Hooking

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Hooking Page 23

by Allen, Kristine


  “We need to go, now,” I insisted, and he chuckled. I’d never felt happier in my life. It was whirlwind and crazy, but it was like being exactly where I knew I needed to be.

  As we drove to his house, he held my hand. “We’re going to make this work.”

  “Yes,” I firmly agreed.

  “We’re getting married ASAP. Like as soon as I can get everything arranged. We can move you in tomorrow after practice. The guys will help.”

  “Alex, you haven’t even met my parents yet,” I said, and he swore under his breath.

  “I need to ask for permission to marry you. Meet the rest of the brothers that will want to kill me. Marriage license. Appointment,” he said as if he was ticking off a list in his head. I laughed.

  “We don’t need to rush it,” I said with a shake of my head.

  “Bullshit. I don’t want to wait to give you my last name. I want your ass tied to me good and solid.” He shot me a teasing grin, then returned his attention to the road.

  “You’re sure they can’t say anything about us being together?” I asked with a contemplative frown.

  “Positive.”

  “But what about you? Will you get in trouble?” I asked, and he laughed.

  “Hell, no. I mean, there was a situation, but it was more personal and I fixed that yesterday.”

  “What do you mean you fixed it?” I wasn’t sure if I liked the sound of that.

  He sighed. “I told your uncle I wanted to marry you.”

  “What the hell does my uncle have to do with any of this?” I asked, more confused than ever. He’d just mentioned he needed to talk to my father but had already talked to my uncle?

  “Uh, he’s the team’s lead attorney,” he said as if I should understand the connection.

  “So he’s the one who looked into it for you?” I was incredulous that he would ask that of my uncle, despite his position with the franchise.

  “Not exactly. I had my personal attorney check into it, but Simon and I got our personal differences ironed out, so everything is good.” That didn’t really answer my question, but I decided it didn’t matter.

  “Alex?”

  “Yeah?” He squeezed my hand.

  “I love you,” I said with flutters in my stomach and an ache in my chest. “I figured you should probably know that since you agreed to be my husband.”

  It was mostly dark in the car, but in the glow of the dash lights, his smile was massive as he briefly looked my way again. “Good to know. I thought maybe you were only marrying me to date me.”

  Laughter burst from me. “Do you know how crazy that sounds?”

  He laughed as he nodded.

  “Almost as crazy as us getting married so quickly.” I shook my head in disbelief.

  “That’s not crazy. That’s smart.”

  “How do you figure?” I asked with a chuckle, laying my head back as I rolled it in his direction.

  “Because I don’t want to spend another day of my life without you. If I let you slip away, I’ll never be the same. So if I marry you as soon as I can, we can start the first day of the rest of our lives together. Besides, you’re having my baby, and I’m not having people say that you didn’t make an honest man of me after you corrupted me.”

  I snorted in amusement.

  “You’re too much, you know that?”

  “But you love me, and that’s all that matters.” He cast a smile in my direction that I returned as I stared at his beautiful profile.

  “I do.”

  “I can’t wait for you to say that when it matters,” he growled and gave my hand another squeeze.

  “I will.”

  “Me too,” he said. “Now we need to discuss names, because my kiddo isn’t going to have some name like Hank.”

  “Okay. What about Egbert?” I tried to hold a straight face as he pulled into the driveway and the garage door rolled up.

  “Hell, no. I was joking.”

  He shut the car off and turned to me as I snickered. His smile faded.

  “I love you,” he said softly with a hint of incredulous surprise.

  “I love you too.”

  He scrambled out of the car, rounded it, and opened my door. His hands cradled my face. “Say it again.”

  “I love you,” I said with a soft curl of my lips.

  He gave me a tender kiss and helped me out.

  “Now come on. I’ve managed to keep the roses alive, and I owe you a bath.” Shaking my head, I grinned like a loon.

  We ended up skipping the tub.

  As he reached into the bedside table drawer, I giggled. “Uh, you definitely don’t need those unless you snuck someone in between us.”

  He sobered. “No way.”

  Then he brought his hand back holding the ring between his fingertips. “Then how about this instead?”

  Both of my hands covered my mouth as I gasped and fought crying.

  “Can we try this again?” he asked, and I nodded. “Marry me, Sydney.”

  “That wasn’t a question,” I teased.

  “That’s because I’m not asking again. I’m not giving you a chance to say no. Besides, you already asked me and I said yes, so this is just a technicality.”

  A snicker escaped before I reached up and kissed him with all my heart and soul as he slipped the ring on my finger. Then the ring and everything else was quickly forgotten as we lost ourselves in each other.

  After nearly breaking his bed, we lay laughing in the tangled sheets. “That was utterly amazing,” he gasped.

  Breathless, I snuggled into him. “I agree.”

  “Pregnant sex rocks,” he said, and I laughed. Then he got serious as he rolled me to my back. He scooted down until his lips rested against the slight curve below my belly button. He nuzzled his cheek against my skin, and his beard tickled.

  His eyes found mine as he kissed my stomach. “I cannot think of a single more precious gift than what you’re giving me. And I need to come clean about something.” He looked worried, and I frowned as I reached down to stroke his cheek with the backs of my fingers.

  “When I found out that Isaac wasn’t mine, I was more than a little upset. No, that’s not true. I was pretty devastated, but I wasn’t prepared for that, so I lied. It was dumb, but nonetheless, I said it. It was easier to say I was glad I wasn’t being strapped with a kid that to admit that I’d gotten attached to a baby that quickly.”

  “Aw, Alex, I’m so sorry. I wish you would’ve talked to me about it and maybe this entire misunderstanding could’ve been avoided.” That broke my heart.

  “Don’t be. I wouldn’t trade you asking me to marry you and let you have my babies for anything. Also, while you were working things out in your head, I got in touch with Isaac’s real dad, and he sent me pics. Besides, I’m going to have my very own little Egbert to fill that void.” He grinned, kissed my stomach and climbed back up to hover over me.

  “By the way,” he added. “My parents confirmed they are coming for Thanksgiving.”

  My eyes widened. We’d discussed it, but it had seemed like a far away event at the time.

  “And Christmas.”

  “Holy batshit, Batman,” I whispered. “I’m gonna meet your parents.”

  He grinned. “They’re gonna love you.”

  I kissed him and trailed a finger along his bottom lip.

  “Mine will love you too.”

  “I hope so.” He sighed.

  “Now my brothers, on the other hand….” I trailed off in mock warning.

  “Aw, shit,” he groaned, and I laughed.

  “Go get Mom and Dad and tell them I’m ready to open presents.” Cooper whined, and Sydney laughed at him.

  “How old are you?” she asked with a grin. She sat on the couch with her legs curled up under her, wearing fuzzy pajama pants with Santa cats all over them. Her belly was barely starting to curve with the baby, and it was literally the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. Victor was curled up on the back of the couch behind her.r />
  “Doesn’t matter.” He huffed as he sat on the floor, pouting.

  “He’s five,” I said.

  “Fuck off,” he said to me.

  “Jesus, come on, let’s go get them. You get Mom, I’ll get Dad.” I stood from the couch where I’d been sitting by my wife. I’d never get tired of saying that or thinking it.

  My wife.

  She giggled at us as we headed down the hall. He stopped at Mom’s door and knocked, but she didn’t answer. I paused when he called out to her, but she didn’t answer.

  “Bathroom?” I asked. He shook his head.

  “Door’s open,” he replied in confusion.

  “Let me get Dad, and we’ll look for Mom. I hope they didn’t argue and she left in the night.” It would be par for the course, but it was Christmas, for fuck sake.

  I knocked on Dad’s door, but he didn’t answer either. Coop and I looked at each other in bewilderment. “Don’t tell me they both left. That’s fucked,” he said.

  Then we heard a noise that sounded like Dad might be sick or hurt, so we opened the door.

  Worst.

  Mistake.

  Ever.

  The sight that greeted us was something I can never unsee. My dad’s bare ass pounding into some chick from behind.

  In.

  My.

  House.

  They were so intent on their mission, they didn’t even hear us open the door.

  “Dad!” we both said in surprised horror.

  The woman squealed, and Dad jumped, grabbing the comforter and covering their nakedness. Thank fuck.

  Except our horror was exacerbated by the knowledge that our dad was banging our mom.

  “Oh my God!” Cooper howled, covering his eyes.

  “Jesus!” I groaned, covering mine. “I can’t erase that sight from my eyes! What the hell?”

  “Um. Sorry?” Dad said as I vomited a little in my mouth.

  “What’s going on?” Sydney said as she looked around me. “Oh my God! Oh! I’m so sorry!”

  She darted back down the hall with Victor chasing after her.

  “Well, this is awkward,” my dad said.

  “You think?” I exclaimed with my hand still covering my closed eyes.

  “Maybe we should’ve told you we got back together after Thanksgiving,” my mother offered apologetically.

  “What?” Coop and I both shrieked.

  “Um, how about if we get dressed and we can go open presents?” Mom offered.

  “I need to go bleach my eyes,” muttered Cooper, and he turned and walked off.

  “Wait for me!” I said as I closed the door and hauled ass after him.

  We heard our parents laughing from down the hall.

  Though that was definitely not how I would’ve wanted to find out, I had to admit it might’ve been one of our best Christmas surprises in years.

  As I dropped to the couch, still stunned, Sydney sipped her cocoa, hiding a smile behind her mug.

  “Merry Christmas.” She giggled. I could only shake my head slowly.

  Then I busted out laughing.

  “Daddy did it!” I shouted as I held my four-year-old son in my arms and grinned from ear to ear. My parents, brothers, their families, my aunt and uncle, and Alex’s parents cheered. The group of badass-looking bikers and their families made up the rest of our huge family and probably were yelling louder than anyone. We were up in one of the boxes because of all the kids.

  My brother Jake held one of the twins, and Caleb held the other. Cooper was holding one of his little ones, and I still couldn’t get over how she looked nearly identical to the twins. People often though they were triplets when they were together.

  “Give him to me,” my dad said with a happy grin as he reached for Gavin. “Besides, you shouldn’t be holding him. He’s too heavy.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m pregnant, not helpless,” I grumbled. Then my son squealed with laughter, and I knew my dad only wanted to hold him to spoil him some more. It had nothing to do with me. Laughter bubbled up in me when I realized I was chopped liver when it came to their grandkids.

  “They’re going to the Stanley Cup!” Jurek, Alex and Cooper’s father, said with excitement to my uncle. Ellie started to fuss, and Jake quickly came toward me with her. Except Darlene, Alex’s mom, intercepted.

  “Oh, give her here. I’ll take care of her.” As soon as her grandmother snuggled her, Ellie settled down. Except Emma got jealous and started wiggling to get down. Caleb let her down, and her chubby legs carried her to us. My mom scooped her up with a kiss to her cheek, and she was equally as happy.

  If someone had told me the day I found out I was pregnant with Gavin that less than five years later this would be my life, I’d have laughed. Who knew I’d be watching my husband and his team win the game that took them to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the third time since we’d been together. Surrounded by our family, my twin two-year-old daughters, with another boy on the way, I couldn’t help but smile. Little Nick was going to be as spoiled as his siblings.

  When Alex and several of his teammates joined us, there was another round of cheering. He stopped to kiss our son, then both of his daughters before he came straight for me. He wrapped his arms around me and swung me around, much as he had the night I’d asked him to marry me through the glass.

  I’d never been happier than I was that night. Natalie made me go to the game after I’d stayed at her apartment crying the night before. She’d made me listen to Alex’s messages, put my big girl panties on, and deal with my shit. I’d realized what I wanted more than anything and I’d come up with the idea to ask him.

  And I’d never looked back with anything other than fondness.

  The past four plus years had been amazing, scary, and busy. I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world.

  It turned out Katie had been pregnant the same time as me, so in a way our “sickness” had been caused by the same thing after all. She’d decided to be a stay at home mom for a while and I’d stepped up into her position.

  Alex had been so proud and supportive of the move up.

  I still loved my job, but I was considering staying home after Nick was born. I was missing a lot that I wasn’t sure I wanted to anymore. At least until they were older.

  “I love you,” he said as I cupped his bearded cheek.

  “I love you too,” I replied with a grin.

  “We’re going to the Stanley Cup,” he said with unbridled excitement.

  “Again,” I said.

  “Wanna make another baby?” he whispered in my ear.

  “I think it’s too late for that,” I said as I looked at my huge belly. “Besides, how many times do you want me to be pregnant?”

  “I think we need our own hockey team,” he said with a sexy grin.

  “Is that so?”

  “Hell, yeah, Mrs. Kosinski.”

  “We shall see about that, Mr. Kosinski,” I replied with a raised brow. “I think we’ll just pool our resources. With all these kids in here, I think we’d be set.”

  Everyone laughed and my heart swelled with happiness.

  “You were the best thing I ever hooked,” he murmured with a soft curl of his lips. It was our joke, and if there was one thing I could say with certainty, it was that Alex Kosinski had definitely hooked me good, but I wasn’t complaining.

  “Maybe I need to do a little roughing when I get home. You gonna put me in the penalty box?” I mischievously whispered in his ear.

  “Time to go, kids!” he announced to the room.

  They stayed with their grandparents for the night.

  And we celebrated his win.

  THE END

  Demented Sons Series—Iowa

  Colton’s Salvation

  Mason’s Resolution

  Erik’s Absolution

  Kayde’s Temptation

  Straight Wicked Series

  Make Music With Me

  Snare My Heart

  No Treble Allowed />
  String Me Up

  Demented Sons Series—Texas

  Lock and Load

  Styx and Stones

  Smoke and Mirrors

  Jax and Jokers

  Royal Bastards MC

  Voodoo

  If you read the dedication, you’ll know I dedicated this to one of the Texas Stars players. It’s a long story, but basically he’s an incredibly personable and down-to-earth player. When I went to get my team photo signed by the players, he actually looked my books up on Amazon, making me feel like I was someone important. It was the best. He may not remember, but I joked about dedicating my hockey book to him. And here it is. Took me long enough! Hahaha

  Wow. Book fourteen. How did we get here? It’s like a dream come true. To be able to do what you love and get paid for it, is a fabulous gift. Thank you all for continuing to love my books because without you all, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

  Branching out into sports romance was a daunting endeavor. It took a lot of research and prayer that I didn’t screw up terminology, schedules, positions, etc. (PSST! I still might have, so forgive me). Thank you to Kristin, Brenda, and Lisa who have been my Betas through this terrifying experience. Too bad we couldn’t have gotten Nick and his teammates to read it to check for faux pas! Bahahahaha!

  Kristin is also my PA aka my whip cracker, motivational speaker, promoter, and all around lifesaver. Don’t think I could do this without you! Love you to pieces!

  Brenda and Lisa, you have been my amazing friends and also my Alpha readers, allowing me to bounce ideas off of you and giving me advice when I needed it the most. Thank you for never tiring of discussing ideas, plots, and scenes. You’ve helped me grow as an author and I cannot express my gratitude in words alone (crazy for an author, right?).

  Avery Kingston, where do I begin? From that fateful meeting at a signing I signed up for last minute, to falling in love with your books, to having you create this amazing cover, you are the muthafreakin’ bomb! You took my crazy pencil-sketched idea and created cover magic! This is my favorite cover to date!

  Thank you, Wander Aguiar for this stunning image of Zach!

 

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