A/N: You guys, thank you so much for your reviews and alerts and follows. I am planning to make this a slow burn story. But also, if you read my other stories, some one on one time is coming their way soon.

Jack has the decency to call ahead to make sure Kim is at home. She is and she sounds tired.

"Hey, I heard about your family business trip," he ventures and Kim snorts.

"Yeah, brilliant idea concocted by my parents." Jack is gratified that she is reluctant to go. He fancies it is partially because she does not want to be away from him either.

"So, I am coming over... You know, if I don't get the chance to see you before you go. I thought I should at least see you off..."

Oh... my... god... How lame does he sound right now?

Jack has not time to worry about his conversational skills, because Kim makes a breathy little noise that is all surprise and anticipation and he thinks that he is doing well with the whole talking thing.

"Ohh... OK... I am here. My parents will be home soon from work. You are welcome to stay for dinner."

When Jack knocks on the door, and even though he expects it, she still catches him totally off-guard. She's wearing a tight navy top that shows off enough cleavage to give him flashbacks to the last night's dream, and a tiny polka dot shorts that leaves him wondering how small her underwear has to be to fit under there. And just like that he is hot and bothered.

"Hey," she says, as cheerful as ever - but she's a little flushed and her eyes seem especially bright so it seems like he's not the only one with flustered from the other night. "Long time no see."

"What'd I tell you? You can't get rid of me that easy."

She smiles and he smiles back, and they stand there in the foyer of her house like a couple of idiots. Like, they only almost kissed yesterday, nothing should be different, but, damn, everything is different and all he wants to do is kiss her senseless.

This is exactly why he wasn't ever supposed to give in –- Kim Crawford is like the freaking black hole in space and time and he might never pull himself out of this thing alive.

She nods and starts walking inside the house. He's right behind her, and he becomes painfully aware that his friend is all grown up – because right now, it's cruel and unusual punishment to watch her hips and butt sway right there in front of him and not be able to touch her.

"There's Jack. Staying for dinner?" Mrs. Crawford nearly sing-songs as he and Kim come through the door.

He smiles obligingly, "If you'll have me."

Mrs. Crawford happily nods, "we always cook too much. You will be doing me a favor. Come, children, help me set up the table."

This is not the first time he ate with the Crawfords, so everything should be familiar – except somehow the thing with Kim has changed the dynamic, like he's navigating a mine field just by entering her house.

She takes the plates from the cabinet and heads for the table. For a moment, he just stands there, listening absently to Kim and her mom discussing the merits of replacing all the butter in Nana's recipes with something lighter. He spies the pitcher of sweet tea and makes a beeline for it – but just at the last minute, Kim moves over to grab a potholder and then she's right between him and the counter as he reaches for a pitcher. His chest bumps against her back, and he's not sure who it is that lets out a little gasp but it rattles through him like thunder.

"Oh, sorry," she says, sounding a little breathless. "I'm in the way…"

She takes a step toward the stove and he takes a step backward to the other side of the room, grabbing the pitcher.

"No problem."

He puts it on the island and leans back against the counter to watch as she pulls a baking dish out of the oven.

"Smells good," he offers.

She smiles at him over her shoulder.

"Nana's recipe. With all the butter. Think you can handle it?" She laughs, tilting her head in what he's starting to think of as a very sexy way.

"Well, it's really the cook that makes the difference, right?"

Her smile is soft and just a little bit sly, and he beams in her direction.

She's still smiling, but she lowers her head a little shyly and tucks her hair behind her ear. He wants to taste the exposed curve of her neck so damn badly that he has to bite his tongue to keep it in his mouth.

"I guess we'll see if you like my cooking," she says it with a smile that suggests so much more than just cooking. Hot damn...

He grins and takes a step toward her because, screw it, he's just going to kiss her for a minute while Kim's mom is out of the room and get it out of his system. She tilts her head back, anticipating his every move, and he's just about to lean down and –

"Kim! Dad is here," her mom calls from the entryway. "We can eat."

Jack groans out his frustration, and she looks up at him apologetically, but she's biting a lip in a way that suggests that maybe she's just as frustrated as he is. He helps her carry the rest of the food to the table, and he winds up sitting directly across from her - which means he's forced to look at her every time he glances up from his plate. They keep catching one another's eyes too, and it's like she knows that he's mentally removing her clothing one piece at a time and he knows that she's doing the same with him and it's the hottest staring contest that he's ever had in his life. He accepts that there's something seriously wrong with him because he's turned on with her family yammering on all around them.

The collective groan of satisfaction signals the end to dinner, and Kim starts clearing the table. When she leans over to grab his plate, he can feel her breasts press against his back, smell the warm floral scent of her perfume (like roses in the rain) and he clenches his jaw so tightly that it almost hurts. He wonders if she's doing this on purpose, torturing him with some kind of intention in mind. If she's trying to wear him down or coax him into committing some atrocity or another, she's doing a bang-up job – hell, he'd even agree to move to Japan with her to be a street artist if she asked him right now.

He's starting to feel a little too much like a caged animal for his tastes, so he gets up and takes a lap around the table, offering to put the food away.

He's seriously got to get this thing with Kim settled if he ever wants to get control of his damn head again.

Her dad starts talking about their upcoming trip along the coast and Jack is forced to give his opinion on various cities and their landmarks. This is actually a pretty good distraction from his lecherous thoughts about the man's daughter. He's lost track of her for the past few minutes, but then she's sidling up to him all discretely where he's leaning back against one of the bar stools and offering him a fresh glass of tea.

"We should talk at some point," she says quietly. "Right?"

He bobs his head, feeling just a bit uneasy. "That's probably a good idea."

Of course, he has no clue how they're going to disappear from the living room without setting off warning bells. He's not sure what possible excuse he can come up with to get her alone that doesn't make it totally obvious that there are some serious sparks arcing between them at the moment.

Fortunately, Kim thinks well on her feet.

"Hey, Jack," she says, loud enough so that her parents can hear. "I had looked at that scholarship offer and had couple of questions. You have seen one like that before. Think you can help me understand it?"

She smiles and flutters her lashes in a ridiculously cartoonish way, so he sighs, acting properly put upon.

"I guess."

He follows her across the room, and up the stairs and just like that, without any pain or fuss, they're alone in her bedroom. He's only been in here once or twice, but it's exactly as he remembers, with all its bright colors and her scarves hanging from everywhere.

He sits gingerly on the edge of her bed, watching as she closes the door behind them. When she turns to face him, there's something so open and vulnerable in her expression that it makes him a little uncomfortable.

"You think it is a mistake to start anything," she says, with a surprising lack of accusation in her voice. "That's what you're going to say."

He shakes his head automatically – he was about to kiss in her in the kitchen an hour ago. How much of a mistake could he really pretend it is?

"No. That's not what I was going to say." He lifts his shoulders helplessly. "Honestly, I don't know what to say."

She sits beside him, tucking her knee up under her, and he forces himself to stop staring at the creamy vanilla skin at the inside of her thighs.

"But the thing is, I'm pretty sure that you are going to say that. I mean, for you, Kim." He turns a bit so he can look her in the eye – he owes her that. "I mean, if you are going to Otai... which you should. It's a great opportunity... oh, wow, I said that exact phrase out loud and in my head so many times by now, I really hate it..."

"Jack," she sighs, and her hand lands on his knee. "I haven't decided anything yet."

He laughs, dropping his hand on top of hers.

"OK." He looks at her, and her eyes are so wide and bright that it would be nearly impossible to lie to her. "It's not like I haven't thought about it, you know. I have. For longer than I'll ever admit but… I used to run through all these scenarios in my head where we would fight and break up and then, if you are hurt, then everything between us is ruined, Kim, probably for good, and that risk seems way too high. And now, now there is Otai..."

She nods, and her chin's trembling just a bit so he thinks she might cry. This is it, he thinks. It's already started.

"But then," he says carefully. "I think about the other night and never touching you again and I could seriously lose my mind." She turns her hand over on his knee and winds her fingers through his, which feels way more erotic than it really should. "And maybe because you may leave in the end of the summer, but I am a little selfish and want to try this thing with you. Now when there's the potential that I might have to wait for you to come back to even have this chance again."

She bobs her head slowly like she understands. Her hair falls all around her face, and he can't stop himself from reaching out and tucking it behind her ear. Her smile is the soft and kind that always seems to get him, and he leans in so he can finally kiss like he wanted to when he first saw her tonight.

The kiss is... amazing. Like, his brain scrambles for a moment and all he knows is Kim's incredibly soft lips, sweet and gentle. It's short and not too naughty, but also so long in the making that he is just happy it finally happened. She wraps her arms around his neck and melts into his body in a way that makes him want to say, screw it, and throw her on the bed with her family on the other side of the door. She pulls away, her face pressed to the side of his neck so he can feel her breath down the collar of his shirt.

"Why can't we just act like regular people?" she whispers, her lips tickling against his skin. "People who haven't spent three years in a really confusing, really complicated kind of friendship? I mean, don't people just like one another and see where it goes? They don't make promises or guarantees. They don't worry about the risks."

"I don't know what—"

"We don't have to decide anything. Do we? I mean, can't we just …" She shrugs, and her shirt shifts on her shoulder so he can see the lacy, pale blue strap of her bra. "See what happens?"

He smirks. "By see what happens, you mean have more kissing, right? Because I like kissing you."

She laughs, lifting her face from his neck.

"Maybe," she teases coyly, and she is surprisingly good at playing the vixen. "If that's what happens. It took me the whole day to come up with this 'see what happens' plan," she says lightly. "But it was the best I could do."

He smiles – his ego seriously appreciates the fact that she's spent the day trying to figure out a way to deal with the thing. Admittedly, she probably wasted the effort since the sight of her in her tight little top and those shorts, and the flirty looks over dinner are all the persuasion he really needs.

"Really?"

She nods. "Actually, I didn't come up it with until I saw you tonight. I was kind of desperate."

"See what happens?" he repeats. "Well, let's do it. Let's see where it takes us, this thing. We really should call it something better. But we can do that later, let's do the kissing again."

She blushes, but the hungry look in her eyes tells him that she doesn't disagree. She swoops in and kisses him so deeply and slowly that it only proves how right he is. She is a black hole and he is happy to be lost forever. Her lips are tentative at first, but grow confident and her tongue peaks out to lick at his. Jack feels like his entire being is centered at his mouth. It is impossible to feel so turned on from just a kiss, but here he is: kissing Kim and wishing they could do more. He reaches for her hips, trying to drag her into his lap, but she pulls away abruptly. He watches in a daze as she stands in front of him and smooths her hands over her shorts.

"My parents," she says pointedly.

She cocks her head in a way that says she's way too pleased with herself, and while he's seriously frustrated and annoyed, he has to admire how she can keep a cool head.

"Kim, we just kissed twice..." Jack complains, but is interrupted.

"What are you guys doing in here?" Kim's dad pushes open the door and pokes his head in. "You've been gone for like ten minutes."

"Jack is no help with the scholarship offer. He doesn't remember much from his own experience." Kim says with a very believable fond exasperation.

""Hey! It's been a while," Jack replies and inwardly marvels at Kim's cool and collected demeanor.

"Well, let's go get some dessert guys. It's a peach cobbler." Kim's dad adds with a smart little smile that has Jack questioning his and Kim's acting skills.

They end up having a cobbler with ice cream and Kim's parents laugh at the appetite he shows. Chuck Crawford reminisces about his high school and college athlete days, when there was never enough food and he could eat sugar with impunity.

Jack thinks that Chuck really would have liked to have a son.

He is proven right, because when Jack leaves Chuck sees him to the car and tells him that their first stop would be Monterey and that they should be back in three weeks.

Three weeks is not long, but he only has till the end of the summer for this thing with Kim to define itself. And he just got to kissing her. He wants more. More time with her and more kissing. He needs more time with her...

The beginning of a plan forms in his head and he sends her a text.

When you said we'd see what happens, I assumed something would actually happen. I am sad I didn't get my kiss goodnight.

He waits and soon enough she responds.

Don't be greedy. You got more in one day than in three years. XOXO.

Jack goes home smiling. He has a girl, he has a plan, he has a whole summer...