Page 79 of Pin-up Girl

Why weren’t they talking? Why did they look so good together?

I couldn’t stay here. “I should go.” As I turned away, out of the corner of my eye I caught both of them jumping to their feet.

“Stay. Please.” Brodie’s words hit my back.

Footsteps hammered the ground, and Clint grabbed my arm. “Stop.”

Emotion surged inside, carrying tears that made my eyes sting and my throat ache. This wasn’t something I would cry over. I swallowed the feeling down, and chased it with a deep breath, but couldn’t face the men.

“Talk to us,” Brodie said.

And say what? I still don’t want a relationship, but how dare you? “I can’t.”

Clint and I were fully outside now, and the rain spilled around us, soaking through my clothes, and chilling me to the bone.

My face was warm, but still wet. At least the weather was washing away the tears. I wouldn’t be able to hide the crying for long if I let a gasp or a sob escape.

“That’s what we do, Peach. We talk through things.” Brodie managed kind and commanding at the same time.

And the nickname jumbled my feelings more. “Peach and BW talk. This isn’t— I don’t—” I wanted to have a right to be pissed. I wanted what they were doing to be okay. I wanted to be furious. I wanted to know how I missed—“I can’t.”

“Then don’t.” Clint finally spoke.

He made it sound so easy. Could he make the rest of this easy too? I had no idea how.

I faced him, but he was blurry. There were too many tears and too much rain. The scents of soap and sweat mingled with wet dirt. My chest ached.

Brodie walked toward us. “If you don’t want to talk, will you listen? I can tell you exactly what’s going through my head.”

That was easy. He and Clint never got over each other. They finally realized they belonged together. The way Deacon had with Adam. With Brooke.

I shook my head to rattle the thoughts loose, but they clung to my brain.

“This doesn’t change anything I’ve ever said to you.” Brodie stopped next to Clint. “I still feel the same way about you. I still want you. I’m still willing to wait until you figure out if you want the same.”

What?

That was a funny way of saying we’re done with you stringing us along. Buh-bye.

“What he said.” Clint tugged me closer, catching me off-guard and off-balance.

I stumbled, but Brodie caught me. He wrapped an arm around my waist and steadied me.

Clint cupped my face and traced his thumb over my cheek. It didn’t matter how much water he wiped away, more spilled in to soak my skin again.

This felt right. With both of them. Was it supposed to?

Yes. They both just said…

Reason was pushing out my first reaction, but it was hard to let go of that fear. To forget that feeling of wanting someone who didn’t want me back.

But Clint was searching my face, and so close he could kiss me. Brodie was rubbing tiny circles at the small of my back.

I stepped away from both, and forced myself to arrange my thoughts. “You’re both so intense. I can’t…” Finish a sentence, apparently.

“Okay.” Clint let his hand fall away, and the loss of contact was agony. “No kisses. No touching.”

Brodie fell back, too.

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