Page 41 of The Sweetest Risk

“Are you okay, sweetheart? You look a little flushed.” My mom places the back of her hand against my forehead to check if I have a fever.

“It’s probably all the wine. I’ll be fine, Mom.” I dart toward the hallway bathroom and shut the door behind me. I take some deep breaths. Tristan is not playing fair right now. He is enjoying getting me flustered in front of my family. I turn on the faucet and run my hands under the cold water, rubbing some on the back of my neck and my forehead. My skin is on fire right now. All thanks to Tristan. I close my eyes and take anotherdeep breath.You can do this, Brooke. We are almost done with dinner.

I reach for the doorknob but it turns before I can even touch it. Tristan barges in and locks the door behind him.

“Tristan! What do you think you are doing? Are you trying to get caught? Do you have a death wis–?”

Tristan’s lips land on mine and he feverishly kisses me. I can’t help but kiss him back. He turns us around so that my back is now against the bathroom door.

“I wanted to come see how wet I made you.” He says in between kisses. His hands find the hem of my dress and he starts to lift it up.

I tug my dress back down. “Tristan.”

“Brooke.” His hands caress my hips and upper thighs.

“Not here,” I say earnestly. Then whisper, “My family is right outside this door.”

“I promise I’ll be quick.” He starts kissing my neck. This man is absolute trouble.

“I am surprised you are flaunting that statement like it’s a good thing,” I tease. He squeezes the sides of my torso, making me giggle.

“Well, speed bodes well for me at the moment.” Tristan smiles. God he is ruining me with the way he looks tonight. His shirt is so tight against his chest, it makes my heart race. “Besides, I know that you don’t have the greatest memory from this particular bathroom since you overheard the lie I told your brother all those years ago. I want you to have a new memory.”

As much as I want this man to take me right here and now, I also want him to drive him crazy a little bit. I want to step back and not go too fast with Tristan. He is worth waiting for.

“Trust me, I do.” I find both of his massive, manly hands and hold them tightly. “It’s just…I don’t want to rush this, Tristan.” He starts to contest and I push my finger against his mouth tostop him. “I know we have waited way too long and have held back from each other but…”

Tristan places a delicate kiss on the side of my mouth. “Please, Brooke. I need you.” Then his hands escape mine and he traps me against the door by putting both arms on each side of me. Even through his sleeve of tattoos, I can see large veins cover the surface of his muscular forearms and my knees weaken.

I look into his hazel eyes, which look a little more green than usual. Almost as green as they look against his kelly green jersey. “Me too. I love seeing you beg for me. I am not sure I am ready to grant your wish just yet, Hot Shot.”

“Hmmm.” Tristan lowers his arms. Instead of looking defeated, it appears like I fueled the fire in Tristan’s eyes. “Is that so, Cupcake?”

“Yup.” My conviction is starting to waver against the hot way Tristan is looking at me. His fingers tickle the side of my arms and my core tightens and breath hitches. Damn this man.

“All right, I’ll play by your rules.” He grabs tightly onto my wrists and pins them above my head. “Just know that at some point, I plan on breaking every single one of them.”

Oh, he’s good.

21

That Friday, I invite Tess over for a long-overdue girls night. I brought coffee and donuts as promised the Monday after Casino Night, but since work has been so crazy, we haven’t really had much time to talk. I haven’t been able to get into everything that has transpired between me and Tristan. So I have been looking forward to our girls night all week. She brings over wine and pizza and forces me to spare no details of my nights with Tristan while I make my famous brownies.

An hour later, we are in the middle of doing clay face masks and watching our favorite romcom,How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, when my phone vibrates.

I glance at the screen and see a message from Tristan. He and Bradley have a series of away games in St. Louis and Las Vegas,so the actual physical distance has almost helped keep him out of my mind. Almost.

Hey, Cupcake.

My heart starts racing and my fingers itch to text him back right away, but there is a small part of me that wants to make him wait a few minutes. I want to play with him a little bit.

“I’m going to go wash this facemask off,” I tell Tess, who is mindlessly stuffing her face with a brownie.

“Okay,” she muffles.

I splash warm water on my face and watch the water in the sink turn a little muddy. Just like my relationship with Tristan. How did we get here? How did someone who made me want to strangle him every time I saw him become the person who makes it harder to breathe when he is near – or far, apparently. I dry my face off with a towel and head back into the living room.

“Your phone vibrated again, B.” Tess jumps off the couch and heads to the bathroom to wash off her own face.

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