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Now, it’s up to them. But if it doesn’t happen, I already know I’ll hyperfixate on what I could have done differently to set them up better.
Real
Beating the shit out of her then husband wasn’t my smartest move, but I have zero patience for men who verbally abuse and physically intimidate women.
Nicole is a nursing major, and she’s taking one class this summer while also doing an internship in the NICU at the children’s hospital. “It keeps her pretty busy.” He doesn’t sound resentful, just like he wishes he could have more time with her. “What are you doing today?” I ask. “You’re not working until tonight, right?” “Yeah. I’m going to take care of some grocery shopping and errands so Nic can study in peace.” “She hit the lottery with you. You know that, right?”
A MAN
Because Ronan McCabe hasn’t looked at me with this lost puppy dog look in a very long time, and the last time he did, it ruined my marriage and almost ruined his career.
Oooofffff
I’m not sure why, but babies love me. It’s a cruel trick of nature, I guess, to give a woman who can’t have kids the ability to calm any baby she comes into contact with. The unfairness of it all used to get to me, but now I just embrace this gift and snuggle everyone else’s children any opportunity I have.
For a split second, I wish Abby was my baby, because I’d love to be the one to normalize women in sports bringing their babies to work. But that ship sailed a long time ago.
That is so badass
And every single time I glanced over after that, Abby was contentedly snuggled into AJ, probably asleep. I wish I could say that I kept glancing over because I was worried about Abby, but the truth—a truth I will never reveal to a single living soul—is that I couldn’t stop looking at her holding my baby.
“Yeah . . . I don’t really understand what just happened. He said he thinks I’m more into him than he is into me, and maybe we need to ‘pump the brakes’”—she uses air quotes and an eye roll to emphasize his words—“on this relationship.” “Wait, this is the same guy who has been all in since the minute you two started talking a month ago?” Audrey clarifies. “The one who flew you to Miami with him when you’d been together for, like, three days because he couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing you while he was traveling for work? The one who introduced you to his family after dating for a week?
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UGH
It’s been years since I’ve thought about her this way. Seeing her with my kid, and her doing me one favor, shouldn’t have me feeling like this—like I can’t wait to see her, and don’t want to see her, all at once.
Holy shit, what did we just do? I kissed my boss. She definitely kissed me back. Clothes were shed. Her tits were in my hands, her nipple in my mouth, and her clit throbbing under my thumb. My cock was hot and hard in her hand. How do we ever come back from that?
“Come here, let me help.” I don’t move toward her. She needs to make this decision because she’s willing to accept my help, not because I’m standing over her and demanding it.
I’m a quiet guy by nature, reserved in a way that has people thinking I’m grumpy or pissed off. But it’s not because I don’t like people, it’s because I’m fascinated by how much you can learn about others when you simply shut your fucking mouth and listen.
He puts his hand on the back of my seat, easily turning the chair so I’m facing him. “I would. So I highly suggest you stand on your own, or you’re going to end up over my shoulder.” I’m so tempted to test him, to sit here stubbornly, just to see if he’d actually do it. But that feels like a line I’m not willing to cross, so instead, I stand. “There, happy?” I huff. He looks down at me, and there’s a heat in his eyes that shouldn’t be there. His voice is low and raspy as his breath coasts along the top of my head. “Good girl. See how easy it is to do what you’re told?”
There are so many questions surfacing . . . things I want to know about her everyday life. But I shouldn’t be trying to figure out what her life is like outside of work, and she was the first to remind me of that by the way she tried to change the conversation when I asked.
McCabe I was a PERFECT gentleman last night, wasn’t I? Sunshine That’s debatable. But you were helpful, so there’s that. McCabe I’ll take helpful. For now. Sunshine What do you mean, FOR NOW???
Do I type out a message and delete it five times, simply because I like picturing her biting her lip as she watches those bubbles pop up while she waits for my response? Yes, I sure do. I quite like the idea of making her squirm a bit . . . I just wish she was squirming right over the top of my—
A guy with a kid is a total chick magnet.”
“I want to make sure that there’s no miscommunication at all. Because once is an accident, but if I stay here with you again tonight, it’s not an accident, and it’s not a mistake. It’s a choice.”
“Oh, Sunshine, I’ve been waiting for you for a fucking decade. I could wait longer . . . I would wait longer, if I had to.”
“I guess that depends.” “On what?” “On what you plan to do with that thing.” I step back between her legs until my thighs hit the countertop and my dick is pressed up against her stomach. “Alessandra.” Leaning in close, I cup her breasts in my hands again, sliding my thumbs over her nipples and making her squirm as I say, “My plan is to ruin you for every other man, forever. You just have to ask.”
A small moan escapes her parted lips, and when my eyes flick up to hers, she clamps her lips between her teeth like she’s embarrassed by her reaction. “No way, Sunshine,” I tell her. “Those sexy moans belong to me. I’m working for them, and I want to hear them. I need to know what this does to you, and you’re going to tell me . . . or I’m going to stop.”
“Taking care of your needs feels like the bare fucking minimum, Alessandra. And if doing that ruins you, then prepare to be spoiled senseless.”
“But for once, I need you to let me be in charge. I promise, I will take very good care of you.”
His eyes narrow, like he’s reading my mind and knows I’m wrong. “Have you ever in your life connected with someone like we’ve connected over the last few days?” I close my eyes, hoping that if I can’t see him, I’ll be able to lie to him. To tell him, sure, all new relationships are like this. But it’s just not true. “No.” There’s almost no sound as the word rolls off my lips, but I know he hears me, because when I open my eyes, he’s looking at me with the self-satisfied smirk of someone who thinks he’s won. “But that doesn’t mean this can work.” “Of course it can. We just need to figure out
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He is dedicatedddd
“Sometimes we want what we want, even if it’s not what’s best for us.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. You have to be there in a few hours for practice. Why would you drive there, and then have to bring Abby back here to meet Nicholas, just to turn around and have to return to the rink again?” I level her with a look. “Because then I can be there for you, too.” Her whole expression softens. “You’d go to all that effort just to lace up my skates for me?” Driving halfway across the city to make sure she’s safe while skating seems to me like a very small sacrifice, yet she clearly thinks it’s a big deal.
“I’m not sure there’s anything I wouldn’t do to keep you safe,” I say, because I’m afraid that what I really want to tell her, that there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her, would freak her out.
McCabe’s chuckle has his shoulders shaking as he steps closer and drops his voice to say, “Nothing about this is unwanted, Sunshine. And I’m happy to tell that to anyone who asks.”
“I’ll be happy to tell her just how consensual this is.” His voice is raspy as he talks quietly, probably not wanting to wake Abby. “How much detail should I give her? Do you want me to tell her everything?”
“The part where we’ve been developing feelings for each other over the past few weeks and you’re already talking about marriage?” “I already can’t imagine myself with anyone but you, Sunshine. You’ve infiltrated every part of my soul and overrun all my defenses. There’s no part of me that doesn’t want to be with you. It’s okay if you’re still worried about how this will work, or if you’re not thinking far enough into the future to know for sure that everything will work out. I’m optimistic enough for the both of us.”
“I hate it when you wear your hair up,” I tell her, leaning my head down even closer. “Not feminine enough for you?” She sounds surprisingly defensive, even while I watch goosebumps erupt on her skin as my breath caresses her. “No . . . ” I say, trailing my finger from the edge of her collarbone up the side of her neck and stopping right behind her ear. I’m counting on my large frame blocking the view if anyone passes in the hallway behind me. “I hate it when you wear your hair up because all I can think of is what it would be like to taste your exposed skin.”
“You know what I mean,” she says with a roll of her eyes. “For emotional support.” I look around the table, about to make a joke about not bringing hockey players to a black-tie event for emotional support. But all the guys are staring back at me, jaws tight, nodding their heads like the decision is already made. They want to be there for me. The realization hits me so hard that I tear up. They know I have their backs, and they want to have mine too. “I mean, I do still have five seats at my table.” I let the admission slip out, even though I hadn’t intended to say anything. “I’ll take one,”
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Oh god this is so hot i cant im SCREAMING
expected to feel the same rage I felt the last time I saw him. Especially now that I know that his berating AJ in the hallway that day wasn’t a one-time occurrence, but rather a pattern of behavior. But when I saw him standing behind the bench, sporting a clipboard and a receding hairline, I had no desire to pummel him again. In fact, I wanted to thank him. He disappointed her in every way, leaving the door wide open for me to show her exactly how she should be treated. He never deserved her, and in the end, she’s getting someone who does. Or who is working every day to deserve her.
A MAN
I want to tattoo my name across her collarbones so that anyone looking at her knows she’s mine.
“You’ll see what it’s like to live in her shadow,” he says. “I’m not in competition with her,” I tell him. “I have my career, and I want her to achieve everything she sets her mind to in her career. I want her to be happy and fulfilled. The level of success she’s achieved . . . man, the only people who’d be threatened by that are those who are weak, those who can’t let other people succeed without trying to tear them down. So I guess what you have to ask yourself is: why did you have to make her feel small in order to feel good about yourself? Sounds like a personal failing to me.”
Zach’s hand shoots out, thumb and fingers splayed across Chet’s collarbones and resting at the base of this asshole’s neck. “I’m going to stop you right there. If you can’t speak with the appropriate level of respect about our GM, we’re going to have a serious problem. And I guarantee you, you don’t want to have a problem with us.”
ZACH BABY WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN
He squats to take my dress off the floor, and as I step out of it, I go to kick my heels off. “Leave them,” he practically growls as he wraps his hand around my calf. “You don’t wear fuck-me shoes like that and take them off when I’m actually going to fuck you.”
At every single phase of our relationship, I was the one who took the first step and then pulled her along with me. And now, I realize, I’m kind of mad that she beat me to saying the L-word.
lol
“You didn’t have to do that,” she says when we step out into the bright morning sun. I don’t know where we’re headed, but I put my hand on her lower back and guide her down the sidewalk. “Maybe not, but I wanted to. Not because I didn’t think you could handle that by yourself, but because I didn’t want you to have to.” I think a lot of AJ’s life has been her figuring out how to handle things herself.
OH GOD
