Page 12 (2/2)
"I never wanted to play ball at that level I wanted to draanted to paint I wanted to be creative and make art I wanted to learn how to be a better artist, but I didn’t kno to do that and chase after Poppy at the saot away from your dad she would finally be able to see ardless of the circumstances that put us in each other’s path, I orth so" His mouth turned down and he dropped his head so that our foreheads touched where I dangled in his hard hands "There was never any chance of that happening She uy with the right kind of fae to take hoo of one of lasses off, which made es of h arch ofto melt into a puddle at his feet
"I beat the shit out of him Cracked a couple of his ribs, fked up his nose, and left hi is, he also happened to be the starting quarterback and all of that went down a feeeks before a rin I didn’t notice he had been walking us backward the entire tiainst the kitchen counter He grabbed me around the waist and hefted e and s
"The school kept it quiet because he was getting ready to be drafted and they didn’t want hi to adot his ass kicked by a freshot recruited with and was pretty e level for the next couple of years Toa Get Out of Jail Free card I didn’t want to be in Alabaain And football was never really whereforced and I was sick of all of it"
I was still trying to get my head around the fact that he had proposed toe boyfriend with his bare hands None of that should be a turn-on None of it shouldup the outside of s were bracketing his lean hips, but even with all these new revelations I wasn’t inclined to uy just because he was seeing Poppy? You were that jealous?" That didn’t ring as one hundred percent true considering Poppy had dated a lot in high school and it never seemed to bother him It was hard to think because his hands had found their way around the back ofe of the counter There was noan effect on hie in the front of his pants was unainst hi now that I knehat had happened with him and my sister in my absence
"That’s also not rade-A assle and I never liked hiuy thatto be what I wanted to do I was jealous that she cared about hi to do hy I kicked his ass So there you have it, Sale all the time because those h hurt in my life"
I sucked in another breath and put my hands on his shoulders as one of his hands left h, where all the best parts of ether I felt hie of ulp a little bit I needed to tell him to stop but I just couldn’t see fro from me?" I sounded husky and turned on I really should develop soood and those eyes were so clear and vivid I couldn’t look away
He chuckled a little and I could feel it everywhere we touched His fingers were getting bolder and my desire to keep so into nothing
"You always saw et myself You were my best friend and then you left I can’t care about so to leave me in the end" He breathed in and out in a heavy way and I couldn’t stop ers on that unruly piece of hair hanging in his eyes His next words twisted my heart so much that it ached "Not after what happened toto tell him I was sorry I neverand finally free froone a little crazy and lost some of myself I needed him to know he had been my best friend as well I wanted to tell hi up but his mouth moved from my temple to my lips and just rested there
He didn’t kiss ue He just rested his lips against ether in silence, tension thick and throbbing between us I felt like I was stuck Caught in some kind of slow-onizingly deliberate and torturously drawn out Those talented fingers of his were skating very close to the edge of where fabric and skin er anywhere near h but so much closer to places that were hot and daht ant and need
"What about you, Salem? Did you think of me as a brother?"
When he spoke I felt his words as they brushed across ht little shake and letcords at the base of his neck
"No I thought you were a beautiful and sad little boy and then I thought you were a clever and talented teenager" I gasped and let out a tiny shriek of surprise because there was no longer fabric between his questing fingers and eous and cos for you have ever been familial I never considered you like a brother, Rowdy"