Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I'm lying on my bed reading a magazine when Alex stops at my open door. "Ashley," he says, "I'm running to the store. Do you want to go with me?" "No thanks," I reply. "I'm still in my nightshirt." "Do you need anything?" "Cond-oms."

He does a double-take. "What?" I giggle. "Just joking."

He frowns. "That's nothing to joke about." "Relax, Dad. Don't take things so seriously."

My stepdad is a cool guy, but he's a little uptight. Especially when it comes to the subject of sax. Even though I'm not his real daughter, he's very protective of me. He didn't even allow me to go on a date until I was sixteen, and I had to call him every half hour to let him know I wasn't rapped and left for dead in a ditch somewhere.

Now, two years later I'm eighteen, and I don't have to call Alex when I'm out on a date. But he grills every guy who comes to pick me up like he's the CIA interrogating a terrorist.

Of course, he would totally flip out if he knew I'd lost my verginity a year ago. Not only that, I'd been saxually active since then. From the way I always hear him and my Mom in their bedroom arguing about sax, I probably get laid more than he does.

need anything," he says,

dark hair. To complete the look

"Thanks," I reply.

down the

my window and look out at our driveway. A minute later his SUV backs down onto the road and heads off. Finally, I'm alone in the house. I've been waiting for this moment. Alex is at the store and my mom is off for the weekend with her book club

carrying it down the hall to the closed door to Alex's home office. Placing the chair

move

as a writer, and instead of commuting to an

and writes. What does he write? I have no

writes, but he's like a brick wall on the subject. Not only that, he keeps his office locked at all times he's not in there. And any time I do come in to visit while he's working, he quickly closes his laptop screen so I can't see anything. It's so frustrating. When I ask Mom about it, she just

vacuum cleaner against the base of the door to Alex's office. As if by magic, a key falls from the sky onto the carpet. Of course, I check to see if it fits the lock, and the door opens.

While his six-feet-two allows him to just reach up and grab it. Since I'm not alone in the house at the time, I put the key back on the frame and

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