Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 101758 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101758 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
She smirks. I don’t know why the thought of any of my teammates being her favorite doesn’t sit well with me.
Yes, you do.
Because you’re attracted to her, you want in her pants, and you want her to like you.
I’m not wrong.
“We need to finish up,” she says, not out of breath at all. “I don’t want you to overdo it, remember?”
“All right. Come on, let’s get off the ice.”
I lead her to the side and help her walk to where our shoes are, and when she’s seated on the bench, I sit next to her and take a breath.
“You okay?” She frowns up at me. “Is your knee hurt? Shit, did we do too much?”
“No, the knee is fine.” I bend over and start to unlace my skates. “It just felt good to be out there. I missed it.”
“I understand.” Her voice is soft and soothing. “We’re going to get you there. Your form was good. You didn’t seem to be favoring your leg.”
I take her skates and put them in the bag I bought for her, then do the same with mine and zip them up, and we head out of the rink. The drive to the airport only takes a few minutes, and as we pull up I see that Cooper and Britney are already standing on the sidewalk.
“You’re late,” Coop says as he offers me a fist bump.
“I was skating.” I grin at him, and he raises an eyebrow. “So, not sorry.”
“Hey, handsome,” Brit says in that southern accent that charmed her husband, and wraps me up in a hug. “You’re skinny.”
I snort and step back, then scowl when Ivy’s not next to me.
“Hold on.”
I walk to the passenger side and open her door.
“Oh, sorry, I’ll sit in the back.”
“No, I want to introduce you.” She looks confused. “To my best friend, not your favorite player.”
That has her rolling her eyes as she pushes out of the car and walks with me to where Cooper’s loading their things in the back.
“This is my physical therapist, Ivy. Ivy, this is Britney and Mark Cooper.”
“Pleasure,” Ivy says with a smile and shakes their hands. “Sorry to interrupt your time together. Xander should have let me bring my own car.”
“No,” is all I say and guide her back to the front passenger side. Cooper raises his eyebrow at me, and Britney simply winks before climbing into the back.
“So—”
“Get in the car,” I say, cutting my best friend off, and he smirks.
“Where’s the Maserati?” Coop asks as I drive us away from the airport.
“In the garage. And no, you can’t drive it.” I shake my head and glance over just in time to see Ivy twisting her fingers in her lap, as if she’s nervous.
She has nothing to be nervous about.
“We should have rented a car and stayed at a hotel,” Britney says. “So we stay out of your hair.”
“My house is big enough that I’ll hardly know you’re there,” I assure her. “Don’t worry about that. And you can take the car whenever you want. Not the Maserati.”
“Damn,” Coop mutters, making Brit and I laugh.
Ivy has hardly breathed since everyone got in the car.
“Are you okay?” I ask her quietly.
“Great.” She nods quickly, those hands still clasping and unclasping in her lap. “You know, you can just drop me off—”
“I’ll take you home,” I reply, keeping my voice down. I feel like an ass. I didn’t mean to make her uncomfortable, and I can tell by her body language and the way she’s gone pale that she’s not okay.
Britney is a chatterbox on a bad day, so she fills the silence on the way into town, and soon I pull up to Ivy’s house.
She pushes out of the car before I even come to a full stop.
“It was nice to meet you,” she says, and I have to hurry to catch up to her on her porch.
“Whoa, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing at all. You did well today. We can take a few days off so you can enjoy your friends, and pick up therapy on Monday, and—”
“I don’t want days off.” I scowl and block my guests’ view by stepping in front of her, then grip her chin and make her look up at me. “Why are you upset?”
“I don’t like new things,” she repeats slowly. “But I’m fine. They seem nice. Honest, have fun with them. Now, I should go because I need to get over to the bar.”
I don’t like this at all, but I don’t have a choice, so I let her go and step back, waiting until she opens the front door and goes inside.
When I get back in the car, Cooper’s frowning.
“Did we say something wrong?”
“No, I think Ivy just has some quirks.”
“Honey, we all have quirks,” Britney replies easily. “And not all of us are good with strangers. She’s beautiful.”