The unEXpected Plan

by Harper, Leddy

  “But Corbin drove her here, so why is Julie taking her home?”

  Mady shrugged, slipping her cell into her back pocket. “I’m assuming because she doesn’t want her brother to see her fun bags.” Again, she glanced at Corbin and said, “Sorry for calling your sister’s tits fun bags.”

  Ignoring the gravelly groan from my left, I quickly tried to sort out what this meant. “Okay, I get that. But hasn’t Julie been drinking?” She was, after all, the one who’d asked Nellie to go with her to get another cup of green wine.

  “Oh, Julie didn’t drive.”

  The groan turned into a husky chuckle, yet I ignored that, too. “Then how is she taking Nellie home?”

  “Jack and Diane drove us, so they’re going back with them.” It wasn’t Jack and Diane; their names were Jake and Dana, but Mady was horrible with names. They were Julie’s neighbors. Great couple, and really nice people—anyone who wasn’t bothered by constantly being called the names of one of the most famous little ditties were automatically good people in my book.

  If they drove them here, then… “Are you going with them, too?”

  “That’s the thing…” Nothing good ever came after that when Mady uttered those words. “Nellie told me she’d give me a ride home.”

  “Just now?” I asked at the same time Corbin said, “Of course she did.”

  “We got ready together at her house, but my car is at my place. I called Nellie earlier today to see if she could give me a ride home, and she said that was fine. Otherwise, I would’ve had to get my car and then go back to Julie’s before getting ready.”

  Corbin didn’t let me say anything else before asking, “If Nellie was supposed to drive you home, how’s she going to do that if she’s leaving with your other friend? Not to mention”—he held up a finger—“why would she offer to do that if she wasn’t even the one who drove here?”

  “Oh, yeah…I can see now how that’s a problem.”

  God bless her soul.

  “That’s fine.” Corbin huffed. “I’ll drop you off. Where do you live?”

  Knowing Mady would probably recite her address rather than give him general details of the area, I chimed in to save him from further frustration. “She lives near you, actually.” And then relief swept over me. I sighed before adding, “You might as well take me home first.”

  Rather than say anything, he started to fold up the chairs, which we discovered we had to take with us since they were Julie’s, and she wasn’t here. I had to admit, I was grateful things had worked out this way. Not only had I gotten out of having a conversation with Corbin, but having to haul half a dozen lawn chairs all the way back to his car did nothing but piss him off, which kept him from trying to make small talk along the way.

  Unfortunately, that relief didn’t last too long.

  I should’ve known his lack of response regarding my suggestion of him taking me home first would’ve come back to bite me in the ass. At the time, I was thankful that he hadn’t argued with me about it. I’d assumed that meant he agreed with the idea; either that or he was too irritated to oppose it. However, it turned out that he’d simply ignored me and decided to do what he wanted anyway—which was to drop Mady off first.

  “Good, now we can talk. You don’t have any more excuses,” he grumbled as we pulled away from Mady’s apartment complex.

  Little did he know, I didn’t need an excuse not to talk to him. I proved that by leaning against the door with my arms crossed, not saying a single word.

  “Really? That’s how you want to play this?”

  “I’m not playing anything, Corbin. I don’t appreciate being cornered and forced into having a conversation I’m not ready to have.”

  Coming to a stop at a red light, he turned to face me, though I refused to look at him. “Then when will you be ready? I’m in the dark here, and all I want to know is what happened. I just need to know why you suddenly stopped talking to me. The only thing I can think of is that I’ve done something terrible to upset you, yet you tell me I haven’t. I’m literally lost here, Bridge.”

  It was clear I wouldn’t be able to get out of this without an actual conversation, and there was no way he’d let me continue to postpone it. Not to mention, the more I angered him, the less likely things would end well in the long run. So, I sucked it up and gave him what he wanted.

  “Nellie has really strong feelings about you getting involved with any of her friends, but especially her close ones. Which includes me. I refuse to risk losing my friendship by even talking to you.”

  The light turned green, which forced him to take his eyes off me.

  Thank God.

  “She literally said she doesn’t want you talking to me? At all?”

  “Well, not those exact words.” And this was why I didn’t want to get into this with him until I was ready. My mind was all jumbled since I hadn’t had the opportunity to really sort through it all.

  “Then why have you been ignoring me?”

  “Corbin, can we please do this another time?” I rested the side of my head on the window, my emotions too high to mask if I tried to continue this conversation. “I’ve had a few drinks tonight, and I’m worried I won’t be able to explain it properly.”

  He huffed, but just as I thought that he might have conceded, he said, “Can you at least try? Please? I don’t understand.”

  “Ask your sister.”

  “I don’t want to ask her. I’m asking you.” He was angry, and if his tone hadn’t given that away, the sudden braking and quick turn of his wheel did. “If you don’t want to be around me anymore, that’s fine. Just give me the courtesy and tell me why.”

  That about broke my heart. “No, Corbin. It’s not that at all.”

  “Then what is it?”

  I didn’t do too well with men raising their voices. It wasn’t like it scared me, but since I wasn’t raised with a male figure in my life at all, it felt foreign. Anytime it happened, I shut down. And that’s exactly what I did with Corbin. He was angry, and while I understood why, I wouldn’t be able to give him answers until he calmed down.

  When he stopped talking, stopped pressing me for answers, I began to relax a little, and the icy shell that had kept me in a frozen state for the last several minutes started to thaw. Until he pulled into the parking garage of his condo.

  “Why are we here? I thought you were taking me home.”

  He shifted the car into park and flung his door open, all without saying a word.

  “Corbin?” I asked as I pulled myself from the passenger seat. As much as I wanted to stay where I was and refuse to follow him upstairs, there was something unimaginably creepy about a public garage at night, no matter how nice the neighborhood was.

  But still, he didn’t say anything. Instead, he stomped toward the elevator, leaving me with no option but to follow behind. Which I did, begrudgingly. And the entire ride up to his floor, down the hall, and into his place, he remained stone-faced and silent.

  I’d never seen him like this, and I had to admit, it was a little intimidating.

  He left me next to the front door and headed into his kitchen. When he came back, he handed me glass of water. “Drink this, and then we’ll talk,” he said as he made his way to the couch.

  It seemed I wouldn’t get out of this until he got what he was after. And while I didn’t want to give it to him, I realized it was either that or completely ruin everything between us. Between the two, I wanted that the least. So, I took a seat next to him on the sofa and steadily drank my water until the glass was empty.

  My heart pounded, and my hands grew clammy, but I knew the longer I dragged this out, the worse it would be. I just needed to suck it up and get this over with. Shifting on the cushion until I was somewhat comfortable, I cleared my throat and prepared myself to offer him the answers he sought.

  “I don’t think Nellie has a problem with us talking, just as long as it’s more of an occasional thing. And from what I gathered by what she confessed l
ast week, I think she meant texting more than actual talking. She’s just not comfortable with how close we’ve gotten.”

  Corbin leaned back and took a deep breath. When he turned to face me, it was clear that he’d calmed considerably. “I know all of that. It sounds to me like she had the same conversation with you as she had with me earlier that day. But what I don’t understand is…if she doesn’t have a problem with us texting, then why have you ignored me all week?”

  “Because I don’t trust myself with you.” There, I’d said it, and there was no way to take it back now. So rather than obsess over what that meant to him, I decided to keep going until I’d gotten it all out. “If I’m not sticking my hand down your pants, then I’m dreaming about it.”

  Shit. I hadn’t meant to get that much out.

  “And we both know it’s only a matter of time before it blows up in our faces,” I continued, hoping that if I kept talking, he’d forget about my confession. “Nellie’s not only my best friend; she’s like a sister to me. And I don’t think I could bear it if I lost her.”

  “You don’t have to lose her, Bridge.”

  “If we cross that line, yes, I will.”

  He scooted closer, and even though I knew I should’ve backed away, I couldn’t. He'd moved so close to me that I could feel heat radiating from his body. Time stood still, and I closed my eyes to commit his warmth to memory. One I could draw from in the coming weeks. “The only way that’ll happen is if she knows that we’ve crossed a line. She doesn’t have to know what goes on between us.”

  “I’m just not willing to take that chance.”

  “But what if we both want to explore whatever this is between us? Should we risk losing out on something great just because she doesn’t think she’s comfortable with it?” His eyes held mine, and I found it impossible to look away.

  “And what if we do explore this, realize there’s nothing, and then I lose her anyway?”

  “You don’t know that will happen.” His warm palm moved from the cushion between us to my knee, where the heat spread up my leg and settled in the needy space between my thighs. “And if we realize that we don’t really have anything between us, it’s not like she has to know that we’d done anything.”

  Suddenly, his words smacked me in my face. As if they were just letters mashed together to create sounds until now. But now, they were words. With meanings. Put together to create something I hadn’t contemplated. “Are you saying…” I shook my head and tried again. “Are you saying that you’re interested in me?”

  He dropped his head and let out a husky laugh. “You’re just now figuring that out?”

  “Well, how was I supposed to know if you’ve never said anything?”

  “How about this…” He moved even closer, his words becoming less sound and more breath on my lips. “Does this let you know what I want?” He punctuated his question with a kiss, then traced it along my bottom lip with his tongue until I opened for him.

  Before I knew it, I was on my back, his body over mine, my fingers twisted in his shirt.

  This was definitely not how I saw this conversation going.

  Chapter 15

  Corbin

  She didn’t push me away. She didn’t put an end to our kiss. She gave no indication that she felt uncomfortable. And I couldn’t have felt more invigorated. More determined. More…grateful. Because ever since that night two weeks ago in my parents’ back yard, I hadn’t been able to think about anything else.

  Her soft lips.

  Her body pressed against me.

  Her tongue dancing with mine.

  I never believed this would happen, that I’d get to feel her like this again. And now that the heavens have given me a second chance, I didn’t hold back; I let go. Giving in to shear abandon, I lost all thoughts and self-control. Nothing else mattered. Except what was in front of me…or under me.

  “Corbin…” Brooke moaned into my mouth, though it was unclear if she were urging me on or hitting the brakes. She hadn’t released her death grip on my shirt, and she’d made no move to push me off, but there was something in her tone that made me hesitate. It was clear when she repeated, “Corbin.” This time, it was filled with a little less moan and a little more fear.

  I broke the kiss but only pulled my head back far enough to look into her eyes, not allowing her the space to move away without pushing me off. “What is it, Bridge? Did I read this all wrong? Do you not want this as much as I do?”

  Her smile reached her eyes, which settled the nerves ransacking my system. “No. You didn’t read anything wrong. In fact, this is what I was dreaming about last weekend when I was here. Just like this. You leaning over me”—she rolled her hips into mine—“grinding against me.”

  Feeling more secure and determined, I lowered my face to hers and covered her mouth with mine. But this time, she actually pushed me away with her hands against my chest. Not far, just enough to make eye contact again.

  “Oh, God. I’m sorry, Corbin.” Even though she had her hands covering her face, the humor in her tone was evident. “I’m just having a hard time separating this from the dream I had in this exact spot last week.”

  I wrapped my fingers around her wrist and removed her hand from her face, and then I did the same with the other. Pinning her arms to the couch cushion above her head, I held myself over her and watched in awe as she stared back at me. “Doesn’t seem like such a bad thing to me. Wouldn’t that make this a dream come true?”

  Her smile lit a fire in my soul. “Yes, it does, but it keeps pulling my mind away from what’s going on right now. I can’t stop comparing this to my fantasy, and it’s preventing me from staying in the moment.”

  “Well, there’s only one way to solve that.” I pulled away from her—all the way—and tugged on her arms until she was no longer lying down. And when I noticed the confusion in her eyes, I simply smiled and stood, dragging her with me.

  She squealed when I bent down and draped her over my shoulder, but that quickly turned into a fit of flirtatious giggles when we began to move away from the couch…to my bedroom. I didn’t bother turning on lights or closing the door. I made it to the foot of my bed and dropped her onto the mattress, on her back, with a bounce. Which succeeded in completely silencing her.

  With the help of the moonlight drifting in through the large floor-to-ceiling windows, I admired the desire blazing in her wide eyes, as well as the hedonistic way her chest heaved. It was clear she was full of anticipation—just like me.

  “Is this better?” I asked as I leaned over her, helping her scoot to the top of the bed so that she could get comfortable with her head on a pillow. “Or did you fantasize about being with me here, too?”

  “I won’t lie…I have thought about this, but considering I didn’t really know what your room looked like, it was hard to picture it.” She raked her hands down my sides and began to toy with the waistband on my jeans. “So to answer your question, Corbin…yes, this is better.”

  Her soft gasps and moans filled the room as I trailed light kisses from her neck to her chest. But when I slipped my hand beneath her shirt, my palm meeting the heat of her skin, her gasps turned to pants, and her moans grew louder. Sitting back on my haunches, I finished lifting her shirt until I had it over her head, and then I fell back over her to slide my hand beneath her, needing to free her breasts from the confines of her bra.

  There was something about the way she looked at me that made me want to commit this moment to memory. While she never took her eyes off mine, her legs around my hips never relenting, it was clear that she was plagued with hesitation. Possibly fear. But it wasn’t until she placed her hands on my chest and tried to pull her arms together in an uneasy way of covering herself that I realized what that hesitation was about. And it was enough to put me at ease knowing it had to do more with herself than what we were about to do.

  “Don’t do that.” After unclasping her bra, I brought my hand to her front and began to softly run my fingerti
ps down the center of her chest, around the curve of one breast and then over the slope of the other. “Don’t hide yourself, Bridge. You’re so beautiful. So goddamn beautiful. I’ve imagined this countless times, but nothing compares to actually seeing you.”

  The moonlight danced along her skin and made her body glow. My God. Part of me wanted to stay just like this while I spent hours admiring her beneath me, but there was another part of me that needed to explore all of her. And the longer this went on, the harder that part of me became.

  I quickly pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it to the side, not caring where it landed. Because when we were finally skin-to-skin, I couldn’t be bothered to think of anything other than how amazing it felt to feel her like this.

  For some reason, in this moment, emotion bombarded my senses, leaving me raw and vulnerable. Don’t get me wrong, I had experience with women. But this was different—way different. I just had no idea why. I couldn’t pinpoint what it was that made my heart beat faster, caused my lungs to constrict, making it hard to breathe, or fried my nerve endings so badly that my legs shook as if I were stranded in the icy tundras of Antarctica without clothes. Whatever it was, it seemed only Brooklyn caused it.

  The most important thing to me was making sure Bridge didn’t feel taken advantage of. So rather than roll her skirt up to her hips and pull her panties to the side like my desperation wanted me to do, I unfastened the front and then slid off the bottom of the bed, pulling her skirt, along with her underwear, down her legs. And while I’d had many fantasies of her thin fingers working the button on my jeans until they were pooled at my feet, I was too eager to make that happen…this time. Instead, I quickly removed them and my boxers myself, kicking them to the side, and then eagerly climbed back on the mattress until I was once again on top of her.