Page 17 of Sticking Around

7

Brady

I know it’s stupid. Asking this incredible, intelligent, mature woman such a question, when I should be running the other way, but dammit, I like her. Again, all the more reason to put a measure of distance between us. What the fuck are you doing, bud?

Water splashes against our bodies as I stand still in the surf, the gorgeous woman I slept with last night pressed against my body. A bevy of emotions move over her face, and I remind myself that she told me we couldn’t have sex again—before we had sex again. Goddammit, she’s as conflicted about all this as I am—she clearly has her own reasons for keeping her distance. I’m about to tell her to forget it, that I was just kidding—something anyone would believe when it comes to me—when she opens her mouth and I stop speaking, because fuck, I really want to hear the answer.

“Yes,” she says quietly and air leaves my lungs in a fast whoosh, because despite everything, that’s the answer I wanted to hear on her lips. She swallows and it’s tight and labored. “But…”

“But what?” I manage to get out.

“Just sex. No commitment.”

I instantly call on the Brady people know. “Hey, those are the rules I live by, babe,” I shoot back, a stupid grin on my face, one I’ve perfected over the years.

She watches me carefully for a second and I almost turn my head, but that might make her wonder.

“And…” she continues. “Just until your pre-season starts.” I nod, because I’ll need my head in the game, and I can’t let anything interfere with hockey. Christ, I have too many people counting on my paycheck, and I failed my team last year when we didn’t win the cup. That nearly fucking killed me. “My fall semester starts in September, and it’s my hardest courses,” she adds. “If you can live with those terms, then?—”

“Deal.”

She turns coy, and grins. “My turn.”

Since most of the blood has left my brain and this is no time to get a boner, I call on what little focus I have and try to figure out what she’s talking about. “Your turn?”

She pokes my chest. Poke and bang. “Truth or dare?”

I laugh, and while I’d normally pick dare, since I don’t want anyone knowing the truth about me, something compels me to act out of character. That makes me ask myself a question—do I want her to know the truth? Sure, I had a moment of weakness last night, and weakness means I need to grow a set. “Truth, unless of course you’re going to dare me to take you to bed right now, and bang you.”

She chuckles and then puckers her lips like she’s in thought. “Actually, I’m going to hold off on asking a question.”

“Oh, really.” She slips a little in my arms, and I adjust her, her eyes widening when she feels my dick thickening against her hip. “What are you up to, Lanie?”

“Nothing, I just can’t think of anything right now.”

I doubt that, but if she wants to wait, then so be it. “I can think of something.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, taking you to bed right now.” I slowly lower her, but continue to hold her against me when her feet hit the ground.

She moves against my semi-boner, and a hard quiver goes through her. Her cheeks turn a pretty shade of pink as vibrations skitter through me and settle in my cock. “While that is tempting…” She crinkles up her nose. “I do have to study. You kept me too busy last night.”

I take her hand in mind and her gaze drops, studying our entwined fingers as I give a tug, setting us both into motion. “You said you wouldn’t be mad.”

“I’m not.” Her head lifts as we walk the beach and she grins at me. Fuck, I love how it lights up her eyes.

“Good, I wouldn’t want to stand in the way of your studying.”

“You weren’t standing,” she says and we both laugh. Honestly, this woman is all work and no play. I’ve known her for a year, watched her work at the rooftop bar and study when things were quiet. There’s a deep seriousness about her, but when she says things like that, I realize beneath it all, she’s fun loving, but tries to keep that part of herself contained.

“How long did you set aside to study?” She frowns, checks the time on my phone, and that’s when I realize what I said, and how it’s coming across to her. “Hold it. I’m not rushing you. Take all the time you need to study. That’s not what I’m getting at.”

She nods, the worry leaving her face. “I was going to put in a solid three hours.”

“Do you take breaks?”

“Definitely, and I was going to use that time to search for a place to live.”

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