The Rival (Looking to Score, #2)

by Kendall Ryan

“I’m really fine.” I drain the rest of my drink, avoiding direct eye contact. “Look, I get it.” He sighs, waving absently with one hand. “Engagement parties aren’t exactly fun. It sucks watching dumbasses in love. Especially when one of them is your ex.” Okay, weird. This is a side of Alex I don’t recognize. At. All.

“Thanks.” He laughs, low and easy. We’re still pressed against each other when he says, “I guess I’ll be seeing you.” “In Canada.” “In Canada,” he says with a boyish grin. It’s not until I’m tucked into the back seat of an Uber driver’s car that reality thunders down. What the hell did I just get myself into?

Who would have thought that Alex Braun would be the one to give me a little freaking hope in my life?

I brush his firm arm with a harmless hook of my right fist. “So, what? Now your heart’s closed for business? No room for anyone else to get in there?”

I’ve bedded a lot of women, but suddenly my mind goes blank of everyone before her. I can’t recall a single one of them, not even if you paid me a million dollars.

All I can think of is Aspen.

Holy shit. What was that?

The heat of Aspen’s body clutching at mine causes me to lose the reins on my careful control. I grip her waist and my hips lift in erratic bursts, meeting her with firm thrusts. She collapses on top of me—chest to chest, her heart pounding—as I fill the condom with a release so powerful, every muscle in my body locks up at once. That’s when I know that I’m officially done for.

God, I miss Aspen. I miss talking to her. Cooking for her. Holding her. Making love to her. I miss the person I was when I was with her.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the man flustered, but for a guy who spent an entire season being the villain in everyone else’s story, I think he’s handling the compliments well.

“Aspen Ford, you have completely turned my life around. Not by trying to change me, just by being your gorgeous self. I think back on the man I was before I met you, and I feel bad for him. Because he didn’t know what happiness was yet.” His voice catches with emotion. “And now I’m greedy, and I want you in my life for good. I want you to be my wife. I want you to be mine forever. Will you marry me?”