Page 65 of Rush

He chuckles.

“You’re…serious?” he asks almost to himself.

“Yes.”

Broderick’s eyes darken a shade; the playful edge slipping just enough to let something real and heavy settle between us.

“You don’t just drop something like that and expect me to act like it’s nothing.”

“Maybe not, but I’m a young woman, Broderick. I haveneeds.”

His eyes narrow slightly, shadowed with something unreadable.

“You’re actually serious,” he says in disbelief.

I nod, biting my lip.

He scrubs a hand down his face, pacing a step away, but then turns back to me.

“But…what? Why?” he stammers, words tumbling over each other. It’s strange seeing him so flustered—his usually confident, teasing facade cracking right in front of me.

Why?

Because my heart is broken, because I want to feel wanted and needed.

Because I’m lonely and horny.

Because you’re hot

Because I want you.

I want so desperately to be able to admit those things to him. But what if I scare him away. Instead, I tread cautiously.

“I’m not gonna sit here and pretend there hasn’t been something going on with us…since the moment we met, there’s been…this,” I say gesturing between us, my eyes never leaving his.

He swallows hard, and I press on before I lose my nerve.

“I’m going on tour soon…and in the position I’m in, one-night stands aren’t an option. The idea of starting anything that hinges on an NDA feels transactional.”

The thought of Cooper Witney crossing celebrities off his bucket list, makes my skin crawl.

“I can trust you right?” I ask.

“Always,” he says, without hesitation.

And with that one word, I don’t doubt I’ll be safe with him.

“I want you to be the one who…fulfils myneeds. Be my distraction. Keep me satisfied, can you do that?”

Why does it feels hotter in here all of a sudden, my face flushed with audacity. But it’s too late now, I’m standing on the edge of something and I’m ready to fall into it.

All of it.

With my false sense of bravery, I step a little closer again, lowering my voice and peering up at him through my lashes.

“Say yes,” I whisper, daring him. “You know you want to.”

His chest rises and falls, faster now.