Briggs - A Carolina Reapers Nove - Samantha Whiskey Page 0,32

of my nose. “Cormac and I haven’t spoken since my brother walked in on us.” I’d told Grace all about Valentine’s Day that night. “And with his tight game schedule, I have no idea how we’ll work it in.”

“So what?” she argued. “You have to work it in. It’s freaking Silhouette. A feature in that magazine will put your new line on the map.”

“I know,” I said, totally deflated.

“You could call him,” Grace offered.

I snorted. “You didn’t see the look on his face when Cross walked in.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“How many times will I keep telling myself that?”

She flashed me a pitying look. “Well, it wasn’t, dammit,” she said, and I laughed at the outrage in her tone. “And if Cormac would’ve stuck around for five seconds, he would’ve seen how much Cross has grown.”

I nodded. “But he didn’t. He doesn’t. Every time we get close, he bolts.”

Grace huffed. “It makes zero sense,” she said. “You guys have this crazy intense chemistry. You’re both grown adults. Why not just dive in and see where it takes you?”

“He still sees me as a spoiled rich girl who gets whatever she wants.”

“Well, then he’s an idiot.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “He isn’t. He’s just…holding on to the past.”

“He needs to let that shit go. You’ve apologized. You’ve shown him who you are. And you guys legit end up making out every other time you’re together. It’s time to bang or bounce.”

I laughed so hard my sides hurt. “Bang or bounce?” I snorted. “Seriously?”

“Dead serious!” She gaped at me. “Bristol, I love you. There are only so many times you can get shot down before you retreat into yourself, and we don’t need that happening right now. Not when you’re on the cusp of knocking your line out of the park. This is everything you’ve worked for!”

“I know,” I said, my stomach in knots. I needed to get Cormac on board with this shoot, but I was terrified to call him after what had happened. “But I don’t think banging is going to help us.” I laughed over her term.

“It will. Get each other out of your systems. Have sex once, then the need is satisfied, and you two can just work without falling all over yourselves for each other.”

I pursed my lips. Her logic wasn’t totally skewed.

“You really think that would work?” I asked.

She raised her hands before dropping them on the chair’s armrests. “It either will or it won’t,” she said, leaning forward. “But, Bristol? You put yourself out there one time. For real. Nothing held back. If he takes you up on it? Great. If not? Fuck him. Do the work, and let him go. Because I hate seeing you struggle like this. I hate seeing you with this need to prove yourself to him…to anyone. You’re kind and smart and have the biggest heart. He’ll either see that, recognize it, or he’s not worth it.”

I nodded as she spoke, letting her encouraging, kind words sink in. Maybe she was right. Maybe all we needed was one time to slake four years of starvation for the other, then we’d be able to settle down and move on.

And yeah, I needed to stop torturing myself over what Cormac thought of me—especially after I’d tried countless times to show him the last thing I wanted to do was hurt him.

“I love you,” I said. “You know that?”

Grace smiled. “Of course you do,” she said. “I love you too.”

“You really think being direct and straightforward is the way to go?”

She nodded. “Make it a business deal. A one-time sex contract,” she teased.

I laughed but shrugged. “I’m pretty good at business deals.”

“Yep,” she agreed. “Are you going to do it?”

Anticipation swelled in my chest, my blood rushing with need. “I think so.”

Grace clapped. “Yay!” She furrowed her brow. “Can we eat first?”

I nodded. “Definitely.”

The entire lunch, I couldn’t stop my mind from racing. By the time we were finished and I was heading back to the office, I was ready to call Cormac and present the offer to him.

Not the Silhouette offer, but mine.

Because Grace was right—it was time for me to take my last shot with Cormac. He’d either accept it, or he’d shut me down like he had countless times since I came back into his life.

And I didn’t have a clue which prospect was more terrifying.

But I knew there was only one way to find out.

9

Cormac

Bristol laughed at something the tuxed-up guy on her right said, and my left eye twitched.