Page 38 of Breakaway Hearts

If I was blushing earlier about him catching me reading a romance novel or having to admit to him that Austin treated me poorly, I feel like my skin might actually catch fire now. Even if I’m attracted to Reese and harbored a crush on him when we were younger, he clearly doesn’t feel the same way and never has. Never will.

So why did I just throw myself at him in the most awkward way possible?

I glance at the whiskey on the table. I only drank half of it, but maybe I can still blame my absurd suggestion on a tipsy slip of the tongue. Or on the fact that we were talking about something so personal, so intimate, that it was only natural for me to suggest we have sex.

No. Fuck me. That makes no sense. None of what I just said makes sense.

Reese is still silent.

“Um…” I mutter, but that’s all I can manage to get out.

Not even bothering to attempt speaking again or say goodnight, I stand up, nod at him awkwardly, and just about sprint up the stairs to my bedroom.

I take deep breaths once I close the door. This room is larger than the guest bedroom, and it feels almosttoobig right now, leaving me feeling oddly exposed. I cross over to the bed, crawling onto the soft comforter and curling up on it as I press my hands over my face. I wish I could sink into the mattress, or better yet, go back in time and take back everything. I would’ve read a different book tonight, would’ve had a smaller glass of whiskey, and I would never,everhave propositioned Reese for sex.

I groan and bury my face deeper into my hands.

The sound of Reese knocking makes my heart lurch.

“Callie? Can I come in?”

Oh god.

“Yes,” I call out, even though I don’t know how the hell I’m supposed to face him ever again.

The knob turns, and I sit up as he opens the door. I take one look at him and then glance away, unable to meet his eyes. My heart feels like it’s somewhere in my esophagus, and there’s a twisty, unpleasant feeling in my stomach from embarrassment and nerves.

Even though my gaze is firmly set on the wall, I feel him sit down on the bed next to me, agonizingly aware of his proximity. When I finally work up the courage to turn my head and look at him, his eyes are soft.

“Hey, I’m sorry about that,” he says in a quiet voice. “For freezing up on you. I didn’t mean to embarrass you or anything. I was just—fuck, you caught me off guard.”

I nod, not trusting my voice to speak without shaking.

“Callie,” he continues. “I think you’re gorgeous. Absolutely beautiful. And I know I said I’d do anything you asked, any favor you wanted. But you’re my best friend, and I’m worried about ruining that.”

I nod again and take a deep breath. “Yeah, no, I get it. Forget I said anything. It was a bad idea.”

“I didn’t say that.”

My breath hitches in my lungs.

With that simple sentence, it feels like my heart might crash out of my chest. It pounds against my ribs so hard that I swear I can feel my pulse everywhere.

Is Reese saying what I think he is?

His gaze holds mine, and his Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows. “When you say you want me to teach you, what does that mean? You’re talking about sex, right? Do you mean like a friends with benefits type of thing?”

A tiny smile tugs at my lips as I manage to recover some of the sass I would usually throw his way. “Well, it would be nice if there wassomebenefit to being friends with you.”

That makes him grin, and some of the thick tension filling the air dissipates. The awkwardness from downstairs seems like it’s fading, but it’s being replaced by something unfamiliar. When Reese looks at me, there’s something burning in the depths of his eyes that makes warmth pool in my stomach. He hasn’t looked away from me since he came into the room, and there’s an intensity in his expression that I’ve never seen before.

“Our friendship is the most important thing to me,” he says, his voice low. “So if we’re going to do this, we need to talk about how we’re going to protect that.”

The entire mood in the room shifts, and the air is suddenly so thick that it’s a little hard to breathe. How did we go from joking about my ridiculous question a second ago to actually potentiallydoingit? My stomach twists itself into knots, my pulse fluttering in my throat as I wind my fingers around each other.

“Does that mean you want to do this?” I whisper.

“Let’s talk terms first,” Reese says, and I’m acutely aware that he didn’t sayno. “I want to make sure we both stay safe in this situation.”

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