"I call hottie blonde," Jason told Nate as we pulled into the driveway for the bonfire.

"Krista has a boyfriend," I told him. "But the hottie brunettes don't."

He shrugged. "Good enough for me."

I loved the feeling I got right before I saw her…and I'd seen her every day since I met her. I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning. That sounds so dumb, I know, but there's no other way to describe it. And I was excited for the guys to meet her. They'd been making fun of me for talking about her too much, but I knew they would understand once they met her.

"Hey," Grace smiled at me as we approached the bonfire.

"Hey," I replied. I put my arm around her. It felt so good to be able to do that. "Grace, this is Nate and Jason. Guys, this is Grace."

"I've heard a lot about you," she told them, shaking their hands.

Nate smirked. "Yeah, we've heard a lot about you, too."

I gave him a look, but Grace winked at me and I couldn't help but smile. She was so cute.

"Where did Steph and Meredith go?" she asked, more to herself than anyone else. "They think you guys are so hot…"

"Hottie brunettes?" Jason mouthed to me. I nodded, and their faces lit up.

"Guys, come here," Grace called to her friends. "Jason, Nate, Stephanie, Meredith."

"Hey," they all said at the same time.

"Do you guys want a drink?" Stephanie asked. She was a little taller than Meredith, and I knew Jason would like her. He loved tall girls, and sure enough, he was already eying her.

"Yeah," my friends both nodded. They all walked over to the cooler.

"Hey," I called to Matthew and Krista, who were curled up in a chair by the fire. They were cool. We had hung out with them yesterday. They waved.

"Where's Gabby?" I asked – she was the only of Grace's roommates I couldn't see.

"Oh, her cousin is coming to stay with us for a few days. She went to pick her up from the airport, but I don't think they'll be back until tomorrow morning," she told me, wrapping her arms around my neck and resting her head on my chest.

I kissed the top of her head. I honestly didn't remember the last time I was so happy. It was crazy; I'd only known her a few days. It was just so hard to even try to get to know a girl when we were on tour. We were moving around every single day. Most of those girls only wanted to be seen with Shane Gray, anyways, so most of the time I didn't even bother. It was kind of lonely, actually. But I didn't feel that way around her. She was different.

"Thanks for inviting my friends. They've been so bored."

"No problem," she laughed. "Steph and Mer have been bugging me to get them over here."

"Jason's been accusing me of trying to keep all the hot girls for myself," I smirked. I pushed a strand of loose hair behind her ear. She was so beautiful. "But I told him there was only one girl I wanted."

She smiled and kissed me quickly. "You're really sweet."

God, was I good or what? But usually, I was just leading girls on; with Grace, I meant every word, and I was just hoping she liked me as much as I liked her. It was unchartered territory for me, actually caring about a girl, but I liked it. I had always made fun of Jason for practically falling in love with every pretty girl he saw, but if he felt this way around all of them, I didn't blame him. I would do anything to feel half as good as I did when I was with her all the time.

"We need more ice," Stephanie noticed, grabbing a bottle from the cooler.

"I'll get it," Grace offered.

"I'll come with you," I smiled.

I laced my fingers through hers as we walked to the house. She looked so pretty. She always looked pretty. I liked when she wore her hair down. I was happy just looking at her. But, I'm not gonna lie, I wanted to do a lot more than that. I'd barely even slept last night because I couldn't stop thinking about touching her perfect body.

As we stepped into the dark house, I pulled her into my arms before she could reach for the light switch.

"You're beautiful," I whispered, and I kissed her.

Grace wrapped her arms around my neck. She stood on her tip toes to deepen the kiss and ran her fingers through my hair. I swear to God, my knees actually went weak. I wanted her more than anything. Hell, I had to have her. But when I started to run my hands up her shirt, taking in her smooth, perfect skin, she broke the kiss and walked away from me.

Shit. How had I read that situation so wrong? I must have looked like such an asshole. I didn't understand girls at all. We'd been spending so much time together, she liked kissing me, but she didn't want to sleep with me? I didn't get it.

"Grace…" I started. How do you apologize for being a douchebag?

"You coming?" she turned around and glanced at me.

"What?"

She smirked a little. "Well, we can do it on the couch if you want…but I think eventually they're going to realize we aren't bringing them any ice and someone will come in to get some…"

I must have had the dumbest grin on my face, but I didn't care. I wasn't a douchebag. She wanted exactly what I wanted. God, she was so hot.

"Shane?" she smiled. I loved how she said my name. "What are you still doing over there?"

Good question. I followed her to her bedroom, wrapping my arms around her from behind and kissing her neck. Tonight was going to be perfect, just like her.