Page 37 of Break Out

Multiple. Because there was more than one.

“I found a charter company that’ll take us out to snorkel the reef.” He frowns. “You’re changing the subject, aren’t you?”

“Changing the subject?” I repeat, my heart racing, hoping that my face isn’t giving me away.

“About what happened before brunch.”

“You’re going to have to give me more, Brod. A lot happened before brunch. My suitcase arrived. We ate. My mother showed up.”

“Aubrey.” He levels a look at me that says he knows what I’m doing.

“Fine. You want to talk about this. Let’s do it. You kissed me on New Year’s Eve and didn’t tell me.”

Brody’s gaze darts back and forth over my face. “How did you not know it was me?” My heart drops at the hurt in his voice.

I let out a breath. “It was dark. I couldn’t see much of anything with where you were standing. We’d never kissed. How would I know it was you?”

“Fine. It’s fine. Now we know.” Brody leans back against the couch, closing his eyes. His shoulders sag, and I feel like shit.

“Why didn’t you say something, Brod?” I whisper, leaning over and putting a hand on his cheek.

His eyes flutter open, and he leans further into my touch. He turns his head and kisses my palm before pulling back, his chocolate eyes searching my face for something. What, I don’t know, but he must see it because he finally says, “What was I supposed to say? You ran. I thought”—his voice breaks, and he clears his throat before continuing—“I thought you didn’t want me.”

“What. No. I freaked out. I—” Now it’s my turn to clear my throat and gather myself. “I enjoyed the kiss. I freaked out when it dawned on me that I’d kissed who I thought was one of your teammates. And enjoyed it as much as I did.” I stare down at my hands folded in my lap.

“Aubrey.” Brody whispers my name, and I peek up at him to see his face marred with emotion that I can’t quite place. “Fuck, Aubrey.” He runs a hand through his hair, getting to his feet, and begins to pace. “I thought you didn’t want it. Didn’t want me. I’ve been beating myself up for ruining our friendship. I’m such an idiot. I should have talked to you. Fuck.” He’s running his hands through his hair and tugging on the ends so hard that I’m afraid he’ll pull some of it out.

“Brody.” I’m on my feet and by his side as fast as I can. Is this why his game was off at the end of the season? Why he missed that goal? Because he was so focused on us? On what he thought he’d messed up? “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about it. It’s my fault too.” My hand lands on his bicep, and before I can take another breath, he’s spinning me around and pulling me into his arms. I think he’s going to kiss me, but he surprises me by crushing me to his chest in a hug. I relax into him, wrapping my arms around him.

We stand in silence for a few minutes before he pulls back, looks down at me, and says, “Can we agree to talk to each other next time?”

“Yes, please.” Talking to each other probably would have solved this whole thing a lot sooner, wouldn’t it.

Are we good?” he asks after a few moments of silence.

“We’re good, Brod.”

“Friends? Or?” He wags his eyebrows at me.

“Or what, Brody?” I ask, meeting his gaze.

“Can I kiss you again?”

I shrug, a grin tugging at my lips. “You are my fake boyfriend, so I suppose it’s expected.”

I swear I hear him mumble thank fuck before his mouth crashes into mine, and I get lost in the feel of his lips. He seeks entrance with his tongue, and I open for him. He deepens the kiss, and the rest of the world fades away. It’s just him and me in our little bubble. I sink my fingers into his scalp, which elicits a moan from him.

Does he moan like that when he’s coming? My core clenches at the thought, and now I’m even more turned on. Eventually, he ends the kiss, pulling away from me. Breathlessly, I stare at him—his lips are swollen, and his hair is standing on end, which makes him look even hotter. If that’s possible. And it’s all because of me. It’s a self-esteem boost knowing that I did that to him. That I have that effect on him.

He stares at me silently for a few minutes before saying, “Do you still want to go snorkeling? As much as I want to keep kissing you, Aubs, and I do, if we’re going to go, I should call the charter company and make sure they can still take us out today.”

I take a deep breath. Part of me wants to say screw snorkeling, let’s kiss more, but the rational part of me knows we need to slow down and think about what we’re doing before we go down a road we can’t come back from. I opt to go with the rational part of my brain and say, “We don’t need to charter a boat. I saw a sign for a company that does snorkeling trips. We can do one of those.”

Brody shakes his head, pinching his lips together into a tight line. “Aubrey, I don’t want to go on some company’s boat on their schedule with a bunch of other people.”

“Yeah, but—”

“But what? Let me do this. This is my vacation too, you know.”