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To Jess for heading up such a fun project

To Bianca and Gwen Ganging up on Jess is awfully fun We should do it again sometime

Chapter One

The sun shone high overheard The sky blazed brilliant blue, and not a single cloud rees on the first of February It hat Gracie Evans lovedin south Texas By the middle of the week, another cold front was poised totemps into the forties Oh the horror

Gracie stretched in her lawn chair and watched lazily as Jeremy Miller tended the barbeque while his wife, Gracie’s best friend Michelle, hovered nearby

“Coet up and play,” Wes Hoffman hollered from the yard

She looked over to see hi a football back and forth Boneheads She wasweek at work and not sleeping worth a daetic as she planned to get

Luke flopped onto the chair next to her “What’s up, Gracie? You’re not usually such a stick-in-the-mud”

She shot him a dirty look “Busy week at work I’m just tired”

Of course, the worst part of the week had been last night Her date with her current boyfriend had ended with the usual boring, obligatory sex, and quite frankly, she was tired of being disappointed in that area She’d stayed up e to call his off

He hadn’t taken it well

“Earth to Gracie”

She blinked and looked back at Luke “Sorry,” she mumbled “Lot on my mind”

Luke gave her a curious stare but seeot up and ambled over to talk to Jeremy Wes joined them on the patio, a beer in hand

Gracie let her gaze flit appreciatively over thethey were her best friends and all She wouldn’tsomeone like Luke or Wes Probleh

Michelle eased into the chair next to Gracie, and Gracie looked over with a sirlfriend?”

Michelle returned her sood”

Gracie eyed Michelle’s cute little pregnancy pooch with a little jealousy Jeremy was over the moon in love with his wife, and Gracie wondered what it felt like to have that sort of devotion From what Michelle said, Jeremy was also dynamite in bed Really, whatlove and the kno in the sack

Gracie shook her head She was really going to have to up her standards when it came to boyfriends Boyfriend Maybe that was her problem She didn’t need a boy She wanted a man Someone who could take her fantasies and make them reality

“You sure are quiet today, Gracie”

Gracie gri”

Michelle jerked around in the lawn chair and all but pounced on Gracie “Gracie, you didn’t!”

“Shhh,” Gracie hissed, looking up to see if the guys had heard They already gave her a hard tileeful that her current relationship hadn’t worked out The “I told you so’s” were already ringing in her ears

“What happened?” Michelle whispered

“I’ll talk to you about it later,” Gracie said, looking pointedly at the guys

Michelle huffed but she didn’t protest further

The torill Gracie loved these times with the people she considered her best friends

They got together prettyseason, they spent weekends at the cas When the weather ar up the sun Gracie loved their group She felt free to be herself

Jeremy and Michelle had been ethers Jere contractor

Wes was handsoive a shit” kind of way He had blondish brown hair, and in the suhter shades His sense of humor hat Gracie loved the et his underwear in a bunch at the least provocation A uy you wouldn’t find

Luke, yeah, he was good looking Blue eyes, light brown hair, and abs you could bounce a nickel off But he was also a pain in the ass A eous pain in the ass, but an irritant nonetheless His and Gracie’s relationship was a study in competition Neither could stand to lose, and neither would ever back down from a dare

Every year the outhunt and outfish contest usually boiled down to Luke and Gracie Last year, Gracie had crohen she’d bagged the biggest buck any of the group had ever killed Luke had sworn to one-up her the following season

But still, she wouldn’t trade hiether They were extremely loyal, and more importantly, they were always there for one another Which hy she didn’t want the guys to know she’d broken up with Keith They’d et the whole thing

A shadow fell over her chair, and she looked up to see Wes standing over her with a beer in hand He pressed the cold bottle to her arm, and she yelped and flinched

He laughed “Thought you ht want a beer, Gracie”

“Gee, thanks”

He handed the beer to her then winked and aain