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lips.
    “Aren’t they already complicated?” He sucked delicately on the turn of
her neck.
    Caitlyn pulled away from him and stepped back against the car. “Probably,
but I don’t want to be your rebound.”
    Michael reached for her hand and laced his fingers through hers. “You
don’t have to be a rebound.”
    “You don’t get to dictate that.” She dropped his hand from his. “I can’t
do this. I don’t want to fall in love with you again.”
    Caitlyn deftly made her way around the overpowering man in front of her
and fled through her door. As she closed it, she rested her head against the
frame. She ached with longing and wished that she had just let the moment
happen. It was the beginning of the scene that she played out in her dreams for
five years and pretended not to dream about for another five. It would only be
one night. Just once, to see how it felt. To fill in the blanks in her
fantasies.
    She battled her will and craved having his strength pressing down against
her body. She opened the door a crack to see if she could change her mind, but
he had already left. Disappointed, she kicked off her shoes, headed to her bed,
and plopped down face first.
    Before she could fall asleep the phone rang. Her first thought was to ignore
it, but she couldn't shake the feeling that it might be Michael on the line, so
with great effort she lifted herself to a sitting position and grabbed the
phone next to her bed. She looked at the yellow-green display, which informed
her that Alexis was on the other end of the line. She fell back on her bed and
let the machine pick it up; Alexis could wait until the morning.
    From across the small cottage, she could hear Alexis's voice through the answering
machine’s speaker pleading with her to answer questions about the evening. Finally,
she heard a threatening, “If you don't pick up the phone, I will come over to
your house, open the door with the key you gave me, and jump on your bed until
you talk to me. Not any of that girly jumping either. I’m talking backflips and
seat drops.”
    Caitlyn sighed, knowing that the risk of her coming over was all too real.
Alexis lived three houses down. She raised the phone in her right hand to her
ear as she pushed the “talk” button.
    “I am really tired,” she whined.
    “I don't care.”
    “How did you know that I was home?”
    “I saw an unknown car pass my house, and I figured it was his.”
    “You seriously don't have anything better to do than stalk me while I am
on a date? Have you been hanging out with my mother?”
    “Quit stalling. I want to hear about your date. I'm entitled to this
information, and you're going to give it to me.”
    Alexis loved to gossip, but the town's gossip was banal to her. She
wanted something juicy and sexy, and since Caitlyn didn't often date, this was
a treat.
    Caitlyn gave into her and began telling her all about the awkwardness,
the dinner, why Michael was in town, and the fact that she let it slip that she’d
had a crush on him. When it came to the evening's final moments, Caitlyn hesitated.
She wasn't sure what it meant, and she feared that by telling her friend she
would make a bigger deal out of it than it was, both to her friend and in her
head.
    “Is that it?” Alexis prodded.
    “Pretty much.” Caitlyn answered, but she knew right away that Alexis wasn't
going to take that for an answer. “He kissed me.”
    “Nice,” Alexis said. “And?”
    “And what? Nothing else happened. I went inside; he left. You saw him
leave.”
    “And what's next? Are you going to see him again?”
    “We didn’t discuss it.” Caitlyn paused, imagining what would happen if
they did see each other again. She smiled. “Can I go to bed now?”
    “Fine. Go to bed. But I'll have more questions for you in the morning.”
    They hung up, and Caitlyn stared at her ceiling replaying the farewell in
her head. Her mind raced so fast that it put her to sleep. She didn’t even have
the energy to change out