Dakota woke up in her best friend's bed, her mind reeling from the night before. She didn't have a single drink but the night was a blur. The woman rolled over and found Josh still asleep beside her, his right arm wrapped around her waist still holding her tight. She groaned mentally, rolling her eyes, and grabbed her underwear and Josh's t-shirt off of the floor and quietly walked to the door. Dakota glanced back over her shoulder and shook her head. The smell of bacon drifted upstairs and coxed her down to the kitchen. She walked into the kitchen and saw Jake at the stove. Trying not to look like a hot mess, she ran a hand through her hair and walked over to the coffee pot and poured herself a mug.

"It's useless," Jake laughed without looking up, "you're gonna have sex hair until you take a shower."

Dakota groaned as she sat down at the table, "Shut up, Jake..."

He laughed again, "I'm not the one you should be telling to shut up. You two kept me up until three. And I'm pretty sure you guys kept Phil up too."

"Oh fuck," she put her head on the table, "Phil is gonna have my ass..."

"What Josh hasn't taken already."

"Jake! Shut the hell up!"

"Sorry," he laughed. Finally he turned around and faced the woman, "Fuck! Dakota, you look like hell. Are you okay?"

She looked up at him and shook my head, "I don't know what went through my mind last night, Jake. I really don't want to hurt your brother but I'm not sure how I feel about all this. He's my best friend and I don't wanna see him hurt. And he was so broken last night." Tears threatened to flow and she looked out of the window that looked out over the harbor. "I mean, its seriously no secret that I've had feeling for Josh for years but I didn't think that this would ever happen."

Jake put the food on the back burner and sat down beside her. "What happened any way? I know he didn't go to the bar and you guys didn't drink here either..."

Dakota looked back at Jake, a few tears falling, "He called me, crying after Julianne broke up with him. He said he needed me. I thought he just meant he needed some one to talk to and I'm usually that person he goes to after something like that happens. So I came over and found him on the back deck in pieces. I finally got him to start talking and he kissed me. Then literally one thing led to another." She shook her head, "I could have said no, Jake. But I didn't because I didn't want to hurt him. And now..."

Jake pulled her into a hug, "Yeah, you coulda said no but you didn't because, well face it, you didn't want to. Trust me, I've been there. Just see how this morning goes with him and see how you feel later."

She looked up at him and smiled, "Thanks, Jake. You've always known what to say, literally all our lives."

He laughed and shrugged, "What can I say? I'm a natural born genius."

The woman rolled her eyes and kissed him on the cheek.

"Well you better finish cooking breakfast, genius," some one said from the doorway.

Jake and Dakota both froze and looked over toward the doorway. "Jesus, dad! Don't freak us out like that," Jake said, standing up.

"Did I interrupt something?"

She shook her head, "No, sir. Jake was just giving me some advice."

"On how to handle Josh?" Phil asked, lighting up a cigarette.

She nodded, reaching for her pack that some how ended up on the table. "Were you smoking my cigs, Jake?"

He nodded, "Yeah. But don't worry, I wont do it again. You smoke those nasty girly shitty things."

She rolled her eyes, "You owe me a pack damn it."

"Whatever."

Dakota looked back over to Phil, who was smiling. "So," he said scratching his scruff, "you don't know what to do, huh?"

She shook her head, "And I'm really sorry if we kept you up. I mean, I'm really sorry and really embarrassed."

"Well you're wearing his shirt like a trophy." He laughed when she blushed, "Dakota, Josh is a big boy. He'll be okay if you tell him how it really is. I heard what Jake said and I actually agree with him."

She nodded and wiped the tears off of her face when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. She looked at Phil, "Do I look okay?"

He nodded and smiled up at his oldest son has he walked into the kitchen, wearing nothing but his boxers that she had carelessly thrown on the floor, "Morning Romeo! How did you sleep?"

"Dad," Josh mumbled, "too early..."

"Oh," Phil grinned with sarcasm, "did you have a long night?"

"Dad!" Josh groaned, "gimme a break."

"Like the one you gave Dakota last night," Jake jumped in.

Dakota blushed and laughed as she lit her cigarette.

Josh punched his younger brother in the arm, "That's none of your business, Junior."

"You woke the whole damn neighborhood, Josh!"

Dakota laughed, "It's true, Josh. We were kinda loud."

"You know it was loud," Phil commented, "when the woman said it was loud."

Josh finally cracked a smile and sat down beside her. He looked at the shirt she was wearing and laughed, "So that's where that went, huh?"

She nodded and kissed him on the cheek.

"She's been wearing it like a trophy too," Phil smiled at us. "But seriously, next time, gimme a heads up so I'll know to buy some ear plugs or sleep on the boat."

Josh looked up at his dad and said, "You're never gonna let us live this down, are you?"

"Me? I'll let it go in a couple of days." He pointed over at Jake, "Him on the other hand? He'll beat this horse until it's dead and past that."

"Oh, hell yeah," Jake laughed. "I'm gonna use this as black mail."

"Jake," Dakota laughed, "black mail is usually something you're embarrassed of or wish you hadn't done."

"And from the sound of it last night," Phil said, taking a drag off of his cigarette, "you two didn't regret it nor are you embarrassed by it."

She blushed and looked out of the window as Josh laughed, "I don't know about her, but I'm pretty happy with how things turned out."

Dakota rolled her eyes and looked over at Jake, "How long until breakfast is ready?"

"About forty five minutes or so."

She nodded and stood up, "I think I'm gonna go grab a shower so I don't look like a mess." She put her coffee cup in the sink and finished her cigarette. She heard some one stand up and follow her footsteps into the hallway. She looked back over her shoulder and saw Josh walking behind her. Dakota smiled at him, "Yes?"

He smiled back at her and wrapped his arm around her waist, "I just thought I would join you, if you don't mind?"

Her heart jumped as his arm touched her but she shrugged and tried to hide the fact that she was blushing, "I don't care. It's your house any way."

He lifted her face up toward him, "Why are you blushing?"

She laughed and shook his arm off, "Because the oh so sexy Josh Harris is wanting to take a shower with me and I'm flattered." The woman rolled her eyes and walked up the stairs, toward the bedrooms.

Josh followed, closely on her heels, "'The oh so sexy Josh Harris', huh? I like the sound of that." They walked into his room and he shut the door.

She looked up from her bag and cocked an eye brow at him.

He looked over at Dakota, "Look, about last night-"

"Josh," She held up a hand and stopped him, "I know it's not what we were expecting to happen. I mean, you know that a while back I had a crush on you and all that good high school crap but you and Julianne were pretty serious so I moved on." She locked eyes with him and mumbled, "Well, I sorta moved on."

He walked over to her and put a hand on the side of her face, "You say that it's not what we expected but I did. I knew Julianne were going to shit and I realized that the only person outside of my family that has been there for me through all of this shit was you. I realized that you and I let something that could have been great pass by us a few years back. I knew you never really moved on and honestly, I didn't either."

Dakota looked at him questioningly, waiting for him to keep talking.

"When we were teenagers," he started. It finally felt good for him to get all this off of his chest, "I had the biggest crush on you. I was head over heels for you, Dakota. Phil swore I was in love. But then I saw that you didn't feel the same way so I sucked it up and dated other girls. But none of them were you. They didn't laugh the same way, cry the same way, smile the same way, make me happy the same way." He took his hand away from her face, "I guess what I've been trying to say is that I've felt this way for you all this time and I've just now gotten the opportunity to tell you."

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Dakota sighed, "Wow, Josh... I'm really... Surprised."

He sat down beside her and sighed, "Yeah. I'm sorry I just threw all that on you. I just had to get it off my chest and out there. Ya know?"

She nodded while her mind replayed everything he had just said. "So," she looked over at him, "you knew last night was going to end like it did?"

He nodded, "I mean, I didn't know for sure but I had a pretty good feeling. I was going to be okay if you tried to stop it but you never said anything." He stood up and looked back at her, "So how about that shower?"

She grinned and reached into her overnight bag and grabbed some clothes then followed him into the bathroom. As he turned the water on and warmed it up, Dakota looked at the mirror to see how much damage she was going to be working with. For starters, her make up was caked up under her eyes but on the bright side, it made her eyes look extremely blue and brought out the gold around her pupil. She then looked at her hair and sighed. The woman swore her hair was straight when she came over the night before but from the sweat, it was back to its natural wavy ways. She ran a brush through her blonde hair and put it up in a pony tail to wash her face real quick.

Josh cussed under his breath, "It takes forever for this damn water to heat up."

Dakota splashed some ice cold Alaskan water on my face and took a deep breath, "I think it feels great." I glanced over at him and found him watching her, "What?"

"Nothing," he smiled. "You just look so beautiful this morning. You pull off sex hair fantastically."

She blushed, "You liar! I look like hell." She quickly brushed her teeth and then walked over and sat on his lap as he sat on the edge of the tub.

Josh kissed her neck and held her closer, "I've never told you but your perfume has always turned me on."

"Really? Well I'll be sure to not wear it around you. I don't want to be a distraction or anything."

He eyed her playfully, "Trust me, you being around me is a distraction in itself. I can't keep my hands off of you. It's like you have me hypnotized."

She smiled and kissed him. When their lips met, his right hand began rubbing her thigh. After a few seconds, she stood up and turned around so she could straddle his lap. His hands found the bottom of her shirt and began to lift it. She quickly found her way out of the shirt and stood up to take his boxers off.

As she reached for them, his hand caught hers. "Wait, wait, wait. We can't do this now," he mumbled.

"Why?"

"Because my dad is downstairs, awake this time, and plus breakfast is almost done." He stood up and placed a hand on the side of her face, "But trust me, we'll finish this later." He wrapped her in a hug, "I'm sorry I got you all worked up, baby."

She laid her head on his chest, "It's okay. But we're finishing this later damn it."

He laughed and checked the water, "Alright, shower time." He looked back at Dakota, "Ladies first."

She rolled her eyes and finished undressing. She took her hair down stepped into the shower, adjusting the water. Just a few seconds after she got the water how she wanted it, Josh stepped in with her. She looked up at him, "We need to keep this quick if we're gonna avoid harassment from your brother."

Josh smiled and rolled his eyes, "Trust me, I've got some crazy shit on him. He wont mess with us."

Dakota stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself and rung her hair out. About that time, Phil came up stairs and knocked on the door to tell them that breakfast was ready. Her and Josh quickly got dressed and then raced down the stairs. Dakota shoved past him when they got to the top of the stairs and quickly jumped down the last five stairs. About half way down, Josh decided he was just going to jump the hand rail and sprint down the hallway that led to the kitchen. She grabbed the back of his pants and pulled him back, putting her in the lead. She smiled over her shoulder at him and kept running. Josh took this opportunity to shove her into the wall (without hurting her) and then slid into the kitchen.

"Yes! I whooped your ass, Dakota!" He faced her as she barreled into the kitchen right after him.

"Fuck you, Josh!"

"If I'm not mistaken," Phil laughed as they caught their breath, "you've already done that, honey."

Dakota rolled her eyes and sat down between Josh and Phil at the table. Josh reached over and ruffled her hair, "Nice try, kiddo."

She slapped his hand away and stuck her tongue out at him. "I want a rematch. You threw me into the wall." She rubbed her shoulder for emphasis.

"You'll live."

"You threw her into a wall?" Jake asked. "That's low. She's a chick! You can't do that."

Dakota looked up at Jake as he put pancakes on her plate, "What? You think I can't handle it 'cause I'm a girl?"

Josh laughed, "You've done it now, bro."

Jake looked at her with wide eyes, "That's not what a meant, Kota!"

She stood up and looked at him, "You think I'm not tough enough, huh?" Dakota whipped her head around and made eye contact with the oldest Harris brother, "Rematch this afternoon down at the Elbow Room. Got it?"

Josh nodded, "Yes, ma'am!"

Jake grabbed her shoulders and shook her, "I. Did. Not. Mean. It. Like. That!"

Dakota stared at him for a second then burst into a smile, "I know, Jake. I was just fuckin' with you." She wrapped him in a hug as an apology.

He hugged her back, "It's okay. Just don't freak me out like that again. I thought you were about to kill me."

"So," Phil started, "apparently you have to work today, Dakota?"

She nodded as she took a huge bite of pancake in her mouth, "Yeah, Jason wants me in today. He figures you guys will be in again tonight as you have been for the past two weeks."

Phil laughed, "Well, there's nothing to do on dry land for captains." He smiled at her, "I promise we wont make a big mess tonight so you wont have to clean it up."

Dakota smiled, "Thanks, Phil." She looked over at the clock on the wall to check the time, "Oh shit!" She shot up and grabbed her pack of cigarettes from beside Jake, "I gotta be down there in twenty minutes." She walked toward the door and called back over her shoulder, "I'll see you guys in a little bit!"

Josh stood up and grabbed her arm, "Hold on." He spun her back around and wrapped her in a hug, "You need to grab my jacket that's laying on the couch and wear it since you didn't bring one last night."

She smiled and nodded, "Yes, sir. Now, if you don't mind Josh, I have to go."

He looked down at her and gave her a quick kiss, "I'll be down in a few."

"I'll be there." She walked to the door and grabbed Josh's Cornelia Marie hoodie and quickly jumped in her Jeep. The woman pulled on the jacket as she threw her car into reverse and headed down the driveway, heading toward the most popular bar in town.