Page 36

I wish I had Brody’s confidence.

He chewed at one side of his lips. “Look, if you’re really worried about the close contact. How about I give you a taste?”

My head snapped around. “Sorry, what?” He looked back at me, a neutral expression on his face. I wasn’t trying to read more into his question than he intended, but the words close, contact, and taste, all in the same sentence, made my head whirl and my breath thin.

“Try to get around me. I’ll show you how the other skaters will block you.”

The suggestion on its own didn’t sound too tricky. Brody reached out his arms for me to skate toward him, which I did, but when I pulled up, my body filled with heat. Gran always described him as “strapping,” but every time we got this close, he dwarfed me even with the extra height of my skates. He wasn’ton par with the Hulk, but he’d give your average lumberjack a run for their money. At least I just about cleared his pecs this time, so they wouldn’t be a distraction.

Brody turned his back, sending a wave of mint and lemon straight into me. I breathed in and tried hard not to focus on the nape of his thick neck and the fine blond hair that formed a V at its base.

“Okay, see if you can get past me.”

I hesitated, not sure which way to move. Theoretically, Ishouldbe able to get around him. I was faster on my skates than he was on his feet, wasn’t I? But his back presented an impenetrable wall of muscle, and…damn, I could feel the heat of him through his T-shirt.

“Come on, Ro. What are you scared of?”

Oh, I don’t know. Making a fool of myself? Getting my heart broken again? Just the usual.

His eyes met mine over his shoulder. The deep tone of his voice caressed my ears, and the slightest hint of a smile plumped out the profile of his cheeks. Why, oh, why, did he have to look so pretty? I took a breath and moved off, heading to his right, the opposite direction to his turned head.

As soon as I did, though, he moved in the same direction as if he’d sensed what I was going to do. It wasn’t clear air or empty track that greeted me, but one of Brody’s outsized shoulders. I narrowed my eyes before pushing off in the other direction. I had the speed to outmaneuver him. He had other ideas, though, and no sooner had I gone a few inches than his back brushed up against my chest. I sucked in a breath, not sure if I was startled by his speed or the fact that my nipples hardened immediately at the contact.

I didn’t have time to dwell on the thought, though, as each time I tried to move, to escape the wall of his body, he penned me in. At this rate, I’d have to reverse and skate right aroundhim. I clamped my teeth together, perspiration clinging to my top lip. With a dummy move to my right again, I brought my heels apart and off the floor, forming a V with my toes, ready to push backward.

Brody must have mind-reading powers, too. As soon as I steadied myself to move off and leave him for dust, he whipped around the side of my body, blocking my exit, his solid chest at my back. I couldn’t even push off forward with my feet in this position. How the hell could he move so fast? Wasn’t he supposed to be injured?

Hot breath and a distinct chuckle licked at my neck, then a slight pressure squeezed my middle as two warm hands circled my waist, stopping me from tipping forward.

“Careful, you don’t want to fall.” Brody’s silky voice washed over me, and I closed my eyes. I already had. Years ago.

“I can see how you get your reputation.”

Brody tightened his grip a little. “What reputation?”

His words were barely more than a whisper, and a shiver ran over my body, kicking up the racing of my heart. I wobbled a little before lowering my heels to the gym floor. Wheels or not, I was at serious risk of fainting with desire right now. But the lilt in his voice told me it was all play for him. Just like always.

“Your reputation for being annoying.”

His breathy laugh skittered across the skin of my ear, and a tingling nudged somewhere far too low for my peace of mind. “Is that what I am?”

How could I tell him how much more he was to me? How much his very presence in my house, in my town, consumed my every thought. How I lay awake at night touching myself in the dark, dreaming it was Brody’s hands instead. For my sanity, he could never know. Besides, we were in the middle of a brightly lit school gym. It was hardly the place for secret confessions. A change of subject was a much better idea.

“You’re quick on your feetandannoying. Aren’t you supposed to be injured?”

“I can still move when I have to.” And move he did. Brody removed his hands from my waist, sending another shiver across my skin.

I sighed, a mixture of relief and frustration. “And you’re not even on skates. I’ll be hopeless at the trial.” I took advantage of my freedom with a reluctant push forward and spun around in an arc to face him. His signature smile gave no hint that he’d been conscious of our closeness. No change in his breathing hinted that he’d struggled to sleep at night in the room below me.

“You won’t. The coach, the other skaters, they’ll see your speed and love it.”

I rolled my eyes. “How do you know?”

“I have some contacts.”

I scoffed. “So you told me before. And you’ve probably slept with them all.”

Brody’s face dropped like somebody had switched off a light, and a furrow at his brow replaced his smile. Crap, why the hell could I not apply a filter to my racing brain?