Page 8 of Brothers Best Friend Cowboy

As my hand lands on her face, our eyes close…and fireworks.

I know it’s cliché, but it’s true. Actual sparks of electricity fly from my skin and my heart does a literal full stop, thumping hard afterward to catch up with itself.

A moan escapes her lips, and the simple kiss that we were expecting, turns deeper. Her tongue brushes against mine, and my hands fist into her hair as she climbs onto my lap. Her arms wrap around my neck and my cock goes rock fucking hard. We may as well be there alone because I don’t see or hear anyone else.

“What the fuck, man!” Dodge is behind me, gripping my shirt, pulling me up from the ground.

I wrap my arms tight around Maggie and hold her close, our gaze on each other. I don’t want to let her go. Not now, not ever.

Dodge is a large man, and I respect him and his desire to protect his baby sister. That said, I don’t know how life goes on now that I’ve kissed her like that.

Maggie steps between Dodge and I. “Stop! It’s a game, and you’re drunk, Dodge. Stop!”

Dodge’s gaze never leaves mine. We’ve been best buddies for as long as I can remember. Not once has he ever looked at me like this. It’s something between betrayal and protectiveness, and I fully understand it. “He’s not kissing you like it’s a game, Maggie. He’s being a fucking pervert, and he should go.”

Maggie raises her voice as she screams, “It’s a game, Dodge, and you’re fucking drunk! Walk it off!”

Dodge stares toward me, his jaw locked.

“If you want me to leave, man, I’ll go.”

Maggie spins around, angst in her voice as she yells, “No!” It’s in this moment that I wonder for the first time if she feels something for me. “Don’t go. It was my fault.”

“Nothing is your fault, sunshine. We were playing a game.” I glance toward Dodge and repeat myself. “A game.”

Maggie looks up toward me, her face downturned and confused. “Right. It was just a game.”

Chapter Five

Maggie

Dodge and Ash walk back into the house. I’m not sure what they’re heading off to do, but they seeminterestedin one another. Sadly, I doubt Dodge will even remember this in the morning.

“I’ve never seen him so wasted.” I laugh awkwardly as I sit back against the boulder with Emery. He’s been quiet since Dodge walked away, and I’m not sure how to take it. He’s either confused by me, or he’s intrigued. On one hand, I felt his body react to mine. On the other, Dodge’s reaction might have scared him off.

My clit throbs as I think of Emery’s hands tied up in my hair, his breath on my neck, his body against mine.

“So… that just happened,” he says, turning toward me. “How are you feeling about all that?”

I stare at him like a deer in headlights, panting every breath like some asthmatic kid in gym class who’s been doing sprints without their inhaler. “I, ugh, I liked it. You?”

He nods. “Very much so.”

“Okay. So that’s weird then, right?”

“Very much so,” he repeats staring toward me like a hungry lion about to pounce.

“And if we act on it, then what?”

“Then we piss Dodge off, and he gets over it, because that’s what people do.”

I can’t help but laugh. “You saw the man, right? He’s insane and you guys have been friends for eons. I’d be messing with that. It’s not fair.” I’m only saying it so Emery will give a reason not to feel it, but he doesn’t. Swallowing hard, I look back toward the river, watching as a log floats along the edge. In less than three hours, my entire life has changed, and I don’t know how to handle any of it.

“Sunshine,” Emery turns toward me, his gaze dark and heavy, matching the rasp in his tone, “I need you again.”

My heart hammers against my rib cage as I stare toward him.

Breathless.

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