Page 70 of Wanting the Winger

“Wait a minute.”Eric gives me a shocked look.“You havetwofriends here?”

I roll my eyes at him.“Yes, I do, and they’re nicer to me than my own family.”

Mara stands.“She’s got four friends here, and we’re not sharing her with anyone else.This girl’s a trivia goddess.”

“You seem to be feeling better than the last time I saw you,” I say, smiling.

“Oh yeah.Dex and I had a very slow day after that night.”

We missed our last trivia night because Mara was tied up at work.She recently started a new job in the state’s attorney’s office, and they had a backlog of cases.

“I’m Mara Diaz,” she says, extending a hand to Eric.

“Sorry,” I say.“Mara, this is my brother Eric and my sister-in-law Callie.My niece Avana is here somewhere.She’s with Hallie.”

“It’s great to meet you.”Mara looks at me.“You guys are coming to the Halloween party, right?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.”

She gives me a quick hug.“I’m going to stuff my face.I’ll see you later.”

“Be good.I’ll see you soon.”I check my watch.“The pregame show is starting soon.We should get to our seats.”

Bash got us seats on the glass for Avana’s first hockey game.He didn’t get them from the team because the tickets he forwarded to my phone were from a ticketing app and I saw how much he paid for them.Let’s just say he’s a really nice boyfriend, uncle, brother, and brother-in-law.

“Uncle Bashie!”Avana leans forward, a hand on the glass, when the pregame light and video show ends and Bash skates out with the rest of his team.

He gives her a little wave, then shoots me a wink.

Callie leans over and speaks in my ear.“You’re going to have his babies.I know it.I can’t even stand how happy I am for you.”

A thrill of excitement shoots to my stomach.Bash asked me casually the other day if I wanted kids.When I told him I did, he smiled and said he did, too.

I’m still afraid to dream that dream.Just having Bash see me the way I always longed for him to see me, hearing him tell me he loves me, and getting flowers from him is everything.

I love it all.His voice, his smile, his arms around me.The sweetness only I get to see, and the sexy, commanding man that’s also only for me.

If I wasn’t already waist-deep in researching the human microbiome, I’d study the love hormones like serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine.Vasopressin is particularly fascinating.It helps the human body conserve water and regulates sodium levels, but it’s also part of people—especially men—forming long-term emotional attachments and protective behaviors.

I’ve read about these things and thought of them in clinical terms, but now I get tofeelthem.

Bash gets checked into the boards by a St.Louis player.He recovers quickly and gets back to playing, seeming unfazed.

“These seats are unreal,” Eric says.“I can see their sweat.”

It is pretty incredible to be so close to the action.The man who gently stroked a hand over my hair and kissed me on the forehead before leaving home early this morning drives his shoulder into an opponent, knocking him off balance.

Bash quickly regains control of the puck and shoots it into the net.The arena erupts, horns blaring and people cheering.Alana claps, oblivious to the chaos with her noise-canceling headphones on.

The goal Bash scored ends up being the only one in the game, and the mood in the room we sit in to wait for him after the game is high.Alana was exhausted by the third period, so Callie took her back to Bash’s to go to bed and now it’s just Eric and I waiting.

When he walks into the room in a dark suit with a white shirt and a light-blue tie, Bash’s gaze goes right to me.I stand up, my heart racing with excitement.

He’s wearing the hell out of that suit.His hair is still damp from the shower and I take in his familiar amber-and-pine scent as he hugs me and kisses me.

It’s a soft, chaste kiss, probably because my brother is two feet away.

“Great game,” I murmur in his ear.

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