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Brody glance my way before returning his gaze to his mom. “You sure? You look a little…I don’t know. Weird.” He looks down to the melted ice cream bowls sitting on the table.
“We were eating dessert and talking. Your mom got a little emotional,” I tell him, deciding to leave out the part about what happened after.
As if in understanding, Brody nods. “Ahh, I see,” he states, relaxing his stance.
“Did you go to Miss Molly’s?” I ask, realizing Ellie is still too shell-shocked to speak.
“Yeah, we did, but Matt had an early curfew tonight, since he leaves tomorrow after practice for his camping trip,” he says with a casual shrug of his shoulders before walking over to the fridge and grabbing the gallon of water to pour himself a glass.
My sights turn back to Ellie, who’s just sitting there, touching her lips. When she gazes up, her green eyes are still a bit glassy, but she’s at least sitting a little more natural now. She clears her throat and smiles, even though I catch a hint of anxiousness.
“I’m glad you had fun,” she finally says to her son.
His grin looks so much like his mom’s. “All right, I’m headed to the shower. Early morning tomorrow,” he says, bumping me with his shoulder as he passes.
“Watch it. Your coach’ll make you run sprints,” I tease. The last thing I want them to do is run the day after a game. Tomorrow will be for watching parts of the game film and reviewing plays that didn’t work.
Brody laughs. “Night, Coach. Night, Mom,” he says, placing a kiss on his mother’s cheek before leaving the room and heading to the bathroom.
“Night, bud,” she replies.
When the door to the bathroom clicks closed, I turn my full attention to the woman sitting in the chair. “Breathe, El.”
She whimpers as she drops her face into her hands. “I can’t believe I did that.”
Gently, I grip her shoulders and help her stand. My hands wrap around her wrists and gingerly pull hers away from her face. “We. We did that, and it’s okay.”
She adamantly shakes her head. “We’re friends, TD. Friends don’t kiss.”
My dick begs to differ.
“No, not usually, but it happened.” Holding her gaze, I add, “I don’t regret it.”
Her throat bobs as she swallows hard. “It was a really nice kiss,” she whispers, and her confession makes me want to pound my chest with pride.
“We probably shouldn’t have done it but did. It’s okay. We’re still friends, El. I won’t let anything like that come between us.”
She relaxes just a bit and a faint smile plays on her lips. “Okay. But we can’t do that again,” she insists, a faint blush creeping up her neck.
Though I want to argue, tell her why stop when something feels so good, so right, I know she’s correct. It shouldn’t happen again, even if I really want it to. “Agreed. It won’t happen again,” I reassure her and watch as the tension seems to fall from her shoulders.
“Okay. Yeah. Good.”
I lower my hands, realizing I was still holding her wrists, and step away. “I can help you clean up our mess,” I tell her. What’s left of the ice cream is melted and not very appetizing.
“No, I got it,” she insists, turning to collect the bowls.
“I don’t mind helping,” I insist, but she stops me.
“No, really. I’m good. I think…yeah, I think I just need a few minutes alone. If that’s okay with you,” she says, making eye contact once more.
“Of course it’s okay. You never have to worry about needing time to think or breathe, El. Never. I’ll always give you anything you want,” I state, realizing how true that statement is. I’d do anything for this woman, even walk away when everything inside me is telling me to stay.
She gives me a relieved smile and takes the bowls to the sink.
“I’ll get out of your hair. Thank you, again, for dessert.”
“You’re welcome,” she replies, rinsing the bowls.
