by Toni Aleo
Once she lets herself.
Right as I’m about to text her back, the doors open, and Ryan looks down at me. He holds out his arms. “Yes, it’s mine.”
I roll my eyes. “No shit, asshole. You sent a picture when you bought it,” I say, climbing the steps as I tuck my phone into my jacket pocket. We wrap up in a tight, backslapping, man hug. It’s been a few months since I’ve seen him, and I’ve missed the fucker.
He pulls back, squeezing my shoulder. “Good to see you. You’ve put on some muscle.”
I nod. “Four pounds since I saw you last.”
“You buy that bulking shit Sofia said to get?”
“Yeah. It works, obviously.”
He grins. “Yeah, she’s a smart cookie.”
“She is,” I agree as we head into the foyer. The house reminds me of my parents’ house here in Nashville. Huge, expensive, and show-off worthy. The walls are a nice gray that goes really well with the white brick fireplace. “Man, do you even live here?”
Ryan’s brow perks. “What do you mean?”
“This place is fucking clean as hell. You were never this clean.”
He laughs. “Sofia is a neat freak.”
Even so, the house is immaculate. It doesn’t even look like the stone-gray couches have been sat on. The barstools around the island in the kitchen don’t appear to have ever been pulled out, and I’m pretty sure no one cooks in here. I glance back at Ryan as he grabs two beers out of the fridge. Which, by the way, is so white, it hurts my eyes.
“For real, did you rent this house to impress me?”
Ryan lets out a booming laugh as he hands me a beer. “Fuck you. It’s mine. I can show you the mortgage papers.”
I raise a brow. “I might need that. This place is insane.”
He scoffs. “Come on.”
I follow him through a hall that is a gallery of pictures. Lots of his family, some of Sofia and her mom, and then pictures of both of them in the sports they love. At the end of the hall is a huge photo on canvas of Ryan proposing to Sofia in front of the vault in her new gym. I thought it was kind of weird, but apparently, that’s where he fell in love with her. I guess if it were me, I’d be proposing on the side of the road as James Arthur sings that song Amelia likes. I wait for the fear to settle in my chest or the nervous itch behind my ear, but it doesn’t come. When Lana talked me into marrying her, I got the itch. I should have known, but I ignored it. Shit, I’m in way too deep, but I see no problem with that.
We climb some stairs, and I follow him into what I assume is his man cave.
“So you do live here,” I tease as I look around the room that holds everything hockey, along with some clothes on the floor. There are beer cans on the table, and it’s exactly how I remember Ryan being back in college. The walls are covered in wood planks that go up on the ceiling. The floor is carpeted, and I like the look of it. On the walls are photos of Ryan with the Nashville Assassins, the NHL team where he works as a team trainer, and then some of the Bellevue Bullies. I step closer to the one that was my last year. We were sitting right next to each other, both of us grinning, excited for the future. “Man, I had a huge zit on my nose.”
Ryan snorts. “Remember you wanted to put makeup on it?”
I look back at him, wide-eyed. “I should have!”
My face breaks into a grin as I laugh loudly with him. He falls back into a big leather chair as I sit on the leather sofa. “Man, this is nice.”
“Yeah, Sofia doesn’t clean this room.”
I scoff. “Good. Looks lived-in.”
He laughs. “I love it. How was the trip in?”
“Good. We got in about two hours ago, and when you said you weren’t busy, I figured I’d head over.” I gesture back toward the door. “Where is Sofia?”
“The gym,” he says with a smile. “Always at the gym. That girl blows me away. My dad always said ‘A working woman is a dangerous woman. She works hard, and she loves harder. When you get her, you won’t let her go.’” A pained look fills his face. I know he was really close with his dad before the cancer took him. It hurts me to see how much he misses his dad. Almost as much as it hurts when I see the pain on Amelia’s face. The difference between Ryan and Amelia? I want to kiss away the pain for Amelia. Ryan might be offended if I tried to kiss him.
Not that I would. Just saying.
Jesus, why am I nervous?
“Your dad should have been a motivational speaker.”
Ryan laughs. “He would have been awesome.”
“Yeah,” I agree before taking a pull of my beer. “So, things are good?”
“Things are great. Work is awesome. Sofia is everything, and I’m happy.”
“That’s all that matters. Don’t miss the ice?”
He shakes his head. “Actually, no. I love being behind the bench and helping the guys achieve their goals.”
“That’s awesome, dude.” I was always worried he would regret not going into the AHL, but he’s one badass trainer.
“Yeah. How’s life? Lana staying away?”
I want to tell him how his sister basically told my ex to go to hell, but I’m hesitant. “Yeah, I changed my number after the last time she begged me for money, and I don’t deal with her.”
“Good. Your plus/minus is amazing right now. I heard them saying they think you’ll take the Norris.”
I scoff, rolling my eyes. “Please, I’m on no one’s radar.”
Ryan gives me a serious look. “You always think that, but I’m telling you, you’re on someone’s radar.”
The funny thing is, I only want to be on Amelia’s radar.
“When are you flying in for the wedding?”
“I don’t know. I have to see when—” I stop myself before I say Amelia’s name. “Uh, I gotta check my mom’s schedule.”
“Cool. I gotta see when Amelia is flying in. I still don’t believe she’ll come.”
Shit. My heart kicks up. “Why?”
“I don’t know. She’s being really vague with my mom. She hasn’t really talked to me except through text, but then she seems all in with Sofia. She even sent her a picture of the dress she’s wearing, since Sofia said she could choose anything red. I don’t know. Amelia makes me nervous.”
“Yeah,” I say since that’s all I can get out.
“I want to find that bastard and whoop his ass. I know she left him, but I think there was more to it. I feel like he ruined my sister.”
It kills me. If Ryan knew how great she was doing, he would be just as proud as I am. At first, yes, I knew Drew had damaged her. But now, I think she’s way better.
When he gives me a grin and then points to me, I hold my breath. “Want to help me bury a body?”
“Anytime.”
He nods as he looks over at me, his eyes burning into mine. “Have you seen her lately?”
Well, yes. Last night. On FaceTime. She showed me her new lingerie, and I whacked off until I couldn’t see straight. My mouth was dry because I wanted her so bad. “Yeah, I have.”
“When? How’s she doing?”
“Great, really good.” I lick my lips, leaning on my knees as I dig my nails into the label on my beer bottle. “Um, and I actually saw her on Thanksgiving.”
I don’t have to look at him to know his face is scrunched up and confused. I hear it in his voice. “Thanksgiving? Weren’t you in Florida?”
My stomach starts to roll. “Yeah.”
“Moon.”
I don’t want to look up, but I have to. When I meet his blazing blue eyes, my heart drops into my stomach. Maybe I was too eager to do this. Maybe I should have waited until I asked Amelia to marry me.
But I’d have to ask him first.
Fuck me.
“Are you saying my sister came to Florida to have Thanksgiving with you?”
“Yeah,” I say simply. “My parents flew her in.”
He blinks. “Why?”
“She didn’t want to be alone.”
“Sh
e could have come home.”
“Yeah, I asked her if she was going to go home with you guys, but she said she wanted to come to Florida. With me.”
You could cut the tension in the room with a knife. It’s so thick, it’s suffocating me. His eyes haven’t left mine, and his neck has a redness creeping up it. A heaviness settles in my gut as I brace for impact. I might die here. I didn’t even get to tell Amelia I love her. Damn it.
“Dude, what are you saying?”
“What are you thinking?”
He narrows his eyes. “I feel like you’re telling me my sister chose to spend a holiday with you rather than her family.”
“Okay, well, I don’t know if she chose me over you guys, but she did spend the holiday with me. She told me she wasn’t ready to face your whole family yet, and she didn’t want the stress that came with going home.”
“So, there is no stress with you?” he snaps, and I swallow hard.
“No, you know I don’t do stress. And I figured whatever made her happy was for the best.”
A tic appears in his jaw. “You care about her happiness?”
I lick my lips. “I do.”
“You’re not keeping an eye on my sister in the way I wanted you to, are you?”
I slowly shake my head. “If you wanted me to keep an eye on her while falling in love with her, then yeah, I’m doing just that.”
Silence stretches between us as he holds my gaze. He looks like he did the day one of the guys on our team said he wanted to bang Amelia. That insane, I-want-to-rip-your-limbs-off-and-beat-you-with-the-bloody-ends look. Crazy thing is I’ve seen him fight a guy just for saying he was going to hit Amelia from behind. It was right after his dad’s birthday, and I think it was more a freak-out than anything. The dude did hit him first, so in Ryan’s defense, he was standing up for himself.
If he swings at me, I guess I’ll deserve it, but I won’t stop seeing her.
I clear my throat as my skin tingles. I want to look away, but I am insane and want to see the punch coming. “That’s actually why I wanted to come by.”
His face is turning red. Damn it.
“When you called and asked me to keep an eye on her, I had already asked her out. She turned me down for a solid week before she finally agreed. Since then, we’ve been inseparable.”
“So, you’re dating my sister?”
I swallow around the lump in my throat. “It’s more than that. We’re together, and I love her, Ryan. I love her more than I’ve ever loved anything else.”
He blinks, once, twice, and then a third time. “You love her.”
“I know what you’re thinking,” I say quickly, and I realize I am starting to ramble. “It isn’t just some run-through, Ryan, I swear it. My intentions from the beginning were pure and real. I wanted to add to her life, but what I didn’t realize was how much she added to mine. She sparks a light inside me, and I can’t ignore that. I won’t ignore that.”
His eyes narrow further. “So if I said you can’t be with her—”
“Then I would miss our friendship, but I won’t leave her. I know that might sting—”
“It doesn’t sting.” I press my lips together as he looks down at the floor. He takes in a deep breath, filling his lungs, before he lets it out slowly.
“It doesn’t?” I ask, my voice breaking.
“No. I want the man who is with my sister to be like that, to give up anything for her. And if you’d give up a long-term friendship, then you must be pretty serious about her.”
My heart stops in my chest. “I am.”
“Is she happy?”
“I think so. She seems so. She is finally working at the gym by the house. It’s only her second night, but she’s pretty damn stoked.”
“A gym,” he says in awe. “Wow.”
“I’ve been begging her for weeks, but I knew she had to do it at her own pace.”
He nods. “I meant, is she happy with you?”
A small grin pulls at the side of my mouth. “I think so. She makes me happy, that’s for sure.”
“Then she must be happy, because when she isn’t, no one is.”
I laugh, even though he doesn’t.
“Drew never did that for her. She was always so sad and defeated. Not at first, but once she left with him, she was.”
I’m pretty sure he was emotionally abusing her, but I don’t dare say that. I won’t betray Amelia’s trust like that. “We don’t really talk about him.”
“That’s good. I wish she’d never gone back to him.”
“Me either.”
He cocks his head in question. “What do you mean?”
Apparently, I’m all for spilling my guts today. “She kissed me at that party when you first hooked up with Sofia. Everything changed. I’d thought maybe something would start up, but she chose Drew over me.”
He inhales and lets out a hard sigh. “Wow, so you’ve liked her for a long time.”
I nod. “I respected you too much to push for it.”
“But not anymore?”
“It’s not that I don’t respect you, man, I do. But I’ve been unhappy for way too long to go back to that feeling. I love where I am. I love her.’”
He brings his top lip in between his teeth as he nods. “I want you to be happy. I want you to have what I have with Sofia.”
“I’ve got it,” I say with all the faith in the world. “Amelia’s everything.”
He meets my gaze, and I find myself holding my breath. “I know you, Moon. I know who you are, what you stand for, and how you love. You were there for me when I got sad about my dad, and even when I was crying my eyes out, you comforted me. You didn’t make fun of me or anything. You cared for me. You loved Lana when she didn’t deserve it at all. Amelia needs to be loved like that. All I want is for my sister to be happy, and if you promise me she is, I’m good.”
I feel like I’m gonna pass out. “Ryan, I swear to you, I’d never hurt your sister. Not only because I love her but because I respect her. I respect you, your mom, and the memory of your dad. I’d never let any of you down. You remember how you said Sofia was your game changer?”
A little grin lifts the side of his mouth. “Yeah.”
“That’s Amelia for me. I thought I knew what an amazing girl was. The One. But she came along and redefined everything I thought ‘The One’ was. She… Fuck, dude, I don’t know. She’s just it. She’s what I see when I see my future.”
Ryan grins, running his hands through his hair. “You sound like me when Sofia came along.”
“Game changers.”
“Game changers,” he agrees.
With a sheepish grin, I say, “I thought you were gonna kick my ass.”
“Oh, I should,” he laughs, and I smile. “I don’t like people dating my sister behind my back.”
“I know, which is why I needed to tell you.”
He taps his beer to the inside of his knee. “Does she love you?”
“I don’t know,” I say softly, a little embarrassed. “I haven’t told her yet.”
He nods his head as he looks away. A silence stretches between us, and when his hand lands on my shoulder, I jump slightly. Our gazes lock, and he smiles. “I hope she does.”
My stomach clenches at the thought of her loving me, and soon a grin covers my lips. “Me too.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Amelia
I’m shaking with anticipation.
I stand by the window with my phone to my ear, and Sadie is standing beside me, her paws on the glass as we look out it. We’re waiting for Chandler to come home.
“Where are you?”
“I’m coming,” he laughs.
“Not fast enough.”
“Ha! That’s what she said.” He laughs hard as I make a face.
“Yes, I did say that.”
“Amelia, really? Michael Scott?”
I shake my head, even though he can’t see me. “I don’t get it.”
“For real? We
ll, hell, you’ll be lucky if we get to bed since we have to watch all of The Office now.”
I scoff. “Please, I want you, and I will have you.”
He chuckles. “Mm, you want me?”
“Ew, I’m right here!” Nico complains, but I don’t care. I’ve missed Chandler so damn much, and I want him. I want him badly.
“So badly. I’ve been wet since I knew you landed.”
“Mm, can I taste?”
“I think I just threw up in my mouth.”
It’s like I can’t even hear Nico. I groan loudly. “Yes, if you hurry.”
“Turning onto our road.”
Our.
We’re playing a dangerous game, and I’m throwing all caution to the wind. I bite my lip, and when I see Nico’s red sports car pull up, I throw the phone down and rush to the door. My body is on fire, and I feel my pussy clench as I watch him step out of the car, his eyes landing on me. I run down the steps, Sadie on my heels.
The biggest grin comes over his lips as he moves his head from side to side in appreciation. “My girls.”
I get to him first, jumping into his arms. Apparently, Sadie has the same idea. He laughs loudly as he holds both of us in his arms, kissing me as Sadie licks his face eagerly.
“You guys are disgusting. Like a pathetic Hallmark movie.”
Chandler feels like a Hallmark movie. He’s someone so unreal that, surely, this can’t be happening, but it is. He’s mine. I was never excited to see Drew when he got home from a road trip, but it’s way different with Chandler. So different. He’s impossible, but I have him in my arms and his mouth on mine. When Sadie wiggles out of his arms and jumps around us, he laughs as he kisses my nose. “Hey.”
“Hey,” I gasp, stroking my fingers along his cheek. “I missed you.”
“I missed you,” he says softly, his eyes burning into mine. “Want to get inside?”
“Yes, before I start humping you here.”
“I wouldn’t mind.”
“The neighbors would.”
“Rude,” he says roughly against my lips as he carries me toward the house.