Cupcakes and Christmas - R.J. Scott Page 0,63

blinked at him. “Huh?”

Maybe it was the wrong reaction because he shook his head mutely and then stalked past me, towel in place, and I felt like an idiot for missing something that was probably really important. Then it hit me, I never said any of that stuff, so who did? The ex-husband? Brody was gorgeous, and I loved his hard bits, and I freaking adored his soft bits, and I wanted more of it all.

“I need to go to my room.” Brody began to dress, and I didn’t want him to, I wanted to tell him it was all okay, and that his ex was an asshole, and that he was perfect.

I scrambled to stand and grabbed for his pants to stop him from walking away, which was just freaking stupid. He yanked back, and we entered into a tug of war that neither of us were willing to lose for some ridiculous reason that would have been funny if it wasn’t for the look of distress on his face. What am I doing? I let my hold drop immediately.

“I’m sorry if I did something wrong.” I slumped back to the bed. “I’m not good at this relationship stuff.” He seemed to pause, torn between grabbing his pants and leaving or staying. Then he sat so heavily on the desk chair it slid back and hit the desk, and he seemed startled as if he couldn’t believe what he’d done.

“Well that was shit,” he let out after a few moments of silence. “I just did exactly what Marc accused me of, freaked the hell out and panicked.”

“You want to talk about it?” I asked even though I didn’t want him to say we were done with whatever it was we were doing.

“Marc wasn’t good for me.” He glanced up at me. “Well you know we’re not together, so that speaks volumes.” He stopped.

“I know, otherwise I wouldn’t have kissed you.”

He smiled at me, but there was sadness in his smile. “He had this way of making me feel as if I was less than him, and it wasn’t a new thing, and it was probably mostly my fault.” He stopped again and scrubbed his face. From next to my foot where his pants were lying, I heard his cell vibrate. “I need to take this.”

“Okay.” That was weird, he hadn’t even seen who was calling, but it was more important to answer the call than talking to me? It had felt so right that he was telling me things, but maybe I wasn’t the person he wanted to talk to.

“I’m okay,” he said as soon as he answered the phone, his expression going from guarded to resigned. “No, I’m with Justin… yes we did… God I’m not telling you that, asshole. No, he’s not… what?” With a sigh, he handed me the phone, and I took it on reflex and held it to my ear.

“Hello?” I said not sure who I was even going to be talking to. Was there an emergency? Was I wrong to feel pissed he’d broken our heart to heart just to talk to this person?

“Hey, I’m Adam, Brody’s twin brother.”

“Oh, nice to meet you.”

“His ex was an asshole. His confidence is shot. I can feel him panicking, but also that he likes you. You look out for him, but you break his heart, and I will break your dick.”

“Okay—”

“Hand me back.”

I did as I was told because Brody was hovering.

“What did you say to him?” he asked his brother, but there was mumbling and then Brody sighed. “You’re wondering why I’m not zen? You just… whatever… I wish. Okay. I’ll tell him. Love you.”

He sat down and laid the phone on the table and then cracked his neck. “I signed the divorce papers. It’s done, but somehow I have all these insecurities about my time with him, about why we even got married, from him cheating on me or laughing at me. All of it has messed with my head.” He lifted his T-shirt to expose his belly, that softly rounded part of him that had been my pillow this morning. “I’m no Adonis, and Marc loved to tell me that. I know it’s stupid but you’re probably at the gym all the time, and me? I’m working so many hours, and I end up with cake for every meal of the day. Stupid, right?”

That was what was bothering him? I guess I should have realized by the way he tugged at his shirt.

I