Kyler arched a brow. “I’m pretty sure you’ve seen me naked, Syd.”

An ungodly amount of heat swamped me, which was so inappropriate considering the circumstances of how I had seen him naked. “You were, like, five and had chickenpox. You kept stripping off your clothes. That is so not the same thing.”

“What’s different now?”

Did I really need to explain this?

Laughing under his breath, he pushed off the counter and prowled up to me. Sitting on the counter, I was finally his height. He was ridiculously tall, coming in at six-foot-two, and I was insanely short, barely over five feet. Most of the time I felt like I belonged in the Lollipop Guild when I was around him.

Kyler reached up and tugged on the hair that hadn’t come undone in the hallway. “Pigtails. Sexy.”

I shrugged.

He took the end of the braid and smacked me in the cheek with it. “Do I have time for a run?”

I snatched my hair away from him. “If you don’t then you’ll be whiny all day.”

Kyler gave me his most charming smile. A dimple appeared in his left cheek, and my heart skipped a beat. “Want to join me?”

Waving the e-reader, I made a face. “Do I look like I want to go running with you?”

He leaned in, placing his hands on either side of my legs, which made him way, way close. Even if I weren’t nursing an undying lust for him, I wouldn’t be immune to his proximity. Any female with ovaries would be affected. Kyler oozed sex appeal, a dangerous mix of looks and intelligence wrapped in an air of unpredictability.

I inhaled—oh wow did he smell good. Not like he’d drunk a trough full of alcohol last night and then had wild monkey sex for hours. Oh no, he smelled like man and a fine cologne I couldn’t place.

Man, I couldn’t believe I was smelling him like some kind of creeper extraordinaire.

Leaning back, I looked away.

“You’ll have fun. I promise. Come on.” He tugged on my pigtail again.

I shook my head. “There’s snow and ice everywhere. I’ll break my neck. Actually, you might break your neck. One day of not running isn’t going to kill you.”

“Yes, it will.”

Keeping my gaze focused on the photo stuck to the front of the fridge, I clasped my hands together. It was a picture of us together, in elementary school, dressed in our Halloween costumes. He’d been a werewolf and I’d been Little Red Riding Hood. It had been my mom’s idea. “I can’t believe you even want to go running after all you drank last night.”

He laughed, and his breath was warm against my cheek. “I can handle it. Don’t forget, you’re drinking with the big kids.”

I rolled my eyes at that.