Before We Came (Lakes Hockey, #1)

by Sloane St. James

She looks at me with those gray eyes of hers, and I’m a goner.

I want someone who will bang me like a screen door in a hurricane. Loud, hard, and often. Nothing too crazy, just passionate. I want to feel wanted by someone.

There’s just something about a tatted-up dude in a dress shirt.

“When you meet someone that makes you feel something again, it hits different,” he says.

Making her blush has become my new favorite hobby.

I can’t wait to teach her my bark will always be followed by a bite.

Ugh. I know it’s wrong, but his possessiveness only adds to the sexual tension between us. World’s worst feminist. But fuck him for saying it anyway.

But don’t waste your time on some asshole that will probably buy you frozen fucking yogurt instead of what you really want. Don’t waste your time on vanilla. You deserve the mint chocolate chip.”

But none stand a chance against her—because pretty birds eat moths.

“That’s right, Little Bird. I’m the one that makes you shiver.”

I want a peek into the hidden corners of her mind more than I want her naked.

but when he speaks to me with that deep, commanding voice and flashes his wicked grin, I can’t be held responsible for my actions. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced with another man, and I don’t want to.

But he’s not settling for just one part of me—he wants the whole package—and I’m not ready to give that away to anyone.

I want whatever this is to be different—so I need to treat her differently from the women before her—which is also why I purchased a new bed and mattress last week. Eventually, I’ll have her in my bed, and she deserves no one’s sloppy seconds.

“Because, you and me, we are goddamn inevitable. You just haven’t realized it yet!”

I want her to be right. Talking about him makes the butterflies in my stomach stir, and I hate that it’s giving me hope. I don’t want to be naïve about the situation.

You are the only woman who will ever own my heart, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you tear it apart either. I won’t accept anything less than forever from you. Do you understand?”