Endurance (Harris Brothers, #2)

by Amy Daws

“Most girls don’t look like me.” She says it so matter-of-factly, I’m not sure I know what she means.

“Tanner, I’m not a size eight. I’m a fourteen. And that’s during the months that I haven’t eaten my weight in chocolate. Stop skirting around it. It’s insulting.”

Her words stun me. Does she seriously think this way? I swallow. “What’s insulting is how you see yourself. It’s fucked up if you ask me.”

“And what’s that?” I roar, nearly boiling over the fact that she used the word fat in reference to herself.

“The things I could do to your body are endless, Belle Ryan. You’re fucking perfect and you know it. You’re the kind of woman blokes marry, not fuck and leave!”

How she can call herself fat is delusional. It’s incomprehensible. Unimaginable. She has the most beautiful body.

Fighting with me turns her on, too.

I don’t know why this is bothering me so much but it is. Belle projects all the confidence in the world, but sometimes it’s the loudest women that have the most to hide.

“You don’t think Cam and Indie have fucked on this table, do you?” I spit liquid out everywhere, including on Tanner’s face.

Everything was glamorous and exciting to a young girl, but my spirit was low…because I had a word count. A specific number of words I could utter before I had to go to bed.

I was, however, allowed a brief visit inside the hallowed walls of Tower Park to talk to the stadium staffing manager and secure Sedgwick a job picking up garbage in the stands after matches.

Sedg smiles. “You’re a lot more than you seem, Tanner Harris.”

“Don’t you dare!” I pound a fist on his chest. “You’re going to hurt yourself!” “I’m going to hurt you if you don’t shut up.”

He walks with purpose onto the pod, carrying me in his arms as if it’s the simplest thing in the world. He sets me down just as quickly as he picked me up, and I’m shocked to see I made it on safely.

I beam up at him. “I didn’t die.” He fights a losing battle with his scowl. “You didn’t die.” “You just hefted me in here like it was your job.”

I feel his chest shake with laughter. “We’ll come back another time.” I frown at the empty promise, but let it go because I don’t want anything to ruin this experience.

“Don’t you forget I’m tying you down for the next month.” He stares at my lips and tweaks his eyebrows. “I hope that means to your bedpost.”

But the way his eyes stay trained on Reyna, even as I introduce myself, makes me weak in the knees. It’s a look of complete and utter devotion.

I sense her hesitation has something to do with Camden, but I’m glad she’s willing to put him aside for the night and be my wing-woman.

The recipe was a metaphor for life that changed my outlook on everything. The simple words that doctor uttered to Indie and me still ring so true in my soul. “There’s always sunshine above the chaos, ladies. Celebrate it.”

it’s the kind of outfit that gets me noticed by both males and females.

Bi energy

Indie had texted Camden over two hours ago saying she and Belle were completely pissed and she wanted him to come dance with her so she didn’t have to dance with anyone else. Camden’s a bit of a possessive sod, so he texted her back immediately, asking where she was.

Ready to rip her a new one, I pause before I leave her kitchen, turning around and grabbing her a couple of chocolates out of her cubby. I may be angry, but I’m not a monster.

She looks up at me, nibbling on the sweet. Her lips are close, and it’s a strange sensation to want to kiss her right now after she’s been puking for the last twenty minutes. I kiss her forehead instead.

Belle giggles. “God, we’re a couple of pathetic mopes, aren’t we? Moaning over people we miss in our lives and we can’t even have sex with them.”

Swiping the screen, I’m grateful to see there’s no lock on it as I pull my text messages up and delete all the crazy-sounding ones. After that, I tuck it away and ignore the fact that I’m trying way too hard to look cool.

The sight does wonders for a hangover, I’ll tell you that.

And in a blink of an eye, she’s topping from the bottom again.

So far this fake dating hasn’t been hard at all.

“Fine, you can drive.” Belle gasps against my lips as she pulls away. She’s breathless as her eyes glance down between us. “But only because that thing can’t take care of itself.”

“Belle, your crazy is showing.” “That’s because I want it to,” I whisper and wink. Gareth chuckles. “I’ve never seen Tanner squirm like this. You’re bloody perfect for him.”

He frowns. “Tired of me already, Ryan?” I laugh and shake my head. “Not even close, Harris.” I frown as I realise just how truly I meant that.

He ogles me as if I was made for him. And I let him. I resist all my previous insecurities about my body.

shared too much. Got too personal. I just admitted I don’t get emotional with blokes and here I am, gushing like a bloody water fountain.

Tanner pushes a wet strand of hair off my face. “If your parents don’t see the incredible work you do, they are knobheads.”

Our bodies are completely flush, not a sliver of space to be found while our lips never stop moving. He continues hugging me and kissing me, his tongue warm and lyrical as he maintains a complete hold over me. It’s as if he’s trying to squeeze the ache out of me and pass it from me to him.

The hour glass shape of a woman was made for one thing and one thing only. Spooning.

smiles politely, but the women barely look at her. “But Dr. Ryan is more respectful,” I add.

I’m speechless. Utterly speechless. I didn’t have a clue she was even remotely invested in football until now. She gave me no indication except for saying she was a United fan. But hearing her speak so fluently about not only the sport I love, but the team that is my pride and joy, makes me want to drop down on one knee and marry her on the spot.

“Had I known all of this, I would have made time! Indie must be trying to keep you all to herself,” Camden cajoles.

The compliment goes down my throat like broken glass. This is probably the highest form of praise a Harris Brother could ever bestow and it’s all too much.

Well, Belle’s penetrated it. Hard. And no matter how much I enjoy penetration, this is a different kind of balls deep than I’m used to.

Tanner Harris is standing before me, asking me to hang out and not making a sexual pass at me. This throws so many red flags.

“And hey, whatever happens, I think if football doesn’t work out, you could find work in a theatre. That little rant up there was an epic fucking performance. I’m thinking…Vagina Monologues.”

I know the Harrises have kept Tanner and my fake dating scheme quiet, but I can’t help but wonder if everyone here knows who I am and what the bloody hell a guy like Tanner is doing with a girl like me.

“What do you need, Tanner?” Indie asks, crossing her tiny arms over her chest like she’s a seven-foot-tall bodyguard.

“I’m about ready to fucking spank you in front of everyone, so just shut up and keep walking,” he growls, ushering us in the direction of the loos.

“There’s a lot I want to do and say, but first we need to get one thing straight.” His steely eyes bore into me. “You are mine, Belle. In whatever fucked up way we’re doing this right now, you are mine.”

“That’s all you have to do.” He breathes in deeply. “Because I’m already yours.”

Of course I want him. I’ve wanted him since he rejected me. I’ve wanted him since he hurt me. I’ve wanted him even when I hated him. And I know I can’t hold out a second longer. My endurance has crumbled. So I feed the beast. “I want you,” I whisper