Brooke
“Your bed is so comfy.” I yawn, snuggling further into his naked chest as he plays with my hair. We’ve lain here, basking in an after sex high, for I don’t know how long. Could’ve been five minutes, could’ve been ten since Brody rolled off me, gasping for air while his cum trickled down my thighs. What I do know is that I’m going to have trouble walking tomorrow.
“Glad you like it…you know what else it’s good for?” I don’t have to look at him to know that there is a devilish smirk plastered on his face.
“Sleeping.”
“You don’t fancy another go?” Brody cups my right breast in his hand, massaging it gently.
“Haven’t you run out of sperm by now?” I moan as he pinches my nipple between two of his fingers, which sends a delicious mix of pain and pleasure all the way down to my pussy.
“Nah, I’m good. I’ve got a whole year’s worth to share with you.”
“Really?” I ask, as I raise myself up to rest on my elbow. “So you’re saying that you didn’t jerk off.”
“I didn’t say that.” He grins. “But I have had a serious case of blue balls.”
“And wankers cramp?”
“What the fuck is a wanker?”
“Some British term I picked up from a guy at the club.”
“Yeah? Did he try to get in your panties as well as teach you dirty words?” The pout on his face is adorable, but I can tell Brody is pissed.
“Yes, he did, but”—I gently slap his chest as he tries to get up—“he didn’t get anywhere. Before you say anything, Jez is a really nice guy.”
“He tried to get in your panties.”
“But he didn’t, nor did any other guy.” He lets out a snort of annoyance and looks away from me. “When did you get so…possessive?”
“When I found out that the men you’ve worked with over the past year are every woman’s idea of the perfect male.”
“Did you look on the website?” I’m biting on my bottom lip to try and stop myself from laughing at his sulking.
“Yes.”
“That explains it.” I place a light kiss between his eyebrows. “You should know that none of them compare to you.”
“That right?” He’s struggling not to smile now.
“Uh-huh.”
“So, I can compete with them?”
“Most of them.”
“Most of them?” he repeats, raising an eyebrow.
“Jake’s pretty hooooo…Brody!” I squeal as he flips me over and starts to tickle me.
“He is, is he?”
“Stop,” I scream with laughter. “Please, stop.”
“Who’s hotter?” He carries on ignoring my pleas. “Jake or me?”
“Jake.” I laugh.
“What was that?” He grins evilly as he makes a dive for my feet.
“Noooooooooo.”
“Sorry,” the bastard says while he attacks my right foot. “You were saying?”
“Stop.” I pant. “I’m going to pee myself.”
“Not until you tell me.” I try to kick out but he’s too powerful for me. “Jake or me?”
“You.” I squeal.
“Me what?” He pauses for a moment, his fingers dancing lightly across the soles of my feet.
“You’re hotter than Jake.”
“Good.” He smiles, letting go of my feet and crawling back up my body.
“I hate you.” I huff.
“No, you don’t.” He smirks, pulling me back down on to his chest. “You love me.”
“I don’t know why.”
“So tell me.”
“What?”
“This guy, Jez, right?”
“Yeah?”
“What British words did he teach you?”
“Only a few. Wanker, twat, cockwomble.”
“What do they even mean?” Brody snorts.
“Wanker is someone jerking off, I think. Twat is a pussy, but can be used as an alternative to idiot. And cockwomble…I have no idea.”
“Good to know.”
“Why?”
“We might go to England one day.”
“Oh yeah? And why would we go?”
“For our honeymoon,” he says smugly.
I walked into that one, didn’t I?
“Has all the sex gone to your brain?” I joke. “Or have you forgotten that we’re not engaged anymore?”
“I haven’t forgotten.” Brody bends his head to place a kiss in my hair. “And I intend to rectify that situation as soon as you admit you want to marry me.”
“You haven’t asked.”
“Will you marry me?”
“Uh, no.”
“Why not? You accepted straight away the last time.”
“Because, buster, we’ve only just gotten back together. Literally.”
“All the more reason not to waste any time.”
“I said no, Brody.”
“Is that a no, as in never ever, or no as in maybe someday?”
“The latter.”
“Like next week?”
“You need to slow it down, buddy.” I laugh. “There are things we need to sort out first.”
“Like?”
“Like...like.” I struggle. “Like…I don’t live here!”
“You can always move back.”
I let out a huff of annoyance at that answer.
“Well you could,” he continues. “Emmerton is your home.”
“Scottsdale is my home now.”
“For a year,” he says dismissively.
“And?”
“And what?”
“I have a life there. A job. Friends. An apartment.”
“You had a life here.” He shuffles down the bed so that we are facing one another. “With me,” he says, eyes boring into mine. “You have friends here as well you know, and a home.”
“Pfft…where?”
“Here,” he says, kissing my nose. “This house. You could move back in.”
“Brody.” I sigh.
“I don’t see the problem.”
“Well, I do.”
“I love you, you love me, so what’s stopping you?” he asks, bemusement clouding his handsome face, which then turns to panic. “You do love me, don’t you?”
“Yes.” I lightly stroke his brow in an effort to calm him. “I’ve loved you my whole life.”
“Then why won’t you come home?”
“It’s complicated.”
“I still don’t see any problem.”
Inwardly, I sigh. How do I explain to him, that in the year we were apart, I grew up? I became who I was meant to be, not who I was expected to become. No one in Scottsdale knew me as one half of Brooke and Brody, the couple who were destined to marry from birth. No one expected anything of me. They helped me see that there is a life outside of the small town that I called home. That I am my own person—not just the other half of a couple, or the much-loved deputy’s daughter. In Scottsdale, I’m free from judgement, free from prying eyes, free from expectations. Yet, these are the people who helped raise me, who picked me up and dusted me off when I scraped my knee. Who fed Hope and me for months after our parents died. Who know every single bit of my business.
“I’ve made a life there, Brody.” I place a finger on his lips to prevent him from interrupting me. “A happy life, with a good job and good friends. I…I feel…I don’t know how to explain it.” I take his hand in mine, bringing it to my lips. “I’m sorry.”
“You feel free,” he says, resigned. “That the weight of expectation has been taken off of your shoulders.”
“How did you…”
“I get it, okay. I get how you feel, because I feel that weight too. Like everyone expects me to do the right thing all the time, and kicks me down when I fuck up.”
“Wow.”
“I understand why you don’t want to come home, you don’t have to say any more. I want us to be together. What makes you happy makes me happy.”
“You could always move to Arizona,” I say hopefully, Brody makes a face in response. “That’s a no then.”
“I’m not saying that, baby, but please think about how difficult it would be for me to up and move across the country. Everything that I know and love is here…except you.” He kisses the palm of my hand before continuing. “It won’t be that easy to start over. In Emmerton, I have practically no competition—I’m the go-to guy. You know how long it’s taken me to build up a good reputation. I’d have to sell McAllister Construction, then build my business again from scratch.”
“Oh.”
“It’s not a no, Brooke. It’s an I’ll think about it, okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Come here.” He smiles, putting both arms around me, hugging me. “We’ll work something out. Something that’s good for both of us. You just gotta have faith.”
“Did you just quote George Michael to me?”
“Might have.” He gives me a sly grin. “Anyway, I forgot to ask if you’re free tonight.”
“Well let me check my extensive diary and I’ll get back to you.” I tap my lip in mock contemplation. “No, you’re good. It’s not like I can go anywhere anyway.”
“How about you and me head out, go on an official date?”
“You have remembered that we’re stuck in Emmerton, right? I’m not allowed to go out of the town limits. It’s going to be a pretty boring date.”
“Says you.” He scoffs.
“I’ve lived in Emmerton all of my life, buddy, and I know that this place is practically a ghost town at night.”
“Hey, I’m not talking about taking you to a bar, sweetheart.”
“So, where are you going to take me, mister?”
“That’s classified.”
“You don’t know, do you?” I poke him in the side.
“Need to know basis, sweetheart. Now go to sleep.” He laughs as he turns off the light.
Silence descends throughout the room, for a while nothing stirs. My head rests against Brody’s chest, his rhythmic breathing leads me to believe that he has fallen asleep. So, I get up and walk to the bathroom, my mind full of turmoil because of our conversation. Could I give up my new life to return to my old one? I love Brody but…I don’t know if we’re strong enough yet. I feel like we still have some healing to do. We’re not quite there.
In the harsh light from the bathroom, I stand and stare at the horror show that confronts me in the mirror. My hair has that just fucked look to it, or as my mom would say, I look like I’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards. If all else fails, I could probably make decent money as an Alice Cooper impersonator, seeing as my eyeliner is streaked all over my face.
I’m seriously in awe that Brody didn’t run off screaming.
That, right there, is a sign of true love.
When I’m finished, I tiptoe back to our bedroom, hoping not to disturb my slumbering man. Unfortunately, I discover I wasn’t born with the ability to see in the dark, when I let out a loud yelp as my foot meets a wooden bedpost.
“Shit!”
The light turns on immediately and through my tears of pain, I see Brody bolt upright, rubbing his eyes. “Brooke? Baby? You okay?”
“Yeah.” I wince as I hobble back over to my side of the bed.
“What happened?” he asks sleepily.
“Stubbed my toe on the bed.”
“Do you want me to beat the shit out of it?”
“No.” I pout, diving into his open arms. “I don’t want you to damage it. It’s too comfy.”
“But it maimed my woman.” He smiles at me, his eyes alight with amusement.
“Your woman will be okay once her man kisses her better.”
“You want me to kiss your stinky feet?”
“My feet don’t stink, asshat.”
Brody laughs, reaching over to turn out the light.
“Night, stinky.”
“Brody?”
“Yes, baby?”
“I might have to take your bed with me when I go home.”
“As long as I’m in it every night, sweetheart, you can have what you want.”
“So you’ll move to Arizona?”
“We’ll see. Night, Brooke,” he says quietly before falling quickly back to sleep.