Chapter 1

“Logan!” My mother’s voice traveled from the first floor, right up into my bedroom.

My heart skipped a beat. He’s early.

“Hi, Carolyn,” a deep voice replied, the tenor of it making my thighs clench.

Shit. I jumped off my bed. Shit. Shit. Shit.

“I thought you weren’t coming until tomorrow!” my mom exclaimed, a hint of an excited squeal in her voice.

Neither did I,I thought, frantically searching for something to wear. My pajama shorts and unicorn tank weren’t going to work. He wasn’t supposed to be here yet! I had a whole plan. One that required a shower, makeup, and a dress.

No time for that now.

“I took an earlier flight out. Jax was supposed to tell you.”

“He didn’t.”

“I didn’t,” my brother echoed, his feet pounding down the stairs as he went to greet his best friend. “I knew she’d make a big deal out of it.”

“I would do no such thing,” my mother lied, causing me to snort at the same time as my brother.

My mother loved Logan Pierce—who preferred to be called by his last name yet tolerated my mom referring to him as Logan instead—and would have made a fuss over dinner tonight had she known he was arriving today.

Which was the absolute last thing she needed with my other brother getting married this weekend. Hence the reason Pierce had come back for a visit. He and my oldest brother were both part of the wedding.

I ran my fingers through my blonde hair and pulled it back into a messy bun as heavy boots hit the stairs. My brother was obviously trying to pull Pierce away from our doting mother.

He’s coming.

I checked my black pants and fitted short-sleeved blouse, the outfit perhaps a bit too sophisticated for just hanging out in my room. But I needed Pierce to see me as a woman, not a kid sister. And pajamas with cartoon unicorns on them wasn’t the way to do it.

I really could have used an extra fifteen minutes’ notice to do my hair and makeup properly, but this look would have to do.

Classy. Sort of.

I hopped back onto my bed and pulled my textbook into my lap, my expression studious. Just breathe, I coached myself.

It didn’t work.

My heart was beating a mile a minute, the notion of seeing Pierce setting my nerves on edge.

It’d been eighteen months since I’d last seen him. Eighteen months since our paths had crossed. Eighteen months since he’d shattered my heart into pieces by kissing that woman at the bar.

But he hadn’t known I was there.

And he technically didn’t owe me a damn thing.

I was just his buddy’s little sister.

The girl he’d grown up around, ruffling her hair and teasing her as though she’d belonged to him. Just not in the way I truly desired.

He treated me like his own sibling, taunting me right along with my brother.

However, I wasn’t little anymore. I was a woman. Something I had wanted to tell him at that bar eighteen months ago until I’d realized he wasn’t alone.

He’s alone now, I thought, fighting a grin. Well. Alone with Jax, anyway.

And just like that, my grin fell.

Because Pierce would never see the real me with my brother standing between us.

“Shh, she’s studying,” Jax said now, his tone taunting as he neared my room, fully aware that I could hear them in the hallway. Our parents’ home wasn’t large, hence the reason I’d been able to hear them downstairs.

Well, that and my room was above the foyer. The vents in the house broadcast sound like a microphone.

“Senior year of college,” Jax continued. “Final exams. You remember that, right?”

“Pure hell,” Pierce drawled.

“And yet you’re willingly going back to it.”

“As a visiting professor,” Pierce replied, his deep tones filling my doorway. “Very different from being a student.”

“Hmm,” Jax hummed, sounding unconvinced.

I glanced up to find them both leaning into my room. Pierce’s eyes were on my book, while Jax’s focus was on me. “She has to head back first thing Sunday for her exams on Monday.”

“She can speak for herself, as she’s sitting right here,” I informed him.

He grinned. “And here I thought you were too busy studying to greet Pierce.”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s a day early. I’m busy.” And my heart is about to explode because he looks so damn good that I may faint.

Which was why I kept my focus on my brother and not on Pierce because I didn’t trust myself not to react.

“Too busy for me?” Pierce asked, pushing into my room in all his six-foot-two glory. He stepped in front of my brother, forcing me to look at him.

Shaved head.

Neatly trimmed dark beard.

Tattoos up and down both athletic arms, hidden only by a fitted T-shirt that accentuated his muscular physique.

Tight jeans that I knew showcased an excellent ass.

Sigh. He looked even better than he had eighteen months ago. Perhaps because he was closer to me now than before.

“What’s on your arm?” he asked, gesturing to my forearm.

I glanced down, frowning at the flower ink decorating my skin. “A tat.”

“Are you even old enough for that?”

My jaw clenched, my eyes narrowing. “I was old enough for it three years ago.” Which was the last time he had actually seen me since he hadn’t been aware of my presence eighteen months ago.

Which meant he hadn’t seen me since my eighteenth birthday.

And he’d missed my twenty-first birthday because he lived on the opposite side of the country now.

Not that the distance did anything to dispel my crush on him.

I had tried to forget him numerous times, dating other men in high school and college. But none of them had ever compared to Logan Pierce, the object of my fantasies.

It was pathetic, and I borderline hated myself for it. But I’d resigned myself to this fate ages ago, even while still dating my way through the college population.

“Someone is feeling testy about her age,” he teased, his forest-green eyes lit up with amusement. “I thought that happened to women later in life?”

“Maybe I’m older than you realize,” I shot back, unable to help myself. “I can even drink beer now.”

“Oh?” His eyebrows lifted, the right one glinting from the piercing through it. “Did you hear that, Jax? Your sister is drinking beer now.”

“Don’t remind me,” he grumbled, moving to stand beside him.

They were like night and day, with Pierce resembling the bad boy of the duo and my brother maintaining the perfect boy-next-door facade.

Of course, it was bullshit.

They were both each other’s wingman, vowing to never settle down.

And at twenty-nine years old, they’d maintained that promise to one another without fail.

Which almost made it comical that Jacob was the one getting married at age twenty-five, the middle child of our family of three kids.

“I suppose that’s a positive with you taking the gig,” my brother continued. “You can keep an eye on her and make sure she stays out of trouble.”

My brow furrowed. “What?”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you?” Jax’s bright blue eyes—the same color as my own—sparkled. “Pierce was asked to take on a guest professor role for a semester at Mason U. Business for Beginners.”

Pierce snorted. “Fuck you, J.”

My brother laughed and ran his fingers through his thick blond hair—also the same as my own. “It’s a much better title than whatever the fuck you told me it was.”

“It’s a class about the influence social media can have on a business,” Pierce retorted. “Sorry that’s such a difficult concept for your engineering brain to comprehend.”

“You’re teaching a business class at Mason U?” I interjected before my brother could make another joke.

Pierce’s dark green eyes met mine, his easy smile in place. “Yeah, the professor who currently teaches it is out on medical leave, so he called in a favor. The university’s business program likes bringing in real-world professionals to teach sometimes. I actually took this class myself when at Mason. That’s how I know the professor.”

My brother snorted, and Pierce flashed him a meaningful look.

I narrowed my gaze, the story clearly missing some key detail. But I was too caught up on the notion that Logan Pierce would be teaching at my university. “So you’re… you’re moving back here?”

Mason U was only thirty minutes away. While I lived on campus, I tended to come home often on the weekends to see my parents.

“Just for one semester.” He shrugged, glancing around my room and then at Jax. “My mom’s thrilled.”

“Ours will be, too,” my brother pointed out. “So maybe wait until after the wedding to tell her, or she’ll be too focused on you to remember that her son is getting married.”

Jax wasn’t wrong.

Our mother considered Pierce to be her third son.

Pierce palmed the back of his neck, the gesture causing his inked biceps to bulge beneath his blue shirt. “It’s not that big a deal. It’s one semester, and I’m only doing it as a favor.”

“It’s a pretty big deal,” my brother countered, his voice taking on an uncharacteristic seriousness that I wasn’t used to hearing from him. “You created a whole new branch of marketing at one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. And now the university has made you a visiting professor at the ripe young age of twenty-nine.”

Pierce rolled his eyes. “I’m essentially a glorified TA.”

“Except you’re leading the class and have a grad student underling.” My brother arched a blond brow. “Sounds like he’s the TA and you’re the professor.”

“Jax is right,” I said, reminding them of my presence. This was my room, after all. “That’s a big deal, Pierce. Congratulations.”

He smiled. “Thanks, Goldilocks.”

My heart skipped a beat at the old childhood nickname, causing me to freeze on the bed.

He still sees me as a kid.

Even after all these years.

“And how the hell are you of drinking age?” he went on, obviously unaware of what his words were doing to me.

“Right?” My brother sounded just as shocked. “Seriously, you’ll need to keep an eye out for her at the campus bars. She’s too young for that shit.”

“I’m almost twenty-two,” I interjected, my irritation mounting. “And a fucking adult, thank you very much.”

My brother chuckled and shook his head. “You’re still a baby, Jeni.”

“God, I remember when you were only, like, this big,” Pierce tacked on, his hand going to his midthigh. “There’s no way you’re drinking beer now.”

My teeth ground together, both from my brother’s favored nickname for me—Jeni—and Pierce’s comments regarding my age.

Three years since I’d last seen him—because the bar didn’t count.

Three years of pining over him from afar.

And he still saw me as a child.

Yet I couldn’t take my eyes off his athletic physique and masculine jawline. Or those intense green eyes and full lips.

He was my walking fantasy come to life, the main feature in so many of my dreams.

I needed to make him see me. The real me. Adult me.

Pierce would be teaching a class at my university this coming semester?

Well, that just seemed like an invitation from fate.

He would have to see me as an adult in that situation. A serious student. Someone who was no longer Goldilocks.

Pierce and my brother left my room with a few more joking comments about their own ages and how they were getting old.

They weren’t.

They were in their prime and they knew it.

And soon, Logan Pierce would realize that I had also reached my prime age.

I swapped my book for my laptop, then opened up the course schedule for next semester.

Business 501.01: Social Media Marketing

I checked the requirements, noting that it was only open to students who had completed a certain prerequisite.

One I hadn’t taken.

I nibbled my lower lip.

Maybe I can cheat the system a little, I thought, opening up an email and typing in my advisor’s name. As an honors student, I was often able to acquire special permission to take advanced courses.

I considered my phrasing and mentioned my future aspirations, only I twisted them a little to incorporate the course objective. I didn’t actually want to go into social media marketing at all, but it did technically suit my major.

And social media marketing skills could only help me in the future, right?

Maybe.

I reviewed my request, my gut churning a little at flat-out lying to my advisor about my intentions. It also made me feel like I was somehow cheating on my actual aspirations, or maybe even cheating someone out of a spot in the course, but it wasn’t full and I really did think it would be interesting.

If nothing more than because Pierce would be the professor.

However, it would also be intriguing to see him in a leadership role. He’d always maintained an “in control” air about him, which only made me want to worship him more. Which was probably why I found myself drawn to dominant men—they all reminded me of Pierce.

Except none of my exes had been able to maintain that dominance in a way that had held my interest.

Because I was hopelessly, stupidly, in love with a man I couldn’t have.

But maybe I could convince him otherwise next semester when I showed up for his class.

I hit Send on my email and leaned back against my headboard, a grin playing over my lips.

Professor Pierce.Yes. That had a very nice ring to it indeed.