"Please come and save me," I begged Harper through my phone. I've been pacing in my bedroom ever since I woke up this morning. With the arrival of Nate's friend yesterday, I had a hard time sleeping. The thought of a stranger in the house, an incredibly sexy stranger, made it particularly hard to fall asleep.

"I can't come and save you," Harper laughed. "You need to spend this time with your brother. He's only here for two weeks, Lanie. Then he goes back to Afghanistan."

I ran my hand over my face. "I know and you're right," I breathed. "I don't know what's wrong with me. This feels different than the other times. I know at some point he's going to disappear and go to his ex's for a few days; and that's fine. That I'm used to and I can handle."

"But this time he would be leaving you alone with an incredibly sexy Greek God in the house?" I could hear Jackson's deep British accent in the background. Clearly he didn't like what Harper said, because she quickly reassured him, "Jackson, you know I only want you. Besides, don't try that jealously shit with me. Especially after how we just spent the last three hours."

"Eww," I said into the phone. "Harp, I love you. More than anything. But I do not want to hear about the weird sex you have with Jackson."

"Sorry, Lanie," Harper giggled. "Look, try to make the best of this. Ayden seems like a good guy. He's here for the holiday because he doesn't have any family. In the spirit of Christmas, even though you hate it, try to make the best of it."

I closed my eyes tight. I knew she was right. In a few days, Nate was going to chase after his ex and I was going to be left in charge of showing Ayden around the city. How the hell was I going to do that? "I know, Harper. I'll make the best of it. But how do I show him a good time?"

I cringed as I heard what sounded like kissing coming through the phone. "Jackson, stop!" More shuffling of the phone before Harper said in a rushed voice, "Lanie, I'm sure it will work out. I need to call you later though. As for the good time...just keep your legs closed and you'll be fine."

The line went dead and I tossed my cell phone on my bed. Harper was probably already enjoying the pleasure that only Jackson Reese seemed able to give her. I walked to my mirror and checked my reflection. I tried to remember the last time I was with a guy. It was nearly two years ago. Harper and I were at a bar and we both got extremely drunk. She went home alone, and I went home with Jack. Jack was not good in bed. My night with Jack felt awkward and...unsatisfying. Besides, Jack was just a rebound off of my ex-boyfriend, Adam.

Adam and I had been together for a year. I thought I was in love with him and we would be together forever. That was until I walked into his apartment with the key he gave me and found him in bed with two women. His excuse was, "Oh, babe, I wasn't expecting you." Seriously? After keeping Nate from killing him, I got my revenge by selling his collection of baseball cards and using the five grand to take Harper, Danielle, and Jamie with me on a cruise. That was the end of Adam.

I glanced at my watch and saw it was nearly noon. Nate came by my room this morning and told me I needed to meet him in the attic...or else. I threw my hair up in a ponytail and finally emerged from my room. I passed by Ayden's door and I was grateful the door was shut. I wanted to get this Christmas stuff over with and not deal with the attraction I clearly had for him. It was bad enough that my dream last night was of him and I together. I don't remember the last time I had a sex dream, but holy shit was it good. My alarm didn't even go off; which meant I got to finish. Multiple times.

I got to the stairs leading to the attic and let out a deep breath. I needed to keep my head out of the clouds and on the task at hand. I ascended the stairs one at a time and couldn't bite back my smile as I heard music playing. "You are not listening to this," I said with my arms crossed over my chest when I stepped into the attic. Nate was in the middle of looking through some boxes and turned towards me.

Nate was listening to When I Come Around by Greenday. God only knew what else was on his playlist. He was always a fan of the older music from the 80's and 90's. So was I.

"L, this is a classic and you know it," Nate said before putting his hands on his chest to sing the next verse:

"No time to search the world around
'Cause you know where I'll be found
When I come around..."

I rolled my eyes and walked over to where he was. "Okay, can we do this? I'm here."

He pointed to the two open boxes. "I just started going through these. Here, look through this one. I want to see if any of our Christmas lights are still good. We might have to go buy some."

I sat down in front of the box and started pulling out multiple balls of tangled lights. "I doubt these are still good. Sorry to break it to you, but Christmas is less than two weeks away. It'll be nearly impossible to find Christmas lights." I sucked my teeth as I tried untangling the cords. "I doubt we will even be able to get a tree."

"Oh, we'll get a tree. I called Petey before I got back to town and he said he has plenty."

I frowned and looked over at Nate. "Petey? From high school?"

"Yeah." Nate pulled out more decorations and sat them aside. "He sells Christmas Trees during the holiday season. He said they have plenty."

Something was bugging me about what he said. "Wait, you said you called him before you got back to town?"

"Yep." He dusted off a small box before opening it.

If he called Petey before he even got to town, then that means he really had given this some thought. This whole thing. He really wanted a Christmas. Guilt quickly filled me. I was going to try to bail out of this whole Christmas thing and disappear. But, now...I couldn't do that to him. This clearly meant a lot to him and I was being a selfish and bitchy sister. He's spent years fighting overseas and this was the least I could do for him.

"Look what I found," he said as he came and sat by me.

"What is it?" He held out a stack of pictures and my chest tightened.

"Do you remember this one?" His voice was tight and rough with emotion. "That's when we snuck out to go sledding. Mom and Dad got so mad."

I laughed as I stroked my fingers over the picture. "Yeah, because you crashed us into a tree and ended up breaking two of your fingers. Then you tried to hide it from them!"

He leaned back on his arms and rolled his eyes. "I thought I could get away with it."

"Yeah, until Mom saw your hand. You were grounded for a month after that."

"So were you!" He shot back and I just shook my head at him.

I continued looking through the pictures and nostalgia filled me. Most of them were of Nate and I. We were either playing in the snow, ice skating, or doing Christmas stuff. When I saw my least favorite picture ever taken of me, I tried to hide it with no success.

"Is that what I think it is?" Nate asked jokingly as he quickly grabbed the picture from my hands.

"Nate! Give it back!" I tried grabbing it from him but he held his hand up high and he side-stepped my attempts. "I'm warning you."

"Oh, I'm so scared," he mocked with a laugh.

"What's going on up here?"

He and I both turned and looked at Ayden. He was standing in the doorway with an amused smirk on his face. Perfect. Just. Fucking. Perfect.

"Nate is being an ass," I said as I tried reaching for the picture again.

He held it higher out of my reach. "Hey, Ayden, want to hear a funny story?"

I looked at Ayden with wide eyes. "Nate..." I warned. "Don't do it!"

I heard Ayden's deep chuckle as he walked over to us. "I don't think that's a good idea, Nate. She seems pretty pissed."

"She's just embarrassed. Come on, L. It's a funny story. Please let me tell it," Nate begged.

My head fell back on my shoulders and I closed my eyes. "Fine," I breathed as I looked at the two of them. But I'm going to tell the story."

Nate rolled his eyes. "Okay, but don't try to leave anything out. I'll call you out for it."

I scoffed. "Yeah, whatever." We all sat down in the middle of the attic and I cleared my throat. "Okay, so Nate had this great idea to sneak out of the house one night and go skating on the pond."

Ayden raised his hand to stop me. "I'm assuming any and all ideas of Nate's ended horribly."

Nate shoved Ayden and I laughed before continuing. "Anyway, so we sneak out of the house and start heading to the pond at the end of our street. It had been a cold winter so it was frozen solid." I tucked my hair behind my ear and shot Nate an annoyed look. "We thought we were in the clear and had been skating for a good hour. Someone didn't shut the front door all the way when we left."

Ayden shot Nate a look and he shrugged. "I still say I shut it."

"You didn't," I quipped. "So, next thing I know, our parents are standing there. Arms crossed." I pointed to Nate. "This guy actually tried to run away. Run away. So, since I was his little sister, I did the same."

Ayden frowned. "That can't be the end of the story."

"It's not," Nate snickered. "When she tried to follow after me, she slipped and knocked out her two front teeth."

Ayden's eyes went wide and I covered my face with my hands. "Don't tell me..."

"Yep," Nate laughed. "Blood everywhere. We called her Bucktooth for weeks."

I dropped my hands and gave him a look. "You are the one who called me that. Now, give me the picture."

Nate got to his feet and started to run towards the stairs. "You gotta catch me first."

Once he disappeared, Ayden stood in front of me and gave me a sympathetic look. "If it helps, I can always put Nair in his shampoo bottle."

I covered my mouth when a laugh escaped me. "That's hilarious. He would kill you. He is obsessed with his hair."

Ayden rolled his eyes. "Don't I know it." He nodded towards the door. "Come on, let's go get this embarrassing picture of you."

I fell into step beside him. "Why are you helping me?"

He shot me a mischievous look. "Why not?"

My eyes narrowed. "This is all a ploy, isn't it? You just want to see the picture!"

He descended the stairs. "No, actually I don't. I am trying to help you. I thought Nate said you were basically a psychic? I think you're slipping."

As I followed after him I couldn't ignore the truth of what he said. People always called me a psychic because I was intuitive. If that was true, then why did my future seem so unclear ever since I laid my eyes on Ayden?