Page 19 of Big Catch
He gazes at me like he knows what’s going on inside my head. “Taking the guests to town for shopping,” he explains.
I smile, excitement welling up inside me as I grab my brush from my dresser and run it through my hair. “I can’t wait to meet the locals and pick up a few souvenirs,” I say, a new excitement building up inside me.
“Alyssa.”
I turn at the seriousness I hear in his voice. Ty is always playful—Bray is the more serious of the two—so his tone takes me by surprise. He rakes a hand through his hair, a look of agony on his face. Something is wrong. My heart stills. Is he having second thoughts about carrying on with this affair? Was once enough for him?
His gaze travels the length of my still-naked body. “Uh, you really need to get dressed, or we’re never going to make it downstairs.”
My insides flutter, a bubble of happy laughter bursting from my throat as I hurry into my dress, mentally scolding myself for overthinking everything and always going straight for the worst. I make a move to tie my hair back, but he reaches out to stop me.
He takes my hands and puts them at my sides, then pushes my hair from my shoulders. “Just like this,” he says and drops the softest, sweetest kiss onto my mouth.
I stand there breathless for a second, as something warm and intimate passes between us. “Okay,” I finally manage to say, and wonder if this is a dangerous game I’m playing. Maybe I should put a stop to it now, before I get in too deep. But when Ty captures my hand and ushers me from my room, need overshadows logic, and I let him guide me, willing to follow him and his friend anywhere they want to take me.
Chapter Five
Braydon
The warm afternoon sun shines down on us as I stand back with Ty while our guests mill about, going from shop to shop to buy local merchandise and pick up souvenirs. Josie flicks her hair over her shoulder and locks arms with one of her friends. At least she’s given up on trying to get me in her bed. She hit on Ty during our short drive to the shops, but he was less than interested. Normally he’d go for it, but he did say he was getting played out. Although, he’s ready and eager to play with Alyssa. Actually, he really seems to like her. Not that I can blame him. She’s fun, spontaneous, brilliant, and game for anything—definitely the kind of girl he could fall for.
The kind of girl I could fall for.
Whoa, what the hell?
I consider that as a group of kids play soccer in the streets, their shrieks of laughter cutting through the quiet of day. I shove my hands into my pockets, and Ty nudges me.
“You okay?” he asks, always looking out for me. That’s one thing that has never changed from our childhood.
“Yeah, why?” I ask, even though I know what he’s picking up on. Shit, I haven’t felt so alive in a long time. Yeah, sex was getting mundane, life routine, but a morning in bed with Aly and Ty felt right—personal—and that’s throwing me off a little. Okay, a lot.
It’s just sex, dude. Get over it.
Ty grins and puts his hand on my shoulder. “She’s something, huh?”
“You remember her, right? The doctor from the clinic.”
“Yeah, I remember. You really liked her. Called dibs on asking her out,” Ty reminds me.
I grin. “Yeah. I did call dibs, didn’t I?”
Ty laughs. “You thought you were having a heart attack and still found it in you to call dibs.”
I angle my head to see my best friend. “So, you would have asked if I didn’t?”
“Fucking right, I would have.” He grins. “But you were under stress, so I threw you a bone.”
Aly comes out of a store holding up a local scarf she bought to show
us, and my fucking heart leaps. She waves, the big smile on her face doing mind-fucking things to me. Shit, man, I’m in trouble here.
Just then a soccer ball misses its mark and hits her in the gut—hard. Her eyes go wide, and she bends forward, the air leaving her lungs in a loud whoosh.
“Shit,” Ty says, and we make a run for her as she collapses to the ground.
I drop to my knees and cradle her in my arms, and Ty pushes her hair back to see her face. “Hey, you okay?” I ask. Her eyes, glassy and dazed, tell me she’s not. What the fuck do I do? Panicked, I turn to Ty for help. He sits her up straighter to expand her lungs.
She clutches her stomach, and the group of young boys who’d been playing come running over. A couple of them are Becca’s boys—the kids we tutor once week.
