Hooking - Kristine Allen Page 0,59
lives for a reason. Sometimes it’s for a moment, sometimes it’s forever. Sometimes it’s to get us through a tough spot, sometimes it’s because they’re the one. If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be, and no amount of time changes that.”
“Jesus Christ, how did you get to be so poetic and philosophical?” I asked him with a shake of my head. No way was I admitting he made any sense at all. He shrugged and batted his eyes like a dork.
“Well, I need to get going. You and the boys coming to the game Tuesday night?” I asked as I stood with Victor’s big ass in my arms.
“Hell, yeah. You still able to get us tickets?”
“Of course. You need to let me know how many as soon as you can, and they’ll be at will-call for you to pick up.” I’d be paying for most of them, but he didn’t need to know that, and I didn’t mind in the least. If my brother was going to watch me play, I’d buy out the fucking stadium if I had to. Okay, maybe that was a little drastic.
“Mom said she’s coming for Christmas,” he said on a sudden change of subject as I approached the door. Hearing that, I froze in my tracks.
“She staying with you?” I asked with little inflection in my words.
He glanced around his tiny house and grimaced. “I was kinda hoping she could stay at your place.”
“No. Oh, no. No way. Dad is staying at my place.” We looked at each other in horror.
“They’re both coming for Christmas?” he asked with a groan.
“This is going to be a disaster.” I slapped my hand over my forehead.
“Well, we have two months to prepare.” He hung his head, and I huffed a deep breath. The last time our parents were together, it ended in a huge family fight. Dad had brought a chick with him, and Mom tripped. I couldn’t blame her, because I couldn’t believe he’d been that ballsy. Yet, Mom had initially said she wouldn’t be able to make it.
“You make sure to tell Mom not to bring anyone, and I’ll do the same with Dad.”
“That’s shitty if they’re seeing someone seriously, though,” Cooper argued.
“Well, as far as I know, Dad isn’t seeing anyone,” I said.
“Mom either.”
“Let’s hope it stays that way over the next two months.” Cooper held out his fist, and I bumped mine to his. “Okay, I’m out. Thanks again for watching Victor.”
Victor looked up at me and meowed. He was the freakiest cat I’d ever met, and he was crazy smart. Coop gave me a one-armed hug, and I carried Victor to the car. As soon as I was inside, he jumped over to the passenger seat and sat on his back legs to look out the window.
Cooper was laughing at him from the front porch.
The second I started to back out, my heart started to pound. The anticipation that I’d be seeing Sydney again was getting me all wound up.
Jesus, what if Coop was right?
“Forget Me Not”—Brian Fallon
“I’m not going to fall in his bed. I’m not going to fall in his bed.” I’d repeated it to myself the entire short drive from my apartment to his house. Then I parked in his driveway and saw him standing in the garage.
“I’m so falling in his bed,” I muttered.
He stood there in all his sexy hockey player glory. Lean muscles, perfectly messy hair, those eyes I wanted to drown in, the tattoos down his arms, the way his jeans hung on his narrow hips. All of it made me melt. When I opened my door, I expected to pour myself out onto the driveway.
The way he wet his lip before catching it between his teeth.
Panties ruined.
“Fuck, I missed you.” He breathed the words out in his stupidly sexy voice, and the parts of me that weren’t melting were tingling. I was a goner. His able fingers threaded through my hair as he cradled my head. My hands reached up and curled around the heated skin of his arms. His muscles bunched at my touch, and I blissfully sighed.
Lead me to your bed. Tie me to it and keep me.
Wait. Where did that come from?
The problem was, I knew I’d happily let him do any damn thing he wanted to me. “Hey” was all I could get out. My heart was racing, my stomach was fluttering like I was dropping down from the highest roller coaster, and I could barely catch my