Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 64727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Until today.
I rinsed my cup in the sink, my stomach rumbling as I plotted out my morning. I was hungry. No, I was ravenous. It was the first time I’d had a real appetite in days. Not that I hadn’t been eating…just not as much as usual.
Last week’s me would have swiped the blueberry yogurt hidden behind the milk in the fridge and helped myself to a couple of slices of the cinnamon raisin bread I’d spotted in the pantry. Now, I was bummed I hadn’t ordered groceries online or stopped by the market last night or—
“Oh. You’re still here.” Rafe paused in the doorway, cradling a “Go Figure” mug with a figure skater’s silhouette to his chest.
“Yeah, I’m on my way out, though. I’m gonna have to swing by the market later today. Did you want me to pick up anything for you?”
“You mean for the party? No, that’s not necessary. Just bring your charming self.” His smile was a little too tight, but he seemed more stressed than insincere.
“What party?”
“The party I told you I was having. It’s tomorrow. Here. And…well, okay…I have to admit it’s not going according to plan, but it’ll still be a rip-roarin’ good time.”
“Rip-roarin’?” I chuckled. “I’m sure it’ll be a blast. Have fun.”
He frowned. “I…you’re invited too.”
“Thanks, but I’m gonna sit this one out.”
“What? You said you’d be there. You asked how you could help and even offered your friends’ assistance. Don’t you remember?” Rafe stepped into the kitchen, set his mug on the counter, and continued speaking with expressive hand gestures. “Yes, my big idea of pulling an all-nighter is a bust—Penny has a date, so she’s only available till seven o’clock, and I hadn’t taken the age gap of her clientele into account. Turns out one of her best pupils is a seventy-five-year-old grandma of six who could kick my ass in an arm-wrestling match. She sounds incredible, so I’m inviting her anyway, but…I still need you.”
Okay, that was a mouthful of confusing.
I cocked my head curiously. “Someone’s grandma is coming to your party, and it’s rip-roarin’ till seven p.m.? Did I get that right?”
“Yes…sort of. But there’s more to it. Obviously. Great food, amazing tunes, and you will not believe the beverage selection.” Rafe plucked the pair of glasses hooked on the collar of his “Axel Me This” T-shirt and pushed them onto his nose. “Crazy good.”
Huh. Was it me or was my roommate giving hot nerd vibes?
“You wear glasses?”
He pulled them off immediately, squinting like an owl. “I…yes. I take out my contacts to sleep, and use these as necessary.”
“Are they new?”
“No.”
Fuck. He’d been wearing glasses for months, and this was the first time I’d noticed?
I cleared my throat. “Oh. Can you see without them?”
“No, not at all. You’re a big blur, but—”
“Put ’em back on.” Unbelievably, Rafe complied without making a federal case about it. He immediately looked softer, more approachable…and really fucking cute. “I like them.”
“Uh…thanks.” He tucked his hair behind his ear.
“You’re welcome.” I dried my mug and returned it to the cupboard as heat pooled south to my groin.
Chubby alert.
What the hell? Yeah, Rafe was attractive—if you were into hedgehogs or porcupines. Seriously, the dude was prickly as fuck.
I didn’t think I was hard up, so I wasn’t sure what was going on with my dick. Nothing good, that was for damn sure.
“I should get ready,” he said, shaking me from my internal freak-out session. “See you later…and whatever you do, don’t forget tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” I repeated, holding his shifty gaze like a champ. “What time does this banger start?”
“Four o’clock?”
My brow creased so hard, I gave myself a mini headache. “In the afternoon?”
“It’s gonna be…great.” His delivery lacked conviction, but he pushed his glasses to the bridge of his nose and smiled and, yep…I was putty in his hands.
“All right. I’ll be here.”
To top off an already strange week, for the first time in the five and a half months we’d been roommates, Rafe initiated a high five.
Weird. I couldn’t read these new signals to save my life. The glasses, the party I had to attend, the lack of general antipathy. And yeah, don’t act so surprised. I knew big words too. Still…nothing in my life made sense at the moment.
Thank God for hockey.
Our season had been full of the usual ups and downs, but the Bears had become a finely tuned machine over the past month, crushing our competition in the postseason. Our passes connected with ease as if we could read signals based on body language or the tilt of a blade.
Personally, I was a little more hit or miss, but the rest of the guys were on fire. Ty especially. He was our AHL-bound superstar and our biggest weapon on the ice. I might have been the captain, but I wasn’t as fast or agile as Ty or Brady. However, I was adept at reading the ice and getting the puck to the most open player.