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“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.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
BRODERICK
After what was decidedly the best Monday morning to ever exist, we ate breakfast together, and El hopped online for her meetings while I lounged like a bump on a log with a book in my lap. I couldn’t help but watch her as she led her full staff meeting like the pro she was, as they evaluated their final location choices for the show. It seemed like they’d come down to Los Angeles or Seattle, which would at least keep her on the west coast.
“Commute time is about the same,” Chris pointed out. His voice had become familiar to me over the last few days, as he was her most vocal contributor to most group conversations. “But air quality is better in the Pacific Northwest.”
