Page 35 of The Cheerleader is Off Limits

“Maybe.” I shrug.I didn’t tell my brother the dirty details or that I was still thinking about the way her tight pussy felt wrapped around my fingers when she came. I’d only mentioned that we made out and that it got a little handsy.

“I think we’ve officially met the threshold ofshe’s too young for you,bro,” he jokes before taking another long sip. I don’t say anything, and he must read my silence for something else because he continues, “Hey, it’s okay. It’s no big deal. You guys had one date, you kissed, and it was a few hours of your life. It didn’t work out, so now you move on. I know Ellie will be thrilled to set you up with one of her friends.”

“Yeah. You’re right.” I nod. The night didn’t end the way I wanted it to, but it was still a really great date. Sloane is funny and charming and drop-dead fucking gorgeous, and after this past week, I’m shocked that I’ll probably never see her again.

Or that I’ll never see her naked, for that matter.

“Stop thinking with your dick, River,” Rowan adds. “I know she was young and hot, but how many young hot girls throw themselves at you every weekend? You don’t need the drama of sneaking around with someone. Frankly, you’re too old for it.”

“Says the man older than me that was sneaking around his house for months with his far-too-young-for-him nanny,” I reply snidely. “I do recall being far more supportive about those choices, by the way.”

“Okay, that was different.” I hear spoken through the screen door before Ellie emerges, sliding the screen behind her and sitting in one of the chairs on the patio with what I’m guessing isa margarita. “I think he just meant you probably want to be free to have sleepovers and stay out past… I don’t know, SJ’s bedtime with a girl you’re seeing, and it seems as if that may not be a possibility with Sloane.”

I lean back in my chair, digging the heels of my hands into my eyes before letting out an irritated groan. “Believe me, I know.” I sigh before dropping my hands and giving her a defeated look. “Give me Lucy’s number?”

I’m doing the right thing,I think as I sit across the table at the sushi restaurant with Ellie’s friend Lucy.

Lucy is twenty-seven and is established, both in her career and in life. She’s stable and not in the stage that involves doing body shots on a random Wednesday.

I mean, I’m not opposed to that.

But she’s smart. She’s beautiful. She’s settled. She’s driven and focused and wants the same things I do.

She doesn’t have kids, but she wants them.

She can carry a conversation, and she’s extremely polite.

She’s perfect on paper.

And yet, I am fucking bored.

By no fault of her own, but I feel myself so checked out of this date even as I nod my head and listen to her talk about her yoga classes.

Evidently, she doesn’t just attend but also teaches classes.Which, yes, is really fucking hot, and usually the thought of how flexible she probably is could hold my attention alone.

I’ve always been a good listener, but I can’t seem to stay in the moment on this date, which is the next day after my date with Sloane. I haven’t talked to her since last night when she texted me to say that she was home, and I haven’t stopped thinking about her.

Stop thinking with your dick,I think, hearing my brother’s voice in my head. Is that all this was? I couldn’t stop thinking about her because I hadn’t slept with her?

Was I really that predictable?

Yes,my mind thinks.

“Are you okay?” My mind stops running long enough to realize Lucy had asked me a question, and I clear my throat before taking a sip of the sake. Her green eyes blink at me with a hint of annoyance over being caught not paying attention. I reach out to rub her hand gently, hoping it will ease her irritation, which seems to work because her face softens and a smile pulls at her lips, which were also painted red just like Sloane’s were last night, but somehow, it doesn’t hit the same.

“Yes, of course. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to space out for a second. Go on, please,” I urge her, and she nods once before tucking an auburn strand behind her ear, revealing a small diamond stud.

“No, no, tell me more about you. Do you like being a teacher and the school’s football coach?” she asks just as I feel a vibration in my pocket. Normally, I wouldn’t check my phone while I’m out, but Rowan and Ellie also went out for their weekly date night, and I wanted to make sure it wasn’t an emergency with Margot, SJ, or Isla. Margot is seventeen now and has everything under control—honestly, she did when she was far younger—but Ineverwanted to miss a call or text from them.

“One second, just want to make sure it’s not important,” I say before I pull my phone out of my pocket. When I see Sloane’s name across the screen, I don’t outwardly react, and I try toignore the fact that my dick slightly jumps in response before I silence it without opening it and slip it back into my pocket.

“Everything okay?” she asks before sliding a piece of sushi into her mouth.

“Yes,” I tell her before I begin answering her question about being a teacher and football coach.

I don’t know how much time has passed. It could have been five minutes, or it could have been an hour, but I swear my phone is burning a hole in my pocket.

What did she say?