“No.” He let go of her wrist.
Her heart sank all the way to her toes. Though she guessed she should be flattered, she didn’t want only three sides to Brody. She wanted all sides of him, including the part that wanted only to feel after a life-altering day. Kyle had given her the barest of details, but from what she could gather on the local news and the Internet, the fire had been hell on everyone.
It was a miracle that everyone got out alive.
“Is it because you think I want Kyle?”
He nodded once. “Not fair to the Rookie or you.”
Reaching behind her, she untied the corset and slowly let it fall away. His blue eyes darkened, and he took a step closer. Pushing her thong down, she kicked it across the room and stood straight.
“I don’t want Kyle.”
Brody muttered a curse. “You sure about that?”
“Yes.” As soon as she uttered the word, Brody was on her, his hands everywhere, his mouth covering hers. He bit, licked, and sucked at her skin, while lowering her to the floor. The hardwood floor was cold on her back, but then Brody covered her and she didn’t feel anything but him and his heat.
“I’m going to take you hard and fast,” he said in warning.
She stretched her arms above her head and crossed them at the wrists. “Take me however you want.”
His eyes gleamed as he pinned her wrists to the floor with one hand. With the other, he worked at the button fly of his jeans and shoved them down just enough for his erection to spring free.
She parted her legs. Dipping his head, he kissed her inner thighs, ran his nose along the curves until he came to the heat of her. His tongue found her, unerringly quick, and she cried out.
“Wet for me,” he growled in approval.
Sydney’s heart turned over in her chest. Despite his earlier promise of taking her, he still had to make sure she was ready, that he wouldn’t hurt her…She didn’t think she could love him anymore than she did in that moment.
“Always for you,” she whispered.
He moved over her once again, letting go of her wrists to push her thighs even wider. Fitting himself between them, he drew one leg over his shoulder and pushed the broad head of his erection inside. She tilted her hips to take him further, groaning his name as he lowered his head to the floor beside her.
Another thrust and he was fully seated. His big hand reached under her to grab her hip, bringing her more fully against him. Then he began to thrust. As deep as he could go and then back out again, almost completely out. For long, tortuous minutes he teased her like this, with long, slow movements that had her crying out for more.
His breath was hot on her skin, his lips on her throat. “Mine. Always mine.”
She couldn’t speak, couldn’t assure him that she was his, because he began to move more forcefully. Harder. Faster. With every thrust, his body made contact with the most sensitive part of hers. Their skin grew slick and their movements frantic.
Pulling out of her, he flipped her onto her stomach and raised her hips. “Want you like this,” he said.
“Oh,” she choked out as he worked his way inside of her. He leaned over her, biting at her shoulder while his big hands cupped her breasts and teased her nipples. Suddenly, it was too much and her body flew apart. She came, crying out his name.
“Love you, Sydney. Love you so much it hurts,” he said moments before joining her.
Stunned, Sydney could only lay there, not saying a word as he pulled out of her and walked away. He loved her. Brody loved her.
Oh my gosh. Brody Dean Lawson loved her, and she hadn’t said a dang thing back to him.
A warm cloth eased between her legs. “Was I too rough?”
Turning over, she sat up and searched his face. “Did you mean what you said about loving me?”
His gaze stayed steady on hers. “I did.”
She bit the side of her lip, even as tears began to fall. “I love you, too.”
“Ah, hell, Syd,” he began, gathering her in his arms. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.” Carrying her to the sofa, he sat down. She curled into him and he covered them both with the throw on the back of his sofa. It was the same one she’d made for him years ago, saying his house needed a personal touch.
The fact that he kept it right out in the open made her heart swell even more.
“I’m not sad,” she said with a sniff. “I’m happy. I’m so flipping happy to finally be able to tell you the truth.”
“The truth?” He cocked his head to one side. “What truth?”
“Don’t be mad, okay?” She took a deep breath. “But, I lied to you about Kyle. I never wanted to seduce him. Sure, he chased me around, but the only reason I pretended to want him was so that I could get you. Get you to help me, that is, and then maybe make you fall in love with me.”
When he said nothing, she made a face. “It sounded much better in my head.”
“So there was absolutely no chance you wanted to be with Kyle?” he asked.
She grinned. “Nope. Not one bit. Just you.” Pressing a kiss to his stubble-roughened cheek, she added, “I love you so much, and I’m sorry for deceiving you, but I didn’t know any other way to do it.”
He set her away from him and all those warm feelings of love started to freeze. “What’s wrong?”
“Everything.” He ran a hand over his face, and then looked at her. His blue eyes were diamond hard. “Because of your little plan, I almost killed a man today because I was so stupidly, blindly jealous. Then I almost killed myself trying to save that damn fool.”
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I didn’t think it would be like this.” Sydney made to hug him, but he gently pushed her away.
“I can’t…I’m so disgusted with myself right now.” He stood up and walked away. “You need to go home.”
“I don’t understand,” she said, wrapping the throw tighter around her. “I thought you loved me.”
Brody’s eyes flashed with pain. “I’ve loved you for years, baby. Years. But right now, I don’t like you at all. I feel like I don’t know you. Much less myself.” With that, he left the room, leaving her by herself.
“Go home, Sydney,” he called out from the garage. “I need time to think.”
When she heard the door slam and his truck back out of the driveway, Sydney burst into tears. It was over. Her chance at love with her very best friend was gone.
Worst of all, she was completely responsible for screwing it all up.
Chapter Nineteen
‡
Brody punched the bag in front of him with all his might. It swung widely and then settled into place. He’d been working out so long, sweat poured off his body. The tape on his knuckles was bloody and he had a killer stitch in his side.
But, he didn’t give a good damn.
He wanted to hurt. He wanted to be bloody, sweaty, and uncaring of how he treated his body.
And, it was all Sydney’s fault.
Well, actually, it was his fault. He didn’t have to let his jealousy control him or his actions. Or be so damned harsh with Sydney.
He groaned and let his head fall back.
“Lady problems,” Kyle said as he walked inside the gym. “I got them, too. Not only won’t Sydney return my calls, but she also refused to answer the door when I came by to bring her flowers.”
Just what he needed—a reminder of why he’d been such an ass to the girl he loved. “Have you taken the hint?”
“That she’s playing harder to get—yeah. Just means I need to up my game.”
Rage boiled up and he propelled Kyle into the wall, all in his face. “When a lady isn’t interested in you, that’s not the time to pursue her harder. It’s time to be a man and leave her the hell alone. If you don’t, then I’m going to make sure you leave her alone. Got it?”
Kyle’s face paled as he let out a weak laugh. “I got it. You screwed up, didn’t you?”
Brody let him go. “Mind your own business.”
> “Kinda hard when all you do is mope around all day. Not even that blaze in Jacksonville got you pumped.”
“I don’t get pumped over people’s livelihood burning to the ground.”
Kyle snorted. “No, you get pumped about helping, about being the hero.”
He was no hero. A hero did not tell the woman he loved that he didn’t like her, and then order her to leave. “I need to go.”
“Running away from your problems won’t solve them,” Kyle called out. “You should talk to her. I have two dozen flowers you could give her. You don’t even have to say I bought them, but if she likes them, then put in a good word for me in case the two of you don’t work out.”
The damn nerve…Brody flipped Kyle the bird and started to leave.
“There’s the captain I know.”
“Shut up, Rookie.” If he didn’t dislike the kid so much, he might love him like a brother. A pain-in-the-ass little brother he wanted to throat punch.
“I’ll get right on that, Captain.”
*
Everywhere Sydney went, Brody was there, too. It made her heart hurt to see him, so she avoided looking at him the best she could. But, today’s softball game wasn’t exactly the place to ignore the co-captain of their team.
“Batter up,” the ump called.
Sydney sat in her usual spot and twirled her bat around between her legs. She knew Brody was the next one up and wondered if he would bother speaking to her at all.
“Can’t do anything without you—your bat.”
“Replacement,” Brody called, and Sydney glanced up to see him walking to the plate.
“Don’t you need our bat?” she called out, her heart pounding in her ears.
He froze on the way there, his back muscles bunching and his hands curling into fists. Slowly pivoting, he walked back to her and she almost ran away from the frosty look in his eyes. But she was stronger than that; she could handle his frostiness on the field.
“Thanks.” He took the bat from her and didn’t look back.
Her shoulders slumped. She turned to say something to Lemon, but remembered that her friend wasn’t there. She was home sick today.
It ended up being a lonely and super uncomfortable game. It was as if everyone knew she and Brody were off and avoided them both. While she wouldn’t have minded the distraction, all he did was bark out plays and glare at the opposing team.
As she trudged to her car, Brody called her name. Hope blossomed in her chest without her permission.
“Yes?” she said a little too breathlessly. Maybe he wanted to talk. Maybe he wanted to have a beer, and they could go back to old times and forget the past few weeks. She’d rather have him as her friend than not at all.
“Next week is your turn to bring snacks.” A muscle ticked in his jaw as he stood there, looking at her. “Don’t forget.”
“I never forget,” she said, suddenly angry at the implication.
“Didn’t mean to imply that you did. Just thought you might be like me, with a lot on your mind right now.”
She blinked up at him. That was the most he’d said to her in six days. Her righteous anger fell away. She could be angry and alone, or she could talk things through and possibly get her friend back.
“Want to get a beer?” she asked. “Or just hang out at my place?”
His eyes flared. “I already have plans.”
Her stomach dropped, hitting every nerve on the way down. “Oh, okay. Maybe next time.”
“Yeah, maybe,” he said noncommittally, his gaze leaving her to search the stands.
A woman called out his name. He said nothing. The woman called out his name again and added a little you-hoo to the beginning. Sydney wanted to puke. This was worse than before. At least before, she didn’t intimately know his body, or how he kissed. Or how easy it was for him to make her cry out his name.
She bit the inside of her cheek and waited for him to walk away.
Brody glanced at Sydney, his gaze zeroing in on her face. Could he see what she was thinking? Was she that transparent and desperate?
“Brody Lawson, don’t make me come get you.” Oh, sweet Lord. Veronica Cheatham was calling his name.
The tic in his jaw started up again. “I’m being paged.”
Yeah, by the second biggest flirt in Jessamine who just so happened to have dated four of the eight Lawson brothers at one time or another. Now, it seemed she had her sights set on Brody.
“Guess you need to go.”
He stood there, looking as if he were about to say something. But, he just shook his head and walked away.
Sydney swore that things would get better. “They have to,” she told her weepy reflection in the mirror that night.
Chapter Twenty
‡
“Can you please tell Veronica I’m not interested in her?” Brody all but begged Tristan. “The woman keeps showing up everywhere. Hell, the other day, I was giving a kindergarten class a tour of the station when she popped up wearing next to nothing. I had to slam the office door in her face.”
Tristan laughed. “Now you know how I felt.”
“I thought you liked feeling her.” Brody rubbed the back of his neck as he stretched his legs out under the table.
“You thought wrong,” Tristan grumbled. “The only one who’s felt her—I think—is Austin, and that was before he went pro.”
Their middle brother was a football superstar, having been drafted straight out of college. He played quarterback for the Raleigh Avengers. Every now and then, he would come back home to visit, and Brody and his brothers would give him a hard time about remembering the little people.
“Brody Dean Lawson,” Cherry said from across the room.
“Holy—” Tristan shook his head. “Sorry, brother, but that woman’s going to eat you alive, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Gee thanks.”
Cherry marched up to the table, her swirly skirts swishing and her strawberry-blonde curls flying. “You and I need to have a come-to-Jesus meeting right this instant.”
Tristan scooted out of the booth. “That’s my cue to leave. Ma’am.” He tilted an imaginary hat in Cherry’s direction. “As always, so very nice to leave you.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re next.”
“I’d like to see you try,” he said. “Better yet, tell your little sister to woman up and fight her own damn battles.”
Cherry smiled sweetly. “I’ll be sure to convey your sentiments to Lemon.”
“Good,” Tristan replied. “And while you’re at it, tell her I want my letters back.”
She stared at him blankly. “What letters?”
“Never mind.” He stalked out of Yates’ diner.
“I swear, he’s as vague as Lemon sometimes.” Cherry focused her attention on Brody and sat down across from him in the booth.
In the past, she would have sat beside him, her thigh touching his as her fingers played dangerously close to his—he shook his head. There was no way he’d think about her like that. Cherry was his past and—he frowned. Sydney was supposed to be his future, but—
“Why did you break my friend’s heart?”
“How do you know she didn’t break mine?” he snapped.
“Because you don’t have one. No man who would say the things you did to her could, Brody.” She took a breath. “I thought you were one of the good ones. It was why I held onto you for so long.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“You should thank me.”
“Honey, I’m pretty sure you were a beneficiary of our relationship,” he couldn’t help but remind her.
“I can give myself orgasms, Brody, and you’re not the only game in town,” she said smugly. “Now, back to my best friend, Sydney. I was the one who told her to bid on you. It was my idea for her to ask you to help her learn how to seduce a man. But your dumbtail thought she meant Kyle. Do you know how bad she felt lying to you? And how bad she felt for giving Kyle the tiniest a
mount of encouragement?”
“No.” Hold on a second—Cherry and Sydney were best friends? When did that happen?
“Of course you don’t because you’re an idiot who couldn’t admit he was in love with his best friend until you got her naked.”
Shame made his cheeks flush. Yeah, that was him. “But—”
“Don’t talk. Just listen, and then you may act accordingly.”
“I wouldn’t let her tell you the truth once you assumed it was Kyle she was after. I thought it would force your hand, but I was wrong. Me, not Sydney. She took my advice because she trusted me. I let her down, and for that, I’m sorry, but you… you crushed her heart. You made her feel as big as a tick on a dog’s hind end.”
“Now, she’s leaving Jessamine because she can’t take your silence and disapproval anymore,” she added, crossing her arms.
“She’s leaving?” he all but yelled. She couldn’t leave Jessamine. He loved her.
You have all but ignored her for the past week, you dumbass. Did you really need that long to think, or were you just punishing her with your pride?
“First thing tomorrow.”
For a minute, Brody sat there in stunned silence. Then he got the hell out of that booth as fast he could and ran out the door.
Chapter Twenty-One
‡
Sydney had barely dragged bag number two of old clothes and shoes down the stairs before she heard the squall of tires in her parking lot. Taking a break, she shielded her eyes against the sun and scanned the area.
The tires on Brody’s truck fairly smoked as he parked and got out. Her heart stuttered, and her breath hitched slightly in her chest.
Why was he here? What did he want—? Oh yeah, she had a couple of his things. A pair of gloves, a couple of t-shirts, and a signed ball cap from that time they’d gone to a Greenville Buccaneers game.
With a grimace, she returned to dragging the huge duffle bag to her car.
“Ah, hell,” Brody panted as he raced up the steps. He stopped short of her, staying on the bottom step. It put them on eye level with each other, which unnerved her.
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