But Xavier was hers!

Well, not for real, but in Justine’s fantasies, she and Xavier were living in a house surrounded by a white picket fence with three kids and a fourth on the way. They never argued, and Justine had her own business that was making more than her father and sisters ever would. Xavier lived for nothing but sex, spending quality time together, and cooking all their meals. It was a perfect world in Justine’s tiny mind.

And Katie was going to ruin it all. Justine couldn’t handle her best friend dating Xavier. Though ridiculous, because she had no claim on the man and could make no decisions regarding Katie’s love life, the pair of them dating felt so wrong.

Once parked and rushing to beat Katie to the apartment’s front entrance, she threw her body against the doors, her arms outspread, blocking the entrance.

“What the heck are you doing?” Katie laughed. “Are you seriously body-blocking me from going in?” Because Katie had the codes to enter.

“It’s not funny. You can’t ask him out.” Justine felt like a fool but had no idea how to proceed.

“Why not? You don’t want him.”

“Maybe I do.”

“Ah-ha!” Katie poked her in the chest. “Then make a move.”

“I can’t,” she all but wailed. “He’s the first decent friend I’ve had since meeting you. I don’t want to mess it up.”

“Finally, the truth.” Katie pulled her into a hug. “I was messing with you, Justine. I would never poach on your man.”

“He’s not my man,” she muttered against Katie’s shoulder.

“Not yet. But if you don’t do something about that, some other smart cookie’s going to grab onto him. Not me. Like I said, I don’t poach. But you have to see how amazing he is, right? He liked Spartacus.”

Justine gave a reluctant laugh as she pulled back. “Liking Spartacus should not be the reason you like someone.”

“It’s not, but it is a cool dating litmus test. He’s not so full of himself he can’t appreciate other strong, hot men. So he’s not homophobic, he’s sex positive, and he knows it’s more important how to use his equipment than how big his equipment is. Although, I gotta say, his pants outlined some very, very nice looking gear.”

They totally had. “Katie.”

“Go home, get some sleep, and I’ll meet up with you on Sunday, okay? We’ll do that movie I want to see.”

“The one with hot guys?”

“And magic. Yes.” They hugged. Katie left, and after grabbing her things from her car and locking up, Justine went inside.

Unfortunately, on her way past the inner courtyard, water squirted her right in the face, causing her to trip over a large bucket and a teenager.

They landed in a tangle of limbs.

“Whoa, lady. Get off!” A younger boy kept pushing at her.

“I would if you’d stop pushing,” she grumbled and finally got to her feet. “Who squirted me?”

She stared at obvious siblings. Sam, looking adorable and soaking wet, carrying one of those giant water rifles, and what must be his older brother, Rylan, a handsome teen with a frown and a water balloon in hand.