Page 51

With a soft moan, his eyes opened, and I held a breath.

“Morning, beautiful,” he murmured. The tiniest of smiles nudged Brody’s mouth, and he leaned in and kissed my forehead, his lips lingering on my skin. I closed my eyes tight. His words were all I’d ever craved. But how many other women had he greeted like that? I could picture them so clearly. Theones from my dream, the few I'd seen him with online. I could never live up to any of them.

I swallowed and pushed away, coming to face him on the pillow. “We need to talk.”

The moment the words left my lips, Brody’s jaw tightened, and a crease appeared between his brows. “We do?”

I nodded, biting down on my bottom lip.

“What is it?”

I stared into his ocean-blue eyes, nausea rising at the thought of what I was about to say. “Last night can’t ever happen again. You know that, right?”

Brody blinked four times in quick succession. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but when I curled my arms around my body, he sighed and rolled onto his back. “I thought last night was what you wanted.Wewere what you wanted. Was it that disappointing?” His voice was tight and quiet, and all I desired was to cling to his chest. Tell him I’d got it wrong. Tell him how much I’d loved having him touch me. But I had to be sensible. Smart.

“I thought we were what I wanted too, but I don’t think I can hurt Cooper. And that’s just what any confessions from either of us would do. He trusts us both. I’m scared how he’ll react.”

It was the truth. I didn’t want to be responsible for any trouble between Brody and my brother, and any “I want to sleep with your sister” revelations would mean just that. No matter how close they were, he’d worry I’d get hurt. That Brody’s intentions weren’t good. Hell, I didn’t even know if they were, myself. He hardly had the best track record.

And if, in some fictional world, Brody and I got together and then split up, things between the two of them would never be the same. I couldn’t live with that. Brody was Coop’s oldest friend.

Judging from the bob at Brody’s throat and the quickness of his breath, similar thoughts crossed his mind, too. I gave a tinyshake of my head. Any bad feeling between the two of them was something I couldn’t bear.

Brody cleared his throat. “Let me get this straight. You want to return to both of us pretending we don’t want each other?”

My chest pulled, and I bunched my hands. “Yes.” Every nerve in my body screamed out against the lie.

Brody’s brows furrowed tight together, and seconds passed before he spoke, his words harsher than before. “I’m not sure if I’m amused or offended.”

I dared to reach out a hand, touching the solid wall of his abs through his T-shirt. “Neither. I’m not trying to make any sort of point here. I care about you, I really do, but I just think keeping things simple is for the best. Neither of us needs any drama in our lives right now.”

He huffed a breath into the still of the room. Emotions ran over his face, and a muscle pulsed in his jaw. After what felt like an age, he turned his head on the pillow, his eyes meeting mine. They were unsure and wide. So unlike Brody. “You still want me to come to the derby tryout?”

“Of course. Who else is going to polish my knee pads?” My attempt at humor was pitiful, but when his brows unfurrowed, I could have somersaulted around the room.

Brody reached for the hand I still had against his stomach, touching its back with his warm fingers. “I don’t really understand. And I don’t like it, but if pretending I don’t want to kiss the life out of you every minute is what you want, I’ll comply.” Bringing his other arm down to his side, he flipped toward me and leaned in to kiss me on the forehead again. “I’ll honor your wishes. But I want you to know how good last night was for me. How much it meant.”

Breath skittered around in my chest, and my heart fired louder than a cannon as I stared at his beautiful face, desperate to take all my words back. Instead, I bit down on my tongue andnodded. I was really doing this. Shattering my girlhood dreams, crushing my heart, and ruining my chance with Brody. I could never take back my words, and the dull ache in my chest checked in and reserved a room for the foreseeable future.

“It’s early,” I whispered. “We should get up.”

Brody let out a long sigh, nodded, then pushed up to step off the bed. He was still in his sweatpants and crumpled blue T-shirt. Never had plain and simple looked so delicious.

I rolled off the bed and grabbed a pair of shorts that lay on a chair, pulling them up over my hips, aware of his eyes on me. When I’d fastened them, I lifted my hand to touch his arm. “I’m sorry, Brody.”

He shook his head before bringing his forehead to meet mine, eyes closed. “Me too.”

We stood together for the longest time, our breath mingling, before I pulled away and opened the door.

Brody followed me into the hallway, and no sooner had we crept along the carpet than Gran rounded the corner. I don’t know who was more shocked.

“Oh!” she squeaked, her eyes roaming over the two of us.

I froze like a deer in headlights, but from behind me, Brody stepped forward, bringing one hand to the small of my back, his touch as light as featherdown.

“You shouldn’t have any more problems, Ro. Just let me know if you need anything else.” I nodded dumbly, and he gave me a tight smile before looking at Gran. “Morning, Maggie.”

Without another word, Brody headed past Gran and down the stairs.