Page 63 of Cocky Player

And I had not one single regret.

“This is really incredible,” I said, my voice soft and awed.I leaned forward and brushed my lips over his, kissing him softly.It was a small kiss, but there was so much emotion inside of me, joy and happiness and for the first time in a long timehopeI could benormalagain, I wanted him to feel everything I was thinking.“Thank you so much.”

Twenty-Two

Connor

God,she was gorgeous.Her tanned legs looked longer than normal in her short as hell shorts.She drove me to distraction as I helped her into the truck earlier, the curve of her ass cheeks peeking out below them.A dozen thoughts raced through my mind in that moment from wanting to squeeze her ass, slap it—playfully and maybe a bit more seriously—to biting it.

But when Brenna looked at me with stars in her eyes and pressed her lips to mine, I forgot all of it.I forgot the temptation she held inside of her along with the past she was trying to move on from.I forgot about the reasons why weshouldn’tbe together and resigned myself which didn’t feel like resignation at all.

It felt a lot like love and protecting and caring for her and wanting to give her the best of everything.

Hopefully, I didn’t fuck it up.

We pulled into our spot near the end of a long row of cars and trucks already parked.We could have taken my Mercedes, but I rented the truck to give her the full drive-in experience.I hopped out and helped her down and flipped open the tailgate.

Her mouth fell open right before she threw her head back and laughed.It was the exact reaction I’d hoped for.

“You are too much,” she teased, throwing her arms around my shoulders.“A bed in the back of a truck.You’ve thought ofeverything.”

It was an air mattress and a fuck ton of pillows, not a bed, but yeah…I wanted us comfortable.I had more planned than simple movie watching.

“Need some help getting up there?”I was already moving my hands to her waist and she laughed again.

“I think you went to the car rental place and said, ‘Give me the biggest and most manly truck on the lot.’”

“Some of the dealerships around town let us use cars for promo.Apparently a football player seen cruising around town in certain vehicles increases sales.”

“Really?”

“Yup.”It was a perk I didn’t use often, but her enjoyment over everything made it worth it.“Now up.”She braced her hands on the tailgate and with little effort I had her in the back of the truck, crawling onto the air mattress.

She patted the blankets to her.“Are you joining me?”

I held up a finger.“One more thing.”

She eyed me curiously, cutely and sweetly, and all the other words I thought I’d never use to describe a woman I was with.I hurried to the back of the crew cab and grabbed the rest of our treats.

“What is this?”She was on her hands and knees, crawling toward me.

That view.Hot damn.The things I wanted to do to her when she was like that.

I cleared my throat and pushed the cooler and Bluetooth speaker I’d packed before jumping up with her.

“What did you do?”she asked, rubbing her hands together.

I shuffled back on the mattress and rearranged the pillows against the cab of the truck, giving us a comfortable place to sit.“Come and see, but be careful.We’re not supposed to have food here.”

A quick glance around to other cars showed there were several other people who weren’t following that rule either, so I didn’t feel too bad.

She dug into the cooler, pulling out small bottles of wine I’d thrown in along with a stemless wineglass, she handed me a beer.Since I was driving, I only brought a couple.

I pulled the radio app on my phone, set it to the right station and turned on the Bluetooth speaker.There were advertisements and trailers for upcoming movies and old favorites likeBack to The Future,Twister, andThe Wizard of Ozon the screen as we settled, snacked on crackers and cheese and summer sausage.We dug into containers of salads and other foods I brought, talking, laughing, sharing a few drinks.

“So how many times have you seenThe Hunger Games?”I asked, twisting open a bottle of water.

“Only about fifty.But I’m excited to see it here.This is really neat.”