Dating the Defensive Back (The Nash Brothers Book 1)

It’s Not Lying, It’s Bending the Truth

“Are you okay?” Cora asks quietly, and yet again I’m wondering how much to tell her.

I love Cora, and it’s one thing to ask because you’re trying to be there for a friend.

It’s another entirely when you’re also the bakery gossip.

I don’t really need word getting around that I lost my virginity to Grayson a week ago, so I just nod and keep my head down as if I’m too focused on the task at hand to chat.

I know she’ll ask again. I know I can’t dodge her forever.

But in all honesty, I can’t believe Colin had the audacity to bring up the V-card.

I know it just made Grayson angrier with me. I know he’s seething about all the lies. I know I’ve wrecked any chance at a happy ending for the two of us.

But as I’m rolling out dough for sugar cookies, an idea occurs to me.

It’s an explanation. A way to throw Beckett off the scent, a way to help solve Grayson’s media issues where his love life is concerned, and at the same time, it would give the two of us a shot at getting closer. Maybe even close enough that we could give this obvious attraction between us a real shot.

It’s dumb, though. Grayson will never go for it, particularly not when he’s clearly such a staunch advocate for complete honesty, and this would be…bending the truth.

I’m an advocate for honesty, too—not that my track record proves that. But what’s one more little thing that would benefit both of us?

If he’s worried about his loyalty to my brother paired with already feeling like he betrayed him, this is one idea that might help. And the other benefit is that maybe it’ll be enough to convince Colin to back all the way off.

I can’t see any downsides at all other than the fact that it’s not the whole truth. But before I can tell him my idea, I have to finish my day at work, and I have to potentially face Colin at home.

And…then what?

I have Grayson’s number, but I haven’t used it except for that one time when he texted me first.

I know he’s still mad. But if Colin sells those photos of the two of us kissing to the media and my brother sees them…this really does feel like the perfect solution.

I cut circles out of the dough and set them on the cookie sheets. I stare at the rows and rows of unbaked cookies. Our sheets have circles on them to make it easier to place the dough, and since the dough was chilled, they won’t spread very much once I stick them in the oven.

It’s rinse and repeat. Make dough, chill dough, roll dough, portion cookies, bake cookies, flood cookies, decorate cookies.

It’s one of those mindless tasks I can do on autopilot, which is perfect since my head is stuck in the clouds.

How do I regain his trust when we never even got off the ground? Maybe it’s my inexperience talking, but I thought the night we shared was special. The text he sent me telling me he can’t stop thinking about me meant something to me. Maybe it was just words for him—another shot at the virgin.

My cheeks burn even as the thought enters my brain again. I cannot believe Colin had the nerve to bring up my virginity to Grayson. To be fair, he handled it smoothly in the moment, but clearly he was taken aback by it.

And he wants to talk about it. He brought it up again when Colin left.

What am I supposed to tell him? That I had a crush on him since I was a preteen, and he made my childhood fantasies come true?

Okay, no. Come to think of it, that actually sounds pretty disgusting.

But the sentiment is there. How many people get to say they got to have sex with the guy who they’ve crushed the hardest on their entire life?

I do.

And I’m not going to pretend I didn’t love every second.

But now I’m in a jam, and I’m not sure how to get out of it…unless he agrees to my plan.

If he does, then it’ll mean more time together—more time to figure out a way to get him to fall so in love with me that he won’t ever want to let me go.

Once I get off work, I slide behind the wheel of my car and stare at my phone. I draft a text, and before I lose my nerve, I hit send.

Me: Can we talk?

His reply is nearly immediate, as if he was sitting on his phone waiting for me. I’m sure he wasn’t. Right?

Grayson: I think we need to.

I stare at his words, and then my phone starts to ring, startling the hell out of me. I pick it up when I see it’s Grayson.

“Hey,” I answer quietly.

“Where are you?”

“I just got off work. I’m in the bakery parking lot.”

“I’m at the Palms. Come over.”

“Come over?” I repeat. Is he seriously commanding me to come over? This guy’s got a lot of nerve.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come off rude. It’s…it’s been a day.”

I guess it was a day for me, too, and I’d rather go to the Palms than run into Colin at home. I should text Kelly and ask if she’s having to deal with him. God, I hope not.

“Have you seen the picture?” he asks out of the blue.

My brows dip together. “What picture?”

He clears his throat. “Your idiot ex sold the photo he took of us. It’s all over the internet, and I’m just standing by waiting for your brother to call me about it.”

I sigh. “I’ll be right over. I actually, uh…sort of came up with an idea that I’d like to run by you. It might help.”

“Valet your car when you get here. I’ll meet you down there.”

“Okay. Fair warning, I smell like cookies and have flour everywhere.”

“Fair warning back, Cookie,” he says, his voice raspy. “I like the smell of cookies.” He cuts the call, leaving me to wonder what he meant by that and why he’s flirting with me after everything that’s gone down between us.

I guess I’ll find out in a few minutes.