Chapter 26
While gloriously victorious, that last hit had done a number on poor Pax, and he’d spent his evening laid up or rotating between an ice bath and sauna to ramp up his rebound before playoffs. Only his title as world’s best little brother allowed him to humor me with dinner last night.
Having decided we would tell the family together in Florida, I watched as Broderick’s anxiety ratcheted up by the hour, even as he steered clear of coming over to see Paxton when I did. Something about not being able to lie to him if he wasn’t around. Luckily for us, Paxton had been spluttering on a mouthful of electrolytes and then toweling off under unending congratulations when that damn kiss cam focused on us.
Max had combed through all the footage from the game, and set up some fancy keyword search trigger thing in case our names popped up anywhere new online. I didn’t know how it worked; I just knew he swore it would.
It was stupid on my part, obviously, for us to have been affectionate at all in such a public setting. But fuck me sideways, if I could keep my hands off Broderick for more than a heartbeat. Let alone with adrenaline pumping and victory screaming through my veins.
That Hail Mary had been incredible. And incredible things deserved to be celebrated with my incredible man.
And he was my man, I’d decided, even as his anxiety drove him from bed Sunday night.
“Come on,” I mumbled, wiping the sleep from my eyes and dragging him out of the room. “Get your fine ass in swim trunks. We’re going to the pool.”
“It’s five in the morning, are you insane?”
“It’s five in the morning,” I countered saucily, holding his gaze as I peeled my shirt off, satisfied as his eyes roved over me. “Get with it, professor.”
Which led us here, relaxing in the rumbling bubbles of the hot tub before breakfast. Broderick’s corded arms were spread out to either side of him, braced on the slick gray concrete, his head lolled back as he soaked in the massage of high-powered jets. My legs were straddling his, my arms resting on his shoulders.
“So, after Christmas, what’s next?” He asked. I wasn’t sure if he was scrambling to keep himself thinking of anything but the looming conversation, or if he was actually trying to make plans.
“Going to visit Alice in Emerald Bay. Batch record the next two months of episodes for TrailblazeHer. The book tour starts the middle of January, so it’ll be nice to hang tight with the girls for a few weeks. Slow down after months on the road.”
“Nice. Trade one beach for another.”
“Whenever humanly possible, that is my goal.”
“How are the twins?”
“In SoCal heaven. Kaia already picked up a gig at a local coffee shop, but Leighton is holding out for something more long term.”
“Figures,” he chuckled, but it was halfhearted at best. Needing to get his mind off of things, I glanced around to ensure we were alone, and then slowly drug my body over his groin, smiling coyly when his dick twitched against my entrance through the flimsy layers of fabric. “Fuuuuck,” he said as his hands flew to bracket my bare waist. It shouldn’t have been possible for something as simple as his palms against my bare skin to feel so decadent, but he’d yet to touch me without my body lighting up like a Christmas tree. From simple caresses to lavish licks, the man activated more synapses in my brain than any one person should have a right to.
This cobalt blue swimsuit did absolute wonders for my figure, the top freakishly supportive and high-waisted bottoms beautifully forgiving for days of bloat. Today though—I was feeling myself today. The color emboldened the blue in my eyes, and the last lingering hint of tan in my skin. And this incredible man was running his gorgeous, vascular hands over me, his eyes suddenly focused and locked on mine. Dark with flared pupils, like a predator about to enjoy every ounce of its prey. God, I wanted to be Broderick Allen’s prey for the rest of my life. His to break apart and piece back together again.
I rocked against him, humming when the friction of his rapidly swelling dick hit my clit.
“You feel incredible, Pix.” A truncated chuckle rumbled in his ribs, and I canted my head.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing, baby, just thinking.”
“I’m mostly naked grinding on your dick, it’s not great timing for that kind of thinking without sharing with the class, sir.”
He dug his strong fingers into my hips, pulling me forward over the long, hard ridge of his impressive cock. “Just thinking that when I dropped out of the grant competition, I never thought I’d end up here, with you humping me in a hot tub a month later.”
My mouth popped open right as realization sparked in his eyes. “Wait, what do you mean?—?”
His lips came down on mine, one hand slipping beneath the scrappy fabric of my top and finding my nipple, giving it a hot, hard twist that sent heat spilling through my body. But not even expertly wielded lust would clear my mind of what he’d just said.
I peeled our lips apart, and then clamped my hand over his mouth to keep him from distracting me with the promise of body trembling, mind numbing, IQ eliminating ecstasy. “You can’t kiss your way out of that one. Answer me, Brod. What in the fuck did you just say?”
“That I never thought I’d get this lucky.” he supplied quickly, giving me something like the man equivalent to puppy eyes.
“Yes, I got that, you’re very cute, but stop being evasive. Did you… did you drop out of the grant competition?”
“Look, uh, it didn’t work out the way I meant it to,” he mumbled against my hand until I removed it. “But yeah, I figured you’d kick that big lug’s ass. I wasn’t going to say anything because I didn’t want to make it worse. Wait, why do you look so horrified?”
“Brod,” I breathed, shaking my head as my stomach churned. “Baby, I dropped out too. I had the same train of thought.”
His brows winged up and I couldn’t tell if he was ticked or amused. “You’re telling me we handed the funding to Pierce because we both bowed out?”
“Yeah, my agent called Chris, and he called Mara and me. We got picked up by a reality television network. The school is going to be fully funded once we can land on a location.”
“Baby, what?! That’s incredible?—”
I shook my head, cutting off his enthusiasm. “You deserved that funding. You worked so hard to get there and put your best foot forward. I was so damn proud of you. Of the business plan. Of how it would impact the island. Why? Why would you do that?”
“El, isn’t it obvious?” Those big brown eyes softened, flicking between my own. When I just stared back, he rasped, “Baby girl, I’m in love with you.”
My jaw fell open, eyes flying wide as emotion welled up in me. I’d yearned to hear those words from his lips for my entire adult life. Plus a few years, if I was honest. I could barely breathe as I said, “What?”
“I’m in love with you,” he repeated without flare, as if it were as natural a statement as the sky being blue. My heart soared as his forehead came to rest against mine. His thumb brushed over my cheekbone as he chuckled, adding, “And I’m an idiot for waiting so long to tell you.”
When his soft lips came down this time, they were gentle, yet urgent as his hands guided my body over his, rocking my hips. He didn’t wait for me to say it back, didn’t leave the declaration hovering in the air. Instead, he stole away my breath and sent heat flaring through my core. Perhaps I’d known—had certainly hoped—before he said it. Seen it in the way he tailored our time together, in the decade of collected post cards, and thoughtful little details like hot pads in our bed so I wouldn’t freeze in Mistyvale. It was glaring within his determination to talk me into telling my family. And now…he walked away from the grant of his dreams because he believed it would give me a leg up, for pity’s sake.
The bridge of my nose stung, but all thoughts vanished as he gripped my hipbone, dragging me forward as he ground my clit against him, lust teetering through my system as decadent kisses made my head spin. My hands found his hard cock beneath the thin fabric of his trunks, and he bit into my lip, gently dragging it between his teeth. As my fingers slipped below the elastic waistband, needing to feel him against my skin, but hindered by the angle, Broderick chuckled.
“You a closet voyeur too, El?”
I glanced around, ensuring we were still alone. “There would have to be people, wouldn’t there?”
“I believe the prospect of them is plenty.”
Grinding over him, I lowered my lips to hover over his. “I’ll make a rebel out of you, yet, Professor Allen.”
“Perhaps,” he said with a chuckle, but it was the heavy metallic creak and clang of the door that had him sliding me off his lap and tucking me against his side. “But apparently not today.”
I burst out laughing as the space filled with the echo of excited children. “A sex scandal probably wouldn’t look great to the network,” I allotted under my breath.
“I’m just about ready to get outta here. How about you?”
“So beyond ready.”
“Come on, Pix.” He rose from the bench as the kids all whooped and started canon balling into the pool in a rapid sequence of splashes. A mother with exhaustion shadowing her eyes—clutching two hotel branded cups of coffee to her chest like they were a lifeline—slumped into a blue plastic pool chair. Normally, my sympathy would have been off the charts after years watching my mother wrangle all of us kids, but my mind was still trapped in our conversation. When I turned to Broderick as he climbed from the hot tub, I couldn’t help but admire every inch of his body as the water sluiced down it.
“Hey, Brod?”
“Yeah?” he said, glancing over his shoulder, biceps flexing as he rotated toward me, and the warm water sloshed against my belly.
“I love you, too.”
The smile that carved his features would live in my memory for the rest of our lives. But it was his words that sent my heart hammering. “I know, baby.”