"Do you think he's still going to come?" I asked softly as the boys all piled into Trey's SUV. Those green eyes stared down at me as he raised a light eyebrow, his large arm propping his buff body up against the side of the vehicle.

"If he thinks you're still coming, yeah, he'll show up."

I tilted my head curiously at that and blinked up at his bright gaze. "I'm not so sure about that. He told me he wanted to be alone, and didn't want me following him..." I only grew more confused when Trey rolled his eyes and pushed away from the car.

"You're adorable, and utterly oblivious. Hop in, Princess. It's pumpkin time."

I didn't have time to register his words before those large hands were wrapping around my waist and practically throwing me into the large car beside Brett. I made an odd 'eep' like sound, but Denton was turning to beam over at us from the passenger seat and no one paid attention.

"I wanted to sit next to you, but these jerks wouldn't let me!" The barley-younger twin exclaimed dramatically before sticking his tongue out at his brother. Brett rolled his eyes.

"Rex's already gunning for your head. You really don't want to add onto that." His twin scoffed even though those blue eyes were practically blazing in amusement. He thought this whole situation was funny.

Denton made a noise that sounded a lot like 'humph', before turning around in his seat and crossing his athletic arms over his strong chest. "Yeah, well, that ass isn't here, and I can say whatever I want-"

"Want to finish that?"

My head snapped to the side, and my eyes widened in surprise as Rex stood just outside the open door, his dark gaze briefly glancing at me before turning to glare at Denton-who quickly buckled his seat-belt and cowered down against the leather.

"Alright, let's get going!" Trey clapped his hand on Rex's shoulder before giving me a quick smile and walking towards the driver's side of the SUV. I tried not to fidget as I slid over to the middle seat so Rex could climb into the car.

Did I ask if he was okay? Did I say 'hi'? Was he still mad? The fact that that was the only reason there was panic in my chest despite everything else that happened the past couple of days, worried me.

The tension filling the entire car was pretty awkward as Trey pulled out of the parking lot and headed for the main street. It didn't ease until he turned the radio on and one of Taylor Swift's new songs blasted from the stereo. My eyes widened as both he and Denton started singing loudly along word by word. I couldn't keep from laughing at their horrible duet. I loved it.

I dared a glance over at Rex and only ended up freezing like a deer in headlights when my gaze locked on his. He raised a dark eyebrow, that small smirk slowly pulling at his lips. "Hi." He spoke softly, his voice not rising above the blaring tones coming from the front seat.

My cheeks instantly burned with that traitorous blush and I dropped my eyes from his as my thumbs twirled together nervously. "Hi." I murmured back and resisted the urge to reach up and tug on the end of my hair. It was getting awfully warm in here-and I was all too aware of Rex's beautiful eyes on me.

There was a dark chuckle in my ear, and then a large, buff arm circling around my shoulders. My heart stopped beating and I'm pretty sure anyone within a twelve-mile radius heard my shaky inhale.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier." That dark voice of his murmured in my ear, his large body dwarfing mine as he leaned into me.

I tried to keep my breathing under control as that arm curled around the back of my neck, but the shaky exhales didn't want to stop. "I-It's okay." I stammered breathlessly as he leaned away again, like he could tell my brain had gone completely foggy with him so close.

I didn't want to risk looking over at him again and drooling like an obsessed idiot, but I had a feeling that smirk he recently seemed to love giving me was plastered across his soft lips.

The rest of the ride was spent trying to desperately ignore the horrendous singing coming from the front seats and demanding my heart to calm itself every time we hit a bump in the road and the muscles in Rex's arm flexed around me.

If the others were surprised at the embrace they didn't show it, except for a few times when I would glance forward and see Trey watching us from the rear-view mirror. He would smile, shoot me a wink, then go back to watching the road. My cheeks stayed heated the entire drive.

"We're here!" Trey sang excitedly when we finally pulled into the pumpkin patches parking lot twenty-something minutes later, and I didn't know whether to feel relieved or disappointed. I needed to breathe some fresh air as much as I never wanted to leave Rex and the strong arm he had wrapped around me.

"Finally." Brett growled beside us before he hopped out of the car at full speed.

I glanced over at Rex with a raised eyebrow, though he only rolled his eyes and reached for the door handle. "He's claustrophobic."

"Oh..."

Rex's arm slowly slipped away from me and that familiar cold from the morning swept against my neck. I shivered, and not in the good way. I suddenly didn't want to leave the SUV and didn't want him to leave either.

"Come on Rose, let's get this fucking over with." He grumbled once he stepped out of the vehicle, that amused smirk from before completely gone as he glared at the vast rows of pumpkins.

I bit my lip before sliding over and easing slowly out of the SUV. I was prepared to close the door behind me once my feet stepped on solid ground, but Rex's arm was suddenly propping the door open and refusing to budge.

"Is something wrong?" I turned to him with a worried gaze, though there weren't any hard edges to his expression. As a matter of fact, he smiled and those dimples I only thought I saw before flashed for the world to see. My throat tightened.

Wow... Boys really shouldn't be able to look that good.

"Have I ever told you how much I like that blush of yours?"

I wasn't sure how shocked my expression must have been, but the chuckle that escaped his lips barely a moment later let me know it was pretty bad. "You're cute." He added with a laugh before finally pulling away enough to let me escape under his arm.

I practically ran away just to avoid the utter embarrassment shining through my burning cheeks. I was too embarrassed to realize he had called me cute-again. It was supposed to be in the thirties today (Fahrenheit), so why was every part of my body on fire?

Oh God, he really did notice whenever I blushed! How was I supposed to look him in the eyes again?! This was beyond embarrassing. Maybe I'll just get lost among the rows of pumpkins and never have to face him again. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea.

"It's pumpkin time!" That was the only warning Trey gave before he took off running through the field, Denton hot on his heels. Despite the embarrassment staining my cheeks, I laughed. They really did know how to make someone feel better, even without trying.

"I swear they're all still fucking twelve." I could practically feel the roll of his eyes in Rex's tone as I paused at the entrance of the field.

There was a dozen or so families roaming around the pumpkin patch, their kids all laughing as they decided which one to pick. Dad was never home the past couple of years to take us pumpkin picking, so Luce would bring me every year-though that stopped last October when she said it was stupid and I was too old now. And before I was fifteen-well, I never really got the option before that.

I didn't realize I had been watching all the happy faces with a frown on my own until a large hand was brushing the hair off my shoulder. My eyes snapped over to the dark pair gazing softly down at me.

"You alright, Rose?"

I forced a smile on my lips and nodded before running a hand through my long hair. "Yeah, I'm good. Want to go pick a pumpkin?" He didn't need to see the cracks in my head, the tears that never wanted to close. No one did.

"Do you want to go look for one?" He asked instead, that soft look fading away to a raised eyebrow though that dark chestnut gaze did not waiver from my own.

"If you want to." Even though the urge to take off running through the field like Trey and Denton had was really appealing. My depressed little moment gone, I wanted to get my pumpkin-picking on.

Rex rolled his eyes, his gaze finally breaking away from mine as he let out an exaggerated sigh. "You're impossible." He grumbled, though that small smirk was pulling on his lips again. "Let's go get a fucking pumpkin."

He didn't have to tell me twice, and that time it was I that wrapped my hand around his thick wrist and started pulling him through the vast rows of pumpkins. He let me though, and if the quiet laugh that tumbled from his lips was anything to go by, he found it amusing.

October was going by faster than I would have liked, and the leaves were already falling from the trees. I watched the wind pick up and carry the discarded, colorful leaves across the open field and disappear into the woods.

It was beautiful here.

Pumpkins sat in rows upon rows in front of us, their bright orange colors going on forever. The grass was a dark green, and the empty branches swayed lonely in the wind.

All thoughts of finding the perfect pumpkin flew completely out of my head the second Rex's thick wrist tugged gently down from my grasp and threaded his fingers through mine-the rough pad of his thumb brushing over the tender skin of my inner wrist in the process.

It caused the butterfly feeling in my stomach to go on overdrive, and it took all my willpower not to stumble over my own feet. He was-he was holding my hand again!

Would it be too dramatic if I fainted?

"What about that one?" That hand entwined with my own pulled me to a stop as his free one reached up to point at a huge pumpkin stuck under some vines.

"Y-Yeah, that one's good." My brain was too foggy to think clearly again, especially with how his thumb was slowly stroking over the back of my hand. I had a sinking feeling that smirk he shot me meant he knew just what kind of effect he had on me-and it only made that horrid blush return.

I let go of his hand, which I immediately regretted, to bend down and tug at the giant pumpkin. He only ended up scoffing when I could barely make the orange plant budge. "Move." He grumbled as I still tried to viciously tug the pumpkin free.

"Let me get it before you hurt yourself." I tried to hide my pout as he tugged gently on the back of my jacket until I conceded in letting him pull me from the thick vines.

I could have totally gotten it.

I stood and took a step away to give him some room as he bent down and wrapped those strong hands around the pumpkin. He had it out of the vines and clutched to his chest in two pulls. I didn't bother hiding my disgruntled pout as he shot me a satisfied smirk.

"I could have done that." I grumbled as he turned back towards the entrance of the field.

"Then you should have when you tried to." He shot over his shoulder with bark of laughter that only added to the butterflies in my stomach. I bit my lip, hard, and tried not to stare at his retreating figure. Why did his back even look good?

"Are you coming or what? This thing is fucking heavy."

"Sorry!" I stammered before hurrying after him. He carried the heavy thing, which was twice as big as my torso, all the way to the kid with the cash box at the entrance of the patch, and even paid for it too.

"Rex, stop, you don't have to do that-"

"I found it, I picked it, so it's mine, and I pay. You just get to carve it or whatever frilly shit you and those other girls plan on doing to them." His voice was that dark drawl I did oh-so-love, though the kid staring up at him with wide frightening twelve-year-old eyes seemed terrified.

"Keep the change." Rex said as he slapped a twenty onto the kid's cash box before turning back to the ginormous pumpkin. He let out an irritated sigh. "Go open up the trunk for me, will you? This thing is fucking heavy."

He didn't have to tell me twice. I hurried to the SUV parked only a few spaces over and quickly pulled open the large door so he could slide the pumpkin into the spacious area. He let out a heavy grunt as he pushed it all the way until it hit that back of the seats, then brushed the dirt off his hands.

"Those fuckers are heavier than they look." He all but growled as those dark eyes turned towards me. I shot him a wide smile.

"Thank you though!" I practically cheered, which he only rolled his eyes at.

"What did I say about-"

"Not to. I know, but I can't help it."

"Hey! Keep the trunk open!" Trey shouted over from the cashiers stand as I reached up to close the door. I gave him a thumb up and let my arms fall once again.

"You have dirt on your jacket." Rex grumbled as he leaned against the SUV beside me, his thick arms crossing over his strong chest.

I glanced down and frowned when I saw the wet dirt like mud from the pumpkin clinging to the soft fabric. "Awe shoot. He's going to be mad." I grumbled and started to viciously rub the mud off my stomach.

"Who is?"

"Tate, it's his jacket-"

"Take it off."

"What?" My gaze snapped up at the sudden dark change in Rex's tone, his eyes no longer amused as they glared down at me. What did I do this time?

"Take. It. Off."

"Why? It's just a little dirt, he won't be that mad."

He let out an irritated sigh and shoved off the SUV to pace angrily beside me. "I don't give a fuck if he's mad or not." He snapped as that hand that had been holding mine barely minutes before ran viciously through his hair.

"If you want to wear someone's fucking jacket so bad wear mine but take his off."

I wasn't sure what the big deal was, but that angry look in his dark eyes wasn't fading and I would have done anything to see that amused smirk again-even if it was only there because I was blushing like a fool. I didn't bother hiding my frown as I unzipped the jacket and pulled it off my arms.

Rex grabbed it from me the minute it no longer covered my now-bare arms and chucked it into the trunk. "You really don't like each other, do you?" I asked softly as I crossed my arms over my chest to keep the chilly wind from hitting my skin. It was nearly impossible to believe that he and Tate were siblings.

He ran that heavy hand down his handsome face before letting out a sigh and turning those dark eyes back on me. "No, we don't." He didn't offer any other explanation, and all the questions I had flew from my mind as those strong arms started shucking off that familiar leather jacket I loved so much.

"Here, I like it better on you anyways."

I reached forward slowly and let my fingers wrap around the soft, worn out leather-and had to literally force myself not to bring it to my face and inhale. I had it back, and I highly doubted I would ever let him have it again. It was mine now, even when he realized how messed up I really was. It would be all I had left of him when he leaves for good. The jacket was mine.

Then my eyes caught on the strong muscles of his bicep that his short-sleeve, black t-shirt showed off, and all rational thought flew from my mind once again. Who knew a person could look so... yummy? He reached up to run that hand through his hair one more time, those muscles tightened just a little more and my mouth practically watered.

Oh yes, definitely yummy.

"You two ready to go?" Trey called out to us as the other three finally walked over, their own pumpkins clutched tightly in their arms. Trey's voice snapped me out of the drooling stupor I had fallen in, and I practically jumped as he placed his pumpkin down in the trunk right next to me.

"Yeah, let's get going. I'm fucking done here." Rex grumbled as the Dimajios placed their pumpkins beside his and Trey's. I pulled his jacket on quickly as he walked over to the side of the SUV.

His eyes flickered to mine as he opened up the door and tilted his head, his soft lips slowly pulling up at the corner. "Hop in." He nodded towards the inside of the vehicle, and I bent my head so he wouldn't see my tomato cheeks as I hurried past him.

Now that I knew he noticed my blush, I was just going to have to try hiding it twice as hard. His chuckle followed me as I hurried to the middle seat and buckled the seat-belt.

"Like I said,"

I would have been surprised at the teasing tone in his voice as he climbed up beside me and closed the door, but his large, deliciously bare arm rested against the seat behind my head and completely distracted me.

"You're cute."