Page 51 of The Sweetest Risk

He finds one of the many pink pens in my junk drawer and saunters back to the couch. I raise my feet to let him sit next to me. He grabs my left foot and places a soft kiss on my ankle. He bites the cap off the pen and keeps the cap in between his teeth as he holds onto my foot steadily.

“What are you doing?” I flinch my foot. He strengthens his grip on my foot and brings it back to eyelevel.

“Hold still, Cupcake. I’m going to give you a temporary tattoo.” The tip of the pen grazes the back of my ankle.

“What, are you drawing the number 92 as a way to brand me as yours?” I tease.

“Oh I already know that you are mine, Cupcake. I made sure of that multiple times. On that kitchen counter. In my shower. In my bed.” He licks his lips as he continues drawing. “In that locker room. This is strictly for you.” He blows softly on the pink ink and goosebumps trickle across my body. “There. All done.”

I smile softly and bend my leg up to see my temporary tattoo. Tristan drew a small pink daisy behind my ankle.

“I know it’s not a thousand of them, but you gotta start somewhere, right?”

He might as well have drawn a thousand of them, because the amount of butterflies that take flight in my stomach sure as hell make it seem like he did. I prop myself up and wrap my arms around his neck. “One pink daisy. I love it.”

I have no more strength to resist this man. I straddle his lap and already feel him underneath me. I give him a devouring kiss and we lose ourselves in each other as if we haven’t kissed each other in years. I guess we are making up for all those years we didn’t indulge ourselves.

24

Tristan texted me to wait for him outside the locker room after his game. I am leaning against the wall when I hear the door swing open. I look up from my phone and my heart sinks when I realize it isn’t the man I am waiting for.

It is the man I kind of abandoned at Casino Night and I still feel guilty about it.

“Dean! Hey, how is it going?” I say a little too sing-songy.

He looks up from his own phone and registers my presence. He smirks and glances over his shoulder towards the locker room. “Hey, Brooke. You know, it’s going. I haven’t really seen you since Casino Night.”

He is short with me, but can you blame the guy? I doubt that he wants me to tell him the truth about that night since it involves Tristan. There is an animosity between them thatI don’t understand. They are both great players. Charming. Incredibly hot. Maybe that’s where the problem lies…there’s not enough room for all the hotness and talent on one team.

“Um, yeah, about that,” I say through a lump in my throat. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve hated letting people down. It’s in my DNA. “Something came up and I needed to bolt. I am sorry I kind of…”

“Left me hanging? It’s fine, Brooke. I made do without you there.”

Ouch. I mean, I know I was flirting with him at the blackjack table, but we technically didn’t go together. We met there and it’s not like I was dating him.

Dean advances on me and chills run up my spine. I am really uncomfortable right now.

“I’m curious. Was it that something came up or someone?” he presses.

I swallow hard and avert my eyes towards the locker room, hoping that by some miracle, Tristan will magically appear. “Someone.”

My back hits the wall. What is Dean doing? I don’t like the look in his eyes right now. They are fierce and angry and intense. If Tristan or my brother were here, they would be so pissed at how Dean is treating me right now.

“Hmm.” He presses one of his hands against the wall behind me and leans down. “Who is he?”

“I don’t think that is any of your business.”

“Well, I think that if you are going to be a tease, lead me on and fucking leave an event that I invited you to in the first place, it is in fact my business.”

There is barely any room between us now and my eyes flutter as I cower to Dean. I don’t like where this conversation is going.

“I don’t really appreciate you talking to me like this, Dean. And I don’t think my brother would be very happy that youare making his younger sister feel as uncomfortable as you are making me feel right now.”

I attempt to stand my ground and not let this man intimidate me, but I don’t know Dean all that well and can’t really anticipate his next move. I see Randall at the end of the hallway, but he is preoccupied with talking to someone through his earpiece. Before I can move any further, Dean moves with me. “Dean. I’m sorry, but we were never really dating so I am going to say it again, I don’t owe you anything. I appreciate you inviting me to Casino Night and getting to know you, but I don’t have feelings for you.”

His hand grabs my wrist. I try to pull away, but he is not letting me go.

“Dean, let me go.”

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