Dirty Talker (Slayers Hockey #4) - Mira Lyn Kelly Page 0,28

narrow aisles about our favorite reads. Mine are all so outdated, I’m embarrassed. But Wade just nods, calling them classics and commenting on what he thought of one title or another himself.

He’s a James Rollins fan, and when I admit I haven’t read for pleasure in years, he buys me a paperback of my own. And as if that isn’t enough to win Fake Boyfriend of the Century, then he takes me back to his parents’ place where he hangs up the hammock so we can spend a couple hours reading together.

Grace brings us lemonade before she and Bill take off for something in the city. And Kelsey decides it’s time to do some yard work and makes a big show of wrestling God-only-knows-what out of the shed.

And Wade… This guy is so completely unexpected.

So sweet.

So comfortable to rest my head on while I devour the first few chapters.

So adorable when he wants to know where I am in the story and how I like it.

So confusing, because he’s so completely different from the men I usually date… But every time he gives me that smile that lasts a little longer than I expect it to, the butterflies start up in my belly and I wonder what it would be like, if just for this one week, I could be different too.

Later, when we’re back at the hotel getting ready to hit the Den, Walt texts, begging off for the bar because Janie’s cousin needed an emergency sitter.

“Do they need any help?” I ask, fastening my gold hoop earring.

“Nah, they’re good,” Wade says from his side of the wall. “Just can’t make it tonight. What do you think, we could stay in and—”

I turn to where Wade’s standing in the archway between our rooms. He’s dressed in a pair of faded jeans and a black shirt that’s open at the top and has to be made-to-measure the way it fits around his biceps, chest, and shoulders without hanging like a sail around his abs.

He looks really good.

And he was saying something.

“Sorry, what?”

He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. His eyes rake over me from top to bottom before scanning the space around the suite with a frown.

I shouldn’t have put on the heavier eye makeup, but Janie mentioned dressing up for the night out. “Wade?”

I don’t want him to think I’m a Kelsey. That I’m trying to push for something—

“Let’s get out of here,” Wade says, shoving his hands in his pockets and taking a step back. “The bar will be great.”

God, he doesn’t even look at me.

“You sure you’re up for going out with it just being the two of us?” I ask, feeling unsure. It’s not like I can take the makeup off without it being weird.

Wade grabs his keys. “This is Enderson. Trust me, it’s never just the two of us.”

The Den is a warm, relaxed space with an open-cabin kind of feel. Everything is made of heavy logs, blond and high gloss. There are high-top tables with tall stools surrounding a bar built from more of the same, and as we push through the heavy door, Wade tells me the owner made almost all of it by hand.

I can’t even imagine having the time or passion for such an undertaking, but the result is gorgeous.

“Damn, baby, get that sweet ass over here!”

Wade laughs, ducking his head at the gravelly voice bellowing across the room. His eyes cut to mine, and he winces. “That’s Tommy. And, don’t take it personally, but he’s talking to me.”

I don’t even have a chance to ask before Wade’s towing me across the bar to an oversized booth built into the corner.

Two of the guys climb out and are smacking Wade’s back, exchanging manly handclaps, while the third sits deep in the booth, watching with a smirk. Wade introduces the first two as Tommy and DJ and then, almost as an unpleasant afterthought, the guy in back as Collin.

Wade signals for a couple more glasses and another pitcher, which land on the table in a matter of seconds. But before we can sit, more friends from high school are coming over. More guys who went to high school with his dad and even a guy whose lawn Wade used to mow stops by.

He tries to introduce me, but everyone’s talking over each other, giving him a hard time about how long it’s been since he was home. Asking about his mom. Talking about some kid they think is going to take