over. "You ok?" he asked. "Sore?"
She didn't want to admit it. The last thing she needed was to convince him not to do anything like that again, but the concern in his eyes made her nod. "A bit."
"Doesn't last long," he promised. "Day or two at most."
Yep, she was blushing. "Braden!"
He chuckled. "I didn't say why you were sore, baby. You're fine." Then he twisted a bit to face her more, leaning in so he could lower his voice. "I do want to talk about Psyc, though."
"Here?" she asked.
"Yeah, at about thirty thousand feet, or whatever these things fly at. The one place you can't run away and avoid it." But he caught her hand. "Nothing bad. At least, I hope it's not."
"Ok?"
"Are we still a thing?" he asked. "I mean, you asked about it earlier, and then last night, this morning, and everything else that had happened. Are you and I still a couple, or do you need to think about that?"
No, she didn't need to think about it at all. "Still a couple."
His breath rushed out and the man relaxed before her eyes. "Good."
"What does that have to do with Psyc?" she asked.
"Um..." He cleared his throat. "Yeah. See, I kinda meddled there. I encouraged that because I honestly think you like him as more than just a friend. I think he's head over heels for you."
"But I'm with you," she pointed out.
He smiled at her but it looked a little sad. "Baby, my best friend is with a guy who used to pick up strangers and fuck them while she watched. That was their thing. She got high and he got laid. They both have been sober for a while, but I've been thinking about that this weekend. I want to be jealous as fuck, right? I keep trying to say that you're mine, but you're not. Thing is, Psyc's one of my friends. So's Knock."
She shook her head, making it clear she wasn't following.
"Knock has a boyfriend, a girlfriend, and his girlfriend has other boyfriends. Riley and Logan made it through her messing around with Murder. Murder pretended to back off Kitty so that woman didn't get scared off. From what I've heard, Kate thought she was putting Adam off for some gamer guy she knew. Let's not even talk about Cyn and Zara's mess! She moved in after like a week? Rhaven, name one normal relationship that has worked out."
Shit. He actually had a point. The most normal relationship out of all of her friends was Murder and Kitty, and that was a disaster waiting to happen. A weekend in Vegas, a surprise pregnancy, and a mess while they worked it all out and ended up together. The fact that Kitty had no intention of ever getting married, but was more than happy to live with him? Yeah, it proved Braden's point. As soon as they'd stopped trying to do the right thing and had figured out "their" thing, it had worked.
"Gamers are fucked up?" she offered. "But no, I see what you're saying."
"So I want you to make sure you keep in touch with Psyc," Braden said. "Text him when we land. Give him your new address. We'll set up your computer in the house and I'm not going to think anything of it if you hang out and chat with him or game a little."
"You sure?" she asked. "Braden, I mean..."
He lifted a brow. "Trying to say you're not into him?"
"No!" Then she realized how that sounded and groaned. "Wait. I'm messing this up."
"Talk to me?" he begged. "Stop worrying about what you think I want to hear and just talk to me, baby?"
She licked her lips, feeling like her entire mouth was dry, and then did her best. "Last night? That was stupid, and it wasn't fair to you, but I kinda... I mean... It's like a fantasy, right? Take the chance while you can? And I didn't expect it to go that far. I really didn't. I was kinda hoping for maybe a little kissing here and then more there."
"But are you ok with it?" he asked.
She nodded. "I am. Are you?"
He ducked his head to hide a grin. "Yeah, I'm kinda kinky like that."
"I..." She breathed out a laugh. "That was one of those things that's never going to happen, but it did, and it was amazing, and I can't stop thinking that it may have messed things up between us. Like, will you ever look at me the same?