Page 29 of Mother Pucker

“So what does it mean that I have an orange aura?” I mumble under their arms, remembering Dylan’s earlier remark.

“That you’re horny,” she answers, not missing a beat.

Delia snorts. “Well, that’s not news. The woman has more personal toys than a BDSM dungeon.”

My shoulders shake with laughter. “Shut up. You’re still upset over that plumber and hisinsufficient tools.”

“What she needs is a plumber withsufficienttools. The kind that’llreallyclear out that plumbing,” Liv adds.

Delia pokes our friend’s side, making her yelp and the rest of us giggle, with me genuinely feeling lighter than I have all day.

“But I have to ask . . .” Liv eyes me after we’ve all separated from our group huddle. “What’s holding you back?”

I scrunch my brows together, lifting a bottle of kombucha to my lips. “Holding me back from what?”

“Fucking Rowan Parker’s brains out.”

I’m mid-sip when it goes down the wrong pipe, making me cough. Delia slaps my back, like she’s doling out punishment, before I take another long breath and glare at her. I swear she got a twisted sense of pleasure from that.

“For starters, the fact that I’m his PT!” I look at Liv like she’s lost her marbles. “And let’s not forget his age, or the fact that his longest relationship was probably the same length as my longest menstrual cycle.”

Liv wraps her arms around her chest, giving me a disappointed look. “That’s both super judgmental and untrue.”

A little thorn of guilt pricks my side.

Perhaps that was really judgy.

Admittedly, I’ve never looked up Rowan’s dating history. Everything I ever saw about him was on TV when Ajay and Kai watched a Bolts game. So, itisrude of me to assume I know anything about his past.

Why am I acting like this? Granted, he's been pushing my buttons since the minute we met, and his determination rivals a cat hell-bent on catching the red dot, but he's also been sweet and gracious–and not only to me, but to Kai. Why does it feel like my mind and body are at war, and my heart is trying to find the next empty closet to hide in?

“Yeah, you’re right.” I nod, looking down at my feet. “That was judgy and not at all what I really think about him. I mean, heisyoung, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t had a serious girlfriend.” I look up at Liv and quickly add, “Not that I’m even considering a relationship with him. Not that I’m consideringanythingwith him besides our current professional relationship.”

“Uh huh,” Delia says, hands on her hips in a way that says she isn’t buying my bullshit.

“I’m telling the truth!” I urge, my eyes widening. “Whatever you guys seem to be seeing, it’s not there.”

“Is that why you were on FaceTime with him on the steps last night after his game?” Dylan asks, one brow rising. But before I can ask, she raises her hands. “Don’t worry, I wasn’teavesdropping or anything. I just came to check on you and saw you talking to him.”

“He had a shoulder injury he wanted me to see,” I state matter-of-factly, knowing I’m not telling them the entire truth–that he made up the shoulder injury and how I proceeded to stay on the phone with him, anyway. Because I liked talking to him, too.

“Around you, I don’t seem to have a clue.”

The leak wasn’t the only thing that kept me from sleeping last night. It was also his words–veiled in meaning–toward the end of our conversation that swam around my head like directionless goldfish.

My friends stay quiet, giving me their own version of skeptical looks.

“Fine, I have thought about him! Is that what you’re waiting for me to admit? That I think about him all the goddamn time, and I’m attracted to him, and I want to . . . I want to jump his cocky-as-fuck hockey star bones and become his full-time puck bunny? Because I do.” I lift my arms up before dropping them to my sides, but in the process, my fingertips collide with my kombucha bottle, tipping it over my desk. “Shit!”

Yeah, I could really use that damn bubble bath or glass of wine right about now.

The girls quickly come to my aid to help me clean the mess before Liv grabs my hand. “I think if that’s what you want, then you should go for it. It’s obvious he likes you, too.”

I snort. “Go for what? And how? How do you expect me to tell him that I’d like him to fuck me all the ways to Sunday because I can’t think straight around him, but that I don’t want a relationship, per se?”

Liv giggles. “Maybe just like that?”

“Just remember to use birth control when you do,” Dylan adds, winking at me while running a hand over her pregnantbelly. She gets a faraway look on her face. “Gosh, this would make such a cute hockey romance. Remember the last one we read in book club? This one also has a forbidden doctor-patient aspect, which makes it so much hotter.”

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