"Come on! I just want coffee!" I continuously tried and failed to make my morning coffee. After my little escape to Harper's, I came back here and fell into bed. I was so happy that I actually slept. Now my morning was ruined because of some technical malfunction.

"Come on, you fucker!" I yelled again.

"That's no way to talk to that thing," Ayden said from behind me.

I let out a frustrated sigh and turned towards him. "I want coffee. The stupid thing isn't working." When I saw the Starbucks coffee cup in his hand, I frowned. "It wasn't working for you either?

He took a sip from his cup. "I went for a run this morning. Got this after." He incline his head towards my defective coffee maker. "Want a hand with that?"

"Yes, please."

He set his cup on the counter while he went to examine the coffee machine that would soon be thrown in the dumpster. Being the coffee addict that I was, I looked at his cup curiously. I glanced back to Ayden to make sure he wasn't looking and quickly took the tip of his coffee.

...and nearly choked. "What the hell is in this cup?"

"Coffee," he said with a chuckle.

I held the cup away from me with two fingers like it was going to bite me. "This is not coffee. Its supposed to be sweet and creamy."

He looked over at me and took a few steps in my direction. "Sweet and creamy, huh? That does sound delicious."

The heated look he had told me he wasn't talking about coffee. I couldn't hold back the embarrassing smile on my face. My cheeks heated as I replied, "Ayden, I'm talking about coffee."

He raised a brow. "What makes you think I'm not?"

"Your eyes give you away," I answered. His eyes were going to be the death of me.

He took a couple more steps towards me; which was close enough to kiss me if he wanted to. And as much as I told him we are in the friend zone, I don't think I would be able to stop him.

I realized Ayden was my own personal Hershey's chocolate bar. I knew I was dieting...but I was going to end up giving into temptation and eating the whole candy bar anyway.

"Do you know what gives you away, Goddess?" His voice was deep and throaty. It sent chills throughout my body which left me wet and aching for him. "Its the way you nibble that bottom lip." He stroked it to prove I was doing just that. "It's the way you're voice changes. It's not obvious to others. Just me."

My eyes fluttered closed as Ayden cupped the side of my face. Just as his lips brushed mine, he backed away. "Too bad we have to keep this strictly," he did air quotes, "friends."

I shook my head at him and crossed my arms over my chest. "You're terrible."

He grabbed his coffee cup from me and leaned against the counter. "I happen to know for a fact that that's not true."

I was about to say something when I suddenly inhaled the sweet smell of Stewart's coffee. I glanced to the coffee machine. "It's working! How did you do it?" I asked incredulously.

"Lanie, did you get any sleep last night?"

Okay...that's random. "Um, not really, actually. Why?"

"I heard you sneak out late last night," he said matter-of-factly. There wasn't any suspicion or accusation in his voice; like me going to see another guy or anything. Which would be unfair...since we were friends.

"I wasn't sneaking, Ayden. I couldn't sleep so I went for a drive."

"Well, that explains it then," he breathed and shook his head.

My frown deepened. "Explains what? What the hell are you talking about?" Okay, I was sleep deprived, coffee deprived, and currently sex deprived since I couldn't sleep with Ayden again. I did not have time for his riddles or whatever the hell this was.

He let out a long breath. "Lanie, do you want to know what was wrong with the coffee machine?" I nodded and he continued, "It was unplugged."

"No, I--" Oh, my....GOD. I was such an idiot. I covered my face with my hands. "I can't believe I did that."

He laughed and I glared at him. "Goddess, it's okay. Make your sweet and creamy coffee and go get some rest."

"But the party tonight--"

"I'll help Nate get everything ready. Go. Rest."

I froze in place for a second. I've lived by myself for so long that I wasn't used to someone doing this. Thinking about me and my well being. After Adam, I figured I was best on my own. I convinced myself that being that vulnerable wasn't worth it.

"Lanie?" Ayden had a concerned look on his face.

I cleared my throat, walked up to him, and gave him a soft kiss on lips. It was quick; almost like a habit. "Thank you, Ayden."

I grabbed my coffee and went to my bedroom to rest.

"Why is Jules here?" Harper asked from beside me.

I downed the rest of my beer. "I have no idea. I was hoping she wouldn't come."

"Yeah, we all were," Harper scoffed.

My eyes remained on Ayden. He was standing over by the couch while The Barbie herself was chatting him up. Why was she like that? For crying out loud, the guy she was sleeping with was here. She should be chatting up my brother. Not chatting up--

"How's it going with Ayden?"

I shrugged a shoulder. "It's okay. Like I said-- we're friends."

If by friends I meant having sex with my brother's best friend and kissing him in I kitchen when I'm not supposed to be, then yes. We're friends.

"Really?" Harper asked suspiciously. "Then what's with the dress?"

"What?" I asked with feigned confusion.

"We borrow each other's clothes all the time, Lanie. I know what's in your closet; and that," she gestured to my hand with her finger, keeping her hand on the bottle, "is new."

She wasn't wrong. After I rested earlier today, I went to the store and ended up buying a new dress. Just for tonight. I wasn't going to at first, but deep down I wanted to try to look really good for Ayden.

"I wanted to treat myself, Harp. There's nothing wrong with that."

She scoffed. "Ha! The only "treating" that happened, was you dressing up for your soldier."

"He's not my soldier. Now shush. Jackson's coming over."

Jackson walked toward us and gave Harper the usual kiss on the cheek before he smiled at me teasingly. "Hello, vixen. Enjoying your party?"

Harper laughed and I shot Jackson a death stare. "Don't call me that. You're not supposed to even know about this. You had to go be all creepy ease-dropper."

"Me? Creepy ease-dropper?" He said with his strong British accent. "You're the one who showed up at our apartment in the middle of the night all cloak and dagger like," he quipped.

"Stop teasing her, Jackson," Harper said before she glanced around my living room. We had the TV on some random action movie for the boys and we also had some music playing. The party has been going well and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. "Where's Ryan and Danielle?" She asked.

Jackson cleared his throat. "They'll be back in about ten minutes."

Harper and I both looked at him with wide eyes and spoke at the same time. "Ew."

Jackson chuckled. "What? They're still in their honeymoon phase." He paused before adding, "By the way, Lanie, I talked to your soldier for a few minutes and he seems like a nice guy."

I squeezed my eyes closed as I leaned my head back against the wall. Someone please kill me now. When I open my eyes, I glanced in Ayden's direction. He was looking right at me and gestured his head towards the kitchen. Obviously, he wanted me to follow.

I let out a long breath. "For the last time, he's not my soldier."

I headed towards the kitchen, trying not to draw any attention. Nate was sitting on the couch kissing The Barbie and I saw Ryan and Danielle coming in the front door. I still couldn't believe those two snuck off to have sex. As soon as I said it, I realized I was jealous. Sneaking off to have amazing sex with Ayden right now didn't sound like a bad idea.

When I walked into the kitchen, Ayden was refilling his cup with vodka. Damn, that man looked good right now. I cursed at myself. Clearly I've had too much to drink already. I needed to cut myself off.

"Hey," I said casually, "what's up?"

He turned around and handed me a shot of tequila. I looked from the shot glass back to him.

"Um, I kind of cut myself off."

He gave me one of those smiles that made me want to agree to anything he said. "Trust me, Goddess, you're going to need this."

I took the shot from him and threw it back quickly. The liquid burned my throat and I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge to chase it down.

He hesitated before he spoke, which freaked me out a little. Was something wrong? "So...Nate told me something."

Fuuuuuuuuck. "What? What did he tell you?"

He had a sheepish expression on his face. "Well, he said that since you and I are the only single ones here, he gave me permission to kiss you at midnight."

Okay...now, I was pissed. "Excuse me? He gave you permission? I'm not a child." I poured another shot and drank it. "He always does stuff like this. I know he's my big brother, but he always tries to parent me. Telling me what I can and cannot do. Not this time," I huffed.

"So...we aren't kissing at midnight?"

I gave him a pointed look. "Oh, we're kissing, alright. Payback's a bitch."

He frowned at me. "Uh, I don't think--"

I silenced him by putting my finger to his lips. "Are you up for this? Because he needs to be taught a lesson."

"Yes, Goddess," he chuckled.

"Good. Let's go," I replied as I stormed out of the kitchen. According to the clock on the wall, it was five minutes until midnight. This was going to be fun.

Ayden followed me out of the kitchen and everyone was in the living room paired up with their significant other. The two of us stayed side-by-side as we joined them. Nate went ahead and changed the channel so that we could watch the ball drop.

"Here we go!" Nate called and everyone started counting.

"5!"
"4!'
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"

"Happy New Year!"

Everyone in the room locked lips and Ayden held my stare. At first, this was meant to be a joke. But the way he was looking at me told me this was important to him. Honestly, it was important to me, too. I didn't know how much I wanted this until now.

He cupped the side of my face and tilted my head back. He ran his thumb over my bottom lip. "Happy New Year, Goddess," he whispered against my lips before he finally kissed me.

Happy New Year, indeed.