Just a Little Crush(85)

I opened the door and slipped out.

“Brinley,” Mom said just before it closed.

I held it cracked open.

“I love you too.”

My lip trembled as I nodded.

I rushed down the hall to the bathroom. With my hands resting on the sink, I leaned forward and took several even breaths.

Arms slipped around my waist and I jerked my head up.

“Ryder.” The overhead light reflected in the glassy sheen of my eyes as I looked at him in the mirror.

He turned me to face him. “Did you talk to your mom?”

I stared into his green eyes. “I don’t know why I’ve kept that bottled up so long. It was liberating. I always imagined it would hurt me as much as it hurt her, but it didn’t. I was honest and…well, it felt amazing.”

He smiled. “You’re amazing.” His gaze flicked down to my lips then came back to my eyes. “And I guess, it’s my turn.”

“What do you mean?”

“I told you to be honest, stop enabling, yet what am I doing? What is keeping this secret from my mom doing? It’s not protecting her. It’s protecting him.” He pulled me against his chest and rested his chin on my head. “I’m going to follow my own advice. I’m going to tell Mom everything.”





Chapter Nineteen


I paced the length of Ryder’s room waiting for him to come back. He and Paige met with their mom for a late lunch, where they’d planned to tell her everything. It was almost dinnertime now and I hadn’t heard from him.

I checked my phone again. No missed calls. No texts. Nothing. I sank onto the bed, hoping it had gone all right. The last thing I wanted was some sort of family disagreement to alienate Ryder from me again.

I pulled out my laptop and busied myself checking email. I even waded through my junk mail. Anything to serve as a distraction.

My phone chimed. I yanked it up and read the screen.

Fallon: Guess who is the newest Child Life Intern at Memorial Hospital?

Me: You got the internship!

I’d never pictured her to be a kid person, but the more I got to know her, the more I realized how little I truly knew about her.

Fallon: I heard your shock two states away.

With a laugh, I typed a reply.

Me: No way! I had complete faith in you.

Fallon: I’ll tell you more when I get back. My family is sucking the life out of me here.

I smiled.

Me: Understandable. Well, congrats! I can’t wait to hear all about it.

I tapped my phone on my chin and stared blankly at the email on my screen. The fact that Fallon had beat me to something like that really made me second-guess my decision to wait until after sophomore year to secure an internship. It was too late now to apply for the one I wanted as a research assistant, but maybe the campus health center had a summer shadowing experience still available. I pulled up their website to find information on who to contact.

“Hey.” Ryder leaned against the door frame of his room.

Startled, I gasped and clutched my chest. “You scared me.”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to.” The dark blue T-shirt he wore hugged his chest and biceps as he lifted his hand to brush hair from his eyes.

“It’s okay, I just didn’t hear you come in.” I bookmarked the page, closed my laptop and got up to put it away. “How’d it go?”

“It was interesting.” He walked into his room and tossed his keys on the nightstand, pulled his phone out of his pocket, setting it down as well.

“What did she say?” I asked, while taking in the way his body moved.

“She’s not leaving him,” he said.

“She’s not?” I asked, fixated on the way his dark lashes dipped over his green eyes as he blinked. And his lip ring, as his tongue slid over it.

My gaze drifted to where the tiny birds tattooed over his smooth chest were concealed by the worn cotton T-shirt, then farther south to the amazing abs that rolled and flexed with his lithe movements, then on to his jeans, which hung low on his hips. My face warmed as I envisioned the muscular path that plunged into some hidden point beneath his pants.

“No,” his words sounded far away, or distracted.

My pulse quickened as memories took over, allowing me to mentally remove all that clothing obscuring the perfection underneath.

“Brinley?” Ryder’s voice had deepened.

My head snapped up. “Yeah.”

“What are you thinking?”

My cheeks burned, lust replaced with embarrassment.

“Um, what did she say?” I tucked my hair behind my ear and sank back onto the bed.

He closed the distance between us and stood directly in front of me. With my chin between his thumb and forefinger, he tilted my head up. He shook his head. “What were you thinking?”