After a quick shower, Chelsea fell into Mike’s guest bed, wearing an over-sized T-shirt she’d left behind for nights like this and a pair of shorts. She’d felt bad taking the bed from Heath, but he’d insisted she sleep in here, saying if he could sleep outside in the desert while deployed, he could certainly be comfortable on Mike’s couch.

She’d allowed him to be a gentleman and now found herself burying herself beneath Mike’s covers. What had she just done?

Her head was swimming, and she knew it would do her no good to try and sort through it in her current state. She’d had too much to drink to make sense of it, but not too much to regret it. Still, how would she look at Heath again? Wouldn’t her face flush every time they were in the room together? If Mike ever found out….

He couldn’t find out, no matter what. He’d be so mad at both of them! No, Chelsea would have to continue to pretend that Heath was just a friend of his, one she wasn’t interested in at all, and go on about her business. It wasn’t as if they were frequently in the same room together. Maybe she would get up super early in the morning and sneak out. Or maybe if she slept long enough, he’d be gone before she got out of bed. If not for good, then at least for a few hours so she could get out of the house without the two of them having to be in the same room again.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be in the same room with him. Heath was so hot—and such a good guy. He was smart, funny, a hard worker. He was one of those guys a mother would be proud to call a son-in-law and a father would trust with his daughter. Okay—maybe not tonight. But most of the time. She knew both of her parents really liked Heath. That didn’t mean they wanted her to date him. It had never come up in conversation, that was for sure. Besides, Mike always made it clear to all of his friends that his little sister was off limits. It was just a rule of his. One time, he’d explained, “I’ve hung out in a locker room with these guys. I don’t need to imagine they could talk about you the same way they talk about other girls.” While it was difficult for Chelsea to think of Heath ever being disrespectful, she knew how guys talked when they were hanging out. Sometimes it was crass. She could see Mike’s point.

Yet, she’d gone along and broken that rule. In fact, she’d instigated the breaking of that rule. She felt awful. Mike was a wonderful brother—and a good friend. The fact that she’d gone behind his back to do something he would never approve of made her stomach tighten. She ran a hand along her forehead. Why did she always have to mess things up? No, Mike couldn’t find out about this.

The fact that they hadn’t used a condom was also bothering her. She’d never done that before—never. It all just happened so fast, in the heat of the moment! But that was no excuse. Just because she knew she didn’t have any diseases to give to him, and she could assume he was clean, that didn’t make it safe. A person never knew! At least she’d taken her birth control pill that morning.

She flipped over onto her back and thought about it. She had taken it, hadn’t she? She thought so. At college, it was all part of her routine. Get up, brush her teeth, turn on the shower so it could heat up, take her vitamin and her birth control pill, then get ready for class. She’d done the same thing every day while she’d been staying at her parents, hadn’t she? She thought so. For the most part. Had she missed a day or two? She could count pills when she got home, but she thought she’d be just fine. Besides… she had friends who’d graduated a few years ago and had been trying for months to get pregnant after they got married. One little time wasn’t going to get her into trouble. No, she needed to be more worried about her brother than a baby!

Deciding she’d put enough thought into all that she’d done wrong for one day, Chelsea pulled the blankets up higher and closed her eyes. She’d feel better about the whole thing after she got some sleep. The idea that Heath was lying in the other room, possibly thinking about her, made her smile. He really was a good guy, and that was the best sex she’d ever had. But it couldn’t happen again. Nope. Never ever again.