Page 50 of Never Say Yes To Your Brother's Best Friend

And that’s how the shower goes. It goes and goes because I can’t say no. Because I don’t know if I even want to say no anymore. I had this life, and I was set in my ways. They might not have been good ways or the right ways, but perhaps I wouldhave figured it out. Now there’s Aspen, and when she leaves, there will havebeenAspen, and I won’t ever be the same.

She dries me off after like I’m a child, and I don’t fight her. When she kisses me, I kiss her back because god help me, I want to. I don’t want to tell her I’m dirty anymore. I don’t want to chase her away. I don’t want to protest and come up with a thousand reasons why this is wrong. I don’t want to keep trying to put up ineffectual shields to keep her at bay. Because they don’t work. She only tears them down.

“I’m staying because I want to stay,” she tells me, completely naked and utterly gorgeous. “Needs and wants, Rick.”

“Are your parents going to show up here? Is your dad going to break down my door? It won’t be the first time I’ve dodged bullets, but I like to know in advance what kind of battle I’m going to have to face.”

“No,” she says as she wraps a white towel around her slender body. Her wet hair drips all over her shoulders. She’s still coated in water droplets, and I want to lick every single one of them off of her sweet, soft skin. “I mean, they could show up, but they won’t be firing at you. I do promise that. They told me they were going to calm down, and we’d talk about it in a few hours when they had time to process, but I can’t guarantee they won’t get on the first flight here.”

“They don’t have a tracker on your phone?”

Aspen gasps. “Goodness, no. We don’t have that kind of technology. We’re not spies.”

“It’s an app, Aspen. Parents use them all the time.”

“Oh.” Her chin wobbles, and her eyes nearly pop out. “Oh, shit. Okay, well, they might show up then. I don’t really know. If they do, though, it’s fine. They still won’t come armed.”

“If I have to take a black eye for the team, I’ll do that.”

“My dad doesn’t hit people,” Aspen says.

“What about your mom?” I ask.

“Gah! Definitely not my mom.”

She’s not even dressed, and we’re still in the bathroom, but I feel like it’s only appropriate that I try again to be the asshole that makes her see reality. “I’m afraid you have this starry-eyed wedding bells fantasy, and that’s not how this is going to play out.”

“Don’t worry, Patrick McDonald. I know you’re only in it for the sex.”

My mouth drops. Aspen, on the other hand, throws her head back and laughs. What a wicked, wicked woman she can be. She’s disarmed me and put me in my place with that laughter. I just said I like to know what kind of battle I’m fighting, but nothing on earth could have prepared me for her. She’s the battle I’m not going to win. She might be the one I won’t survive. She’s the one who could truly wreck me, even after everything I’ve lived.

I’m astonished, dumbfounded. I don’t know how this happened. It happened so fast. Like getting that knife in my side. In a few seconds, it could have been over. It could have hit something vital. I think she’s hit something vital. It hurts in my chest where it never used to hurt at all. No, I’m a liar. It did hurt before, but not in the same way this hurts.

“I’m not…that’s not true!” I do feel the need to rise to this, even if it’s only in a very poor attempt to defend my honor.

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot we’re going to be friends after. You did say that was going to be a thing.”

“I’m worried you still think I’m going to change my mind. I’m not just in it for the sex, but we can’t…we can’t stay married. We can’t be that kind of friends.”

“Goodness. You seem very certain of that.”

“I’m serious. Take it seriously, Aspen,” I say exasperatedly.

Her eyes dance. Her left hand holds the towel firmly closed between her breasts. “I am taking it seriously.”

“I’m going to hurt you. I’m going to hurt your feelings.”

“You did say I’m the kind of person who gets attached. You meant that you aren’t, but I don’t think you really know what you mean. I don’t think you know that much about yourself. I think you’ve been so busy hardening yourself and shutting the world out that you have no idea where you want to go in life, who you want to do it with, or what you would or wouldn’t enjoy.” She waves a hand at the shower. “You enjoyed that.”

“For Christ’s sake.” I wish she would just slap me for being vulgar, for being an asshole, being disappointing, and being the prick who inevitably hurts her when she’s far too wonderful to ever deserve being hurt. “You should go back to San Jose. I can file for the annulment tomorrow.”

“We’ve had sex, though,” she points out.

“They don’t need to know that. We can pretend we didn’t. I’m doing it to protect you. I’m doing it because you need to be far away from here. You have this beautiful life to live and a beautiful family to get back to. They’re worried about you. You don’t need to be here. I’m setting you free.”

Aspen’s nose crinkles up so crinkly that she temporarily looks like a little old woman. “Ewwww, with your money? You think your money is going to make me free? Do you truly think I can just go back to Atlanta with a suitcase of cash and never think about you again?”

“I would just transfer the money electronically. No suitcase needed.”

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