Dear Roomie (Rookie Rebels #5) - Kate Meader Page 0,26

eye as he watched her from his new favorite spot on the end of the sofa.

“Want to join me, boy?”

Head flop. No, thanks.

Her phone buzzed and as she was close to the end of her practice, she checked it to find a text from Mia followed by a link. Is this you?

Her gasp on clicking it made poor Bucky jump. The lake rescue had made the news!

Just as Kennedy suspected, that woman had been filming. Even without the added wrinkle of a famous—she supposed—sports star doing the rescuing, it was an interesting enough event in itself. Two people had jumped into the lake to save a dog. She would have filmed it, too.

Kennedy: Yeah. Long story.

Her phone rang immediately. “You and Reid rescued that dog from the lake together?”

“Reid did. I just happened to be there.”

Mia wasn’t buying it. “You were in the water! In Chicago! In November! No wonder Reid was trying to track you down. There’s something almost fated about it.”

“What? That’s—that’s ridiculous.” She didn’t subscribe to the notion of fate, or not the romantic view of it, anyway. Buddhists believed that we’re in control of our ultimate fates, and while not a die-hard adherent, Kennedy subscribed to the tenets that resonated with her, particularly about human life being one of suffering. Physical work, meditation, and good behavior were the ways to achieve enlightenment.

She was usually sorely lacking in the good behavior department.

“He called last night,” Mia continued, “worried you’re some fly-by-night party girl who’s going to rob him blind. So, uh, don’t do that.”

“Of course I wouldn’t.” That Mia even entertained the idea stung, but of course they didn’t know her from a hole in the wall. “I’m a professional.” Even if she had used that amazing shower. There had to be some perks.

“I know you are. I told Reid you’re amazing with Gordie Howe.” Mia chuckled. “Having a dog might get him to lighten up.”

Glad that she’d brought it up, Kennedy asked, “So what’s his deal? Is he always so …”

“Rude, abrupt, grouchy?”

“In a word or three.” She might add intense, sexy, and hot as hell. That Reid X-ray death glare when she showed up a few minutes late was its own sex position.

“He’s just one of those guys who’s uber focused on his game. There’s a lot of competition. Also, the players move around frequently so not all of them are here to make friends. That’s Reid in a nutshell, but I don’t know. I think the grumpster thing is a bit of an act. As soon as people see that video, he’s going to be making a whole lot of friends. People love that shit!”

Kennedy didn’t doubt it. She saw it now: Reid making friends with women in coffee shops, bars, nightclubs, hotel lobbies, airports … Not that she cared. She wasn’t even sure why she had thought it.

Probably because she had just been thinking about sex. Hot Jerk was attractive, yes, but she liked her bedmates a little less on the cranky side.

Which might make her problem solvable. Looking around, she thought about this big apartment, Reid’s doggie day and night care needs, and her own housing dilemma. Surely there was a way to make this work …

Foreman approached Reid in the Philly visitors’ locker room after the game.

“Good work out there.”

Reid eyed him, knowing he had played well with an assist. He wasn’t the reason they’d won but he hoped his contribution would be noted by the people in charge. He certainly didn’t need a patronizing pat on the pack from the likes of Foreman, though. Now they had the dog as their connective tissue, the last thing he wanted was for Foreman to get ideas that this was the start of a beautiful friendship. That was not how to keep ahead of the pack.

“You see this?” Foreman turned his phone around. A video was playing.

Damn, he had known that woman was filming. “Has everyone seen it?”

“Probably.” No one was paying them any mind but Reid was on deck for post-game press duties. “Worried it makes you look like a softie?”

Yes. He would prefer to care for the dog without all the baggage that came with caring for the dog.

Yesterday, he had called Kennedy to ask how Bucky was doing the moment he landed in Philly. Fine, apparently. Absolutely fine. He had wanted to switch to FaceTime but felt weird about it. Kennedy would probably make some assumption about his attraction to her—so what if it might be half-true—and wouldn’t believe that