Page 112

When he comes back, he sits on the edge of the bed, one hand resting on my hip like. "Do you want a shower or anything? Water? I could make—"

"No."

I reach for him, and he comes easily, settling down behind me. One arm slides under the pillow at my head, the other wraps around my waist, pulling me flush against him. The weight of him, the solid warmth is exactly what I need without knowing I needed it.

We lie there in the quiet for a moment, and then, because I can't help myself, I say, "Tell me about your first time."

He's silent long enough that I think he might deflect, make a joke, change the subject. "Nothing to tell there. My brother—" He stops abruptly, the way you do when you've already said more than you meant to.

My breath catches. “You have a brother?”

“I did.”

There’s something in the way he says it that makes me hesitate, but before I can ask, he keeps going.

“He was actually the one who told me this girl liked me. She was mortified when she found out he’d ratted her out, but I didn’t mind. I liked her too, so we dated for a while.” He pauses. “Eventually, we slept together. It was both our first time, and then a couple months later we broke up.”

I twist just enough to look at him over my shoulder. “That’s not a very romantic story.”

“Ask me again when I haven’t just had mind-blowing sex with the most beautiful girl in LA.” A grin slides back into place, but something about it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’ll wax poetic then.”

“Mind-blowing?” I raise an eyebrow, even as warmth floods through me at the compliment.

“Mind-blowing.” He kisses me until I’m breathless again, and when he pulls back, there’s a familiar glint in his eyes.

I narrow mine. “What?”

“I was thinking…” His hand settles on my hip. “You might be a little sore.”

“A little,” I admit.

“So I was thinking round two should be a lot gentler on you.”

The way he says it makes heat start gathering inside me all over again.

“You mean…”

His mouth curves. “I mean you don’t have to do anything except lie there and let me take care of you.” He kisses the corner of my mouth. “If you want.”

I stare at him, suddenly wide awake despite the exhaustion that was creeping into my limbs a minute ago.

It’s only much later that I start wondering if changing the subject so quickly was intentional.

He rushed right past the mention of his brother. And of course I noticed he spoke of him in the past tense. Come to think of it, he never has family at the team’s family games.

For someone who seems to wear his heart on his sleeve, there’s an entire part of his life he keeps tucked away where no one can see it.

And I can’t help wondering why.

20

WYATT

Act Natural

Isit on the edge of the bed and pull on the sock I finally found under the nightstand, watching Quinn through the mirror while she fixes her hair.

“I’m not coming to see you off,” she says, catching me looking. “I’m coming to see my dad off.”