Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 95951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
It might take some time, but the chemistry will fade. Maybe if I keep telling myself that, it will not only happen, but I’ll start believing it.
Chapter Ten
Corie
* * *
My heart is racing as I pull out of the parking lot. My hands are fisted on the steering wheel at ten and two, and I feel like I did the day I took the driver’s license test. I don’t look in the rearview mirror to see if Knox is watching me. Something in my gut tells me that he is.
I turn left out of the lot as if I’m going home, but at the stop sign, I turn left again instead of right. I can’t go home right now. I need to cool off. If I walk into the house all hot and bothered over my brother’s best friend, he will know something is up. Instead, I drive a few blocks and pull into the grocery store's parking lot. I park my Jeep Grand Cherokee in the back aisle since I don’t plan on getting out, put it in Park, and reach for my phone.
My hands tremble slightly as I swipe to unlock the screen and pull up Sloane’s contact. The call rings through my car’s speakers, and I drop my phone into the cupholder to grip the steering wheel again. I need to do something with my hands.
“Hey, you tell me you have good news.”
Even with the turmoil churning inside me, I smile. “I got the job,” I tell her, happiness and relief washing over me.
“Whoop! That’s my bestie!” she cheers.
“I know. I start Monday. Nothing like diving right in.” I laugh.
“That’s great, Corie. I’m so excited for you and even more proud. Now, tell me, what else is going on?”
My best friend knows me too well. I don’t bother denying it. “I kissed him.”
“Kissed who, and was he hot?”
“Knox.” I let his name hang between us, but not for long because once what I’ve said registers, Sloane is cheering through the line.
“Knox Beckett? The quarterback for the Nashville Rampage? The object of your desires for the past, what, four? Five years? That Knox Beckett?” She asks the question despite already knowing the answer.
“Knox Beckett, my brother’s best friend. Knox Beckett, my brother’s teammate, and let’s not forget now, my coworker.”
“Details, Corie. Now. Spill.”
So, I do. I tell her what happened, how he was there as I was leaving, and I was so overwhelmed with gratitude, I lost my head and ran to him, and then I kissed him.
“Wait. It sounds as though it was just a peck on the lips, and an even faster one on the cheek.”
“It was.”
“Damn, Corie, you got me all excited for nothing.”
“What do you mean? I kissed him, Sloane.”
“I would not call that a kiss. Sure, your lips touched his, but it was innocent enough. Why are you freaking out?”
“His hand was gripping my ass.”
“I’m still trying to find the problem,” she says, and I can hear the humor in her voice.
“Sloane,” I whine.
“Fine. I get it, but, Corie, you’re an adult. Knox is an adult. The chemistry between the two of you has been building for weeks.”
“If you only knew,” I mutter under my breath.
“Hold up. What am I missing?”
I’m quick to reply, “Nothing,” and then say, “A few things,” just as quickly. I then begin to word vomit and catalog every encounter, every touch between us since I’ve been home from college. By the time I finish, Sloane is speechless, and Sloane is never speechless. “Say something.”
“Shhh,” she says. “I’m living vicariously through you in my mind.”
“Stop.” I chuckle. “This is serious. What do I do?”
“What do you want to do?”
“I can’t go around kissing my coworker who is already entwined in my life in other ways.”
“Why not?”
“Sloane!”
“I’m just saying. You’re both consenting adults, and there is obviously something there.”
“He’s a professional football player. He’s never been rumored to date anyone, and he has gorgeous women tossing themselves at him everywhere he goes. He’s out of my league. Besides, I’m not dating. I need to focus on my job and get my own place.” I pause before adding. “I’ve trusted the wrong man in the past. Conner wasn’t nearly as high profile as Knox.”
“First of all, you can fuck right off talking like that about my best friend. I don’t care who he is, but no one is out of your league. We all put our damn pants on the same way, and his farts still smell like shit,” she says, and I can’t stop the giggle that escapes my lips.
“Second, Conner is in a league of his own. There were red flags for days. He lied to you. He was a smooth-talker and a cheater. There is no comparison between the two. Knox is a good man. You know him. He’s not some slimy ass who picked up the intern and manipulated her.”