9. Brody
When I came out with a towel for Skye, I was struck by how uncertain she looked standing there. It bothered me that the kiss we’d shared had put that tentative look in her eyes.
But now that I’d had some time to think, I didn’t regret it.
Skye had ruined me. I couldn’t imagine wanting to spend every day for the rest of my life with anyone but her. But if she didn’t feel the same way, it might very well mean the end of our friendship. Because I didn’t know how I could ever stand by and watch her loving someone else.
So instead of making things worse by pulling her to me and kissing her again, I handed her the towel, along with one of my T-shirts and a pair of my sweats to put on afterward. “Go warm up, and I’ll rustle us up something to eat.”
She nodded and disappeared into the bathroom, and I went to the pantry. I hadn’t been expecting a guest, and when I’d decided to get away for a few days, I hadn’t planned on cooking anything extravagant, so there wasn’t much.
I got some rice boiling on the stove and diced up chicken and vegetables to make a quick and easy chicken stir-fry.
By the time she came out of the shower, with her skin pink and glowing, the aroma of fragrant spices filled the kitchen.
She stepped up next to me, hesitated for a second, then put her hand on my arm. “Thanks again for coming for me.”
I leaned back against the countertop and folded my arms over my chest. “I’ll always come for you, Skye. No matter what happens, I’ll always be here for you.” It was the truth. Even if this didn’t work out the way I wanted and I had to put some distance between us. If she called me, I’d still come.
Always.
She bit her lip, conflict flickering across her face. I searched her stormy blue eyes, trying to gauge what she was thinking. But like her, I didn’t want this hovering over us anymore. “What do you want to ask me, Skye?”
She studied me for a few more seconds, then sighed. “I guess I want to know why you think kissing me was worth risking everything we have.”
I scrubbed my hand over my face. “Why do you think? I love what we have.But what we could have is so much more than that.”
“But what if it isn’t?” she asked. “What if we do something we can never take back and we lose what we have now?”
“That won’t happen. Look, I know this is sudden for you. But I’ve felt this way for years. Why waste time with other people when we could be together?”
“Because…” She glanced away from me, then back, her expression guarded. “Because I don’t feel that way about you, Brody. You’re my friend, and I love you. But not as anything more than that.”
I forced my jaw not to clench. With the way she’d reacted to my kiss, I didn’t believe her. Or maybe I just refused to go down without a fight. “That’s not how it seemed whenyou were rubbing yourself against me last night.”
Skye’s mouth dropped open. “I wasn’t rubbing against you.”
“Yes, you were. And your nipples were hard.”
I hid a smile at the choked sound she made. She closed her eyes, a flush tinting her cheeks as she crossed her arms tightly over her chest.
“That’s just a biological reaction to being kissed by an attractive man.”
“So you admit you’re attracted to me?”
Her eyes flew open, and she put her hands on her hips, regaining some of the fire I was used to seeing in her. “I’ve never denied you’re hot, Brody. That doesn’t mean I want to jump into bed with you.”
“You’re telling me you’ve never thought about it?” I raised my hand, barely skimming my knuckles along her jaw.
Her breath hitched.
“Not even in the dead of night, when you let your mind drift to things you’d never let it during the cold light of day?”
The darkening of Skye’s already pink cheeks gave her away. I’d certainly imagined it plenty of times. And I was desperate to make that a reality.
But she needed to want it too.
I’d expected her to deny what I’d said, but she surprised me.
“Maybe once or twice.” She licked her lips, dragging my attention to her mouth. “But that’s just fleeting curiosity.”
I nodded. “Okay, so let me ask you this. Have you ever touched yourself when you’ve thought about us together?” Her eyes widened, but I kept going, lowering my voice. “Because I know I have.”
I took a step closer, backing her against the cupboards and bracing my hands on the countertop behind her, caging her in.
“B-Brody…”
“Do you want to know how often I’ve stroked myself, picturing your body under mine? Imagining the sounds you’d make and how good it would feel to have my hands on you?” I bent down and feathered my lips along her cheek, savoring the way she shivered against me.
But before she could respond, I stepped back and gave her a casual grin. “Ready for dinner?”
She gaped at me, then slapped me hard on the chest. “Oh my god, Brody! I can’t believe you did that! I thought you were serious.”
Keeping the smile on my face, but saying nothing, I turned to the stove top and slid the pan off the hot burner. She might want to pretend I was making it up, but the idea was in her head now. There’d be no getting it out.
We let the topic slide as we plated our meals. Rather than sit at the dinner table, we used bowls and sat on the small couch in front of the fireplace. My cabin had central heat, but the flickering flames lent an intimate atmosphere to the room.
It was cozy sitting there with her while the storm raged outside. Even with this thing hanging between us, we chatted fairly normally as we ate. She told me about a large commission she’d gotten for her pottery, and I told her about some of the calls Holden and I had dealt with recently.
The wind outside was picking up, but luckily, I always made sure the cabin was stocked with essentials, and I had a generator, so we would be okay for power. But I wasn’t sure how long we were going to be stuck here. Not that I was complaining.
When we finished eating, I stood and took her bowl from her. “You want a glass of wine?”
She rested her head on the back of the couch and looked up at me. The firelight flickering in her eyes made them glimmer seductively. That wasn’t her intention, but it sent a shot of desire through me, anyway.
“That sounds nice.” Her voice was soft and relaxed, the turmoil that filled her earlier seemingly gone. Which I hoped meant even if she wasn’t on board with the idea of us yet, she wasn’t freaking out about what I’d told her anymore.
I took the bowls to the sink, gave them a quick scrub, and set them on the draining board to dry. I opened a bottle of red I had in the cupboard, poured two glasses, and brought them back to the couch.
After passing her one, I sat down and picked up the TV controller. “Want to watch something?”
“I don’t know how long I’ll stay awake, but sure. If I fall asleep, just put a blanket over me. I’m happy to sleep here for the night.”
Ah, right. My cabin only had one bedroom. But if she thought I was going to leave her out here to sleep on the couch while I was comfortable in my king-size bed, she was mistaken.
“What do you feel like watching?” I asked, hoping she’d take that as my acceptance of her comment.
She seemed to, and we went through a couple of options before settling on a thriller with a strong romantic sub-plot. That was my suggestion. It couldn’t hurt to keep some sexual tension simmering in the air.
Sure enough, when the first slightly gratuitous sex scene came on, there was a change in the atmosphere. We’d watched movies with sex scenes in them plenty of times before, but never with this what-if hovering between us.
Her breathing picked up noticeably as the camera panned around the couple tangled up in each other. From the corner of my eye, I caught her fidgeting, casually crossing her legs, then uncrossing them again. I kind of wished my peripheral vision wasn’t so damn good, because I almost groaned out loud when she pressed her thighs together.
I hoped it was because she was picturing the two of us together the way I was, and not because she was getting excited by the overly buff guy on the screen.
Skye relaxed again when the scene ended, and not long after that, she shifted toward me, her head dropping against my shoulder. Her slow breaths warmed my skin under the long-sleeved Henley I was wearing. I put my arm around her and basked in her proximity.
I relished in the feel of her pressed against me for a few minutes before stopping the movie, gathering her up, and carrying her to my bedroom. After tucking her in, I brushed my teeth, then stripped and pulled on my pajama pants. I left my shirt off and slipped under the covers with her. It wasn’t fair of me, but I wasn’t above playing dirty to win this. As long as the power was running, the cabin would stay warm, and her body lying next to mine provided a heat all of its own.
At the sight of her profile, barely visible with the lack of moonlight coming through the window, my heart swelled in my chest.
I refused to believe I couldn’t get her to see that what was between us was special. There was no way I was going to lose her over this.
I wouldn’t allow it.