Page 75 of Obligation
“Different how?” Her voice caught, and she cleared her throat.
He shrugged. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”
She planted her hands flat on his chest. “You really are confused today, aren’t you? I’m the same person I’ve always been.”
In fact, she was more herself today than she had been in months. The girl Bradley met at the TOP party wasn’t her, not truly. But that’s the girl he’d become used to. Would he like the real her? What if he didn’t? What if he liked the other her better? The her who lied and cheated and constantly put up a fight at every turn?
Dread filled her. She wanted him to like her—the real her—not the version of her that was guarded and pretended to be someone she wasn’t. She hated that girl and refused to ever be her again.
“You said we were friends, right?” he asked.
She nodded, fighting to keep the hurt at bay. She had told him that more than once, when she was still Danny’s girlfriend, and she hadn’t realized how hurtful that must have been for Bradley—until now. Hearing him call her a friend was like twisting a knife into her gut.
They were more than friends. At least, she thought they were, because friends didn’t kiss like they did. Friends didn’t generally have sexual tension so thick other people choked on it.
“Then as your friend, you can talk to me,” he said.
“Danny and I broke up,” she said before she lost her nerve.
Bradley’s eyes widened. “You broke up?”
“Yes.” Her heart thundered in anticipation of his response.
Not that she cared what he thought—his opinion wouldn’t change her mind about Danny. Yet, she had this need for Bradley’s approval. She needed to know how he felt now that she was single. Would he still pursue her? Or did he enjoy sneaking around knowing she wasn’t free to be with him?
“When?” His voice was raspy with an emotion she couldn’t pinpoint.
“Sunday.” She shifted on her feet, bringing her closer to him. He flexed his hands on her waist. “When I left so fast, I was going to meet Danny. He apologized for a lot of stuff and said he was going to get help for his temper.”
She stopped short of divulging the rest of their conversation. Her miscarriage and the subsequent unhealed grief wasn’t any of his business. Not yet, anyway. Maybe someday in the future.
“You believe him?” Bradley asked.
“I do.” She nodded as she spoke. “We agreed to take some time apart to deal with our own issues before trying to deal with ours as a couple.”
Bradley’s eyes narrowed into slits. “So this break up is temporary? You’re going to eventually get back together?”
She chewed on her bottom lip and shrugged. That’s what she’d led Danny to believe, but she wasn’t sure that would be the outcome. Too much had happened between them, and she wasn’t convinced they could move on from all the hurt they’d caused one another.
“Well then.” Bradley eased her back a step, away from him, and then he slid off the table. He didn’t release his hold on her, though. “Guess I need to kick my master plan into high gear.”
“You have a master plan? Do I want to know?” She grinned.
“I don’t know. You tell me. Do you want to know?” He moved his hands up to cradle her face. “Whether you know or not isn’t going to change what I’m planning to do.”
His palms were incredibly warm and comforting, and her eyes fluttered closed for a brief moment. And in that moment, she imagined what his hands would feel like on the rest of her body. An involuntary shiver shook her, and she lifted her gaze to his.
“Yes, I want to know,” she whispered.
His wickedly sexy smile had another shiver working down her back. He lowered his face so his mouth was poised above hers, and then he whispered, “I’m going to steal you away from Danny. For good.”
And then his lips landed on hers. She whimpered, wrapped her arms around his neck, and welcomed his kiss in a way she hadn’t before. A way that was free and uninhibited and packed full of the desire she’d been trying so hard to fight. A desire she could now fully give into.
Bradley’s groan was low and throaty, and she could feel it rumbling from deep within his chest. Without breaking the kiss, he lifted her from her feet as if she weighed nothing, and she gasped with surprise, but he didn’t give her the opportunity to draw in any sort of breath before spinning her around and setting on her the table where he’d been sitting a second ago.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and hooked the heels of her feet under his ass so he couldn’t get away—not that he was trying. In fact, he pressed closer, and his arousal was hard and thick between her thighs. She’d seen him shirtless, wearing nothing more than shorts slung low on his hips, and he was in fantastic shape, every muscle well-defined and carved to perfection. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how he must look below the waist. But damn if she didn’t want to find out. Even if they never got in any sort of relationship, she wanted him in the worst way—just once—just to know what being with him would feel like.
She arched her body just right, the movement so perfect his bulging denim-covered erection rubbed against her in the spot where she most needed and wanted. She moaned, and he slammed his hands on the table on either side of her body, his kiss hotter, deeper, hungrier.
