With a groan, I laid back on his bed. “I was trying to find a bed to nap in.”
“Hey, I have one of those.” He joked.
I smiled despite my need to throttle him; just two days ago, he’d had yet another girl dangling off his arm like a trinket, the jealousy had been unbelievable even though I knew it was impossible, my obsession with him.
My love for my best friend.
I felt the heat from his skin as he laid down on the mattress next to me, grabbing my hand and squeezing it.
We laid like that in silence.
It was what we did.
He let me think since, in a moment of weakness, I’d told him I think better next to him, and he was convinced that his hand holding made me smarter, so there we were.
“Where’s Cathy?”
“Cathy?”
“The blonde.”
“It’s Katy, Abandonato, then again, you knew that.” He nudged me with his elbow. “And we had a difference of opinion, so she had to go.”
“Oh?” I turned to my side. “And what was that?”
He turned to his then pulled me against his chest. “God, you’re so pretty it hurts.”
I swallowed the ball of emotion in my throat. “So? What was it this time? She didn’t like your shoes? Your muscles are too big? Hates cheese?”
He gasped. “First off, my muscles are perfect, you said so yourself that one time you were moaning in your sleep.” I smacked him. “Second, we don’t discuss footwear, and third who the hell hates cheese?”
I grinned. “Then, I’m out of ideas.”
“Sure.” He winked, and then he tilted my chin toward him. “I may have, maybe, accidentally, said your name.”
I gave him a shove. “Stop messing with me!”
“No.” He scrunched up his nose. “I swear on my life and on King’s—I called her Violet, we’re lucky I still have working equipment.”
“Yes, all those girls are just so damn lucky your dick isn’t broken.” I sighed and then punched him in the shoulder; he grabbed my hand, rolling me to my back and hovering over me. “Breaker—”
“—just one taste.” He lowered his head. “For old times’ sake…”
“It’s never just one taste with us.” I licked my lips anyway, waiting for his kiss, waiting for the moment it would start so I could already panic about when it would end.
“That’s the problem,” Breaker pressed a soft kiss to my forehead. “I want it all—your dad here yet?”
“No.” I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I came early, you know, for my nap.”
“Nap my ass,” he growled, crushing his mouth to mine as we rolled around his bed. He was so good at kissing it was almost annoying; he led with his lips, not his tongue, so every single kiss felt like a tutorial in how to get a girl to respond. I slid my tongue into his mouth; he smiled against me in triumph, as I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him close.
He was rock hard against my thigh. I grinned and pulled away. “I see all things are in good working order.”
“Maybe we should test that theory.” He moved his body over mine, creating enough friction that my hips rose without thinking. “Mmmmm,” His hands moved my dress up. “Just a little bit of foreplay… a little of this a little of that.”
I dug my hands into his hair. “Just a little.”
“It’s not like we’re crossing a line.” But even as he said it, we both knew, one day, we would set the line on fire, and there would be no going back.
I don’t know how long we kissed, but my mouth was swollen when he finally pulled away and laid onto his back, chest heaving as he whispered, “I wish you were mine to love.”
Tears filled my eyes as I reached for his hand and then laid my head on his chest. “I wish you were mine to keep.”
“One day, I may just storm the castle, also known as Chase Abadnonato’s scary as fuck compound, and make my intentions known, do the whole rock to your window, hold up a boom box, maybe carry a rose in my mouth and declare my desire to court you.”
“One day,” I whispered. “I may just be waiting at my window for that proposal, but you better bring whiskey.”
“My lady wants whiskey?” He grinned over at me.
I rolled my eyes. “No, I meant for all the blunt head trauma the King may just give out to my suitor, but hey, the door prize for winning might be me so… worth it.”
“Vi—” he kissed the top of my head “—I would walk through any fire for you, just name the time and place so I can make sure I have my slow-motion hero walk down, deal?”
I laughed. “Deal.”
“My blood for yours,” he vowed.
“My blood for yours,” I whispered back.
“What?” Breaker roared, jolting me back to the present. He was facing away from me, the broken picture forgotten. His hands gripped the dresser until his fingertips turned white. “What do you want to talk about? Because the way I see it, you’re leaving. No arguments because Violet Abandonato doesn’t argue, she doesn’t fight, she just does as she’s told like a good little girl—”