She doesn’t hesitate. With a grin, she’s plucking it up and swiping her thumb across the screen. When the numbers for the passcode appear, I’m answering her question before she has a chance to speak it.
“1214.”
“Is that your birthday?”
“Not mine. Lena’s,” I push past the knot in my throat.
She squeezes my fingers. “When is yours? I’ve never seen the team celebrate it.”
“That’s because they don’t know it.”
“Tell me,” she pleads.
“August twenty-seventh.”
“One sec.” She places my phone between her clenched thighs before she’s pulling hers out and tapping at it. Once she’s finished, she exchanges them again and flashes me an excited grin. “I marked it down so I don’t forget. It’s not that far away. Maybe Evie and I can?—”
She cuts herself off as her eyes dip, and her cheeks flare a deep red. The insinuation was obvious, as are her nerves.
“She’d love to plan something with you, Brielle.”
“You think so?” she asks, sounding a bit too timid still.
I bring our joined hands to my mouth and brush a kiss across the back of hers. “Yes. And I’d enjoy knowing you were involved as well.”
“It’s settled, then.”
She busies herself with my phone again, and I keep my eyes up and ahead of us. The traffic isn’t bad now that rush hour is over, which means we can get to my place sooner than later. As dramatic as it may seem, I won’t be able to settle properly until I get her home and run my hands over every inch of her body.
“You aren’t scared that I’m going to go snooping through your texts right now?”
I nestle our hands into my lap. “No. But if you want to, go ahead. The most scandalous ones you’ll find are from a couple of my players or my boss. Do I need to make you sign an NDA?”
I’m sure she’d have a good laugh reading Evie’s last rush of texts about my mystery date. There will be plenty of time for that later, though. As soon as Evie gets home from the studio tonight and sees Brielle, I’m going to come clean. I can’t keep this a secret from her anymore.
Brielle deserves to be shown off, and Evie deserves to know the truth.
“Har-har. I was just curious how much trust you actually have in me.”
“More than enough, but that’s not why I’m letting you on my phone. Having your trust is more important to me. If searching through my messages or social media pages will please you, then I don’t have any arguments. I’m afraid you’ll realize I’m quite boring, though.”
“Oh, I’ve known that for a while now,” she teases before turning the phone until the screen is facing me. The music app is already open. “No snooping needed, Rome.”
Her confidence in me has my chest puffing up. I tip my chin and turn back to the road at the same time the red light turns green. The turn into my neighbourhood appears a heartbeat later.
“Cocky,” I murmur.
“Did you mean to make this playlist?”
My skin prickles. “Which one?”
“Don’t play coy. You know what I’m talking about.”
“Remind me.”
“The one titled ‘Sweetheart’? This is . . . seriously full of all my favourite songs. Some of these I haven’t even mentioned to you before.” She twists in her seat and tugs harshly on my hand, attempting to get my attention. I bite back a smirk and lift my brows pointedly at the windshield. “Oh, right. Now you’re too busy to look at me.”
“We’re two minutes away.”
