Fighting For You (The Connor Family 5)

Lately, I’d been surrounded by people who were only interested in fame or money, but even before that, I’d never felt so complete around someone the way I did when I was with Brooke.

“What were you going to do today before I asked you out?”

“Shopping.”

“Let’s do that too.”

“We’re shopping for Milo.”

“I want to buy you something.”

She shook her head. “Trust me, you do not want to see me with shopping mode switched on. Once I start, I can’t stop.”

She wasn’t asking for anything for herself, but that just made me want to buy her everything.

The one thing I discovered about myself while we were choosing items for Milo? I was incapable of telling Brooke no. She was well on her way to convincing me to buy him the entire store.

“I’ll take the shirt and the hat,” I told the cashier.

“What do you think you’re doing? We’re not nearly done shopping.”

“Yes, we are.”

“But he’ll love this. You told me about his collection of cards. It will fit right in.”

She remembered that about Milo? How?

“I know it will, but Lori will berate me until the end of time for getting him so many things.”

Brooke held up the card deck, looking at me with puppy eyes. “No, she won’t. She just had a baby. Anyway, blame it on me. Say I talked you into it. Look, it’s even on sale.”

I bought it, of course. Somewhere between watching Brooke champion my nephew’s cause and thinking about Milo’s reaction (and ignoring Lori’s), my defenses collapsed in a pile of ash.

“Can’t believe you talked me into buying all this,” I said once we returned to the hotel. We went straight to her room.

“Can’t believe I had set out some very clear rules, and you made me stomp all over them.”

“I made you, huh? So you had nothing to do with it?”

Brooke was with her back to me, sorting through her luggage when I snuck up behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist. Resting my nose in the crook of her neck, I had the strangest thought. I didn’t want to go back. I knew I had a tough game ahead of me next week, but for the first time, I wanted to blow it off.

I moved one hand from her waist upward, cupping a breast. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and I took full advantage of it, flicking her nipple with my thumb until it turned into a hard nub.

I moved my other hand downward.

“Jace!” She gasped when I pressed two fingers over her clit. Even through all the layers of clothing, she felt enough friction to respond.

She gripped my wrist, and I stopped.

Pulling out of my arms, she turned to face me. “We should talk.”

“I know. I’d say I’m sorry for breaking my promise of waiting, but I’m really not.”

She threw her head back, laughing. “I wasn’t expecting you to be. I would lay out a new agreement, but I have a feeling that you’d just make me break that too.”

With a low groan, I snaked an arm around her waist, pulling her close.

“No matter what happens, we’re friends, Brooke. Let’s just take this one day at a time. Let’s start by being friends who are having fun. Do what feels right, when it feels right. You put too much pressure on yourself.”