Page 199 of Rush

“Hello, gorgeous.”

I freeze. Then turn.

Broderick leans against a marble column, watching me with that slow, easy grin that coils low in my stomach. His eyes rake over the dip of my dress before landing on my face. He looks good. No,dangerous. A tux stretched over that absurd torso.

“Damn,” he murmurs.

“I’m sorry, do I know you?” I tease.

“Ouch, gone for a few days and you’ve already forgotten me.”

I pout and he cocks his head stepping forward, hands in his pocket, he leans down against my ear, his breath tickling my neck. “Did you miss me?”

I swallow, the sound of his voice reverberating through my bones, melting all the pent-up frustration in a heartbeat. But my pride wins out, I take a step back and turn but his hand finds my wrist.

“Are you mad at me, baby?

I turn back looking up at him. Even in heels he still towers over me. “You couldn’t text?”

“You’re so needy,” he teases. “So you are mad.” He smiles, and there’s something about the way he does—it’s contagious.

I scrunch my face, fighting a grin. “Raging.”

He reaches out, cupping my face. “You’re cute when you’re mad.”

I shove him, but there’s no power behind it, he just chuckles, like a mouse trying to take on a bull.

“I’m not entirely sure what I did, but I’m sorry.”

“You denied me sex, which goes against our agreement, and you didn’t check in. I started to think…”That you didn’t want this anymore. But I can’t bring myself to say it. I don’t want to know the truth, what if heispulling away?

The fear spreads quick and sharp. I drop my gaze.

And he sees it.

“Ah, I see, so you got yourself big mad because I didn’t fulfil your needs?”

“Big mad? You make me sound like I’m having a tantrum over orgasms.”

Broderick barks out a laugh. “El—come here.” He pulls me into a bear hug, my head nestled against his chest, the warmth of him wrapping around me. Steadying those fears.

I breathe him in, woodsy and warm, like the forest after a summer storm.

“It wasn’t anything you did, I had a lot on my mind that night too and I didn’t exactly want to take advantage of you after you had a shitty day. Then I woke up the next day feeling like trash,I had every intention of reaching out.” He rubs the bare skin on my back, sending a different kind of shiver down my spine.

Relief settles into my bones, sudden and stupid. But it doesn’t erase the ache completely.

I try to play it off. “Oh, so youwereon your period?”

He chuckles, my head bobbing on his chest. “You’re so insensitive. I was PMSing and everything.”

God, I miss this—the way he so easily pulls a laugh out of me, even when I’m being petulant or bratty.

“Are you sure you were sick, and it wasn’t...something else?”

“I promise you, there’s no other reason. I didn’t want to infect you. Especially with you performing in Atlanta soon.”

“Cooties?”