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She has no idea what I’m eager to do to her. No fucking clue of the ways I want to tease her the same way she keeps teasing me with her coy smiles, daring grins, and with every lick and bite of her plump lips. My insides twist at the sight, pulling taut with all the pent up, frustrated need roiling inside of me.
“Unless you’re gonna ask me,” I murmur, trailing my hand up her side before I cup her jaw. Pushing my thumb between her pout, I release her bottom lip, working it free from her teeth. “Stop giving me ideas of what to do to this mouth…I already have more than a few of my own.”
“Ask you?” The whispered breath singes my skin while I continue caressing my thumb over her lip.
“To kiss you.”
Rosie shakes her head with a faraway glance past me as she pulls back, dropping her hands from my arms. “I can’t,” she breathes out so low that I can barely hear above the trill of the birds. “I-I can’t.”
“Or won’t?”
“Same thing,” she shrugs back at me with a grimace.
“Do you want it?” Holding her soft stare, I take a deliberate step closer. Even when she doesn’t reply, I know she wants it. Rosie wants me as bad as I want her. And the fact that she doesn’t pull back again gives her away.
All she does is hold my gaze as I give her the time and opportunity to push me away or make a move that backs up her reply. Meanwhile, I soak in all her beauty and that fucking brightness she holds. I’m so damn mesmerized by this girl that I can’t think straight to guard myself from her allure. She’s unlike anything I’ve ever known. A living, breathing contradiction of want and resistance. She’s everything I want to conquer, and I can’t bring myself to walk away or cut off this pull that keeps tugging me closer. Reeling me deeper.
“Have breakfast with me.”
Letting out a long chuckled breath, she shakes her head at me in disbelief, or maybe acquiescence. I don’t care which, when she rolls her eyes and tells me, “Fine, I’ll have breakfast with you so long as you agree to be on your best behavior.”
“Sure.”
“Sure?” she asks, glancing down at our hands when I grasp hers in mine and lead us toward the outdoor seating area of the coffee bar.
“Sure.”
Once we’ve ordered our drinks and food, we sit in the corner that offers some shade for her while I can make the most of the sun. Our table has the tennis courts in direct view so that I can watch the kids practice their serve on repeat. It’s not long before Blaire is hitting the ball directly at Blakely, and the coach is putting her in time-out.
“That kid is crazy,” Rosie laughs, breaking our silence. “Maggie’s so softly spoken and mild tempered, I can only imagine she takes after her dad.”
“Maybe…I wouldn’t know. We didn’t get along.”
“Oh?”
“We didn’t see eye to eye on some things. Maggie deserved better.”
Shining green eyes narrow on me as though she’s looking for something. “I can’t work you out, Brody,” Rosie hums with her head tilted to the side just so, causing her lightly tousled hair to cascade onto the small bistro table.
I can barely resist the urge to coil it around my fingers. Clasping my hands, I sit back into my chair and breathe in the floral scented air.
“You talk like you care deeply about Maggie, but until last week, I didn’t even know she had a brother.”
“I guess some families work better outside each other’s pockets.”
“Maybe.” The faint smile she gives me tells me she doesn’t believe it at all. “Is it hard constantly traveling and…I don’t know…”
“Hard? No. I get to see the world, drive fast cars, and make the most of my life.”
“But you don’t make any real connections.”
“What makes you think that?” I laugh at the confused expression she levels me with.
“You live to work. Isn’t that what you told me yesterday? You don’t allow yourself to get distracted by relationships so that you can live and breathe your career.”
“Really? You think I’m detached from everyone in my life?”
My tone must come across as defensive because she pulls back. Sitting back in her chair to watch me the same way I’m watching her. I’m waiting for her to carry on with her assumptions of my life from the one conversation we had last night.
