She studies me for a second, like she’s deciding whether to believe that, then looks back out the window.
The rest of the drive passes in quiet. The streetlights flicker across the windshield as we pull into the driveway, and I shut off the engine. The lights are on inside, and judging from the vehicles out front, Kade and Owen are home.
I lead her inside and up to my room. My phone dings in my pocket before I even shut the door behind us.
Brinley drops her bag on the floor near my dresser and glances toward it.
She doesn’t say anything right away. Instead, she leans against the side of the desk and stares out the window as my phone pings again.
“You’re in demand again tonight.”
“It’s nothing,” I say, hitting the button on the side to turn it on silent.
She looks at me like she doesn’t believe me as I set my phone face down on the nightstand.
I don’t want the screen lighting up the dark. I don’t want whoever is on the other end of those messages in this room with us.
She’s still watching me.
“You seem on edge,” she says.
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
I step closer to her and take her wrist before she can keep analyzing me. I tug her toward me and take a seat on my chair.
“Sit.”
She narrows her eyes, like she’s debating whether to keep pushing me away, but then lets me pull her into my lap instead. The chair creaks beneath us.
Her legs drape over mine, her back settling against my chest, molding us together like she never stopped.
I log in to the game without explanation. The screen glows blue in the dim room.
“You’re serious?” she asks when I hand her the controller.
“You told me you play,” I murmur.
At first, I expect her to make a joke or hesitate. Instead, she adjusts in my lap and starts playing like she knows exactly what she’s doing.
If I wasn’t already hard when she shifted against me, seeing her now would’ve done it. Within minutes, I realize she’s not just playing.
She’s good. Damn good.
I lean forward slightly, my lips brushing the shell of her ear. “Since when?”
She shrugs like it’s nothing. “I told you I playDead Zone.”
“I thought you meant casually,” I say, a smirk pulling at my mouth as she wipes out one of my teammates’ avatars without even blinking.
I laugh quietly, my hands finding her waist. She trembles against me, dragging her lip between her teeth, trying to play it off like my touch doesn’t affect her.
My phone vibrates on the nightstand behind us.
She glances at me out of the corner of her eye. “You wanna check that?”
“Not right now.”
