Page 120 of Daring the Hockey Player
"Not one that I'd suggest wearing." Emerson grins and winks at Kyler.
"Gross," I say. I love my brother, but I don't want to think about him and Em banging. I've walked in on her sucking his cock, and it's an image that I wish I could scrub from my eyes.
"What's gross? Cookies are good," Bristol says and glances between us, confused. Thankfully, that comment went completely over her little head.
My older brother clears his throat and nods at me in the direction of the hallway. "Do you have a minute?" he asks.
I'm not sure if he's heading toward apologyville or planning to tell me what a fuck up I am for dating Amber.
"Should I have brought my hockey gear?" I ask, wanting to know if I should be planning for a fight.
"I deserve that," Kyler says as he walks me out into the hallway, away from the kitchen. "I didn't want the girls to overhear us, mainly, my little cookie monster, who will give us both shit and repeat everything out of context."
I laugh under my breath. "Just like you as a kid. Rebellious and a pain in Mom's ass."
Kyler rubs his brow. Neither of us speaks about our deceased parents. Just bringing it up fills the room with tension and dread. "Now, I'm a pain in your ass," he says with a smirk. He's deflecting, and I'm actually appreciative of it.
"You won't hear me argue with that," I say.
He's all I have, at least he was, until I made it onto the team, and they became my extended family. But now I also have someone else, a girl I would do anything to protect.
"Did you mean what you said in the locker room? That you're falling in love with her?" Kyler asks.
I press my lips together. "What business is it of yours whom I have feelings for?"
"Amber is practically family, and you're my brother," he says. "Besides, I thought you had some chick on the side in another state? You were having phone sex at the hotel—" His voice trails off, and the grin spread across my lips is the most obvious indicator of the girl I had been talking to.
He stares at me in horror as the realization dawns on him that we've been hiding this arrangement between us.
"How long?"
"It's really not any of your business," I say and lean back against the wall. I fold my arms across my chest. He looks flustered, and I'm not sure why he cares. Does he honestly think this thing between Amber and me is a fling?
"Were you two shacking up when she moved in?"
"I've been a perfect gentleman, and no, we weren't hooking up back then. We were friends. We still are. We're just exploring this new development between us, which we both want. It's consensual, and that's all I'm saying about it." I drop my hands to my sides, shove them in my jeans pockets and stroll to the kitchen.
Kyler grabs my arm and pulls me around to face him.
I've seen the maneuver before; usually, he does it on the ice when he's about to beat the shit out of his opponent. I hold up my arm to block him, and he laughs under his breath.
"For a man getting laid, you're high-strung," Kyler says.
"You're an asshole," I mutter as he squeezes my shoulder.
"Are we good?"
"That depends. Are you going to leave Amber and me alone and let us figure out our relationship together without you and your fiancée meddling?"
Kyler releases his hold on me, but I don't pull away. "You know I have about as much control over Em as you do, Amber," he says.
Exhaling a sigh, I nod. "Yeah, we're good." That's about as good of an apology as I'd expect to get out of my brother. We don't do feelings when it comes to our dynamic. And apologies mean someone is hurt, and neither of us ever likes to appear weak. Blame it on all the years of hockey that we've played, but we’ve learned to bottle our shit up nice and tight.
"Come on, let's help the girls with the cookies," I say, heading back into the kitchen.
Kyler grumbles. "We should wait until the rest of the team gets here. Make them help us."
Laughing, I doubt that it would work. "And the minute you suggest it, they'll bail. Unless Ava and Kate are coming with Parker and Asher."
