Page 104 of Only Between Us

Like he’s about ready to devour me. Or murder me.

Devour methenmurder me.

“Okay, hear me out before you kill me. I have a whole list of reasons why you shouldn’t.” I throw up my hands in surrender as he simply glowers. “Number one: My blow jobs are top-notch. I know you got a preview over video, but they really are something else. I’m telling you, you’re gonna want one.” I pause, pretend to think. “Actually, that’s it—that’s the whole list.”

“I came to get my car, you little thief.” Brooks straightens off the white car, shaking his head at me. “Who was that talking to you just now?”

“My landlord.” I check over my shoulder, but Marty’s gone. “I thought you only had the one car. Who’s going to drive this one back with you?”

“No one.” Brooks’s gaze lingers behind me, as though he can still see Marty there. But he moves to the front of the white car, dropping his keys onto the hood next to a stack of papers that he flips through. He slides its final page toward me. “Sign this.”

“You’ve just given me the last page of a contract and expect me to sign it without reading it? Not suspicious in the slightest.”

“Sign it, Siena.”

He thrusts the pen in my hand and flicks his gaze pointedly at the sheet of paper. Not an ounce of patience. So, I do one of the stupidest things I could do. I sign it.

“Good.” Brooks dangles a key fob from his index finger. “Now take it.”

“I don’t follow. Are you lending me one of your cars?”

“This car was mine for the sum total of four hours, from the time I bought it this morning to transferring ownership to you ten seconds ago.” He glances at the vehicle. “I hope you like white. It’s all they had in the showroom.”

I gape at him. “You’regivingme this car?”

Brooks collects the document, folds it in three, and hands it to me. “Gave.”

What the actual…

“Wow. I knew I was good at sex, but this is a whole new level of appreciation. I would have given it up again for free.” I pat over my panty line. “Nice work, down there.”

“To be clear, I do want it again.” He leans into the open window of the white SUV and hands me a to-go cup of coffee smelling of vanilla. Before I can take a sip, he grips the back of my neck and brings his mouth to my ear. “But the next time you want to run off scared in the middle of the night? I’d like to be able to chase after you.”

My heart stutters.

Brooks draws away, looking me right in the eye. Daring me to disagree that that’s exactly what it was last night. I ran away scared.

“Would it kill you to be more emotionally stunted? Seriously, there’s so much beauty in repressing your feelings.”

Brooks shoots me a look. Not so much into the jokes this morning. “I’m going to need you to find a way to articulate exactlywhyyou ran away scared, because I don’t plan on leaving on uncertain terms. I told you feelings were involved last night. You freaked and stole my car. Why?” He nudges my chin when I hesitate. “Talk, Siena.”

“All right.All right.” I clasp the ownership papers in a fist. “You’re gunning for a contract with the Rebels. And seeing as you’re pretty much one of the best wide receivers I’ve ever witnessed, I have to assume you’re going to get signed. Which means you’ll be moving back to LA before the start of the season, which I can’t do seeing as my business is here.”

Brooks contemplates me. “You hate running that business.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t have a responsibility to it.”

“Then we’ll do long-distance.”

“I’ve tried that,” I say delicately. “My ex demanded a trade to LA halfway into the relationship, and it was… hard.”

“We’d still see each other all time.”

“We wouldn’t. It isn’t a couple of hours in the car, Brooks. That’s a whole country between us. Add to that your training and travel schedule…” I shake my head, because it’s crazy how history has a way of repeating itself. “And then there’s the Rosie of it all.”

Brooks’s brows pull together. “Shy’s Rosie? How does she fit into this?”

I shove a loose strand of hair off my face. “Never mind. Look, I lived this. Thinking I was in a solid relationship when he was here. Seeing each other every free minute he had when he played nearby, traveling together during the off-season. Then barely anything once he moved. He created this whole life out there without me. And I’ve been an afterthought too many times to go through it again.”

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