Page 101 of Just for the Plot

“Don’t have a shovel, but I have some greasy hash browns warming in the oven and some strong coffee.”

“I’ll have to settle.” She drapes her arm over her eyes and groans. “Why are you not even affected a little? You drank more than I did.”

“Technically, you were drinking during the game too.” I prepare a platter of hash browns and some coffee for her and bring it over.

“Which I realize now was a bad mistake.”

I sit down next to her and hand her the mug of coffee, and when she doesn’t take it, I jokingly ask, “Do you need me to feed it to you?”

“Through an IV, thanks.”

I laugh and she takes the mug, her head resting against the couch. “God, why do I do this to myself?”

“Because my sister was letting loose for the first time in probably a year and you were joining in.”

“That’s very true.” She lolls her head to the side and looks at me. “Ryland was a horndog last night.”

“Don’t remind me. Fucking keep it in your pants, dude.”

“I found it endearing.”

“Endearing? I saw far too much of my sister’s tongue last night.”

She chuckles and takes a sip of her coffee. “I don’t know. It’s nice to see her so in love. I only wish I had something like that. Made me kind of jealous, you know?”

“You want that?” I ask, interested to know what her dreams are when it comes to a relationship.

“I do. I want someone to want me that much, someone who finds it nearly impossible to keep their hands off me. Someone who worships me.”

Turn your head, babe. I’m right here.

“Are you not finding that with Cougar?”

I kind of already know the answer to this, but I want to double down on it since my emotions got the best of me yesterday.

“I don’t know.” She sighs. “I mean, I can see potential there, but it’s moving at a snail’s pace, which is great, because maybe that’s what I need, to spend time developing a friendship before jumping in right away.”

“I get that,” I say, not overjoyed by her answer.

“What about you?” She slightly turns toward me and I reach for the plate of hash browns, offering her one. As she grabs one, she says, “Last night you said you hadn’t kissed someone in three weeks. Do you really go that long without…you know, doing anything?”

“I mean, there’s always self-pleasure.”

She smirks. “Yes, well, we all seem to be taking part in that, but you know what I mean. You’re Bennett Brinkman, and you just won the Bombers game last night. There has to be a bunch of women waiting to grab your attention. Are you just not interested?”

“Not really interested in the women who throw themselves at me.”

Clearly, I only like the ones that are putting me firmly in the friend zone.

She leans her head to the side, studying me for a moment. “Are you still hung up on that crush you had?”

Ha, if she only knew.

“I mean…yeah.”

“It’s been so long. Why haven’t you moved on?”

I wet my lips, wishing I could tell her the reason, wishing I could look her in the eyes and tell her that it’s her, but the timing isn’t right. I don’t think I’ve done enough to get her to break, or to accept my feelings without being scared.