Page 91 of Cocky Player

Connor was a man who should have a woman who would have the strength to handle everything his life brought and despite how much I cared for him, I didn’t have that, no matter how much I wanted it.

I whipped around and stared down my sister.“Did you know he was coming?”

“Dad talked to him.”

Great.I was an adult who still had Daddy fighting her battles.How pathetic.

“Eva,” I whispered, but she stepped toward me, forcing me backward and onto the patio where Connor was so close.“Are you kidding me?”

This wasn’t the time or the place.It was Sophia’s birthday for crying out loud.

“Nope,” she said.

“Brenna.”

That voice.I knew it in my sleep.Iheardit in my sleep.Daily.Nightly.Connor was everywhere the last two weeks as I tried to forget him, but nothing helped, and now he was here because of my family.

I didn’t know who to run from first.

My eyes closed and I inhaled a shaky breath.“You shouldn’t be here.”

“I couldn’t stay away anymore.”

I opened my eyes only to find Eva gone in front of me.Connor was to my side.I could skip back inside and lock the door behind me and barricade myself in my room until he left, but good Lord it was time to stop acting like a scared little girl all the damn time.

“Can we talk?”he asked.“In private?”

If it would get him out of there, it’d be for the best.My heart was already waffling, softening toward him and flip-flopping all over the place.

Without replying, I headed back inside to my dad’s office.It was the only place the grandkids knew they weren’t allowed to enter, so it’d be quiet and free from Nerf Bullets and fart jokes or the sporadic wrestling match.

He followed me and when we reached the office, he didn’t bother closing the door.He also didn’t block it.I shouldn’t have been surprised.He’d learned a lot about me in a short amount of time.I wished more of it were good.

“Why are you here?”I asked.

He stepped toward me slowly.Two steps closer and he stopped.We were far enough apart we couldn’t touch.I still felt him everywhere.“Because I love you, and I’m not sure what you’re afraid of when it comes to me, or if you’re embarrassed, but I’m here to prove to you there’s no reason for either.Not with me.”

If only it were simple.

“I think that night proved to me I’m not the woman you’ll need.”

His hands curled into fists and relaxed.He settled them on his hips before letting them fall to his side.Was he…nervous?“I think I’m old enough to know what I need and want, angel.”

Angel.I’d missed that.

“Connor.”I sighed his name.My fight was leaving me with every second I was close to him.I couldn’t help it.My gaze wandered.His black hair.That marble cut jaw with no hint of a beard.In an age where beards and scruff were everywhere, always seeing him so cleanly shaven made him that much hotter.And those eyes, burning with something indiscernible and aimed at me ripped straight to my core.My soul.

He was all man.Cocky and arrogant with a side of rude when we first met, but he was so much more than that.

“You’ll change,” I said, gathering what little strength I had left.“You’ll become someone different with me.You’ll be worried about me when we go out.You might even stop going out.I know you, Connor, and it’s one of the reasons why I love you, but I don’t want that for you.”

His hands were at my cheeks before I realized what I confessed.

“Say it again.”He was warm and strong.Tender.His cologne was spicy but sweet, perfect for him.

“I shouldn’t have said that.”

“You should have.You should have said it when you first felt it.Or later.Or maybe when I said it.Or texted it to me.Breanna, I love you in that forever way, for better or worse, in sickness and health.”He leaned down until our noses were almost touching and oh how I wanted to melt into him and his touch and forget the reasons why this wouldn’t work.

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