing loudly, and almost dropped it in the process of answering it.

“ ’lo?”

“Wake up, bitch! It’s the first of December, Christmas decorating day!”

I groaned and rolled over onto my back. “What time is it, Amber?”

“Who cares, and did you just groan? You don’t groan when there’s anything in your immediate future that has to do with Christmas. Get your ass out of bed. I’m coming to pick you up.”

After Connor had quickly left my apartment last night, leaving me stunned and sobbing; I’d texted Amber letting her know I wasn’t going out, and got in the tub with the Aveeno. I’d spent hours repeating everything Bryce had said, and poring over all that had happened between Connor and me in the previous forty-­eight hours. None of it made sense with Connor, and half of what he did left me wanting him more, and thinking that in some insane alternate universe, I could have a chance with him. The other half had me feeling like a child, and added to Bryce’s words . . . a joke.

When my tears had stopped, an embarrassing amount of time later, I’d called Bryce and more or less told him to screw himself. That I wouldn’t marry him, and I wouldn’t change for anyone, including him. Funny thing about that is, I couldn’t help but stare at myself in the mirror for an hour after, trying to convince myself that I was happy with who I was and that I didn’t want to go back to the old Maci.

Bryce had told me to sleep on it.

“Maci!” Amber sang my name, drawing it out.

“You are not a morning person, go back to sleep!”

“Too late, I’m already on my way.”

I started to groan again, but stopped myself. “Okay, I’m up. Pick up coffee and a muffin, and I’ll blast Christmas music while I get ready, that will get me in the mood.”

“Consider it done! See you in twenty-­ish.”

I hopped out of bed and ran over to my radio to turn on the Christmas station. Once it was on and the music was loud, I practically bounced around my apartment as I sang along with the songs and rushed to get ready. I checked the weather app on my phone and sighed. It was finally December, and it was still in the mid-­sixties. Stupid California weather.