"Okay, we need to set up some ground rules," Lucas said once Lydia retreated into her room to study.

It was coming up on Summer break for classes next week so she was probably swamped with finals. I wondered how she'd ever do well on a finals test after everything she was going through.

My room barely had anything of hers in it at all, except for that white dress I saw laying on the floor and my stupid brain just put together that that must've been her wedding dress.

It explained the torn fabric and dirt smeared all over it when I had noticed it leaving her bed that morning.

I couldn't shake the sight of her gorgeous blue eyes that stood out against her tan skin staring me in the face while I 'argued' with her.

"Emmett, are you even listening?"

I snapped back to attention to what Lucas was saying.

Reed shook his head and fixed the glasses on his face.

"Yeah man, ground rules. Lay em on me."

"Well, obviously we've never lived with a girl before...I think we need to set up a no-dating rule, especially since she's my sister."

A grunt escaped me, keeping my opinions on that to myself for a few. He knew about my inability to follow rules, so he shouldn't be offended when I find a loophole to this 'do-dating' rule.

"Yeah, no dating, no kissing, no flirting and especially no screwing."

Well, he didn't say no touching...

I rolled my eyes.

"Why didn't you look at Reed when you read off all those rules?"

Reed let out a bark of laughter and I found a sardonic tone in his voice when he spoke.

"If you came around more often than every other semester, you'd know that I came out of the closet last month. I have no interest in Lydia romantically or otherwise."

My eyes widened to saucers. Well, that explained why he never took to any of the girls that I'd set him up with over the years.

"Well...good for you bud. Be your authentic self is what I always say. Listen, it's not like I wanted to stay away for so long, I just got so laser focused on the NFL that I forgot to check in with the people who've been there for me from the beginning. I'm sorry."

They exchanged matching questioning glances.

"Forgiven. Unless you mess with my sister. I'm worried about her, she's been so...normal. She was with this guy for four years and they almost got married, surely she's going to break, right?"

"Not necessarily. I was with Marnie for a long time when she cheated on me and I didn't 'break' or anything like that. Want me to talk to her? I've got some experience in that department," I said genuinely, waiting anxiously to put my plan to get my room back in motion.

"Would you do that? Her and my mom aren't really on the best of terms and I have a feeling it was her best friend who he cheated with because I asked her if she called her and she just freaked out even harder when I mentioned her name..."

"Damn, that sucks. Yeah I'd love to help her out. Give me her number and I'll text her since she'll probably be locked away in that room all-"

I was interrupted by the bedroom door opening and Lydia emerged wearing leggings and a sports bra that showed off almost every curve in great detail. My eyes grew to the size of baseballs in my head when I noticed the side braids curving around her head I could just picture what I could do to her with those braids in her hair...

Lucas slapped the back of my head to get me to stop drooling but by the time I had recovered she was gone, saying something about her going running to let off some steam.

"Dude, you have a staring problem. You do know she was about to get married, right?"

"But she's not married, is she?"

Lucas rolled his eyes as he muttered under his breath, "What are we gonna do with you?"

I could only focus on the memory of her lean body as she ran out of the door, her eyes landing on mine a millisecond before breaking eye contact and I knew she noticed my jaw practically on the ground.

This plan might be a little bit harder to execute than I thought...but one thing was for sure: I was going to have damn fun getting my room back.

It was eight o'clock before I made it home, abandoning the bus after its first ten stops as I decided running back home would be quicker.

Lucas and Reed were nowhere to be found and a cursory glance around the rent house told me everything I hadn't noticed when I had first stepped foot in it just twenty-something hours earlier.

The house was almost bare, just a simple coffee table, television and crinkled leather sectional with no decorations whatsoever. What did I expect, though, as I was living in a bachelor pad.

Just as I was taking mental notes of how much space I'd have for end tables and maybe a focal piece of art work, Emmett came strolling in the front door matching my apparel looking as if he had just finished running a marathon.

Sweat lined his forehead making his dark brown hair shine and the veins popping out on his arms proved just how hard he'd been working out.

The mere sight of him lit up my insides in a way they hadn't ever been before, even with Nate, and it was so unfamiliar and almost unwelcome that I thought for a moment about escaping back to my room until I forced myself to stay rooted in my spot, even if my mouth was watering in front of him.

I was thankful that he hadn't noticed my staring, or me at all, actually, as he was thoughtfully engrossed in something on his phone in front of him, and from the scrunched up look on his face I could tell it was something important.

"Damn, someone needs a shower," I announced, bringing him out of his spaced out reverie, albeit doing so confused him in the process.

A cocky smirk emerged on his gorgeous face and there went my heart doing strange cartwheels in my chest, poking and prodding that nest of pain that had remained since my run.

"I could say the same for you. What, have you been out running all day?"

He pocketed his cell phone and steadied his eyes upon me, a surefire way to put me even further off balance than I had already been.

"I guess I just needed to blow off some steam," I told him, my voice wavering slightly but I hid it quickly by clearing my throat as a knowing smirk creeped up onto his face.

"You know, there's other ways to blow off steam? Although..."

He cut himself off and strode forward, lithe as a jungle cat approaching its prey. His face was suddenly mere inches away from my own and I wasn't breathing, I couldn't. It was as if he had sucked all of the oxygen out of the room, including my own lungs.

His mouth was on my ear, and I couldn't stop myself from leaning into him out of instinct, even though my brain was screaming at me to run far, far away.

"...you'd probably get just as sweaty with my methods."

The fervent blush that encroached onto my cheeks was both embarrassing and warranted.

He pulled away as quickly as he'd approached me and in an instant I missed the feeling of having someone so close to me again.

He was off and retreating into the kitchen while I stood there in the middle of the living room looking like the fool that I felt I surely was.

He was just toying with me, right? Just messing with me because I was Lucas' little sister.

I escaped to my room and showered while replaying that denial over and over in my head while the feel of his breath on my neck replayed on a loop for me to relish in.