Page 116 of Lucky Laces
And as I’m absorbing the impact of those words—and how damned much they mean to me—he gets out of the driver’s side, rounds the hood, then opens my door, holding out his hand for me to take.
“Let me?”he murmurs again.
I take a deep breath, having the feeling that tonight is going to change everything.
That my life is never going to be the same.
Because I’m not falling in love with this man.
I’m already gone for him.
Thirty-Eight
Hudson
I’m strangelynervous as I unlock the door and lead DeeDee into my house.
The anticipation actually aches, prickling through every cell and nerve.
The preparationsI took because of all that anticipation feel over the top.
“Maybe we should go to your house instead,” I say, halting in the mud room, realizing that I’ve likely passedover the topand headed straight forinsanely over the top.
She bumps into my back—likely because I’ve stopped so abruptly.“What are you talking about?”she asks, pressing herself closer to me.“We’re already here, honey.”
Christ, I love the feel of her breasts against me.
Almost as much as I love her hand sliding down along my front, slipping beneath the waistband of my sweats?—
Until she freezes.
“Is that…music?”
Itismusic.
A playlist I set up to go on repeat so it would be playing softly as we came home.
I have—had?—plans and no little amount of certainty (or maybe hope) that Doc would clear me.
But now…
“And is that garlic?”she whispers.
I inhale even though I know exactly what’s in the crockpot.
A freezer meal that I didn’t make, except to toss it in the pot and turn the dial to low.But another part of my plan—wine and food, some frozen rolls thrown in the oven to warm, and…
Dee slips by me, too fast for me to corral her, and definitely moving too quickly for me to intercept her and take her back to her place, fuck her senseless, and forget the fact that I’m playing eighties hair bands on repeat not because I necessarily like them but because they’re her favorite.
“Oh,” I hear and something inside me shrivels up.
Because I can’t tell if her tone is full of laughter.
Or if she likes it.
Still, I’m a hockey player.
I stand in front of hundred mile per hour pucks, get into fist fights to protect my teammates.Not to mention, I put my heart on the line for a woman who could have just as easily turned me down.
