You may never understand, but I need to plant the seeds with him. He may be a big, tough football player, and even more of a macho ass with the guys, but he’s very protective of me. I’d like to do this my way. It means a lot.”
Well, shit. When she looks at me with such love and concern, I falter. To me, Nick is a powerhouse. But in reality, the woman in my arms, the woman I love, is also his best friend, the one woman he’d die for, so understanding starts to sink in.
“I’m not happy about this, but we’ll do it your way. Next MDN, everyone knows,” I mumble.
“Agreed.”
“I’ll make it up to you, promise.”
“I’ll hold you to that. And when we finally let the ‘secret’ out, we’ll talk about you moving in.”
“Shaw!”
“Don’t say another word. I’ve agreed to too much already. Now is when you kiss me, declare your devotion, and spend the next fifteen minutes convincing me I wasn’t just cock-blocked by my baby brother.”
“Oh, I can assure you, your baby brother will never block your cock. But, after today, let’s never mention the two in the same sentence again.”
She starts to nibble on my ear and kiss her way down my jaw. Then she shocks the hell out of me, erasing all coherent thoughts. “When we get home tonight, I’ll finally have access to all my lingerie… Maybe it will finally get some use.”
This night has taken a turn for shit. I sit in Bizzy’s living room, cramped in her shitty armchair, watching Nick and Claire look at her pictures. If it were up to me, we’d have ditched everyone the moment we walked into her apartment, but Nick had other ideas. He wanted to discuss the game yesterday, never being dissuaded when I explained we watched every second of it. Then Claire showed up with bags of take-out.
I’d have fallen for her best friend slash interested routine until she took one look at my scowl. She darted her eyes between Bizzy and me for a good ten seconds before settling down and insisting Bizzy upload the pictures to her computer so she could see them better. I knew, she was testing me. It was hard to swallow my aggravation until I saw Bizzy’s excitement. She gave me a knowing look, and I relented, sitting in the chair, while she gave a rundown of the weekend, minus the sex, the intimacy, and the declaration of love.
Nick whoops, standing proud, when Bizzy tells about her meeting with Darren and his reaction to last year’s game. Mathis comes over, handing me a beer and nudges me, jerking his head to the back porch.
No one gives us a second glance when we walk out, too involved in Bizzy’s stories.
“What’s up?” I don’t waste time when we get outside.
“You went for it.”
I look behind me to make sure Nick is occupied then turn back to my brother’s questioning eyes.
“Yeah, you got a problem?”
“No, she looks happy. Happier than I’ve ever seen her. So did you, before Claire came storming in here.”
“She’s a nut.”
“She’s a hot nut.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me? You have a thing for the nutcase nurse?”
He shrugs and gives me a look of indecision. “We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you.”
“Bizzy wants to keep us quiet, ease Nick into it. She’s concerned about his reaction.”
“Why?”
“Fuck knows. If it was up to me, we’d be moving her in tomorrow.”
Mathis chokes mid-sip and spews his beer everywhere. “What the fuck? Move her in?”
“Hell yeah.”
“Are you insane?”
“In a way. I’m insane about her. She’s worried about Nick.”
“Understandable. He’s going to go ape shit.”
“He’ll get over it.”
“He’ll only get over it if you’re serious.”
“I’ve never been more serious in my life.”
He stares at me, searching for something, then his face breaks into a wide, cocky grin. “I’ll be damned.”
“Yep,” is the only response I give.
“Must have been some resort, to turn the notorious jackass who’s never uttered the word commitment into a fully taken man.”
“It’s not the resort. It’s the woman, you dumb fuck.”
“Huh, I’ll have to remember that.” He takes another swig of his beer, still smiling.
“So are you satisfied or do you want to gossip some more?”
“I’m done, for now. But why don’t you fill me in on the actual business side of the trip?”
The door opens, and Nick comes out rolling his eyes. “What are you two talking about? Hopefully something more interesting than breaking down the hotness factor of Joe Palos, Perry Carver,