“No . . .” I said, uncertainty lacing my tone.
“Baby—I love your body. I’ve wanted it for a long time. I love that you’re so tall, so when we hug, I barely have to lean down to kiss you. I could get lost all day staring into those eyes. Your smile—it lights up a room. Even the scent of your shampoo drives me wild. And Iknowyou felt how much I liked grabbing your ass.”
I blushed, partly for the unexpected barrage of compliments, and partly from recalling the feel of his hard length pressed into me as I leaned back on his car with his lips against mine. Yes, his attraction had definitely shown earlier tonight.
“So last winter... when you stopped... it wasn’t because you didn’t like what you felt when you touched me?”
“Baby—God, no. No. Couldn’t be further from the truth.”
My heart skipped several beats that he’d called mebaby, not once, but twice now.
“I mean—I know my body is... fine. It’s notbad.” I hated the self-consciousness that seeped into my tone.
“Fine?” he challenged, exhaling through his nose. The humor had left his voice. “Seriously, Brooke—fuckingfine?”
“Yessss...” I hesitantly squeaked out, his more serious tone ratcheting up my nerves.
One more deep breath, then his voice returned to the line, huskier than before. “Listen to me carefully, Brooke. Your body is the best, most intoxicating thing I’ve ever seen.”
I started to shake my head slightly, denying his words, but he continued, undeterred by my silent protest.
“I still think about the way your curves filled out that dress at the reunion. For months I got myself off thinking about it.”
Okay, that revelation was surprisingly hot.
“And it took every ounce of self-control for me to keep myself from taking you to bed that night at my parents’ house. I just wanted you to be ready. I wanted it—us—to be right.”
“So this... we’re really doing this? I mean, you and me?” I hated how uncertain and shaky my voice still sounded, but I needed his reassurance.
“We are most definitely doing this. Consider me yours. Boyfriend, love monkey, whatever term you want to put on it.”
Now I was the one laughing, but my nerves were soothed. We talked til I knew he was home safely. When we hung up, I rolled over in bed, replaying the night and the feel of his lips and hands on me while I touched myself until I fell into an exhausted oblivion.
23
CADE
Throughout the next week, my days were filled with training, and in the evening I scrubbed the house from top to bottom. I put fresh flowers from a local stand in every room, with a huge arrangement including sunflowers in the kitchen. Even Echo got a bath in preparation for Brooke’s arrival.
Brooke was never far from my mind. We sent flirty texts back and forth whenever we had a free moment in our schedules. I couldn’t wait for the weekend, my anticipation amping up with each passing day. Brooke was driving in Saturday afternoon after work, and I planned to order us a nice dinner and set up a backyard picnic for us. I hung twinkle lights on the back deck to add to the ambiance.
After Brooke moved across town when we were teens, her mom would drop her off at my house a couple of nights a week. We'd spend those summer nights in my yard with blankets and pillows set up, with a projector playing a movie. It felt like our own personal drive-in theater. I set up jars on the deck for us to catch fireflies, another favorite summer activity from our shared past.
Brooke arrived in the early evening, and my heart gave a leap when she stepped out of her beat up old Honda Accord and I saw her smiling face. Maple hopped from the car and gave me a familiar sniff as I ruffled her fur. I led them inside the house.
It was Brooke’s first time meeting Echo, and the first time the pups had met each other as well. I had Echo on a leash at first, to let Maple get comfortable. Brooke greeted Echo, leaning down to his level and sticking her hand out for him to sniff.
He immediately nudged her hand with his nose, asking for pets. After a moment, she caught my eye and grinned even wider. I knew she’d noticed his heterochromia—he had a brown eye on the brown half of his face, and a blue eye on the spotted half.
“Dogs really do start to look like their owners,” she teased with a wink.
Maple and Echo were fast friends, and we led them into the yard, where they set off to explore for interesting smells.
“Hungry?” I asked Brooke. She had come straight from the hospital and still wore her scrubs, her hair up in a ponytail. I’d tried to dress like I would for a ‘real’ date, in dark-wash jeans and a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up over my forearms.
“Starving,” she confirmed. “Mind if I get changed first?” I waved an arm and she headed back into the house.
“But be comfy,” I called after her.
