I’m fucking brave.
I re-wet my cloth and without a word of warning, I pull the corner of his towel back, then pull it entirely off.
Brand’s eyes fly open, then fix on my face. He doesn’t say a word, but I can see him holding his breath. His flat abdomen isn’t moving.
I dip the cloth down his side, over the rippled muscle. I can feel him through the cloth, his warmth soaking into my fingers.
I pass his hip, his delicious, sexy hip. In my head, I envision it flexing as he straddles me. I flush, and gulp.
I’m brave.
I’m fucking brave.
I take a breath, and my fingers keep moving. Another breath and the cloth glides downward.
Then Brand’s hand covers my own, stopping me.
“I think I can get that part.”
I look down at him, and he’s staring at me in apprehension….because he doesn’t know what I’m doing… or what I want. I don’t know either. All I know is….I’m doing it now. Before it’s too late and he’s out of my life and I never have another chance.
“Brand, I have a proposition to make.”
My words cut the slice through the tension.
He levels a gaze at me, his eyes so fucking blue. “I’m listening.”
His hand is still covering mine. It’s warm and strong and I can hear the pulse rushing through my ears in a roar.
“I’ve wanted you since I was twelve years old. You’re here for the summer and so am I. I don’t know if I’ll ever see you again and I don’t want to look up from my desk at Greene Corp when I’m seventy and have regrets because I didn’t do this.”
I pause and Brand doesn’t say anything.
He simply waits.
The silence between us is charged and I rush my next words…I let them tumble from my mouth before I lose the nerve.
“I want you. Without any strings at all. At the end of the summer, we’ll probably never see each other again…but I want this summer. With you.”
I have to know what’s its like.
I stand on a wall and protect what is mine.
I need to know, even if it’s just an illusion, what it’s like to be his.
To be safe.
To be good.
Please.
Brand stares at me, stunned.
I’m stunned too.
I did it.
I did it.