Page 120 of How to Prevent a Fumble

“Can you wash and snap the green beans?” I ask after a heavy silence.

She just nods, taking the giant bag of beans to the sink behind us.

Which leaves me to, well, do nothing. That was the very first thing we had to do. Okay, now what do I do?

Figuring that helping her with the beans would be betterthan going off and doing nothing, I turn, settling back in beside her as I take a handful of beans and start snapping the ends off. When I reach to rinse them off, our hands touch, and she yanks hers away as if burned.

“Sorry,” I say under my breath.

Shaking her head just slightly, she mutters, “It’s totally fine.”

We finish half the bag in complete silence, Briar’s elbow knocking against mine every so often, her blonde hair falling from her shoulders to hide her face from view.

When we’re almost done, Briar lets out an almost agitated grunt, turning toward the island. “You okay?” I ask.

“Yeah. I uh, I’m just looking at the recipes you have here.”

“Oh, okay.”

Five minutes later and I’m done with the beans. After tidying up, I go to see what she’s looking at. Standing just behind her, I peek over her shoulder at the recipe for the bacon wrapped turkey on the counter.

“I think you’re really dumb for making these,” she starts, resting her palms against the smooth surface.

“Why?”

She turns just slightly, meeting my eyes for only a second before turning back around. “Because do you know how much bacon you need for even one of these?” she asks, leaning a little further into the table, her hip touching the side of my leg sending heat through me.

“It’ll be fine.”

She freezes for a second before picking up the recipe, pointing toward an ingredient as she turns to me, moving a little to the left.

“Do you even have this spice?”

I furrow my brows, thoroughly confused about what’s going on here. Why is she acting so weird?

Setting the recipe back on the counter with a huff, she leans back down, and I realize now what’s going on.

The woman may think she’s slick, and I’ll admit it took me way too long to see what’s going on, but there’s no way she didn’t know she was moving directly in front of me. And with the way she freezes when her ass hits my body, unmoving, I know she did it on purpose.

So I decide to play along.

Leaning down, I cage her in my arms, my chest pressed against her back. Bringing my chin to her shoulder, I take a look at the recipe.

“I told you I had everything I need ordered before, remember?” I say, but my voice comes out deeper than I intended.

I feel her breathe in deeply. “Now that you mention it, I do remember you saying something about that.”

“Any other questions?” I ask, turning my head so my mouth is at her neck, her hair tickling my nose.

Briar’s breathing picks up and she turns just slightly, backing further into me, her ass moving against my length throbbing in my sweats.

“Leo, we can’t.”

“Is that why your body has been begging me for it for the last five minutes?”

“I,” she starts, but stops as she feels me press against her. “God.” She closes her eyes, biting her lip. “We can’t do this,” she says again finally.

“Okay.”

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