Page 79 of The Backup Plan

“Are you dragging this out on purpose or are you just waiting for me to ask what the deal is?”

I run a hand through my hair. “She’s . . . involved with the team.”

There it is. The line that is smart not to cross. Boundaries.

His chuckle is pure antagonization. “Since when has that ever stopped you from going after what you want?”

“Fuck you,” I mutter and earn a sharper laugh. “Dude, that was years ago, and it was one time. I didn’t even know she did the media for the team.”

He snorts. “This one front office staff?” he guesses.

“A doctor.”

He pauses for a beat. “Well, that’s new.”

I grunt in response.

“Is she good?”

The question is simple. Dangerous. And can mean so many things. Good at her job? Good as a human? Good as a fit for me? Too good for me?

“Too good,” I finally answer.

He exhales. “So that’s the problem.”

“You can say whatever you want, but I’m well aware it’s not a good look for either of us to act on the attraction.”

“And you know she wants to act on it?”

I think of the PT room a few days ago and how she reiterated what her line in the sand was. How she showed up at my door a few nights ago with that damn softness in her eyes and ghost of a smile that wanted me to finish the kiss we almost shared at the street party.

She wants it as much as I do, but she’s made it clear she’s afraid of the consequences.

“Yeah. Pretty sure.”

“Or maybe you’ve read it all wrong and she doesn’t like you.” Spoken like a true little brother. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

He’s such a little fucker. “I haven’t read her wrong at all.”

Her quick inhale at the street party. The way she leaned in. The way her pulse raced in her wrist beneath my thumb while we were holding hands.

And now the sudden distancing.

The woman is here to start over after having a prick of a husband. She’s moved states for fuck’s sake. If we kissed, if it went further, because let’s face it, she’s the whole damn package, we’d cross lines that I’m confident she’s determined shouldn’t be crossed.

As much as I’d like it to be about what I want here, it also has to be what she wants. And wants can’t always just be acted on.

We’re not college kids in our early twenties looking for a quick hookup that would fizzle out in a few weeks’ time. If we started something, we’d most likely want to give it a chance for . . . more.

The kind of more I’ve never found before.

Which is probably why it makes it even harder to ignore the attraction between us. It’s the wanting something you know you can’t have dilemma.

But oh, how I want to have it.

“Remember when we were teenagers and you had a thing for and snuck around with Coach Miller’s daughter all summer?” he asks.

I groan. “Where are you going with this?”