Page 112 of First Puck

I took a slow breath as I brought the hot coffee cup to my lips. Everything had changed so quickly that I didn’t know if I could keep up.

“Yeah, I am,” I said softly after I’d taken a sip. “I’m so stupidly happy. I just don’t know how serious you are about this.”

“I mean, I had my dick in your ass. How much more serious do you want me to be?”

I gritted my teeth, dipping my chin to hide my scowl as he laughed.

“Hey, I mean it, though.” He put his hand on my shoulder as he met me with a serious look. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to hide anything else from me. You’ve told me your deep, dark secret. Like, it totally explains why you used to get pissy at really random times, but I’m not going to do that to you anymore, okay?”

Brad bent down so he looked me straight in the eyes. If he wasn’t smiling so brightly, I’d swear it would be an interrogation.

“Okay,” I mumbled, lowering the cup.

“I mean it. I’m not going to mess you around, unless it involves my dick.” He winked at me, and I naturally replied with a glower.

“I swear,” he said as he leaned forward, clasping my thigh. “I’m really here for this, whatever way it turns out.”

The Brad looking at me was the same one who knew he could make the shot in the last minute of a game. The Brad who was always in control, who would score no matter what, who would do what he needed to win.

And looking at me like he wanted to be with me, whatever it took.

I just had to take all his dick talk in stride.

“Alright, I made double eggs and bacon because I thought you might be hungry after all the kickass fucking. I got you a shake,too. You’re going to need your protein, especially if you want to survive the rest of the day.”

He gave me another easy kiss before jumping onto the bed. I only just rescued the coffee cup from a spill.

“What do you mean? Are we doing something?” I asked, suspecting I already knew the answer.

“Hell yeah, we’re doing something. There’s no way I’ve finished with you. The only reason we stopped fucking last night was because you needed to sleep,” he said as he pulled back with a wicked grin.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. We’ve got the finals…”

“Which is why we’ve got to fuck as much as possible now! Because we need to train the rest of the week!”

“Brad…” It wasn’t even that my ass was sore.

“Hey, look, you asked me before if I was serious, yeah? So, I’ve just got to do everything I can to prove it to you. You’ve got no idea what’s coming, man. You’re going to need to prepare that ass of yours—and your heart.”

I was so blown away by him that all I could do was look at him in shock.

“I forgot the ketchup. Two seconds.”

He threw me a wink before he hopped off the bed, quickly aiming for the door, and I suddenly, desperately, missed his warmth.

Was this really how it was going to be from now on? My dumbass best friend suddenly dropping lines straight out of the movies our moms loved?

I glanced at the tray, piled high with food. If I ate all of it, I wouldn’t be able to move, let alone fuck. But it was the way he’d set the pint glass of small pink carnations at the edge of the tray that really got me.

“Oh, and Alex?” Brad pulled my attention away from the food as he poked his head back through the bedroom door.

“Yeah?” I said, and I couldn’t help but return his smile.

“I love you,” he said, sparkling as he sent my heart straight to my throat. A flurry of laughter rang in my ears, following Brad as he left the room, and I groaned in reply.

Brad

Idid it. It was decided.

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