Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Anything but the taste of Beatrice still sweet and wild on my tongue.
By the time I reach for the door, I’m decent. Not flaccid, but not “about to poke an eye out,” either.
With a bracing breath, I open the door, revealing Nix in the hall outside. He’s still in his designer three-piece suit from the plane, the one Charlotte picked out last year that makes him look way more put together than the rest of us.
“Hey, Blue. What’s up? Charlotte told me you were moving in for a while to spare Bea the heavy lifting with Clover.” He smiles as he reaches out to clasp my shoulder. “Thank you, man. Seriously.”
The guilt hits like a punch to the solar plexus.
I nod, gaze dropping to the floor as I step back to let him in. “Yeah. Of course. Happy to help.”
And I am. But lying isn’t helping.
This is my best friend. The man who’s had my back since we both joined the team, the man who trusts me to protect his sister, not fuck her without protection, then botch Surprise Pregnancy Management like a test I forgot to study for.
“What about you?” he asks as he drops his duffel bag by the door. “How’s your head?”
“Good,” I say. “I’m fine.”
But I’m not fine.
I’m even less fine as I watch Nix pull Beatrice in for a hug in the kitchen before they start to chat. I’m too distracted by the fear that he’s going to notice the sex smell lingering beneath the garlic and basil of the lasagna she’s just pulled from the oven.
“Earth to Blue,” Beatrice says, her smile tight, making me think it isn’t the first time she’s said my name.
I blink. “Sorry, what?”
“I asked if you want wine with dinner instead of a beer. Bay was thinking of opening a bottle,” she says. “But I can obviously only have a tiny glass, so… What about you? Up for a glass or two of wine?”
I nod. “Yes, please.”
I don’t usually turn to alcohol or any other substance for help controlling myself, but tonight…
Well, maybe some wine will keep me from stressing so hard that I spill my guts at the dinner table. Bea’s calling the shots on when we tell her brother the truth.
I just hope she decides to tell him soon.
Before the guilt eats me alive.
Chapter Thirteen
BEATRICE
Blue hums low in his throat, agreeing with something Baylor’s saying about the Voodoo offense.
I swear, I can feel the rumble vibrate between my hips clear across the table. It hums through my pelvis, building, coiling, until my panties are drenched again and my thighs clench under the table.
Hockey talk over lasagna shouldn’t be a turn-on, but my body—this traitor pumped full of hormones—doesn’t seem to care. It’s determined to latch on to any excuse to think about getting it on.
About Blue’s big hands on my thighs, my hips. About the look in his eyes as he dragged me to the edge of the couch so he could—
“Don’t you think, Bea?” Baylor asks, startling me out of my X-rated fantasy.
Cheeks heating, I reach for my water. “What was that? Sorry, I zoned out. You know that happens when you guys start talking sporty sports.”
I gulp the cool liquid, willing it to ease the fire inside, but the feel of the condensation on the glass only reminds me of the sweat gathering between my breasts.
And how much I want to take my bra off.
How much I want Blue to take my bra off and suck my nipples into his mouth while I ride him in my bed.
Fuck!
I never should have opened that door.
I love my brother, but I should have pretended no one was home. I’m way too close to the edge to be trusted right now. I’m honestly shocked that Bay hasn’t sensed the sexual tension. It’s not exactly subtle.
But then, I’ll always be a gangly twelve-year-old kid who’s never so much as kissed a boy in my brother’s eyes.
Even when I’m as obscenely pregnant as I am right now.
Baylor laughs as he swallows. “We’ve moved on from sporty sports.” He motions Archer’s way with his fork. “I was telling Blue he should come to the Harvest Charity ball with Charlotte and me in a few weeks. We don’t have a game that weekend, and it’s at this gorgeous farm about twenty minutes outside of town. They’re going to have a bonfire and fair games this year, not just dancing, and a bunch of the other single guys from the team are going, too. So, there’s no need to worry about being a third wheel, and we won’t be the only normal people there.”
I flash Baylor a crooked smile. “Normal? Is that what they’re calling professional sport stars these days?”
He rolls his eyes. “I meant, we’re not finance bros or high-society pricks. And I’d hardly call us ‘stars.’ I mean, Grammercy and Jean-Louis, maybe, but Blue and I are just solid role players.”