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Fuck.What was I doing?
THIRTEEN
BROOKE
“This isn’t…It’s not… It was a moment of weakness.” Adam’s denial sliced through me.
Especially since he still had me pinned to the wall, and that incredible kiss still buzzed through my entire body. I shoved him back enough to step away. “Sorry to be such a temptation.” There was no apology in my tone, because screw that.
“No, I didn’t mean…Fuck.” Adam scrubbed his face and put a couple more feet between us.
“Paige dropped your car off. She said to be careful if you’re out late, because it’s supposed to snow.” Deacon’s tone was cool.
That was fine. Our relationship was only supposed to heat up duringclass. “Great. I can’t do much more here until we can turn off the building power, so I’m going to head out.” Lick my emotional wounds. Wonder why I let my defenses down for even a second with Adam.
Because things hadn’t been that easy and carefree with anyone for a long time. Sure, there was heat with Deacon, but I still questioned so much. With Adam…
Apparently I hadn’t questioned nearly enough.
Deacon handed me my keys without a word, and I headed toward the stairs.
“Don’t.” Adam’s tone stopped me, even though the deceptive blend of request and sadness should’ve set me on high alert. “Neither of you can leave until the three of us talk through this.”
Absolutely ridiculous. “Talk through what?”
“The fact that the tension in this room just cranked up by about a billion atmospheres.”
Even being pissed off at Adam, I wanted to smile at his answer and how uniquely him it was.
“There’s no tension.” Deacon’s ability to stay removed had been sexy less than forty-eight hours ago, and now it tore at me. “I was surprised, but I’m over it. Obviously Brooke was going to see other people, that was the point.”
Obviously.
“I just didn’t think it would be happening right under my feet. Or that it would start with kissing.”
“It did with you.” I turned to face them.
Deacon’s smile was thin.
I had no idea what was happening. My insides were a mess, from my brain to my heart to my stomach. “I didn’t think this was how our second lesson would go.” I needed to rebuild some emotional walls. I thought they were solid, given they’d been in place for more than a decade, but all it took were a couple of kisses from a couple of gorgeous, fun, younger men, and I felt as exposed as if I’d been stripped bare.
That didn’t bode well for my dating future.
“Both of you stop.” Adam’s voice was harder this time. “Don’t say anything else yet, as much as I’d love some company in theI really regret talkingcategory.”
I stared at him, waiting.
Adam worked his jaw. He laughed nervously. “I didn’t expect you to both listen. Brooke, it wasn’t a lapse in judgment. I wanted to kiss you, and I’m not sorry I did.”
Did Deacon just growl? A glance at him showed a casual expression and stance. I must have imagined the sound.
“How long do you need the power off?” Deacon asked.
And we were changing the subject. Fine. “Everything’s in place. I really only need ten or fifteen minutes to hook it up to the main box if everything goes smoothly. More realistically, half an hour. If things go badly, an hour or more.”
“I locked up before we came down here, but I’d like to make sure we don’t impact Aubrey or anyone else on the block. We have a couple of hours to wait until the rest of the shops are closed.” This wasn’t Deacon. This was a pod person who had taken his place and didn’t know how to make inappropriate jokes or tease me until I turned red or make my insides flutter from the attention.
And this definitely wasn’t the Deacon I called a friend. I didn’t understand how any of thiscasual physical relationshipstuff worked at all. “Great. I’ll be back then.” I walked out before anyone could stop me. Not that anyone called my name.
