Page 27 of Treat

“I’m just saying you don’t have to sign a lease tomorrow,” he went on. “Take your time, find the right place. If it happens tomorrow, great. If it takes a couple of weeks?” He shrugged. “That’s fine too.”

She bit her lip, gnawing on it the way she did when she was uncertain. “You’re sure?”

“Absolutely,” he said, then sputtered when Tilly reared up to lick his face, and her tongue slipped into his mouth.

Brynn looked on with amusement. “Still think she’s an upgrade?”

Using both hands, he forced Tilly’s head away from his face. “I’d rather have her kissing me than Jakes, so yeah.”

Brynn laughed. “If Jakes ever kisses you and you don’t let me put it on social media, I’m going to be so mad.”

“My guess is Tommy will only kiss me if we win the Stanley Cup, at center ice,” he said and nudged Tilly off his lap. He swiped at his mouth to get rid of the dog spit, then gathered the leash and got to his feet. “So you’ll probably get scooped by ESPN.”

“Those vultures,” she said, smiling.

“Tell me about it,” he said and held out a hand to help her up.

She stayed where she was, perched on the pavement with her arms circling her updrawn knees, her sunglasses on top of her head, looking up at him, and for a moment, it seemed as though he could see everything he felt reflected in those Bambi eyes. Lust and longing and nerves and hope—it was all there, shining back at him so bright and strong that he was half a heartbeat from dropping to his knees.

Then her lashes swept down, shielding her eyes, and he dipped lower, trying to maintain eye contact. Then she grabbed his hand and pulled herself up, and because he was leaning forward, she bumped into him. It knocked him back half a step and he reached out, grabbing her shoulders for balance. She put hers on his chest, and just like that they were holding each other.

She was so close he could see the way her lashes clumped together, still damp with tears, and the teeth marks on her bottom lip from where she’d bitten it. Her breasts were against his chest, small and soft and rising and falling rapidly with her breathing, the skin on her chest now the same bright pink as her cheeks.

“Oh!” she said, her eyes wide with shock and surprise, and the husky note in her voice made him want to swallow her whole, right there on the sidewalk.

“Sorry,” he managed, his mind a scramble as he tried to absorb all the stimulus at once. The smooth roundness of her shoulders under his hands, the faintly sweet scent of her breath. Her hands on his chest, small and warm and not moving but kind of flexing, like she was testing the resiliency of the muscles there, and the unmistakable stab of hardened nipples through the thin fabric of her dress.

“No, no,” she said breathlessly. “It was my fault. I stood up too fast.”

Her nipples were hard. Why were her nipples hard? Was she turned on? Did she like this? Did she likehim?

“It’s fine,” he croaked, staring at her forehead and trying not to think about her nipples. Or her thighs, which were pressed against his and just as delightful as he’d imagined them to be. He couldn’t think about her eyes either because the surprise had faded and the longing was back, and any minute now he was either going to say something foolish or do something foolish or maybe both if he didn’t get himself under control. Hence the staring at her forehead.

Unfortunately, he had excellent peripheral vision, so he had no trouble seeing her lick her lips. “Jude?”

I’m going to die right here on the street, with a boner the size of Montana.“Yeah?”

“Are you—ow!”

“Shit, sorry,” he said, forcing his hand away from her head and giving the leash a firm tug. On the other end, Tilly gave him a confused look. “Are you okay?”

“I think so,” Brynn said, rubbing at her ear. “What was that?”

“Tilly,” he said apologetically, holding his hand up to show her the leash wrapped around it. “She yanked, and my hand kind of skidded off your shoulder.”

“Into my head,” Brynn finished, aiming a glare at the dog, and to Jude’s deep regret, took a step back. “You’re such a dick, Tilly.”

And a cock-block,Jude added silently. Tilly, oblivious to Jude’s wrath and uncaring of Brynn’s, started walking.

“Here, I’ve got her.” Brynn took the leash from Jude and followed.

“Oh. Okay,” he said, trying to force enough blood back to his brain to function. By the time he managed to put one foot in front of the other, they were several paces ahead of him, and he had to rush to catch up. “Brynn?”

“Yeah?”

“Were you, um, about to ask me something? You know, before I hit you in the head?”

“Oh.” She reached up and pulled her sunglasses off her head, sliding them back on before looking at him. “It’s not important.”

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