Page 106 of Rush

I nod, grinning. “He was shirtless. Sweaty. I was angry and horny.”

“And you justleft?”

“I panicked!” I shriek, heat rushing to my face.

She clutches her chest like I’ve just dropped a telenovela plot twist.

“You gave him adrive-by blowie?” She’s practically squealing.

My hand flies up over her mouth. “I had shit to process!”

She pries my hand off.

“I bet you did. You’re insane.” She shakes her head, grinning. “I’m obsessed.”

“Just...don’t tell Philippa,” I say, pulling the blanket over my face. “We don’t really want anyone to know. He’s like...their collective best friend, and I don’t want things to getcomplicated.”

“To the grave, babe…you know I got you,” Riley says, her voice way too innocent.

Without missing a beat, she adds, “But if you didn’t want complicated—you should’ve picked a different pole to roll.”

I groan, dragging a pillow over my face. “Iknow—but after the shit with Cooper, the thought of NDA’s make my skin crawl. Brody’s hot and I trust him.”

Riley snorts and flops onto her back, arms splayed across the duvet enjoying the early morning gossip session.

“I knew it would happen eventually he’sobsessedwith you.”

I know Broderick likes me but obsessed? It’s a bit of a stretch.

“What do you mean?”

She rolls her head toward me. “You should’ve seen him at the Gala. He was inawe. Kept telling me how incredible you were. Asking if things with you and Voldemort was serious.”

“Voldemort?”

“Yeah. We no longer speak that asshole’s name.” She pulls the blanket up to her chin.

“So...he was asking about us?”

She nods. “He wanted to know if he had a chance.”

“And what did you say?”

“I told him I don’t speak for you.” She yawns. “Said if he wanted answers, he should askyou.”

This catches me by surprise. The Gala happened before the Hamptons, before that evening in my apartment.

How long has he had feelings for me?

I sink deeper into the mattress. “He did. At the beach. I told him I chose Alex.”

“Oof.” She rolls onto her side, propping her head up on one hand. “And hestillagreed to this?”

“I was...pretty persuasive.”

“I bet you were.” Riley grabs the spare pillow and hugs it to her chest. “Damn, girl. How did you go from Sister Mary Sound of Music tothis?”

“Being friends with you, obviously.” I snort.