“I could totally see a giant tree house in that oak,” I said as I pointed to a beautiful oak tree.

He smiled and nodded his head. “Yeah, I could, too.”

“I always wanted a tree house. I begged my parents to build me one, but my mother said it was too dangerous.” I smiled as I thought back to how I had begged and pleaded with them. “My kids will have a tree house,” I whispered.

He took my hand and kissed the back of it, and the thousands of needles now pricking my hand caused me to suck in a breath of air.

Shit. Anytime he touches me, my body reacts.

“How would you like to go out with me tonight?” he asked with a sly grin.

I raised my eyebrow. “What do you have in mind?”

“Austin? Dinner with maybe a little bit of dancing at a club?” Reed said.

I bit down on my lower lip and nodded. “I think that sounds like fun!”

Before I knew it, we were heading back and getting ready to go out for the evening. I couldn’t help but feel like an excited teenager going out on her first date.

I wanted so desperately to believe that Reed would be different. Maybe he really was different. He had been nothing but a gentleman all week. It was almost like he had done a one-eighty from the Reed I’d known—or at least, the one I thought I’d known.

Or maybe he just feels sorry for me?

Whatever the reason, I was going to enjoy myself. I still had a little over two weeks of this, and I intended on making it the best two weeks of my life.

I sat on the bed, grinning like an idiot. She loved the cabin. I knew she would. Every thought and detail I’d put into that house, I’d thought about Courtney and if she would like it or not.

As soon as we had gotten back to Layton’s place, she hopped in the shower, and I pulled out a piece of paper and began working on my next project. When I was finished, I couldn’t help but smile as I looked it over. It was perfect, and I was sure she would love it.

I heard a knock on the door, and I put the paper with the design facing down on the side table. I stood up and headed over to the door. I opened the door, and I just about dropped to my knees.

“Wow,” was all I could get out.

Courtney was standing there in a black cocktail dress and silver high heels with her hair pulled up and a few curls hanging down.

“I’m going to guess I look pretty good since your mouth is practically hanging down to your knees, Moore. Could you eye-fuck me any more?” she asked with a wink.

“Yes, actually, I could. Court, you look beautiful. Is that your dress or Whitley’s?”

She looked down and then back up at me, giving me a funny look. “It’s mine! A girl can never be overpacked. I always tell Whitley to pack for anything and everything.”

I found myself daydreaming about peeling that dress off of her and slowly making love to her. I shook my wayward thoughts away as I turned and grabbed my keys, wallet, and watch.

“Ready?” I asked with a smile.

She nodded with the enthusiasm of a small child and held her arm out for me to take. “So ready!”

“Let’s go then.”

After we ate, we grabbed a cup of coffee at Mozart’s, and then we headed to the club for some dancing. I had to smile at how much Courtney loved to dance. She had more energy than the damn Energizer Bunny.

We walked up to the bar to get a drink when “Walking on Air” by Katy Perry started playing.

Courtney jumped up and down and then grabbed my hand. “I love this song!”

The next thing I knew, we were back out on the dance floor, dancing. She certainly could dance, and throughout the song, three different guys tried to cut in. With one go-to-hell look, they each quickly left.

By the time we left the club, Courtney finally seemed happy. This last week, she had buried herself in work and reading, and she’d hardly spoken two words to me. Now, she was going on and on, and I couldn’t get a word in. I hadn’t laughed so much in my life as I did on the ride home from Austin.

When we walked into the house, we were greeted by Midnight and Lulu. We both looked at each other and said, “Oh shit!”

“You didn’t crate them!” Courtney said in a panicked voice.

Wait, what? “Me? I’m cow-sitting. You’re the one who’s dog-sitting,” I said as I held up my hands and quickly looked around the house. Oh fuck. If they chewed up anything, Layton will have our asses.

“You check upstairs. I’ll check down here,” Courtney said as she took off her shoes. She started running around with Lulu right behind her.

“Gotcha!” I said as I made my way upstairs.

Every door had been shut, except for the second master bedroom where I was staying. I let out the girliest shriek when I walked in and saw one of my cowboy boots had been chewed up. Midnight ran in and went right for the boot. He picked it up and practically threw it at me, wanting to play fetch.

I grabbed on to the door to hold myself up. My boots…oh God…he chewed up my boot.

“What? What was that noise? It sounded like you stepped on a cat’s tail or something!” Courtney said as she skidded to a stop and ran into me.

I pointed to my boot. “My…my…my boot. That bastard ate my boot…my favorite boots.” I put my hands on my knees and took in a few deep breaths.

Court let out a gasp. “Oh…oh, Midnight, you bad boy. You didn’t. That is unforgivable. You got his boots. Oh. My. God! My shoes!” With that, she took off running back downstairs, screaming, “I left the bedroom door open,” over and over again.

When I heard her bloodcurdling scream, I knew it must have been bad. Midnight ducked and ran out of the room. When Court didn’t stop screaming, I got worried. I ran downstairs and into Layton’s room. I stopped on a dime when I saw her with a gun.

“Where in the hell did you get a gun?” I asked, confused as hell.

“Whit told me where one was. I’m going to kill them both. Get out of my way.”

I looked around the room and didn’t see any signs of torn up shoes. “Court, wait. The dogs? You’re gonna kill the dogs? Why?” I tried to take the gun from her.

She shook her head, and I swore I could see steam coming from her ears.

“Reed, just tell me that this thing is loaded because I’m going to kill both those motherfuckers.”

When she extended her hand with the gun, I grabbed it. “Jesus, Courtney. You never, ever handle a gun if you don’t know what you are doing or if it’s loaded.” I checked the chamber, and it wasn’t loaded. Thank God.