Page 72 of Beautiful Broken Love

“Oh, well, now Ihaveto tell Octavia this.”

“You better not!” Deke shouted, reeling me in with an arm around the shoulders. “I could be way off. I don’t know what really goes on inside that dude’s head.”

“So Ishouldn’tsay anything?” I asked, trying hard not to think about how warm his body was next to mine, the safe feeling I got with just his arm over my shoulders.

“Nah. That’s my boy. I don’t want his business getting out unless he wants it out.”

“Okay.” My head bobbed. “I respect that. I’ll keep it quiet for now.” But for how long? Because seriously, Octavia was my sisterandmy best friend. I told her pretty much everything.

The last thing I wanted was for Javier to feel some type of way because his best friendassumedhe liked my sister, though. For all we knew, Javier really was annoyed by what Octavia said and was taking it to heart. That, or he was supersensitive.

“This is me,” I said, gesturing to the white BMW a couple of steps away. I lowered the strap of my purse from my shoulder to dig my car key out and moved to the driver’s door. “Thank you for brunch, Deke. This place was beautiful.”

“Glad you liked it.” He scanned my face, moving in closer. “When do I get to see you again?”

My back pressed against the cool metal of the vehicle. “That depends.”

“On what?”

“Our schedules. But you’re the big shot. You sure you’ll have time to squeeze me in?” I teased.

“Oh, I’ll make the time,” he insisted with a crooked smile. “But I do have some commercial shoots here and there—oh, and a feature in this sitcom.”

“A sitcom? Now that’s interesting.”

“Yeah, I’m the guy the main dude bumps into and he’s all ‘Holy shit, you’re Deke Bishop!’” Deke waved a hand. “Super-small role. I’m technically not supposed to talk about it yet.” He pretended to zip his lips.

I giggled. “You’ll be pretty busy then.”

“Other than that and some intense training coming up, it shouldn’t be too bad. Season starts in a couple months. My coach and trainer are cracking down on me, but you’re only a few hours away.” He paused, studying my face. “You should come to one of my games.”

I peered up at him from beneath my lashes. “Maybe one day.”

He paused. “Don’t look at me like that, D.”

“Like what?”

“Like you want me to fuck you against this car.”

My teeth sank into my bottom lip as he pressed a hand to the side of the car and caged me in from one side.

“Take a trip with me soon.”

That caught me off guard, and I half laughed, half blurted the word “What?”

“A trip. Just you and me. Let’s take one before my training camp starts.”

I swallowed. “That sounds ... intimate.”

“I know.” The corner of his lip quirked up. “That’s the point.”

“But we haven’t even done the fuck-buddy part yet.”

“By the time we take that trip, we’ll have fucked plenty of times, D.” He dropped his forehead, and the tip of his nose grazed mine. “The trip is just to sweeten the deal, proof that this isn’t a one-and-done thing.”

“Hmm.” I lowered my eyes to the chains dangling from his neck, twinkling in the light. “Can I think about it?”

He gripped my chin in his fingers and raised it to place a slow, gentle kiss on my lips. I wasn’t expecting it and shouldn’t have been so surprised when that clench between my thighs transitioned to a hungry throb.

---