“That I’m definitely not too nice to you,” I said, stroking his hair. “I could be a whole lot nicer, you know.”

He bit his lower lip. He probably had no goddamn clue how sexy it was when he did that, how crazy it made me feel.

“You could be nicer, huh?” he asked, his voice low.

Something sizzled inside me. “I could actually give you what you asked me for,” I said. “Do you know how badly I want to fuck you?”

His eyes widened. “Jesus Christ,” he whispered. “You’re going to make me get hard as hell out here on the porch—”

“I’m glad I won’t be the only one, then,” I said. “You are beautiful. Inside and out. If I could tell you all of the things I really think about you, it would make you do a lot more than blush.”

“You like making me blush,” he said.

“I love it,” I told him. “I could tell you how much better my life is because I know you now. I could tell you how you’re the smartest person I’ve known, probably in my whole life. I could tell you how every time I feel like I can’t do something, nowadays, I just picture you telling me I can do it, and it gives me the confidence.”

He snorted, reaching out to run his palm along my chest. “Brody Bryant, needing confidence from me? That can’t be true.”

“I’ve been confident about a lot of things for my whole life, but that’s just because I keep my weaknesses hidden,” I said, shrugging one shoulder. “But not with you. I can’t do that with you. Somehow, you saw right through that on day one, and I wasn’t going to make any attempts to hide it. Probably why I liked you so much.”

“Damn,” Logan said, using his shoe to crunch a leaf on the stairs below us. “You weren’t kidding about making me blush.”

I shrugged a shoulder. “I couldn’t hide from you. You know that I’m forgetful. That I’m not good in class. That I hide myself away from getting into any serious relationships because I’m fucking scared.”

I pulled in a lungful of cold air, shocked at how much I was admitting to him. Admitting to myself, now, really.

I usually tried not to think about these things. I didn’t talk about them with anyone but Roman, because my brother had known me forever.

But something inside me wanted Logan to know the real Brody Bryant. The flawed version of me. No matter how vulnerable it felt.

“And yet you’re still the strongest person I’ve ever met,” Logan said. “And no, I do not just mean your muscle strength, even though I’m sure you could bench press a rhinoceros.”

I puffed out a laugh, sighing as I let the tension drain from my body.

“Well, I’m glad you’re okay out here.”

“I don’t feel as scared when you’re around,” Logan said. “I still needed a break from the party, but the fact that I don’t want to run back home and crawl under my covers is huge. I actually feel like a normal person around you, Brody.”

A normal person.

How could he want to just be a normal person, when he was extraordinary?

I knew the pain he’d had for years, just wanting to fit in, just wanting to be like everybody else. And if I was any comfort to him at all, it made me proud.

Right as I was about to lean in and catch Logan in another kiss, a group of guys rounded the corner of the street, charging toward the house.

“Let’s! Fucking! Go!” one of them bellowed as they made their way up the walkway to the house. Logan and I stood up, making way for them.

“Bryant! You were a fucking god out there tonight, man!” one of the guys said as they walked by. I didn’t know who it was, but I smiled, thanking him for the compliment.

“And we’re going to bring that exact same energy to the away game next week,” I told him and he patted me on the back before they all streamed in the front door to the party.

“You really are like a local celebrity,” Logan said.

As if on cue, as Logan said it, Mike and Vance caught a glimpse of me from inside. Vance pointed outside at us, a huge smile on his face.

“Brody and Logan,” he said in his telltale booming voice. “The MVP and the Professor. There you are. Get in here! You guys are going against me and Mike in the next round of beer pong.”

I looked over at Logan, hesitation catching in my chest.

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” I told him.

Logan shook his head. “I don’t mind,” he said. “I’ve only ever played it with water, back in high school at a chess club event, but I’m pretty damn good at it.”

Tags: Raleigh Ruebins Red's Tavern Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net