Page 121 of Mr. Swoony

“I respect the hell out of you. I don’t see you as a delicate flower, just so you know. It was more about my fear of losing you than thinking you couldn’t handle it.”

Unable to keep the distance between us any longer, I walk over to him. “I know. Your sister and Jade helped me see that. But from now on, we’re a team, okay? And don’t be so scared I’m going to run off because of some puck bunnies. I want this to work out just as much as you do. Remember, you weren’t the only one that night under the stars. I was there. I felt it too.”

He nods, wrapping his arms around my waist and nuzzling his head into my stomach. I run my fingers through his soft hair and he clings to me tighter.

“Are you going to sleep in here tonight?”

“I should. To teach you a lesson.” I laugh, but I’d probably sneak into his bed in the middle of the night. “But I think it would pain me just as much as it would you.”

He releases me, stands, and picks me up bride style.

“Conor,” I say, and he lowers me toward the bed.

“The pillow goes in my bed.”

I pick it up, and he walks us through the door, past the kitchen, and into his bedroom, where he deposits me on the edge of the mattress.

“I’m sorry,” he says again.

I press my finger to his lips. “It’s over. Now, we move on.” I remove my finger and press my lips to his, thankful the fight is over.

“Well then, let me apologize properly. I hear make-up sex is pretty great.” He flips my legs out from under me and my back falls to the mattress. He crawls over me. “Hey, you don’t like Monopoly, do you?”

“Um… no. Why?”

“Good answer.” Then he strips me of my clothes and shows me just how sorry he is.

Orgasm after orgasm, the fight slips further and further from my mind.

Fifty-One

Conor

Fucking meet-and-greets. I hate them more than anything.

It’s been two weeks since my blowout with Eloise, and things have returned to normal between us. I ended up changing my phone number, and Eloise has started another social media account for her business and paused her private one for now.

I still hate that her life is being disturbed, but I’m trying to adopt her line of thinking because I wouldn’t like it if she was going through something and didn’t include me.

“You ready to be admired all day?” Eloise asks me, fixing a piece of my hair.

My hands find her hips as always, before straying down to her ass. “I like it better when you admire me.”

“You can thank me later,” Tweetie says and pats Eloise on the shoulder. “I like Twix bars.”

Eloise looks at me. “What is he talking about?”

“He had surprisingly good advice that night we were in a fight.”

“Thanks, Tweetie!” she calls.

Our social media guy, Gill, comes into the room. This guy doesn’t seem to have much of a clue. From what I’ve heard, he’s new to hockey. What he’s having us do for marketing might work for a corporation, but not a hockey team. But he did set up this meet-and-greet for us, so I guess that’s something.

“It’s time, guys,” he says.

“Give me a kiss good luck.”

Eloise presses her lips to mine and pulls away too quickly for my liking. She runs her thumb over my lips to get her lipstick off. “You’ll do great. Have fun.”

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