Page 46 of My Brother's Teammates

Hudson shook his head. “You’re far from fragile.”

I saw the smirk on his face and groaned. “You’re talking about sex, aren’t you?”

He laughed. “No, I wasthinkingabout sex. There’s a difference. Now that I’m talking about it, though, I feel the need to point out that you controlled three big men during sex,expertly. You aren’t fragile.”

“Shut up.” I held my forearm over my cheeks and looked over at him by peeking above my arm. “You’re not supposed to talk about it outside of…it.”

He just waved me off. “They thought you were joking because they assume that strength only comes from size and muscle mass. Go on.”

I squeezed his hand tighter. “Yeah, they laughed. They joked and joked about imagining me with a gun telling someone to freeze. They made fun of my nightlight and… It wasn’t great. After that, I couldn’t tell them I was serious. It hurt that they had no faith in me. Even Jason. He means well, but he thinks I need to be saved from life.”

“He can be an idiot.”

“Maybe not. It seems lately that I’ve needed to be saved from my mistakes several times over.” I shrugged like it wasn’t eating me up. “I’ve worked hard to remember my goals in everything I do. I think about the background checks almost daily. Yet, somehow I still ended up with a potential scandal on my hands.”

“It won’t go down like that. I won’t let it. I don’t have the mob, but I have other connections. And if all else fails, I’m sure Papa DuPont could bully someone into just putting you in a position of authority at the FBI. He’s good at that shit, in case you missed all the heart-warming stories about him.”

I looked longingly at his lap and finally gave in to my need to be held. I crawled into his lap and managed to do it without hurting him all that much. Once I was sitting across him with my arms wrapped around his neck, I rested my cheek on his shoulder. “Much better.”

“Is this because I threatened to use my daddy’s money to buy you pretty things?” He laughed easily and kissed my forehead. “I think you’ll be an excellent profiler, by the way. Remember to use your skills for good instead of evil and look the other way if I’m ever at the end of your scope.”

“Not a chance of you ever ending up there.” I played with his hair and listened to a frog somewhere in the distance singing its song. “My turn for a question. Are you going to follow your dad into law? I remember Jason talking about it being the family business.”

He stiffened slightly under me but almost immediately went lax again. “I’m supposed to. The family has old money and no one would ever need to work again, for ten more generations, but my dad has this thing about having tangible control. He isn’t happy being behind the scenes, pulling strings with the money. He wants to eviscerate people face to face in a legal battle and then pull the strings. He’s also got this thing with his ego. He thinks the image of his son not following in his footsteps is an embarrassing one.”

I sat up so I could look him in the eyes. “What the hell? How does he plan on making you become a lawyer when it isn’t what you want to do?”

“The same way he makes everyone around him do the things he wants them to do. Money. Every time I get out of line, he holds my inheritance over my head. I won’t gain access to the money until I’m twenty-six so I have to play his games until then.” He misread my expression and looked away. “Yeah. Just another rich asshole being tugged around by daddy’s purse strings. Woe is me.”

“Hey, I’m not thinking that. Don’t put that on me.” I stroked his cheeks and gently kissed him. “I was thinking that I really dislike your dad. I’m assuming that kind of generational wealth wasn’t built up by him, so for him to hold your inheritance over your head like it’s his money is a joke. You should be able to do whatever you want to do, Hud. And before you make some self-deprecating joke, remember that I’ve read your papers. I know how intelligent you are. Even if you let people think you aren’t.”

He shifted the back part of the seat lower and rearranged me so I was straddling him with my thighs resting on his. When I braced myself on his stomach and looked down at him, I saw his attention shift to my mouth and then lower.

“Do you want to know what my parents think I’m getting my degree for?”

He blinked a few times and looked up at me. “What do they think?”

“They think I want to go into sports psychology.” I winced. “It’s an important job and I respect anyone doing it. I know that’s what Ryder is focusing his degree in. It’s just not for me. They’re all so sports obsessed, though, that the only way they understood me majoring in psychology was if I said it was related to sports.”

“Do they know you at all?” Hudson lowered the seat even more and idly began stroking his hands up and down my thighs. “Thanks to our game, I now know what you look like cheering on the sidelines for us, but I can’t imagine you listening to people talk about their sports shit for hours every day.”

I giggled. “I’m going to tell Ryder that’s how you described the job he wants.”

“And I’ll tell Jason that he’s a meathead who should know better than to assume that being in the FBI means you have to be a field agent with a gun.” He wagged his eyebrows. “Let’s just start fights all over the place. What should we tell Axel?”

Considering my options, I tapped my chin. “That Gran has a favorite and it isn’t him?”

“Now, for the two of us. What should we fight about?” He trailed his hands higher and brushed his finger over the seam of my leggings. “Are these your favorite leggings?”

I looked at them and shook my head. “Why? What are-”

He gripped my leggings and tore them down the middle like they were made of construction paper. When I didn’t react right away, he ripped them even more, until I could’ve put my body through the new hole he’d created. He grunted happily and then rubbed his finger over my panties. “Much better.”

I gasped as my brain finally computed what he’d done. “What the hell, Hudson?”

He grinned. “And now we’re fighting. Oof, I’m so mad.”

“How am I supposed to walk into the house like this, you big goof?”

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