“Brady,” I panted. “Oh my God, Brady.”
I pressed my hands against his chest, probably not as firmly or as convincingly as I should have, a part of me still not convinced that I needed to stop at all.
Luckily, Brady seemed responsive to my every touch and whimper. As soon as I said his name, he immediately pulled back, just as quickly and completely as he had leaned into that initial kiss.
“I’m sorry,” he said, scooting back on the couch and reaching down to smooth himself and adjust the very noticeable bulge in his pants. “I didn’t mean to—”
“No.” It was my turn to shake my head as I recited his earlier words back to him. “Please don’t apologize. It was…”
Everything I wanted.
Wonderful.
Amazing.
Perfect.
“I don’t want to stop.” I went on after a moment of awkward silence, since all those other truths felt like too much. “But we should. Because…”
Because why, again?
I couldn’t really remember, even though I was pretty sure I’d had a good reason. But I knew for sure that if I didn’t get up and leave right then, right that moment, that I would give in to the temptation to go right back to kissing him. And even though that didn’t sound like a bad thing at all, Ihadto leave, at least just to get some space and perspective on what had just happened.
“Just because,” I finished, giving Brady an apologetic shrug. “And I should go. Like, right now.”
Brady swallowed hard, but didn’t argue, thank God. If he had come back with even a halfway decent excuse for me to stay, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to refuse. But that didn’t happen.
Instead, he stood up and helped me to my feet, leading the way to the door and inadvertently taunting me with the toned, muscular ass that had been just within reach a moment before.
And then the door was open, and Brady was looking at me expectantly, no doubt just waiting for me to leave the way I’d said he had to.
But unfortunately, my traitorous body had decided to do its own thing again, and my feet remained firmly in place.
“So, um,” I rocked back on my heels and tried to suppress the smile that was spreading across my face as I thought about what had just happened.
I’d actually justkissedBrady. Like, alot. And even though it was confusing and sudden and literally the last thing I’d expected to have happen when I’d headed up the stairs, it had been nice. Really nice. Better than nice.Perfect.
“I should probably go.”
The corners of Brady’s mouth twitched, and he cocked his head to the side a little. “You said that already. And I’d kind of like to convince you not to. But I respect your decision and I’ll hold off on that… for now.”
“Oh, right. Well, I should.” My feet finally started working again and quickly carried me out the door and toward the stairs before I stopped and turned. “I’ll see you tomorrow? Here—I mean, downstairs? At work?”
Brady laughed, the sound spilling out into the hallway and making me mirror his wide smile. “Jo, I want to see more of you. Alotmore. All the time, and whenever you’re ready. So yes, I’ll definitely be here. And downstairs. At work.”
I rocked back on my heels, unsure if I wanted to prolong the moment or just get the hell out.
Oh, God. Leave now, before you say something stupid. Somethingelsestupid.
“Oh my—” I swallowed hard. “Great. Okay, me too. I um… want to see more of you, too.”
“I’m glad we can agree on that,” Brady said, the corners of his mouth twitching as if he was trying to hold back more laughter.
Still, he didn’t move, and neither did I.
Did Brady want to say something more? Was he waiting for me to say something else?
But no… he was probably just being polite, just waiting for me to leave. Since Brady was the one who lived there, and I was the one who kept saying I needed to leave.