She’s my little brother’s best friend. Completely off-limits. But I’m having trouble keeping my hands off her. Bethany Albright is my little brother’s best friend. I have a reputation in our small town, and he’s warned me not to make her another notch on my bedpost. She’s eight years younger than me, and when she left to be a ballerina in New York, she was just a kid. But now she’s home for the holidays—and she’s definitely not a kid anymore. She’s graceful and fearless and everything I didn’t know I needed. Gray eyes that see right into my soul. Long red hair. And legs that are made to be wrapped around me like a Christmas present. When my brother asks me to hire her at my bar, I can’t say no. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him. Our parents left him in my care, and I take that duty seriously. But this time, he doesn’t understand what he’s asking me to do. Because she wants me to be her first. And I want that more than I want my next breath. She’s only here for the holidays, and it’s no one’s business but our own. We’re temporary. I’m the guy who likes to have a good time. Keep things casual. We’ll go back to being just friends in the New Year. She promises that she won’t fall for me. She has a life waiting for her, and nothing is going to hold her back. Not even me. But Bethany isn’t the one I’m worried about.