Playbook (The Holland Brothers 2)

“London?”

I nearly collide with Brogan’s back as he stops walking and glances over his shoulder at me. The look on his face is a mixture of amusement and concern.

It’s a good look for him. Although right now he could look like an ogre and I might not notice.

“Yeah.” I blink several times and move my focus from the way his biceps strain against the white T-shirt to his face. He’s still in his red swim trunks and he pulled a ball cap on over his damp hair. The ends have dried and curled up. I desperately want to reach up and run my fingers through it.

I’ve been following him around the giant furniture store for half an hour while he picks out…I don’t even know because all I can think about is that kiss.

That kiss.

My stomach flips at the memory.

“I made it weird, didn’t I?” he asks, then curses under his breath.

“Huh?” My brain still isn’t functioning normally.

He takes off the hat and runs a hand through his hair because apparently he can read minds and wants to mess with me. “Fuck, I’m sorry I kissed you. I just couldn’t stand the thought of your asshole ex playing you like that after he was such a jerk while you were together. Who the fuck cheats on a woman like you?”

“It’s not weird,” I say too quickly. It totally is.

And judging by the “the fuck it isn’t” expression on his face, he knows it is as well as I do.

“Can we go back to before? I don’t want to lose the best fake girlfriend I’ve ever had. I can keep my lips to myself.” He winks. “Probably.”

His concern is sweet, but unwarranted. I’m not mad or even freaked out. I just…want to do it again. Is it possible it’s just been so long since I kissed someone new that I’d forgotten how great first kisses are? Or is he really that good? I know the answer to that with zero consideration. Of course he’s a great kisser, he’s had a lot of practice.

I know that asking my fake boyfriend to kiss me again so I can test a theory I’m working is a terrible idea. Do I consider it? Absolutely. But what I say is, “Yeah, definitely.”

“Cool.” His lopsided grin reappears. He takes my hand like it’s the most natural thing. While I replay what those long fingers felt like tangled in my hair.

“So, what are we looking for?” I ask, stepping away from him and breaking contact but trying to play it off like nothing is wrong. The only thing that’s wrong is I haven’t had sex in too long, and thanks to Mr. Great Kisser here, my body is all primed for some action. Even hand-holding feels like too much contact right now. It’s hormone overload inside me.

“A bed.”

“A bed?” I’m sure I misheard him. That’s my hormones wishing he’d pull me onto one and kiss the crap out of me. I stop and look around. Sure enough, we’re in the section where dozens of king-size beds are made up in cozy, tempting displays.

The universe must be fucking with me. My fake boyfriend didn’t kiss me, make me all hot and bothered, and then bring me to pick out a bed, right?

“Yeah, I figured it’s time to say goodbye to the old beer pong table and get a proper guest bed.”

I’m still staring at him blankly.

“You know, for when my fake girlfriend gets drunk and crashes at my place but refuses to take my bed.”

“You’re buying me a bed?”

“I mean…” He tilts his head to the side and shuffles uncomfortably. “Not just you.”

Right. Of course. It’s totally normal to buy a bed for a guest room. But the idea that he’s doing it specifically because I slept on his couch is so considerate, I’m a little taken aback.

But not really. Brogan is always considerate. I mean, the guy just kissed me because he was trying to piss off my ex-boyfriend for my benefit. I just…I didn’t expect him to be like this.

“So…” One side of his mouth quirks up. “See any you like?”

I shake my thoughts free and force myself to look around. “I’m not so picky.”

“Says the woman who wouldn’t sleep in my bed.”

“I wasn’t going to kick you out of your own bed.”

“Could have just joined me. It’s big enough for company.” With a cocky grin, he heads through the showroom.

“Right about now I’m wishing I had,” I mutter so quietly he doesn’t hear me.

Brogan stops next to a low platform bed. “What do you think of this one?”

I shake my head. “You might as well just get a mattress and toss it onto the floor.”

He chuckles. “Okay. What about this?”

“You’re kidding.” I side-eye the futon.

“Yeah. I just wanted to see your face.”

We keep going. There are many of the same simple bed with upholstered headboards in varying colors. He skips by all those and heads toward a massive four-poster canopy bed. It looks like something out of a Victorian-era movie but with modern furnishings. The headboard is large with intricate details. The mattress rests on a low-profile platform similar to the first bed, but this one has dark navy posts at each corner that connect at the top. A flowy, gauzy material hangs above it. The whole thing screams sex.

“It’s a big bed,” I say.

He rests one of his big hands on the posts and then wraps his fingers around it. After giving it a shake, he says, “Sturdy, too.”

Heat surges from head to toe as I imagine him naked and on top of me, shaking the whole bed with the force of how hard he fucks me.

“I don’t know. It might be too big for that room. I remember the realtor saying something about the third room being smaller than the other two,” he says like his brain didn’t go down the sex rabbit hole that mine did.

I can’t do anything but stare at him. If I speak, there’s no telling what will come out.

“What do you think? Too much?” He takes my silence as boredom. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s keep looking.”

He starts to walk off, but my feet won’t move. Brogan stops and looks back. “Everything okay?”

Beside the pulsing between my legs, sure.

“Lo?”

He hardly ever calls me by my nickname, always using my full name instead. I never really thought about it until now.

“Are you all right? You look a little flushed.” He closes the distance between us and brings a hand up to cup my cheek. His dark eyes survey my face with such concern.

“I think I want to kiss you again.”

His brows lift and his eyes widen.

“I’m so sorry.” I squeeze my eyes closed. “That’s a terrible idea. We’re not really dating. It would complicate things and…It’s just been a while since I fooled around with anyone and then you kissed me, and wow, you’re a good kisser. My body is on fire. Like literally all I can think about right now is your lips…” I bring a hand to mine and I swear I can still feel the remnants of that first kiss. I realize what I’m doing and drop my hand. Oh my god. I want to disappear into the floor. I just propositioned my fake boyfriend in the furniture store. Does it get any lower than that?

“You know, that first bed wasn’t bad. What’s so wrong with waking up every morning and rolling out⁠—”

His giant hands frame my face and his thumb sweeps over my bottom lip. “Why the hell are we still talking about beds?”

I all but goaded him into it, but a surprised squeak still escapes from me as his mouth crashes down onto mine. I throw my arms immediately around his neck and press my body against his—things I’ve been wishing I’d done the first time.

The second his lips touch mine I forget why I thought this was such a bad idea. Nothing that feels so good could possibly be wrong. Said every woman about to make a huge mistake.

Brogan kisses me like he’s dying and I’ve drunk the antidote that will save him. He devours me. His tongue sweeps into my mouth and he groans. I’m not sure who pulls the other onto the mattress, but my back hits the soft cushion of the giant four-poster bed, and Brogan pins me in place with one giant thigh thrown over my hips. One hand is behind my lower back and the other is in my hair.

I have died and gone to heaven. No one has ever kissed me like this. I’m not sure I’ve ever kissed anyone like this. I’m clinging to him and pulling him tighter against me.

“Excuse me?” We’re interrupted by a sales guy who looks like he doesn’t get paid enough to deal with customers like us.

I hide behind Brogan’s shoulder as he rolls off me.

“Sorry, man,” he says, sounding anything but sorry.

“You can’t make out on the beds,” the guy says. “I’m gonna have to ask you and your girlfriend to leave.”

I am mortified.

“Of course.” Brogan stands and gives me a wicked grin as he takes my hand to help me up. “This one wasn’t for us anyway. Too soft. We like a firm mattress. Right, sweetheart?”

I shoot him a murderous look, but he just wraps an arm around me and leads me out of the store like he isn’t sporting a hard-on and I don’t have sex hair that gives us away.

Brogan’s apartment is only a few blocks from the store. We’re quiet for the drive, but as soon as we get inside, his mouth is back on me and our hands are everywhere. He kisses me while leading me through the quiet space. Both of our shirts are gone and my shorts are undone seconds after we make it to the bedroom.

For the second time today, we fall onto a bed together. This one is in fact much firmer. And it smells like him.

He pulls back a fraction and his dark stare darts from my mouth to my eyes. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

I had the entire drive to reconsider. Maybe it’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever had, but I want to do this. Besides, how much worse could we make it at this point? It’s not like I’m going to forget how good a kisser he is anytime soon. It’s too late. We crossed the line and there’s no going back. I lift my head in invitation and Brogan must decide that’s confirmation enough because he’s kissing me again and I never want him to stop.

My shorts come off next and then his hand slides up and down the curve of my waist as he sucks on my tongue. Long fingers make their way up between the valley of my cleavage and dip under the band of my bra and he flicks open the front clasp.

The cool air hits my pebbled nipples and a rush of warmth floods my lower stomach.

He rolls over onto his back and then pulls me on top of him. My hair falls around his face and he uses both hands to push it back. Only the thin material of my panties and his trunks separate us. I can feel how much he wants me as he lifts his hips and my body rocks against his long, hard dick.

My eyes fall closed and my head tips back. Brogan groans as he moves his hands to cup my breasts.

“I have died and gone to heaven.” He sits up and licks a slow circle over one tight bud.

His hands cup and squeeze, and his mouth works me over until I’m arching into him for more and grinding against his dick.

“More.” The one word is all I can manage to articulate.

“Tell me what you need, sweetheart.” His teeth graze up my neck and his hands go around my back. He draws me against his chest, fingers tangling in my hair and pulling my head back to give him better access to the sensitive column.

“You’re wearing too many clothes.”

He lifts his hips to tease me with the hard length I’m sitting on. “So are you.”

“You have on more than me,” I argue.

“I need to taste every inch of you before I’m ready to fuck you.”

A jolt of pleasure rolls down my spine at the promise of his words, but I’m needy and impatient.

“I never thought it’d be so hard to get you naked,” I grumble, to which he laughs. His warm breath tickles my skin. He brushes his mouth over mine and then freezes.

“Don’t freak out.”

It takes me a second to realize why he’d issue such a warning. Footsteps sound in the apartment, and before I’ve quite figured out what to do, Archer appears in the doorway.

Brogan has my chest pressed to his and his knees are blocking my ass, I think, but it’s still clear what the hell we’re doing.

Archer takes in the scene, eyes wide, then turns to face the other way.

“Sorry. Didn’t realize we had company,” he shouts, then holds up an envelope in one hand. “This came for you. Looked important, but now it feels awkward. Fuck…” While keeping his eyes averted, he walks closer and sets the envelope on the edge of the bed. “Okay, then. I’m gonna go to my room now. Good to see you, London.”

Brogan keeps laughing as I bury my face in his chest.

“You too.” I hold a hand up over my head in an awkward wave.

“He’s gone,” Brogan says, loosening his grip on me.

No sooner has he said the words than Archer’s voice comes closer again. “Oh, and uh…some of the guys are on their way over.”