He shrugs. “There’s a lot of sexual tension between you two.”
“Ew. Gross. No, there isn’t. There is no sexual tension between Laura and me. Just thinking about it is enough to keep my dick soft until Christmas.” I shudder, genuinely repulsed. After this afternoon, there is only one Collins sister on my radar, and that’s one too many. Kissing Libs, touching her, talking dirty to her while she rocked on my cock was a mistake.
One I have no idea how to bounce back from. I’m pretty sure showing up on her doorstep wearing nothing but one of the socks she knitted me in high school on my dick and a sign around my neck that says “my cock is in time out until he remembers how to act with friends,” probably isn’t a good idea. In fact, showing up wearing nothing but a sock sends the opposite fucking message, proving no part of me is thinking straight right now.
“Whatever you say,” Brendan says, clearly not convinced. “But if you want to talk, I’m around. Sometimes getting whatever’s messing with your head out into the open is enough to keep it off the ice, you know?”
“I know. Shit.” I squeeze my eyes shut, cursing softly again before I confess, “It’s Libby. I went over to her place to give her some advice today and things got way out of hand.”
I give Brendan a brief rundown of the situation, knowing he’s a vault and would never tell anyone that Libby asked me to give her a crash course on sex and dating, or share that I proved to be the kind of perverted professor who can’t keep his hands off of his student.
“No clothes came off,” I add in a hushed voice, not wanting anyone else to overhear. “But we were headed there fast when all of sudden she bailed. She bolted for her bedroom and a few minutes later I got a text saying she’d crawled out the fire escape because she needed to be alone and that she would prefer not to see me or talk to me for at least a year. Maybe more.”
Brendan scratches beneath his jaw as he lets out a long, slow breath. “Wow. That’s…not good.”
“No, it’s not. And she won’t respond to any of my texts or answer my calls and I feel like shit. I was supposed to help her, and all I did was make her more upset.” I lean back against my locker, letting the cold metal dig into my bare shoulder blades. “I’ve got to find a way to convince her to talk this through and put it behind us. If not, I might as well arrange to break my leg or something because my game is going to be worthless until I get some fucking closure.”
“You’re a closure-needing person,” Brendan agrees, propping a booted foot on top of the bench between us. “But maybe it isn’t time for that right now.”
I cross my arms at my chest. “What do you mean?”
“Maybe it isn’t time to put this behind you. Maybe you need to keep moving forward.”
I frown. “What?”
“Keep giving her lessons. Keep going until she’s comfortable,” Brendan says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “I mean, I’ve never been in your position, but I would think it would pretty hard to teach someone how to be relaxed and confident in bed without actually getting them into bed.”
I snort. “Dude, I can’t do that. Libby’s not that kind of person. She’s not going to be on board with becoming fuck buddies.” And I’m not sure I’m on board with it, either. Yes, being with Libby this afternoon was hot as hell, but I don’t want to hurt her, and I’m not sure she’s capable of separating the physical from the emotional or keeping things in the sack “just friendly.” Breaking a girl’s heart is never fun, but breaking Libby’s would haunt me for a damned long time.
“How do you know?” Brendan asks. “You haven’t asked her.”
“Well, no, but…” I shake my head. “But I know Libby. She likes rules and lists and a place for everything and everything in its place.”
“So maybe the reason she was upset this afternoon was because you two hadn’t talked about the possibility of hands-on stuff beforehand. Maybe she would be okay with it if you made some rules, set some boundaries.”
“I seriously doubt that.” But a tiny voice inside me insists that he could have a point. Libby is the kind of person who likes to know what she’s getting into.
When we used to go skiing in high school, she would study the map and scope out the harder runs from the green trails before she would even get on a lift. And she’s the only person I’ve ever known who plans out her meals a month in advance to make sure she doesn’t end up throwing out leftovers. She’s anal-retentive, but in a cute way. And I’m not about to fault her for the food thing.