His heart soared in his chest. Reaching out, he took her hand in his and brought it to his mouth, pressing his lips to it. “That’s my favorite thing you’ve said to me thus far, except for the day you told me, yes, you’d marry me.”

Her lips quirked as she shook her head. “I don’t deserve you.”

He scoffed. “Funny, I say that every day.”

Her eyes widened as he reached over, kissing the side of her mouth. “Goodnight, babe.”

“Goodnight?” she asked as she watched him while he turned over, plugging in his phone and cuddling into the pillows.

While his body was still screaming for hers, he knew he was doing the right thing. Because like his dad had always said, “If you want something you’ve never had, then you have to do something you’ve never done.”

For her, her default was to fuck her feelings away.

And if he wanted her for the rest of his existence, he couldn’t let her do that.

He had to love her.

For her to love herself.

And then, hopefully, him.

Gasping for breath, Jensen looked over at Vaughn who was lying on the floor, also fighting for air. “Why do you do this to me?”

Jensen’s brows rose. “We are working out.”

“I know, but I want to sit on my couch and eat. I’m supposed to be relaxing.”

Jensen laughed, though it sounded like he was choking. “We don’t want to get flabby.”

Vaughn’s eyes widened. “What’s wrong with being flabby? We can be flabby through the summer and then clean up our act before training camp.”

“Or, we can do the two workouts a week that I’ve set up to keep us good through the summer.”

“You’re ruining my life,” Vaughn decided as he rolled over to his back, struggling for breath. “I hate you.”

“I know,” Jensen said as he crunched down, running his hands through his hair. He had asked Kacey Thomas for a workout, and she wasn’t holding back. He was sweating everywhere, and he knew he was pushing himself to get rid of the crazy lust inside of him. He didn’t want to work out. He wanted to veg on the couch, but he had to do something, or he was going to lose his ever-loving mind. Wren was trying to kill him. For the last four days, he had gone to bed with the biggest boner known to man because his wife had decided she wanted to run around in basically nothing before bed.

Those thongs and that bra were becoming his kryptonite.

Watching her as she slathered her face in lotion with her sweet ass hanging out and those thighs… Jesus, those thighs for him to drink in was basically torture. She was killing him slowly, but he was staying strong. And killing Vaughn in the meantime.

As he finished up his burpees, Vaughn fell to the ground once more and lay there, shaking his head. “I’m done.”

“We have another round.”

“I refuse. Let’s go get chicken,” he said before sitting up to meet Jensen’s gaze, his eyes hopeful. “You love chicken. Hot chicken. I’ll buy you all of it. Just for you.”

Jensen laughed. “No.”

“You’re mean.”

“It’s for your own good.”

“You’re just taking out your sexual frustration on me,” he accused as he stood up, slowly and with a groan. “It isn’t my fault you won’t put out. That’s your own issue.”

Jensen laughed. “You know nothing, my friend.”

“I know it all, because Wren was at my house bitching.”

Jensen’s brow quirked. “What?”

Vaughn set him with a look. “Yeah, she was at the house on Sunday, talking to her new BFF—which is very weird to me, by the way—and they were talking about how you won’t put out.”

“She said that?”

“Well, no, she said you wouldn’t do her because you aren’t attracted to her.”

He scoffed. “That’s fucking bullshit.”

“I know this, because you’ve had a boner for her for, like, ever, and I told her that.”

Jensen’s whole body went cold. “You did? What did she say?”

“She didn’t believe me, or Brie.”

“I can’t believe you told her that.”

“Does it matter? She didn’t believe me.”

“But still.”

“Dude, she thinks you’re doing this because you’re honorable.”

Jensen brought his lip between his teeth as he shook his head. “I swear, that girl’s confidence is in the tank, and it’s fucking annoying.”

“It is.”

He sat there for a moment, thinking it over, and slowly he moved his head side to side in annoyance. How could she think that? “I don’t know what to do. Do I just give in? Or do I keep on? I mean, I seriously tell her daily that she’s beautiful. Tell her that I love the little things, her hair, her line thing she does to her eyes, I mean, everything. But because I won’t let her use sex as a way to feel something for me, then I’m not attracted to her? That’s not fair.”

“I hear you, brother,” Vaughn added, holding his hand up. “But maybe she needs that.”

“No, she wants to rely on it so she doesn’t have to feel anything else for me, and that’s bullshit.”

“But if she thinks you aren’t trying to get her naked, how is she supposed to feel sexy?”

“’Cause I tell her!”

“You’ve said, ‘Damn, Wrenny, you’re sexy’?”

Jensen snorted a bit. “Not like that, but I tell her she’s beautiful.”

“Not the same thing.”

Jensen grumbled as he thought it over. He understood what Vaughn was saying, but he didn’t know if he agreed with him.

“Listen, bro, I got you. I hear what you’re saying, and I get it. Really, I do, but you know how she is. She’s used to one thing. Maybe that’s the way you two can connect, and it won’t just be about the sex for her. It will be more.”

Jensen bit the inside of his cheek. “Says the person who’d rather fuck than talk.”

Vaughn held his hands up. “But let me tell you, Brie and I had a very healthy sex life, and I fell hard for the girl.”

“But you never had any intentions of falling for her. How do I know Wren will have feelings for me?”