The Tight End (Red's Tavern 6)

He hummed, satisfied. “It’s definitely possible. And it’s definitely turning me the fuck on to hear you say things like that. My cock misses you, too, you know.”

He dipped low again, using his fingers to pull down the neck of the hoodie and kiss me right on my collarbone. I sighed, leaning into his touch, arching my back so that my whole body pressed up against the front of his. His tongue slid against my skin, so hot and wet in contrast to the chill of the night.

The din of laughter came from the end of the street, and my heart froze.

I knew the illusion had to be shattered at some point. After all, we weren’t in our own little snowglobe. No matter how magical it felt, we were still out in the real world, just blocks away from tons of parties and students and reality. From the sound of the laughter, I knew a group of people were going to round the corner any moment now. I reached out, squeezing Brody’s waist one last time before he pulled away, a rush of cold sweeping in where his pocket of warmth used to be.

Brody never wanted to be seen in public with anybody, whether it was a hookup or not. And I wasn’t going to be the reason his reputation was ruined.

“We should get back,” I said, trying to nip the question in the bud before he brought it up. “We’re close to home by now, anyway.”

“Yes,” he said, smoothing his hair out and standing up a little straighter. He looked down at my lips and then back at my eyes again. Something in his expression had drastically changed, his indulgent desire replaced by something else. Something anxious, maybe. Like he was dreading saying something to me.

I braced myself for it.

The inevitable disappointment. The letdown. The moment I’d been anticipating every time Brody flirted with me.

He was definitely going to cut it all off sometime, and maybe that moment was about to come right now.

Reel yourself back in, Logan.

You’re not living in a storybook.

Stop falling for someone you will never have.

Just put the feelings in the box. It’s where they belong.

“God, why is this so hard to say?” Brody muttered, running his fingers through his hair, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment.

I swallowed hard. “It’s okay. We can just go home. I need to get some sleep anyway—”

His eyes met mine, smoldering now. “Please sleep in my bed tonight?” he whispered, looking at me like he’d just asked me to commit some illicit act.

I felt like I’d just had the wind knocked out of me.

I was stunned for a moment, unable to process or respond. The group of people who’d been laughing walked by us on the other side of the street, boisterous and clearly still on their way to more parties. They didn’t seem to notice us at all as we stood here underneath the awning, and slowly, I felt myself melting back into my fantasy that Brody and I were just out here together on our own, in our snowglobe.

I bit my lower lip.

“You want me to sleep in your bed?”

Brody had told me that he never let anybody do that. He didn’t like it. His bed was for him and him only.

So the change in his expression hadn’t been because he was afraid of letting me down. He’d been afraid to admit that he wanted me to spend the night in his bed.

He swallowed, his eyes rapidly glancing between the two of mine. “Not forcing you to, if—”

“No,” I interjected. “I want to. Really, really fucking badly.”

He squeezed my shoulder one last time before we started walking again. “Okay.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

It was like the agreement caused a charge in the air between us. We nodded, then set off on the way toward the house silently, walking off into the flurries.

Our house was a little closer to campus, and as we walked the last couple of blocks toward the house, the streets became livelier. Other parties were going on, and groups of students peppered the sidewalks as we made our way. A few people said hello to Brody, but I didn’t see anybody I recognized.

By the time we got back home, the snow was falling in earnest. We hadn’t said a word for the rest of the short walk home, and my heart had been doing that same thing all over again, filling up more and more until it felt like it might burst. I wanted to say so much to him. I wanted to pounce on him. I wanted him to press my body up against a wall again, to do whatever the hell he wanted to with me.

I’d have loved any of it.

But instead I was in a stunned silence, and for once, Brody seemed to be, too. When we walked into our house he went up the stairs first, opening the front door to our floor.