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I scoff. "Babe, I don't do relationships. I don't do feelings. So, I don't think that'll be a problem for me."
Holland tears her gaze from mine, fiddling with her hands in her lap. "Feelings complicate things, and the last thing you need is a complication, and the last thing I want is to ruin the relationship I have with my one and only best friend. So, we both agree? Sex only."
"Done."
"Rule two: No one can ever know. I mean it, Reed. Not your teammates, not Liam, and especially not Emery."
I nod. "I know. I'm a private guy, Holland, you have nothing to worry about."
And she doesn't. It's not like I'd stand on a rooftop and tell the world who I'm sleeping with. Briggs might, but not me. I respect Holland too much to ever purposefully put that shit on display.
"Do you have anything you want to add?"
Fuck, all I can think about it is getting my hands on her, but since we are having this conversation, I want to make my expectations clear. I hate miscommunication and the last thing I would ever want to do is hurt her.
"Rule three... When the season is over, we walk away. We go back to the way things were before."
Holland's face changes slightly and I think I almost see a flash of hurt, but she nods. "I agree. It's obvious we have some kind of chemistry, but it would never work outside of this. You're right. And I just… I don't want to lose Em, Reed."
"So, we stick to the rules. Strictly sex between friends."
"Okay. So…" she trails off, looking more nervous now that "the talk" is out of the way.
“There’s no pressure, Holland, we take things at our own pace. Whatever you’re comfortable with. No expectations.”
The rules seem simple laid out this way, but I have a feeling they’re going to be anything but simple.
Not when Holland is involved.
“How about we just watch a movie? I’m sure you have gummy worms stashed somewhere in that suitcase since you’re an addict. We can put something on and just… I don’t know, hang out?” I ask.
Her deep blue eyes roll. “You don’t know that.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Are there gummy worms in your suitcase right now, Holland?”
“Fine.”
She climbs off the bed, disappearing back into her suite, then returns with a giant bag of sour gummy worms. The same snack she’s been addicted to since we were kids. She and Emery used to beg me to pick some up when I went grocery shopping for Ma, when they were having a sleepover.
Hesitantly, she crawls back onto the bed, taking her place next to me. I turn off the bedside lamp and put on a movie from pay-per-view. Something horror, since I know that she loves anything scary.
“Oh, I’ve been wanting to see this. It’s the sequel to the first doll movie,” Holland murmurs.
The movie starts and about halfway into it, Holland inches slightly closer. Then a little closer whenever a part makes her jump, until she’s pressed against me. I’m trying to focus on the movie and not the feel of her, but she’s making it hard.
And when I say it, I mean my dick.
That was a bad joke, but in all seriousness, I can’t remember the last time I wanted anyone the way that I want Holland.
“I can’t concentrate,” she says.
"Me either.”
She sits up on her elbows and plops another gummy worm in her mouth. “It’s not like either of us is actually going to watch any of this movie. Let’s play twenty questions. You ask a question, then I’ll ask a question. We can get to know each other better.”
“You’ve known me since you were seven, I’m pretty sure you know everything about me.”
“Not true.” She sits up completely and crosses her legs in front of her, and I have to force my eyes to stay on hers. “I’ll go first. Favorite food?”
