Page 18 of Hold On Me

“It’s been a pleasure to interview with you today.” Breathlessly she stands up and reaches out her hand.

I walk out from behind my desk and stand a few inches away from her, clasping her hand firmly and looking straight into her eyes. I lick my lips before speaking and smirk as her eyes track the movement.

“The pleasure has been all mine, Miss Richards. I’ll have the contracts sent today.” Her hand is clasped in mine still, no longer shaking hands but holding them.

“Eager, Mr. Elias?” She smirks, and when I take a step closer, her breath hitches.

“Very. And it’s Ben. I like the way my name sounds on your lips.”

She gasps and her cheeks turn red, but she keeps her eyes locked on mine.

Finally, she dips her head in goodbye, turns slowly, and heads toward the door. Her hand lingers over the handle. “Thank you… Ben.” She throws a look over her shoulder and leaves before I can take another breath.

As the door shuts behind her, I let out a groan, rearrange my trousers to relieve the pressure on my aching dick, and question every fucking thing I just did with a woman I’m about to see every damn day.

I’m royally screwed and I have no one to blame but myself. Well, maybe Hank and Jenson too.

11

PENNY

“I bloody knew it. I knew he had the hots for you and you fancied the pants off him too. Oh this is too good. Just wait till Jenson hears the news.” Angie’s gleeful statement has me stopping dead in the street and turning to her, incredulous.

“No.” I state firmly as she frowns her confusion back.

“No?”

“No. You won’t mention this to Jenson. None of this can be said to him. I’m activating the Brady sisters code. Whatever I tell you stays between us and only us.” I fold my arms over my chest and hit her with a glare.

She frowns back and pouts her lips before scoffing loudly. “That’s not a thing.”

“It is. I just made it one. It’s the same code we have as Brady brothers, so suck it up.” My smirk is the one I normally reserve for Jenson and his irritating self, but I’ll permit its use on his significant other this time.

“That’s so not fair. It’s been forever since I had gossip worthy of telling people, and now you’re putting me under a gag order. Rude.” The twinkle in her eyes lets me know she's playing, so I carry on with the charade.

“You bet I am. Just like you did to me when you came here and didn’t want Edie to know where you were.”

Angie’s eyes widen and she smirks in acceptance. “You know, when I first met you, I thought you were so sweet and innocent. How wrong was I? I won’t say anything. Pinky swear.” She holds her pinky up to me and I wrap mine around it.

“You were very wrong. I’m part Brady after all. In fact, wanna do a blood pact with me so you have Brady blood running through your veins too? I’m actually surprised Jenson hasn’t suggested it before now.” I don’t realise my error until she's cackling loudly.

“I’ve got other Brady bodily fluids running through me, Pen. I don’t need to cut my hand like kids.”

Gagging on the vomit rising up my throat, I quickly reach over and cup my hand over her mouth. “Never. And I repeat, never. Talk about Jenson’s bodily flui…” A heave stops me in my tracks and she cackles against my hand. “Just don’t. You’re gross. You know what you need?” She shakes her head, my hand still over her mouth, and I spin her around to face the church in the middle of the street. “Jesus. You need Jesus.”

With her back to me and my arm wrapped around her, my hand still covering her mouth, she laughs loudly and leans her head back so it’s on my shoulder. She drags my hand off her mouth and holds it, still giggling, and I can’t wipe the smile from my face. I always wanted a sister, and now I have one. Two if you count Edie as well. And I definitely do.

“I think I may be a lost cause for Jesus, Pen. But I know what you need… A good shagging. And Big Ben is just the man for the job. Ding dong.” She looks up at me and waggles her eyebrows as I shush her loudly and push her away from me.

“You gotta be quiet. I know everyone around here and they all know my dad. The last thing I need is him getting wind of this and thinking I’m giving him grandbabies anytime soon.Especially not with Ben. He loves him way too much. He’d be devastated when I told him it wasn’t happening.”

She grabs my hand and pulls in the direction of the little bistro on the corner of the street. It’s one of my favourite places. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson have owned it for as long as I can remember. The little red and white striped awning covering the two small tables outside is the first thing I spot, and my heart does a little happy dance.

Growing up in a smaller town has its pros and cons. I love knowing where to eat, what to order, and seeing friendly faces that are almost like family every day. Even if they do sometimes snitch on me to my dad about things I don’t want him to know—like this conversation I’m having with Angie. All it takes is for the wrong person to walk by at the right moment and hear about me and Ben and ol’ Hank’ll think he’s getting those grandbabies soon.

Not that he’d disapprove. He’s been going on about seeing me settled for a long time now. And he loves Ben. He’s always telling me about the fine upstanding man he’s become since he came to Chittenango. Even went as far as to try and suggest we date a few years ago, which was firmly declined by me. He and Mama came up with a theory I was dating someone, and I kinda let them run with it.

Which leads me to the other thing I hate about small suburbs like Chittenango—the lack of dating options an OG has. I don’t want to date someone I watched eat paste in elementary school. And unfortunately for me, we don’t have a lot of guys wanting to move here. I suppose I could’ve dated one of the players. Adonis Hart has all the attributes I’d like in a man. But being introduced to them as‘TheBrady sister. Touch her and die’ didn’t really give me a chance in hell. They barely looked at me, let alone considered doing anything else. And I can’t blame them. Only someone with a death wish wants to screw the QB’ssister. Besides, I couldn't date one of Jenson’s teammates. The locker room talk would terrify me. I don’t want him, or anyone, knowing what yucks and yums I have. Nope. That’s for my head only. And possibly Angie’s too.

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