Page 67 of The Sweetest Risk

“They can wait.” I grab her ass with my other hand, lift her and pin her to the wall. I press my body into her so she can’t escape. She looks at me with hungry eyes and her fingers trace the raised lines of my tattoos. I squeeze her ass again and growl, “I can’t.”

My mouth takes hers roughly, passionately. I want to devour every inch of this woman like I have been for the past couple of months.

I will never get enough of her.

My hand starts sliding her dress up and just when I reach the seam of her panties, a knock interrupts us.

“Hey Tristan, bro, you in there? The guys want to do another shot!” It’s Jageilski again. Goddamn it.

I look up at the ceiling and whisper, “Fuck me.” I reluctantly lower Brooke down to the floor. Her hands don’t leave my body, but instead work their way around and cup my ass. She then squeezes it and looks into my eyes.

“Maybe later.” Brooke bites her lip and smiles devilishly at me.

I raise my eyebrows. “Brooke Beckett.” I straighten out her dress and push her hair back behind her shoulders. “I didn’t realize that my girlfriend would be such a tease.” I start headingtoward my door to see if we are in the clear. But her hand holds onto mine tightly and stops me in my tracks. She looks at me incredulously, her mouth agape as if she is in shock.

“Why are you looking at me like that, Cupcake?”

“Did you just call me your girlfriend?”

I swallow hard. Shit. I haven’t officially asked her. I guess in my mind, she has been my girlfriend since Casino Night. Maybe a part of me never wanted to bring it up because it would be challenging her rule.

Fuck the rule.

“Yeah, Cupcake, I did. Is that okay?”

She cups my hand and brings it to her lips and brushes the smallest kiss on my fist. My heart races for a completely different reason now. What if she doesn’t want to be my girlfriend? That scares me more than any opponent I am about to face in these playoffs.

There is banging on my door again.

“I’ll be right down Jagielski! Give a guy a minute!”Please, give a guy who has arrived at that one pivotal moment in any new relationship a fucking minute.

I look back down at Brooke and all I see is a film of tears over her eyes. And they aren’t sad tears; they are happy ones. “It’s all that I’ve ever wanted. Yes, boyfriend, it’s okay.”

A wave of relief washes over my body. I take her face in my hands again and kiss her softly. I press my forehead to hers.

“Should we head downstairs?” she whispers.

I groan. “Ugh, I guess so. I think we are in the clear.” I slowly unlock and open my bedroom door. “You go first. I’ll come down in a minute, beautiful.”

Unfortunately, we still have to keep things between us a secret for a little while longer. Just until we figure out how to tell Bradley.

I do wait a full minute, then make my way downstairs. I see Brooke over by a pillar, grabbing a drink from one of the wait staff. I scan the room as I take my last step and notice that Dean is talking with Bradley. Bradley’s face goes from happy to completely pissed off as he registers whatever Dean is saying. I discreetly continue to keep my eye on Bradley and Dean as I pour myself a glass of whiskey. I flash smiles here and there at my guests and make sure that everyone is comfortable since everyone had to come inside from the backyard. The rain is really coming down now.

I cautiously keep my distance from Brooke, even though her very essence is like a gravitational pull I can never escape. I am at her mercy now. In every way. I take a drink of whiskey and watch as Brooke laughs at something Jen just told her. The way her head falls back and tendrils of her hair brush against her back. The way her eyes squint, causing deep lines to appear. The way her dimples magically appear. Everything about her is my favorite thing about her.

Then, I feel a large fist make contact with my mouth. I fall to the floor from the blindsided punch, dropping the glass in the process. Glass shatters everywhere. I look up and see who punched me.

Bradley.

“Oh my God! Bradley, what the hell is wrong with you?” Brooke rushes over to us, her eyes ablaze at her brother.

“How long?!” Bradley yells down at me.

I slowly get up off the ground, wiping my lip.

“Have you gone insane? How long what?” Brooke gets onto her tiptoes and into Bradley’s face.

Bradley ignores her and looks directly at me with fire in his eyes. The very same look that I used to see in his sister’s eyes. Shit, he knows about us.

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