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them. I wanted you.”
    My heart was breaking in my chest. I’d pushed my best friend and my family away for Gunner, and he’d let me down. I guessed I’d held out hope that there would be some kind of reasonable explanation, but I was coming to find it was just Hunt arrogance. It was fairly common knowledge that no Hunt did a damn thing unless he damn well pleased. I always thought Gunner was the exception to that rule.
    Maybe I was as naive about guys as Daisy always claimed.
    “You just don’t listen, Harlow, do you?” His voice sounded bitter, and, when he pulled me into his arms, it was in a fierce, hard way like he never had before. “Listen to me close. Our worlds collided this summer, and I’ll never get over how damn lucky that was for me. You own my heart for good, you hear me? But I’m not messing around when I tell you that this is a summer thing, baby. What we have together, no matter how hot and how good it feels now, it won’t last when the heat waves roll out.”
    “W-w-what?” I hated the way my voice shook. My palms when clammy and my throat tightened. “You said I was your North Star, Gunner. How the hell does that make sense with what you’re saying now?”
    “You are, Harlow.” He pulls me to him and kisses me so I can feel his hurt and pain. “Damn it, you are the brightest, most beautiful thing in my world, constant and steady. And I’m down on the ground, looking up at you, knowing you’re too much for me. Too good for me. People think I’m a selfish son of a bitch? Maybe. All I know is the first time I made love to you, I knew I had a few weeks of heaven before I had to let you go, because you’re made for better than Piedmont, Texas and its pathetic town loser.”
    “Don’t you dare call yourself that!” I cried, forgetting to be quiet so we don’t wake my father. I put a hand over my mouth. When I spoke again, it was a more controlled whisper, but I was still shaking like a leaf. “You are an amazing, smart, wonderful man, Gunner Hunt, and I’ll be damned if I let you talk about yourself like you aren’t. You and I belong together. Together. You hear me?”
    “I hear a girl who’s got a lot to learn about the way things truly work in this world,” he said, his careless drawl breaking my heart.
    “Don’t do that. Don’t write me off as some dumb little girl.” I put my hands on his chest and looked into those deep green eyes, shuttered against any emotion. “Don’t close down on me.”
    I didn’t care that I was begging , didn’t care that I was clinging to him like some lovesick girl. I’d put all self-respect to the side for Gunner.
    He didn’t say a word, but he moved toward me and his kisses were deep, his touches were perfect. He stripped us both down and filled me up the way only he could.
    We didn’t say another word about our future that night or for the next week. But, even though I held onto hope so tight it made me weak-kneed, when the heat waves moved on, so did Gunner Hunt.
    Without me.
    I push back the pain of that long ago summer night and give him a casual smile, because I’m a grown woman who can handle anything, even Gunner Hunt’s gruff rejection.
    Even if it rips my still-beating heart out of my chest.
    “I’ve got an apartment near campus with a friend. But what’s the rush?” I ask, my voice sexy to mask the hurt that’s unleashed in my memories. “I’ve got all the time in the world.”
    It’s true. Daisy and I just moved back into town. She took a job working for my dad’s company, and I decided to commute the half hour back and forth rather than live at the dorms so I could live with Daisy. I’ve been in school for three years now, and I still don’t have a major, despite Dad’s constant insistence that if I don’t choose one (business, obviously) soon, he’s pulling the plug on paying my way.
    “I’m sure you do,” Gunner says. His eyes rake over me, but he quickly looks away. “But I’ve got shit to do. And you