Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 139(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 139(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry. I never planned on anything happening between Melissa and me, but you and I were in an awkward place, and we hadn’t...” He glances behind me and shuts his mouth.
“Had sex,” I finish for him. His gaze comes back to mine. “So, because I hadn’t had sex with you, you decided to sleep with Melissa?”
“It wasn’t that…” He scrubs his fingers through his hair. “Or it was partly that, but…”
“But what?” I swear I want to kick him in the shin. When I agreed to be his girlfriend, nothing between us changed except the intimacy part of our relationship. But even that only went so far. I mean, we were working up to it, but it was all very uncomfortable for me. So, we hadn’t had sex. He thought it was because I was still a virgin, and I convinced myself of the same thing. Now, I realize it was because he was Kirk, my best friend, the guy I grew up with. We knew everything about each other, and I loved him, but I just wasn’t attracted to him like that. I never had the urge to crawl up his body. I never wanted to kiss him or have him kiss me. There was no desire on my end, and that should have been my first clue that I should have broken up with him. Did he feel the same? Probably. Or maybe. Who knew?
“But I shouldn’t have asked you to be my girlfriend.” He takes a step toward me, and I back up into something—or someone. Then a hand wraps around my hip in a familiar way, and I know without looking that it’s Brodie. Great, how long was he standing there? “We were getting ready to graduate, and I was scared that I would lose you. Part of me thought we could make it work.”
“You know all of this could have been avoided if you had just been honest with me. I don’t care that you’re with her, and sure, no guy wants to tell their girlfriend they’re falling for someone else, but before the dynamic of our relationship changed, you and I were best friends. That should have trumped everything else.”
“You’re right.”
“And you should have known me well enough to know that I would have been okay with you dating Melissa if that’s what you wanted, even if I don’t like her very much.”
“I fucked up.”
“You did, but so did I. I shouldn’t have agreed to be with you either. I knew it wouldn't work, but like you, I didn’t want to lose you and thought agreeing to be your girlfriend was the only way to keep you in my life.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me, too.” My smile is sad because I know that even with this conversation, there is no going back to us being friends.
“Can you forgive me?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean we can go back to being friends like we were.”
“I get that. I don’t like it, but I get it,” he says quietly, then looks at the man behind me, his eyes narrowing the way they used to do when we were kids, and someone was picking on me. “You’d better be good to her.” I sigh and barely avoid rolling my eyes at him when his gaze meets mine once again. “Take care, Reese.”
“You, too.” I watch him walk off. When he’s out of sight, I turn to face Brodie. “How much of that conversation did you hear?”
“I walked out of the bathroom when he said that you and he were in an awkward place.”
So, basically everything. “Great.” I let out a breath. “Well, now you know that I’ve never had sex, so that’s fun.”
He drops his chin and locks his eyes on mine. “You mean you never had sex with him.”
“Umm,” I whisper, caught off guard when he suddenly begins walking me backward. My back hits the wall, and then he cages me in with his big body.
“Are you a virgin, Ree?” he asks on a growl that sends a tingle down my spine.
“Why are you saying it like that?” Also, why is my heart pounding and the space between my legs suddenly pulsing?
“Answer my question.”
“Maybe.” My breath catches as his hand smooths up the side of my waist, coming to rest just below my breast.
“Has anyone ever been inside you?”
“Brodie.”
“Yes? Or no?”
“No.”
“Shit.” He drops his head to my shoulder.
“Shit, what?” I ask, worry beginning to creep up on me. I know there were guys back in college who would refuse to sleep with a girl if she was a virgin because they didn’t want to risk the attachment. Pulling back, Brodie’s eyes meet mine, and then he presses his hips into my belly.
“I’m hard as steel, and there is a room full of people down the hall, Ree.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh.”
I lick my lips. “It doesn’t bother you that…?”