Page 72 of Spur It On

That made him look up, our eyes meeting. "Cody?"

I nodded. "She's soft on the outside and hard in the middle. You're hard on the outside and soft in the middle."

"Yeah..." he mumbled. "And real tired of being alone, Tanner. Real fuckin' tired."

"Me too," I promised as I bent to kiss his head. "I'm just not good at this part."

"Me neither," he said. "So I figure we're gonna figure it out together. Then we're gonna show our girl that it can work, get me? Means we gotta be man enough to take the risk first."

I let out a sigh I hadn't realized had been building, because I honestly liked how he thought. "I can do that. I'm just gonna be a fucking idiot."

"But a damn sexy one," he assured me. "I prefer it when people call it crazy, though. And Tanner? I really like your kind of crazy."

Chapter27

I woke up with a groan.A soft one, because my head was pounding too hard to make it any louder. My mouth was dry. My guts were complaining, but thankfully not rolling. My entire body felt like I'd been hit by a pissed-off bull, yet when I cracked my eyes open, the first thing I saw was an angel.

Cody was curled up a few inches from me, and still asleep. Her arms were against her chest, her golden lashes lay against her cheek, and her hair was spilled out behind her. She looked beautiful. Seeing her was all it took to remind me of what exactly had happened - or not, as the case might be - last night. I'd been a damned idiot, and she'd still taken care of me.

Fuck if that didn't feel pretty good.

So I crawled out of bed and decided I'd repay the favor somehow. A hot shower was a good start. It also made my head feel better. So did a handful of pills to push away the pounding. After that came a gallon of water to rehydrate myself. In reality, it was two glasses of water and four pills, but my hangover made it feel like a lot more work.

Then I ordered room service for Cody, along with a coffee for myself. When everything was delivered, I finally woke her up. While she ate, she kept alternating between watching videos of the bulls and asking if I was ok. The first time was to check my health. I was pretty sure the second was her way of trying to figure out if I was mad at her for not fucking me. I wasn't.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized this was better. Sex? It was easy. Yeah, it was good, and it was a pretty blatant way for a girl to let me know she was into me, but taking care of my drunk ass? That actuallymeantsomething. For the first time, I was starting to see what J.D. had been trying to beat into my brain. This feeling in my chest? It wasn't about getting off. It was about something bigger, and the only word I had for that was a relationship. A girlfriend, not just a fuck.

But when she snuck over to the other room to get her clothes, she came back struggling not to laugh. "I don't wanna wake them," she tittered before tossing her bag down on the spare bed.

"They're both over there?" I asked, because I was pretty sure she meant J.D. and Tanner.

Cody just nodded, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Spooning, and I'm pretty sure they're naked."

Yep, I had to see this. So, trying to be quiet, I cracked open the dividing door and poked my head in. Sure enough, Tanner was wrapped up against J.D.'s back. The blankets were a mess, pushed down a bit, and neither man had on a shirt. Maybe underwear, but I doubted it from the explosion of clothes on the floor.

A glance showed both of their phones plugged in, which meant someone had at least thought ahead enough to get ready for this morning. So, if J.D.'s damned alarm hadn't gone off yet, then I was gonna let them sleep as long as they needed, because this was just one more good thing for today.

The guys had finally hooked up. Cody had taken care of me when I'd needed it most. I wasn't being pushed out of this. In other words, today was going to be a good day, pounding head or not.

She was putting the last of her things into her gear bag when the alarm went off in J.D.'s room. I heard both men talking, but couldn't make out the words, so I rapped on the door. When J.D. called for me to enter, I shoved my head in the way I had earlier, not surprised to see only one man. Tanner, it seemed, was in the bathroom.

"Hey," I told J.D., "I'm gonna take Cody to the arena. You good with that?"

He grumbled under his breath as he kicked at the clothes on the floor. "Yup. Get her bull drawn. Just know that people saw Tanner drive me home from the bar last night."

"So let him drive your hungover ass to the arena," I suggested. "Pretty sure I'm letting Cody drive."

"Good plan," he agreed.

I almost left then, but this whole new relationship thing was still bouncing in my mind. The three of us worked well together, taking care of our girl. But didn't this mean I should look out for them a bit too?

Deciding I had nothing to lose, I asked, "You two gonna be good to ride and run today?"

J.D.'s head jumped up, but his expression was that dangerous one. Calm. Stony. Only his eyes showed anything before he nodded.

"I'm good. He's got nothing to bitch about."

So I nodded back. "Cool. Lemme know if I need to punch you for a cover." Then I leaned back, only to hear J.D. laugh a moment later as the offer sank in.

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