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No, not brotherly. A different brand of protective know-it-all. Like he thinks from his hyper-masculine, alpha point of view that anything less than a lusty conquering just won’t do.

In theory, he’s not wrong.

In reality, it’s just not that simple.

“I’m so not a romantic, Toby. But that’s a sweet thought.”

He frowns. “I’m not a romantic, either.”

“You sure sound like one.” I reach out and push my hand against his chest. I mean to shove him gently, but he doesn’t move, and my hand just collides against hard, broad muscles.

Really hard. Extra broad.

My heartbeat gets louder. If I were the fantasizing type, this would be how a lusty conquering would start. Maybe not in the middle of a Brooklyn park.

Probably not with Toby, although any reasons I previously could list for why not are now escaping me.

Has he always been this tall? Yes. But didn’t he used to be skinny?

Definitely not skinny any more.Do you do CrossFit?Not a good question to ask out loud while I’m stroking his chest. But he probably does. I bet all the California CEOs do.

Maybe I should have spent more time paying attention while I was out there.

Except I had dated at Stanford.

Disasters, every single time.

Equal parts of me being too awkward and nobody being quite as hot as Toby is right now. If I’d been up-close-and-personal with a college-version ofthis, I’d probably have tried harder not to be hopeless.

With extreme effort, I pull my hand back.

No. Crushing. On. Toby.

I’ve heard that sex drives kick in as women get older. I wasn’t fully aware of the possibility ofmysex drive kicking into gear in a single day, and revving quite so hard for just one guy.

One off-limits guy, who still hasn’t said anything.

I hover my hand a few inches from his body, my palm itching to touch him again. Over and over again.

Then I step back and laugh, because whoa, that was weird. “So anyway—”

Toby reaches out and catches my wrist, his fingers looping around my arm in a gentle, totally breakable bond. He steps closer, and I stop moving.

He pulls my hand back to his chest, and keeps moving, until the gap between us is gone and he’s curved over me, his hand in my hair. His lips are right above my mouth and every cell in my body is screamingyes!

I didn’t see this coming. From the hammering of his heart against my fingers, he didn’t either.

This is weird.

Weird and good.

Weird and better than good as his breath brushes against my mouth, a precursor to kissing.

Toby is going to kiss me.

Super weird.

My pulse is pounding just as fast as his, and my fingers curl against his shirt.