“We’ve known each other since we were kids. So why am I notenoughfor you?” She darts up and stalks closer, rounding the island until she’s next to me. “Why haven’t you ever tried to kiss me? Touch me? You know you could have it all ...”
Fuck.
Her eyes are hard and sharp. This isn’t hurt speaking but entitlement.
She’s always been gorgeous, yeah, but there’s something pointed and weaponized about her beauty now. Get too close, and you’ll eviscerate yourself on those curves.
“Are you still fucking a new girl every week? I know your history,” she whispers, too close to my ear now. “It’s not like you don’t have needs. And I’m cool with your appetite, it’s all part of the package, I get it. I’m not asking you to be exclusive. Not yet. So ... why haven’t we fucked?”
I clear my throat, wishing I could suffocate. She’s the last person I want to be talking about this with. Maybe the second last, after my old man.
“Those days are behind me,” I say carefully. “I’m not like that anymore. Those times caused me grief, Nancy.”
“Whatevs.” She rolls her eyes, snorting. “Jesus, just tell me you think I’m ugly. It’d be a lot more believable than this horseshit.”
“I’m not the same man I was a few years ago. I don’t like casual sex, Nancy. No more than I like you rubbing it in my face,” I growl.
“Why?”
Because I don’t fucking like you.
I could say it, and to her, it’s probably not good enough.
“Time for you to go,” I snap, standing and waving at the door. “Come on. Don’t make me drag you.”
“Leave?”
It’s like a foreign concept she can’t understand.
Enough.
I start walking, and she finally moves. I escort her all the way to the door, one hand on the small of her back.
“It’s not going to happen, Nancy. Help me let you down easy. This doesn’t need to get ugly.”
“What isn’t, Brady?” Her breath hitches like she truly doesn’t get it.
“Us.” I stop and stare at her. “Look, I know it’s what our families want, but sometimes what they want isn’t always what we need. We’re grown-ass adults. We don’t need to follow a plan drawn up when we were kids.”
“Whatyouneed, you mean.”
She’s right. That’s exactly what I mean.
For the first time, I see something like real hurt on her face, and I’m not happy. But this is the route she chose.
“We can be cordial,” I tell her, though I don’t know if that’s something she can ever wrap her head around.
At this point, I’m prepared to say anything that will get her out of my condo before she bashes me in the face with her designer purse.
“Whatever. Fuck you, Brady Pruitt,” she spits, turning so abruptly I almost crash into her. “You’ve made your choice, but let me tell you something. I’mnotcovering for your noncommittal playboy ass anymore.”
I should’ve known she wouldn’t go down easy.
“What the fuck isthatsupposed to mean?”
“It means that next time your parents drop hints and ask how things are going, I’ll tell them the truth. All the gory little details.” She lifts her chin with a terrible smile. “I’ll tell Mommy you’re too immature, playing with animals and chasing one-night stands like you’re eighteen. And Daddy, I wonder what he’ll think when I say your dick doesn’t work? Seriously, Brady, why can’t yougrow up?”
Fuck. This.
