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)
I’ve been here before.
Her hand drifts up into my hair, and she rubs her little nose on mine before we sink in again. My tongue brushes over hers, and she whimpers once more as my free hand journeys down to her ass, giving it a squeeze, and I fucking love how it fills out my palm, as if it was made for me. I love every curve on her.
I know I’ve felt this before. Her taste and smell are familiar. I’ve wanted her, just like this.
And a little flash moves through my mind.
I pull back, frowning down at her, and when she opens those gorgeous blue eyes, they widen, and she tries to scramble away, but I hold her firm.
“Stay,” I say, my voice rough with need. I want to keep her right where she is.
“I’m sorry. That was unprofessional.”
I shake my head and drag my thumb over her lip, wet from our kiss. “I’m not sorry, but Ivy . . . I’ve kissed you before.”
Her brows lift in surprise.
“Um, yeah.”
“You didn’t think it was important to tell me that?”
Her brows pull together, and she bites her bottom lip, but I tug it free.
“If you tell me that I’ve fucked you before and I don’t remember, I’ll fucking lose my shit, Red.”
She shakes her head, and my stomach loosens just a little.
“No, we never . . . we never did that.”
“When the fuck did I kiss you?”
She wrinkles her nose and sighs as that pretty blush moves over her cheeks.
“So, almost three years ago, I went to Denver for the New Year’s Eve game.”
Her gaze falls to my chest and over to my shoulder, where she starts to trace the tattoo there.
“You came to Denver just for the game?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, I wanted to do some shopping and look around and stuff, and I bought tickets to the game. And before I went, Easton and Tucker came into the bar one night, and I told them that I got tickets, and they said that they’d let you know, so you could say hi. I told them not to because that’s just silly—”
“Not silly at all.” Jesus, she was at my game.
“But they did anyway, and you got my seat upgraded, which was very nice of you and not necessary at all.”
“Bare minimum, baby. Tell me more because I don’t fucking remember.”
She must hear the frustration in my voice because she smooths her thumb between my eyebrows and then pushes her fingers through my hair.
“Hey, it’s okay.”
“What happened?”
“You came to the glass during warm-ups and tossed me a puck. You won the game.” She smiles at me like she’s so fucking proud of me, and it makes me want to puff up my chest. “And it was a good one. You got a hat trick. It was so fun. Being there in person is way better than watching on TV.”
“I remember the hat trick, I think.” I rub a strand of her hair between my finger and thumb. “But I’m really fucking irritated that I don’t remember you being there.”
“After the game, you invited me to swing by a nearby pub, where you and the team went to celebrate, and I popped in for a bit. You bought me a drink, and we chatted for a few, and to my utter and complete shock, you kissed me at midnight because we were standing together. But then you got pulled away, which is completely fine and normal, and I ended up ducking out so you could celebrate with your guys. I didn’t want to be in the way.”
She swallows hard and still won’t look me in the eyes.
“I didn’t see you again until that night that you came into Lucky’s with your family,” she finishes. “I know you’ve been in town since then, but I never ran into you.”
“Ivy.” Fuck, she’s breaking my heart.
“I’m fine. I really am, especially now that I know that you didn’t just blow me off. Like, you had a head injury, Xander.”
Christ, I feel like an asshole. This woman has been treated like a fucking imposition all her goddamn life. Like she shouldn’t take up space or ask for anything, and that ends now.
“You’re never in my way,” I tell her as I cup her cheek and force her to look at me, and when her eyes get glassy, it’s almost my undoing. “I want you around. I love having you with me. And you feel fucking incredible, so snuggles are now our thing.”
Her eyes flare with happiness. “It’s our thing?”
“One of them, yeah. You get cold, remember?”
“Oh, I remember.” She nibbles her lower lip. “I’m not cold right now.”
I grin at her and can’t keep my hands out of her gorgeous-as-fuck hair.
“I’m sorry, Red. For all of it. For forgetting even one minute of it. You didn’t deserve that.”