Brianna nodded but wouldn’t look my way.
“She is. I’m surprised she didn’t slip you her number,” she scoffed.
“Oh, she did. In fact, she opened with that.” I fought a smile, picturing the wheels turning in her adorable little head.
Brianna’s head whipped to mine. “She did?”
“What’s wrong?” I asked with as much innocence as I could get away with. “You don’t like her?”
“No,” she offered a bit too abruptly. “I mean, she’s fine, I guess. You can talk to whomever you want.”
“So, if I take her out . . . you’d be okay with that?” I let Christal down easy and right away, but Brianna didn’t need to know that. The prick in me wanted to see how this played out.
“Sure.” She shrugged as she turned away from me again. “Do what you want.” Her jaw clenched so hard, I thought she was going to chip a tooth as she focused on the Hudson River whizzing passed the car window.
Since we were kids, she had the worst poker face. I always knew the second she was pissed off, and judging by how her chest heaved, she was about ready to blow.
Traffic always bottlenecked around the same exit. We inched until we came to a full stop. I slid my arm around her and leaned in. She stiffened, but unless she jumped out of the car onto the side of the highway, she had nowhere to go.
I nuzzled her cheek. Fuck it, I was going for broke.
“And if I . . . take her home. You’d be . . .”
“Fine,” she breathed out, her voice a mix of fury and lust. “Like I just said, do what you want.”
I laughed, victorious. “Cupcake,” I whispered as my lips grazed her cheek, “you are so full of shit.”
Her eyes darted to mine. Our lips were so close, again. I’d only need to lean in a centimeter and my mouth would be on hers. My hand feathered down her cheek as I shook my head.
“You don’t want me taking Christal home the same as I don’t want you going back to Scott.” I gripped the steering wheel as a sudden rage coursed through me. Yes, I was “the other guy” in this scenario, but Brianna had been mine since we were five years old as far as I was concerned. If only I wasn’t such an idiot and told her how I felt all those years ago, but I was done with “if onlys” and looking back. Now, there was only forward, forward to my future and to my home. This beautiful girl—woman now—was both.
Her eyes filled with tears as she grabbed the back of my wrist. “Josh . . . I . . . I,” she stammered before biting her lip.
“I came back foryou, Cupcake.” I tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “To finally make everything the way it always should’ve been.”
Her eyes clenched shut as a tear escaped the corner of her eye.
“But, I wasn’t supposed to wait. You keep forgetting that.” A sad chuckle passed her lips.
My thumb swiped the next tear off her cheek before horns blared behind us. Traffic finally opened up, and the space in front of my truck was wide open.
I exhaled as I stepped on the gas. The rest of the way home was smooth sailing in deafening silence.
“Thanks for the ride home.” Her voice was a strained whisper as she reached for the door handle.
“Wait.”
She stilled without looking at me.
“Come to my dinner tomorrow.”
I didn’t miss the tiny flinch as she turned around. “What dinner?”
“My uncle and I are having a company dinner at the new steakhouse on Fortieth for Christmas. Please come. Uncle Billy would love to see you, and I’d love having you there.” I reached for her hand and laced our fingers together.
She squeezed my hand back but quickly dropped it. “Sure. If you need a friend to come along, I’d love to go.”
A grin split my mouth as I ignored her attempt at drawing a line in the sand. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at around seven.” I pressed a kiss to her temple. “Thank you, Cupcake.”
