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“On the one hand, she did seem to understand that she was wrong. On the other hand, she looked like she’d rather take a bullet in the brain than admit that out loud.”

“Hm.” I sighed. “Well, good to know.”

“She said that she’ll be there if you want to go and talk about it, and that she’lltry to listen.I told her I would pass along the message and that was it, so, obviously, I’m not pressuring you to do anything one way or the other.”

I shrugged. “I guess I have to. The situation’s not going to magically go away. But… that sounds like a tomorrow thing,” I said, dropping my hands to her waist, tugging on the belt loops of her dark jeans. “In the meantime, I’d love to take my mind off things with you kissing me again.”

A gleam passed over her expression, and she stepped in closer, her hips pressing against mine. “You want to know something I like about you, Ryan?”

“Those sound like some of my favorite words in this language. Hit me.”

“You’re so… mature and responsible, but not in the way people always say those things to talk about not having fun or denying your own wants. You just know what the situation needs, but you’re not beholden to what other people want you to do. And that’s really damn sexy.”

I bit my lip under a sudden flush of self-consciousness, suppressing a nervous laugh. “Yeah?” I said. “Funny you should say that… I’ve been called immature a lot lately.”

She slipped a hand to the back of my neck, smiling wider as her lips approached mine. “By people whose opinions truly could not matter less.”

“Mm. I like that…” I softened into her, met her as her lips found mine, slipped a hand to her back, and my heart thumped just alittletoo fast. This probably wasn’t good… it felt a little too serious. A little too real. A little too much like I was getting addicted to the way she made me feel.

I guess that was a later problem, too, though, wasn’t it? For now, she was here, and I was here, and I could really do with her body. Against mine, specifically.

“So,” I said breathily, pulling back just a fraction from her lips, brushing locks of her hair back from our faces, “are you going to tell me about that surprise, or what?”

She bit her lip, smiling as she cracked her eyes, looking at me with smoldering desire. “It’s something I thought you’d look good in.”

I laughed, a jolt in my chest, and I slipped my hand to her hip, hooking a leg up around her, leaning back against the fence for support. “Brooklyn. Did you buy sexy underwear to put me in?”

“You don’thaveto wear it. But I won’t lie, I’ll be happy if you do.”

I’d probably have been outraged if Shane had bought me lingerie.Is this supposed to be a gift for me, because all I’m seeing is that you want me to dress up and have sex with you.But with Brooklyn, it was a completely different feeling, like I was the sexiest and most desirable woman on the planet.

Of course, it might have just been that I wanted to have sex with her and, it turned out, I’d never really wanted to have sex with him. Sometimes it was just that simple.

“You can put me in,” I started, slipping my hand under her shirt, touching the soft skin of her waist, “or take me out of, whatever you like.”

She laughed, a low and throaty sound, as her eyes darkened. “If you want to do this right now, I also want to, but if you keep putting your hands up my shirt like that, then it might end up being a littletooright-now. I assume you don’t want me to get you off in my backyard, against the fence.”

I bit my lip, laughing through it. “As opposed to the front yard, against the hood of the car?”

“Do not tempt me. I don’t want to get arrested. If it weren’t for that, I’d happily fuck you in full view of the world, if it means I get to show you off.”

“Well, I wouldn’t call thisfull view of the worldfrom here…” I slipped my hand up higher under her shirt, cupping over her bra, and she let out a low growl, eyes narrowing. She didn’t pull away, though. So really, she couldn’t complain.

“Ryan…”

I batted my eyelashes, slipping my hand into her bra, down to brush my fingertips over her nipples. “Yes, Brooklyn?”

“You,” she murmured, putting a hand on my waist, “are trouble.”

I bit down on a smile. “And what are you going to do about that trouble, Brooklyn?” I said, drawing her name out longer as I teased my fingertips over her nipple, and she pushed out a heavy breath, a hazy smile finding her lips.

“Probably this,” she murmured, sliding a hand down over the front of my pants, and I felt my awareness get fuzzy when her hand slipped over my center, a shudder racing up my spine and a moan falling from my lips.

And I almost dropped the coffee tumbler. I’d forgotten I was holding it.

“God, Brooklyn,” I gasped, breath heavy so much faster than I was ever used to. I didn’t know what to do with the fact that my body required about two seconds of foreplay with this woman. Well, I knew exactly what to do with that fact. “Okay—we should—let’s get inside.”

She smiled wider. “Oh, losing our cool now, are we?” she said, pressing her fingertips against me and grinding in slow circles, and my legs quivered, threatening to give out.