I laughed as the bartender hurried to do Andrew’s bidding. The martini was in front of me faster than I’d ever been served before, and then he made himself scarce.
“You kind of do pay him to flirt with the customers. It might as well be part of the job description. You know that, right?”
“Maybe,” he conceded. “But you didn’t look like you were in the mood for his attention tonight. I figured I’d put a stop to it so you didn’t have to. It makes me the bad guy instead of you, just in case you’re actually interested in him.”
“Thanks, but I have no problem being the bad guy when needed. I’m just too tired to bother tonight. I would have gotten around to shooting him down properly once I’d gotten my sugar fix.”
He tilted his head to study me, his bright blue eyes looking thoughtful. “Everything okay with you?”
I started to answer in the customary affirmative but paused, surprised by how serious Andrew sounded. “I was going to say yes, but I’m getting the feeling that maybe you know something I don’t know and I should rethink my answer.”
“That sounds more like the usual Cee-Cee I know,” he laughed. “I didn’t think too much of it at the time, but I saw Jason’s reaction to your flirting at the party the other night. You seem a little off today, and I was worried that I should kick my own ass for not doing something about it then. If you need me to step in now, just say the word and I’ll make sure he stays away from you.”
“You’d really do that for me?”
“Of course I would.” He sounded offended that I thought otherwise. “Josie means the world to me. I’d do anything to make her happy. You’re her best friend, more like a sister. That means you’re like one to me, too. You’re going to be godmother to my children. Hell, my brother thinks of you as his sister as well. If you need something from me, all you have to do is ask.”
“The same goes for you, big guy. You’re Josie’s other half, which makes you important to me, too.” I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Plus you’re giving me a baby to spoil. It basically makes you my favorite person in the world.”
“Hey!” Josie protested from behind us. We turned on our stools to find her standing there with her hands on her hips and her toe tapping. The stance implied irritation, but her blue eyes were filled with humor. “I’m your favorite person in the world. And I’m also the one who’s giving you a baby to spoil.”
It wasn’t a surprise that she wasn’t bothered in the least by seeing me give her fiancé a kiss on the cheek. She was more than secure in his love for her, and she knew I’d never do anything to hurt her.
I hopped off my stool and gave her a hug. “You’re absolutely right. Andrew’s my second favorite person in the world because you’re the first.”
She hugged me back, and we both burst into laughter as Andrew swept her out of my arms and into his own.
“Don’t worry, you’re my absolute favorite,” she whispered against his lips, sending me a wink when he lifted his head after kissing her.
“Damn straight I am.”
She smiled up at him, and I felt like I was intruding on a private moment, even though they weren’t even kissing anymore and we were in the middle of the bar. When Josie turned away from him and narrowed her eyes at me, I wished I’d escaped while their focus had been wholly on each other. “So what’s this that I hear about you going out on a date with Jason last night?”
“I’ll take that as a no on needing to keep Jason away from you, and a thank you for shooting my bartender down on your behalf,” Andrew chuckled.
“You were talking to him about what’s going on before me?” Josie’s eyes filled with tears, something which was completely out of character for her.
“Pregnancy hormones,” I mumbled, earning me a glare from Andrew as he soothed her.
“She hasn’t told me anything, sweetheart.”
“Not a peep,” I confirmed.
“Good.” She beamed at me in a lightening quick shift in moods. “Because I want to be the first to hear all about it.”
She dragged me to a booth in the VIP section, Andrew following behind with my drink and a water for Josie. As soon as he left us alone, she went straight into interrogation mode.
“Your date with Jason. Where did you go? What did you do? Did he ask you out at our party? Did you kiss him? Is the drought finally over?”
I nudged her bottle of water closer to her. “You better take a drink. I’m sure your mouth is dry after all that.”
“Quit trying to distract me and give me all the details!”
“Remember the overgrown lug I mentioned when you first came back to town?”
She took a sip of her water before setting the bottle back on the table. “The one who made you turn your break from guys into a vow of celibacy that’s lasted a ridiculously long time?”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “Turns out it was Jason.”
“Jason Campbell? The same Jason who plays on the Cavs?”
“Yup.” I let the “P” pop.
“Huh.” She leaned back against the booth. “You said he spent the night you met flirting with you, and then you found him all over some other chick after you went to the bathroom. That doesn’t sound like him at all. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with a woman. Not a single one. Let alone two in one night.”
“I might have—maybe—overreacted just a tad that night.”
She cocked her head at me. “Overreacted how?”
“The girl he was hugging was Aubrey. If I’d stuck around, apparently I would have met her and Luka that night.”
“Ohhhh,” she breathed out.
“So you thought—”
I nodded.
“But he didn’t—”
Another nod.
“And now you guys went—”
I didn’t bother nodding that time, just jerked my chin up before gulping down more of my martini.
“And neither of you have dated anyone else all this time?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I haven’t, but I’m sure he has. He’s a pro hockey player for fuck’s sake.”
“I don’t know, Cee-Cee. I was serious when I said I’ve never seen him with a woman before. Not at the rink, or any parties we’ve both been to, or when we’ve all met up for drinks or dinner or whatever. I think you might be surprised by his answer if you asked him.”
I wasn’t ready to think about what it could mean if he’d spent the last nine months thinking about me the same way I had with him. “He’s definitely surprising, that’s for sure.”
I told her about our date and the early morning delivery I’d received. Her blue eyes twinkled and the grin on her face just kept getting bigger until I was done.
“That is awesome.” She rubbed her hands together in excitement. “What do you think your brothers will have to say about Jason?”
“My brothers?” my voice quavered as realization dawned. My entire family was coming to town for Josie’s wedding. “Fucking shit.”
5
Jason
“Forrester! Campbell! Get out there and kill the motherfucking penalty!”
My blood was pumping hard as I jumped off the bench and over the wall onto the ice. Alec slapped my shin guards with his stick as we skated past each other while he was on his way to the box. We were down to the last minute and a half of the game and were ahead by only one goal. The ref’s slashing call looked like bullshit to me. Even though Alec had chopped his stick down hard against the other guy’s, they’d both been going for the puck at the time. If that asshat on the other team hadn’t put all of his damn weight on his stick right afterwards, making sure it broke, they wouldn’t have called it. No way in hell was I going to give up our lead because that douchebag found a way to make us one short for the end of the game.
As soon as the puck dropped, our center was in motion, winning the faceoff and sending the puck back towards me. From there, I cycled it to Ryan Forrester, my line mate, on the weak side of the ice. He raced for
ward, trapping it against the boards and holding it there to kill some time. Without a clear passing lane when he was under pressure from two of their forwards, he dumped it into the other team’s offensive zone. Our center raced towards the puck, pushing hard to beat their defense back. A quick glance at the clock showed a minute left as the time switched to fifty-nine seconds and counted down from there.
Our center got a shot off. It almost went over the goalie’s left shoulder, but he managed to snag it out of the air at the last second. The puck drop was in their zone, and I felt a rush of adrenaline at the opportunity handed to us.
“C’mon, guys. Let’s get a shortie to pay ‘em back for that bogus call.”
“Fuck yeah!” our left wing agreed. “My girl goes wild whenever I get a shortie. Count me in.”
“You heard the man,” our center said. “Let’s get him the puck so he can get himself some head tonight.”
It was crass as fuck, talking about another player’s girlfriend like that, but it was also effective. Our left wing was pissed the hell off when the puck dropped, and he took it out on the puck when it hit his stick—firing a slap shot through the five-hole, straight between the goalie’s legs.
“Yes,” I hissed out in triumph, pleased as shit to see there were only thirty-nine seconds remaining as the goal was added to the scoreboard.
With an extra goal as a buffer, those seconds felt like they ticked down a little more quickly than the first part of the penalty kill had until the final buzzer rang, signaling the end of the game. Celebrating the win felt better, too. Right up until we were back in the locker room, and Alec told me I was going out for drinks.
“I don’t—”
“Shut the fuck up,” he interrupted. “You pussied out on us Sunday night. I’m not letting you do it again.”
“Shit,” I groaned.
“Unless—” He dragged the “S” out, taunting me and gaining the attention of a couple of the guys sitting near us.
I knew better, but it didn’t stop me from asking. “Unless what?”
“Unless you already have plans with Cee-Cee.”
“Cee-Cee, huh?” one of our teammates repeated as another catcalled.
“Has our resident monk finally found himself a chick he wants to get his dick wet with?”
Alec and I jumped to our feet in unison, reaching out to yank our wiseass of a teammate towards us.
“You don’t speak about her, think about her, or look at her. Ever,” I growled.
“And if you do, I’ll kick your ass after he’s done,” Alec added. “Cee-Cee is just as off limits as Josie.”
“Shit, yeah. Okay. Whatever you say,” the guy agreed.
“Dude, how many pseudo sisters do you have?” Ryan asked Alec.
“Just the two of them.”
“Thank fuck,” he sighed. “I was starting to think you were going to warn us off all the non-puck bunny hot chicks in the entire city.”
“Like you’re not happy with the bunnies,” Alec scoffed. “And you’d better not let my brother ever hear you refer to Josie as hot.”
“Same goes with me when it comes to Cecily,” I added.
“You saying she’s not hot?”
“Oh, she’s hot,” Alec answered for me.
“My warning applies to you, too, dipshit.”
“Seriously? I’ve known her for years longer than you, and I’ve never once tried to go there with her,” he complained.
“You’re damn lucky you didn’t, or else we’d have a serious problem right about now.”
“Another one bites the dust,” he laughed. “After, what? One date after nine months of pining for her?”
“That’s why he’s ignored all the chicks trying to fall on his dick this whole time?” Ryan sounded shocked... and impressed by my woman. “I really want to meet this Cee-Cee.”
“Be prepared to be disappointed because it’s not going to happen any time soon.”
“Wrong. It’s going to happen in thirty minutes,” Alec corrected me.
“What the fuck?”
He held his phone up and wiggled it in my face.
“I texted her and talked her into meeting me for one drink before she heads home. She wanted to get some work stuff done before she left the office since she’s taking tomorrow off. A three-day weekend for the wedding since she’s Josie’s maid of honor and all that.”
“Are you guys talking about the smoking hot redhead who’s Josie’s best friend?” Ryan asked.
“Icksnay on the othay,” Alec hissed.
I would have punched both of them in the stomach, except I was too busy being stunned. “How in the hell do you know who Cecily is?”
“I met her when she came to pick Josie up once.”
“When?”
He stopped to think about it before answering, and I was at the end of my patience by the time he figured it out. “It was back in October, a week or so after the season started.”
“Almost four months ago,” I wheezed, dropping back down onto the bench in front of my locker. I was blown away by the amount of time I’d lost by not catching sight of her when she’d been here. If only I’d been with him when he’d seen her.
“You can sit here, pouting about it for as long as you’d like.” Alec paused and gave me a look that said I’d better not pick that option. “Or you can get your shit together and meet her at the bar and enjoy the fuck out of the fact that you finally managed to find her.”
“I vote for all of us going to the bar,” Ryan piped in.
“Fuck off,” I grumbled, getting back on my feet and grabbing my stuff. “None of you are invited.”
I ignored their bitching and moaning as I followed Alec out to the parking lot. “Where are we headed?”
“The Box,” he answered as he got into the driver’s seat of his car.
“Duh,” I mumbled to myself in the same tone of voice Alec had just used with me.
I pulled up at the valet stand a few seconds after he did, but he didn’t wait around for me before heading inside so he was already at a booth in the VIP section with a couple beers in front of him—and with Cecily sitting right next to him—by the time I joined him.
“One of those had better be for me,” I grumbled, pulling on his elbow to slide him out of the booth so I could take his place.
“Jason,” Cecily sighed, but Alec laughed and dropped into one of the chairs across the table from us without a complaint.
“Don’t get mad at him. I was yanking his chain by taking the seat next to you,” he told her.
“Alec! That wasn’t nice,” she snapped.
“But it wasn’t mean, either,” he argued. “It’s a guy thing. Jason gets it, and I brought him a beer so it’s all good.”
I snagged one of the beers and chugged it down before reaching out for the other one to claim it, too. Then I slid my arm on the back of the bench over Cecily’s shoulders.
“Scratch that,” Alec chuckled, signaling for the waitress. “I’m getting the feeling that Jason has more in common with my brother than I realized. I don’t think a couple of beers are going to help him get over my little joke about the seats.”
“Were you really that bothered by where Alec was sitting?” she whispered while he was talking to the waitress.
“No,” I denied.
She quirked an eyebrow at me.
“Maybe,” I admitted, bracing myself as I waited for her perfectly reasonable explosion to my over-handedness.
“You know that’s crazy, right? Alec has been my friend since high school. If I wanted to date him, I would have noticed before now.”
“Yeah, I know,” I sighed, sliding my hand over hers on the table. “But I didn’t like seeing him cozied up next to you. And since it’s exactly where I wanted to be, it made sense to force him to move.”
“I guess I’ll let you off the hook this time.”
Hopefully she’d be as understanding next time something like this happened because I didn’t see myself being rea
sonable when it came to Cecily and other guys.
“Aww, aren’t you guys just too fucking cute together?”
Cecily rested her head against my shoulder, snuggling into me. She felt damn good there, with her breasts pushing against my side. “Yeah, I guess we kind of are.”
“There’s no guessing about it,” I corrected. “We definitely are.”
His gaze turned speculative as he studied us. “Does this mean you guys are officially a couple?”
Cecily fidgeted, and I gave her a gentle squeeze. I placed my finger under her chin to tilt her head up so I could see her eyes. I didn’t see a yes in them to Alec’s question, but I also didn’t see a no either. I could deal with a maybe, for the moment at least. “That’s a conversation for Cecily and I to have. Alone. At some point in the future.”
“Like you’re going to wait that long,” Alec mumbled under his breath, oddly making Cecily smile up at me.
I brushed my thumb over her lips, tempted beyond reason to claim them with my own. Her mouth opened slightly on a puff of air, and her tongue swept across her lips. I groaned deep in my throat and lowered my head, only to be stymied by a harsh exclamation from Alec.
“Incoming.”
I jerked away from Cecily and clocked the group he was referring to right away. “Shit.”
“What?” she asked, looking around and trying to figure out what was going on.
“Those”—Alec’s eyes slid to the side to watch the women as they walked towards us—“girls are on a mission, and it’s not just me that they have in their sights.”
“Help me,” I whispered in her ear as they got closer. I recognized the hungry look in their eyes. They weren’t going to be easily fobbed off.
“You’re a big boy. You’ll be fine,” she laughed, jerking her head towards Alec. “I’m sure Alec’s willing to take one”—her eyes darted to the girls—“or three for the team.”
“That might be a bit much, even with as awesome as I am,” Alec joked.
I tugged her closer to my body. “C’mon, do me a solid and pretend to be my girlfriend. Protect me.”
Checked Into Love (Bachelorette Party Book 2) Page 5