Chapter 3

Addison's POV

My phone has been ringing off the hook all morning. I had a call from my dentist. Well, his receptionist called to tell me that I'd missed my last two appointments and that I needed to come in for a cleaning. Yeah, right. Not anytime soon, Dr. Rosenberg. I also had a call from my dear old grandma, wanting to know when I was getting married and giving her great-grandbabies.

I told her she can go to the local park and see some babies there, but she wasn't amused. So yes, I've had a lot of calls today, but none from Derek, the man I wanted to hear from. The only person who hasn't called me is the one person I want to call me
Derek Christopher Shepherd is Amelia's oldest brother. I've known him since I was a little kid, and I've had a crush on him since I was ten and he was sixteen. Not that he ever gave me the time of day. I was always his annoying kid sister's best friend. Well, almost always. There was one time that I was more than that. One time we shared a moment that I've relived every day of my life since it happened.

Only it's not something I can talk about with him. Not at all. I'm lucky that he still talks to me after that little episode. And we're the only ones who know. Well, we were the only ones who knew. Until very recently. I didn't tell Amelia at the time, and she's my best friend. I wanted to tell her. I did, but how do you tell someone something like that? How do you tell your best friend that her brother was right and that you're the bad influence that no one wants in their kids' lives?

I guess I should be grateful that Derek never said anything. I suppose he was embarrassed as well or something. I mean, it's not exactly something you shout out to the world. "Hey, Amy, I slept with your best friend. I took her virginity." Yeah, he didn't say that. And I didn't tell Amelia, either.

How could I tell her that I'd crept into her brother's bed with the hopes of seducing him? How could I tell her that we'd made love and that it had been the best night of my life? I didn't know how to tell her, and then I'd felt too guilty to bring it up, but now she knew and I honestly didn't feel better. I knew now that the one person I needed to talk to about that night was the one man who wanted nothing to do with me.

"ADDISON!" Amelia shouted as she walked into the apartment. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the living room!" I shouted back and then lowered my voice. "Why are we shouting by the way?"

"I've had a brilliant idea." Her eyes were sparkling as she ran into the living room. She clapped her hands and did a little dance as she grinned at me, her enthusiasm for her idea refusing to be quelled.

"What's the idea?" My eyes narrowed as she finally stood still.

"I have a way for you to start talking to Derek again."

"Oh?" My heart raced at her words. I looked up at her and studied her face carefully. "A good idea or a harebrained idea?"

"Addie," she pouted, her eyes looking at me wickedly, "Since when have I had harebrained ideas?"

"Since you became my best friend." I giggled and shook my head at her. Unfortunately, it was true. We both seemed to have spur-of-the-moment ideas and plans that always seemed to get us into trouble. To be fair to Amelia, I was the one who usually had really stupid ideas, but Amelia had been giving me a run for my money lately.

"We're going to join a flag football team." "Say what?" I frowned.

"Flag football," she said excitedly. "Link was telling me about it. He's going to be on it, too."

"Okay," I said, not feeling as excited. "How is this going to help me get Derek?"

"He's going to be playing on the same team." She grinned. "It's going to be perfect."

"I don't know about this, Amelia." I chewed on my lower lip. "Do you think me playing football is going to win any guys? I'm not exactly the queen of anything sporty."

"Trust me." She grabbed my hands. "That's not the only plan I have. That's just step one."

"Step one?" I groaned, but my stomach was doing flip-flops in excitement. I wasn't a huge football fan, but if joining a team meant I would get to see Derek weekly, then I was all for it.

"Oh yeah, baby." She grinned. "I've come up with a surefire way to make sure you and my brother get together." The look on her face looked so satisfied and excited that I held in my second groan. I didn't want to rain on her parade, but I'd also had a surefire plan once and it had blown up in my face.

"What's your surefire plan?" I asked weakly. There were times that I didn't love that I had rubbed off on Amelia so much.

When we were younger, Amelia was innocent and quiet and I was the rabble-rouser, always looking to get into something. I always had a plan or a scheme, and they had never worked out as I'd planned them to.

"You're going to go to the flag football games with me and Link. You're going to look pretty and flirt with all the attractive single men. You're going to be nice but not overly friendly to Derek. You're going to let him see what he's been missing all these years."

"You think he's even going to care or notice?"

"I'm positive of the fact." She grinned. "Now that I know what happened between the two of you, I understand the dynamic between you both a lot better."

"Really?"

"Oh yes." She nodded. "I always wondered why he used to look at you with such protectiveness, but also with a kind of possessiveness and jealousy."

"He treats you the same way." I rolled my eyes, but my hopes were rising.

"Nope." She laughed. "Yes, he is overprotective and a bit of a jerk, but he's never acted jealous when I've talked about another guy and he's never acted possessive or upset when he's seen me with another guy. He couldn't care less. You know he told me he's glad I'm dating Link because now Link can worry about me."

"Yeah, but he's just saying that. He loves you."

"Yes, he loves me. I'm his sister." She grinned. "But he has feelings for you as well. Feelings that are about more than being your honorary big brother. I bet he's confused."

"Confused about what?"

"He's confused that he had this night with you all those years ago that he enjoyed but feels guilty about it and now he's not sure what to do."

"You think so?" I asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I do." She nodded. "The problem is he still sees you as a teenager. You need to show him you're a woman now."

"And flag football will do that?"

"You, in some short-shorts running down a field, with hot guys chasing you as your long blonde hair flies in the wind, will do that." She grinned again. "Come on, Addie, you know how guys are."

"But what about Mark? And what about my Facebook message?"

"Ah, forget them. They mean nothing."

"You think so?"

"I know so." She nodded.

"What do you know?" Link's voice filled the room, and I groaned.

"What are you doing here?" I asked accusingly, and he laughed.

"Nice to see you too, Addison. I'm taking my girlfriend out to dinner. Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah, that's fine." I looked at Amelia and she grinned.

"He was parking the car," she explained. "I left the door open for him to come in."

"Oh, okay. I was wondering if you gave him a key already."

"Would you have a problem with that?" Link teased me. "I don't see anything wrong with that."

"I'm sure you wouldn't." I shook my head at him.

"I bet you wouldn't mind if Derek had a key, though." He winked at me. "Maybe this time he can be the one to slip into your bedroom and bed."

"Amelia!" I screamed as my face went hot. "You told him?"

"Atticus Lincoln!" Amelia turned to him with angry eyes. "What were you thinking?"

"What?" he asked innocently.

"Why would you tell Addison that I told you?" She sighed and looked at me with apologetic eyes. "I'm sorry, but he wanted to know what was so important that I'd kick him out last night."

"So, you told him?" My jaw dropped. "I can't believe you told Link that I lost my virginity to Derek."

"You had sex with Derek?" Link's voice sounded shocked, and my heart froze as I looked into Amelia's eyes.

"You didn't know?" I frowned at him and then looked back at Amelia.

"I didn't tell him everything." She sighed. "I didn't want to tell him everything. I just told him that you slipped into Derek's bed one night and kissed him."

"Sex is a bit more than a kiss." Link laughed and looked at me. "Well, well, well, Addison Adrianne Forbes Montgomery, the more I learn about you, the more intriguing you become."

"Argh. Whatever." I groaned and blushed again.

"Now I need to know exactly what went down." He laughed and looked at Amelia. "And I thought we got together under crazy circumstances."

"Well, at least you guys got together." I sighed. "Derek didn't give me the time of day after our night together."

"It wasn't exactly the same, though, was it, Addie?" Amelia spoke softly. "I mean, he didn't know it was you at first."

"Don't remind me." I groaned and put my face in my hands. "I'm so embarrassed. I should just forget everything. There's no way that Derek will ever be able to get past that incident."

"You never know," Amelia said and beamed up at Yifan as he kissed her cheek and rubbed her back. I wanted to gag at how lovey-dovey they looked. "What do you think, darling?"

"I think I need to know exactly what happened." He looked at me and his green eyes turned from laughing to a more serious expression. "I know you might be embarrassed, but trust me: I can tell you if it's as bad as you think or if it's not as bad as you think."

"I'm just embarrassed." I looked down at the ground.

"It's not as bad as hooking up at a wedding with a stranger," Amelia said.

"Yeah, it's not as bad as going back to a strange man's hotel room," Link continued in a serious voice. "And then nicknaming him Mr. Tongue."

"Darling!" Amelia hit him in the shoulder.

"Don't you mean 'Mr. Tongue?'" He grinned at her.

"I think she means Mr. Miracle Tongue." I laughed.

"Whatever." Amelia blushed. "You're both gross."

"That's not what you said this morning, dear" Link said in a loud whisper, and she hit him harder.

"Shut up, darling."