“Mmm-hmm, maybe ten or fifteen,” she replied, her face animated. “A couple I’ve just popped in to help where I can, while the others I’ve been there for the whole build. Either way, it’s something that makes you feel good about yourself, and helps someone else. So, it’s a win-win. I think you’ll love it, Wes.”
“Hey, sorry it took so long,” Karrie said breathlessly as she walked toward Emma with a glass. “Here’s the prosecco I was telling you about. I think you’ll like it.”
I took in her mussed hair and flushed cheeks and couldn’t stop myself from teasing.
“What did take so long, Kare-bear?”
“I know it’s been a while, bro, but if you think real hard I’m sure you can figure it out,” Ridge said, pulling Karrie up to him and kissing her briefly, before turning to me with a cocky grin. “Although, even when compared with your best fantasies, just know … I’m better.”
“You wish,” I shot back with a chuckle.
“I don’t know,” Karrie put in shyly, her voice taking on a dreamy quality. “Ridge is pretty amazing.”
“Okay, could we not talk about your sex life please?” Wes asked, but I just laughed.
“Sorry, Wes, didn’t mean to hurt your virgin ears.”
My brother glared at me and I knew he was biting his tongue trying not to take the bait.
No, he wasn’t a virgin, but out of the three of us he’d always been the most reserved and it was my duty as his younger brother to fuck with him.
“Oh, this is good,” Emma said after taking a sip of the sparkling wine.
She and Trixie were on one loveseat, with Ridge and Karrie on the other, while Wes and I occupied the chairs.
Karrie beamed at her before accepting the kabob stick with a marshmallow on the end from Trixie.
“Thanks, half-pint,” I told Trixie as she handed me one.
“Sure thing, bromance,” she returned.
“I love all the nicknames you guys have for each other,” Emma said, nudging Trixie with her elbow. “Why bromance?”
“Well, it’s a play on his name, Brody, and the fact that at every Delta party the girls are fawning on over him, praying for a romance.” Trixie laughed and shrugged. “I’m not very good at nicknames, but he has so many for me I felt I had to come up with something.”
“I love it,” Emma assured her before turning to me and asking, “So, you’re a hot commodity, huh?”
“The hottest,” I quipped with a wink.
“Only because I’m off the market,” Ridge chimed in.
Karrie rolled her eyes and whispered, “Let it go, babe.”
I roasted my marshmallow, which meant I burnt the shit out of it, and then popped it in my mouth, opting not to ruin the perfectly sweet puff by placing it between graham crackers and chocolate.
As I was burning my tongue, I noticed Emma was rotating hers a few inches away from the flame.
“Oh no, don’t tell me you’re one of those,” I said.
“One of whom?” she asked.
So proper … I liked it.
“The sort who takes five minutes to lightly toast their marshmallow. I mean, what’s the point? You may as well eat it raw, it’s not like it’ll get gooey that way.”
Emma took her time making her s’more and then took a bite and said, “Perfect.”
I scoffed and burned another one.
We sat around chatting for a while. Drinking and eating as we told stories and laughed so much my stomach began to hurt.
After a few fingers of whiskey, I was feeling good. Warm, happy, and just uninhibited enough that when Emma excused herself to go to the restroom, I got up with the intention of waiting for her inside.
I knew we’d only talked about the possibility of changing the dynamic of our relationship a few hours earlier, but after spending the evening with her, listening to her laugh, and imagining what we’d be like together, the urge to kiss her was almost overwhelming.
Since she’d agreed to think about becoming more, I figured it was in my best interest to show her what was possible between us … so she could make an informed decision.
Fifteen
Emma
I checked my face in the mirror as I washed my hands, then bared my teeth.
No chocolate or marshmallow goo.
After pulling my hair into a quick braid and securing it with a rubber band from my wrist, I was ready to go back and join the others.
I wasn’t sure why I’d been so nervous when Brody’d invited me to game night. I knew everyone, and had spent time with them before, although not in such an intimate setting. Plus, after he’d admitted to feeling the attraction between us and being interested in exploring it, the stakes felt higher.
I knew how important his brothers were to him and how he valued their opinion, much like I did Benny’s. And I had no idea how any of them would react to Brody and me being more than friends.
The history between all of us was complicated to say the least.
Feeling light and giddy from the prosecco, I opened the door and started down the hall, before stopping so abruptly I almost fell over.
Brody rounded the corner quickly, his hands coming out to steady me and said, “Whoa … you good?”
“Yeah,” I said with a laugh. “You just surprised me.”
“Sorry,” he said, and I noticed he hadn’t dropped his hands.
And the reason I noticed was because my skin was tingling from the contact.
His right hand moved up my arm slowly, his touch barely there, and I was suddenly congratulating myself on the tank top I’d chosen to wear. My eyes drifted closed as I tuned in to the sensation that came over me.
“Em?”
“Yeah?” I whispered, not opening my eyes.
I was afraid to move. That even the slight flutter of my eyelashes would cause him to stop the touching.
And it felt so nice.
I felt a shift in the air and knew he was bending slightly … leaning down … closer to me … and my breath held as I waited to see what would happen next.
His lips were soft against mine and the scruff on his face teased my skin as my lips parted and I welcomed his kiss.
He tasted of whiskey and marshmallows, sweet and spicy, and I had to place my hands at his waist to hold on as a heady feeling took over. I flexed my fingers and gripped him tighter as I tilted my head, giving him access to deepen the kiss.
I felt his moan course through my body as his tongue delved between my lips, and I pulled him closer, needing more contact as a fire began to rage within me.
Brody turned us slightly and pushed, my back hitting the wall as our exploration went from sweet and searching to a freaking inferno.
I shoved my hands under his shirt, loving the feel of his hot, soft skin, and lifted one leg to wrap it around his, anchoring him to me. He broke the kiss, but before I could protest, his lips were moving down my throat, pausing to nip at the base, and the words died as I succumbed to the delicious sensation.
Instinctively, I jerked him closer, but when I felt the hard length of him straining against me, I realized how fast things were going.
I dropped my leg and removed my hands from his shirt, sagging against the wall as he took a slight step back and I lost his mouth. His forehead rested gently against mine as we both stood there panting, trying to catch our breath.
“Wow, you’re really good at that,” I said when I could manage to string a few words together.
“So are you,” Brody replied, and I could hear the smile in his voice.
We stood that way for a few more moments and then he stepped away and reached out his hand.
“Ready to head back out?”
I accepted his hand and nodded.
Now feeling giddy from the phenomenal kiss, rather than the wine, I walked outside with what I was sure was a Cheshire-wide smile on my face, and I didn’t care who noticed.
Trixie had moved to Wes’s lap, so when Brody guided me back to the loveseat, he joined m
e rather than taking his previous seat.
“Everything okay in there?” Ridge asked, his eyes twinkling, and I felt my cheeks get heated.
If there was one thing I’d learned about the brothers, they loved to tease each other and no one was safe once they were in their circle. Which was why, in addition to being embarrassed they suspected something happened between Brody and me, and didn’t hesitate to call us on it, I was excited to be included and made to feel like one of their pack.
“Amazing,” Brody replied with a cocky grin.
He still had his hand wrapped around mine and he squeezed it slightly, causing me to turn my head and look at him.
His dark eyes were warm, his hair was mussed from the breeze, and as I looked into his handsome face, I couldn’t stop my gaze from dropping to his lips. The butterflies in my stomach were frenzied as I thought back to our kiss and my heart started beating triple time when I lifted my eyes to find him starting back at me intently.
“Jesus, is it hot out here?” Karrie asked lightly.
To which Ridge replied, “Seriously, get a room … Wes is present.”
“Fuck off,” Wes shot back.
And then I thought I heard Trixie say quietly, “The way they’re looking at each other is making me horny.”
“Okay, that’s it … party’s over,” Wes said suddenly.
I grinned at Brody, whose mouth quirked in return.
“Want me to take you home?” he asked.
I nodded.
“That would be great, thanks.”
I said my goodbyes, thanked everyone for having me and went out to get in Brody’s Tesla to go back home.
As we pulled away, I hoped we hadn’t rushed too quickly out of the friend zone, even as I vowed I’d get at least one more taste before we said good night.
Sixteen
Brody
I followed Emma’s directions and pulled up to the curb outside one of the apartment buildings in a pretty large complex. It was dark, but you could still see enough to know the buildings were older and run down.
Emma glanced at me and then back out the window, seemingly embarrassed.
“Hey,” I called softly.
She turned back toward me and I caught her chin gently.
“I don’t care where you live. I don’t want you to think because I was raised with money that I’m some kind of snob or something. I’m not,” I assured her, hoping she believed me. “My mother didn’t come from money, even though she’d try and deny it. She was ashamed of where she came from and who her parents were, but we loved them. Growing up Wes and I would beg to go and stay with them whenever we had vacations. She usually said no, but once we learned Wes was her favorite and there was little she’d deny him, he would be the one to go to her and beg and plead, and she’d give in.”
“Did they live in Chicago too?” Emma asked.
I shook my head and said, “In Battle Creek, Michigan. Their house wasn’t big, but it was on this cool wooded lot. Wes and I would share the bed in their spare room, and we’d spend our days out in those woods, playing all day long until our grandma called us in to eat. She was the best cook…”
“Ridge didn’t go with you?”
“Once or twice, but Dad usually made him stay back. He did get to go with us that last summer before they passed. First our grandma and then grandpa a few months later. It was like he couldn’t stand to be on this earth without her.”
“I’m sorry,” Emma said, reaching out to grasp my hand.
“Thanks,” I said, my heart suddenly heavy with missing them. “My mom didn’t even want to go to the funerals, but Dad made her … said we needed to keep up appearances. I think that’s when I really started to hate her. I mean, her parents were the best. They loved her and missed her. Once she married my dad, she never went back, and I think she stopped inviting them to our house after my seventh birthday.”
I sighed and brought her hand to my lips.
“Anyway, I told you all that so you’d know I’m not some jerk who judges people based off of material things. Yes, I was born into a family without money problems, but believe me, we had plenty of other problems. And I really like you, Em. I like who you are and what you stand for, and the last thing that could ever define you is your address.”
Emma’s lips turned up and she let out a small laugh.
“You know, I used to think you were a superficial playboy who wouldn’t be able to understand me even if you had a manual.”
I grinned and said, “That’s fair. I spent most of my life creating that persona.”
“I’m glad I got to know who you really are … underneath. Because I think you’re pretty great,” she said, and her words filled me with pride.
“I’m glad,” I replied, leaning in closer to her and lowering my voice to add, “You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met.”
I caressed her cheek with the pad of my thumb, my eyes on hers, before I closed the distance between us and brushed my lips across hers.
Emma sighed, opening for me, and then moaned when I accepted her unspoken invitation.
I cupped her face with one hand as I moved the other into her hair and clenched my fingers in the soft tresses. She smelled good, like lemon and lavender, and I could still taste chocolate from the s’mores.
All combined, it was an overload for the senses, and I wanted nothing more than to lay her down and continue exploring every inch of her, which was why I knew I needed to pump the brakes.
Her eyes remained closed when I pulled away and when her tongue darted out and swept across her lower lip, it took all of my restraint not to go back in for more.
“Want to come up?” she breathed.
Oh man … do I?
“Is Crush home?”
“Probably,” Emma said, her eyes fluttering open. “But you can come up for a drink or something … hang out.”
“Do you think he’s ready for that? Are you?” I asked, not sure if she wanted her brother to know there was something between us. “I know we weren’t discreet around my family, but earlier you said you needed to think about whether or not you wanted to pursue something other than friendship with me. I don’t want to rush you.”
“I know, but after tonight…” she began, bringing her hand up and dancing her fingertips over her mouth. “Well, let’s just say I thought about it and, yeah, I’d also like to see what this thing is between us. Like I said, you’re different than I thought, and I really like the guy I’m getting to know. I want to know more.”
Her admission thrilled me and even though I wanted to howl at the moon because of it, I still had to ask, “And Crush?” not wanting to cause an issue between her and her brother.
“Benny will be fine. He doesn’t really get involved in my love life, and I definitely steer clear of his. We’re not like you and your brothers in that department. Plus, he’s grateful for what you guys did for him.”
I didn’t really know Crush at all since he’d been out of the frat before I’d joined, but I knew how much Emma loved him. Despite the rumors I’d heard and the circumstances of the last couple years, I was sure he was a good dude underneath it all.
“Okay, then, sure, I’ll come up for a drink,” I said, and prayed he’d be cool with me dating his sister.
Seventeen
Emma
Brody opened the door for me and held my hand as we went up the stairs.
I’d heard everything he’d said in the car. I really appreciated him saying it and believed he was telling the truth, but as we walked up the stairs I couldn’t help but be hyper aware of the stains on the walls and the musty smell that permeated the air.
I moved quickly, practically dragging him along behind me, and tried not to dwell on the things I couldn’t change.
At least, not in the next five minutes.
I took the key out of my bag and unlocked the door, pausing to listen for signs of life inside. I didn’t hear anything and hoped Benny was asleep. Not because I thought he�
�d have a problem with Brody being there, but because I wanted to spend more time with him and continue to get to know each other better.
After he’d shut the door I reached over to lock it and said, “I probably should have been clearer in the car. All we have to drink is water, OJ, and coffee. There’s no alcohol in the house since Benny is in recovery.”
“That’s fine,” Brody said easily. “Water works.”
I poured two glasses of water and handed him one before walking into the living room and gesturing to the sofa.
“Have a seat,” I said, beginning to feel a little nervous.
I kind of enjoy the initial nerves that go along with the beginning of a new relationship. They let you know you’ve found something worth pursuing.
Once he sat on the couch, I sat down next to him and then scooted closer, so my leg was pressed against his.
“Hi,” I whispered, hoping my throaty tone sounded sexy, and then I made my move.
We were making out pretty heavily when I heard the sound of a door opening down the hall. I got off of Brody … when had I straddled him? ... and sat, leaving a couple of inches open between us.
I smoothed my hair and glanced up to see Benny walking in, his face lined with sleep.
He looked confused for a moment, then his eyes widened when they landed on Brody.
“I thought I heard voices,” he said with a yawn, then plodded over and squeezed himself right between Brody and me.
“Uh, do you mind?” I asked.
Benny smiled and wiggled his butt to try and make me scooch over and give him more room.
“Really?” I asked, but moved, not wanting to get into it with him in front of Brody.
“What are you guys up to?” Benny asked.
I sat back and crossed my arms, refusing to answer him, so he turned toward Brody.
“We were just at my place having a game night,” Brody replied.
“With friends?” he asked.
Frat House Confessions: Brody Page 6