Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 119852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
“So you showed up at my office to embarrass me?” she accuses.
“Never mind,” I blurt out, pushing on my thighs and standing up abruptly. I look down at Maddox, who’s still seated. “I changed my mind. That night obviously didn’t mean to her what it meant to us.” I shake my head in disbelief. “She’s calling us terrorists, thinks we’re here to blackmail her, and is embarrassed by us. I already did the ‘ashamed of you’ thing and I’m not looking for a repeat performance.” To Kayla, I huff out bitterly, “Sorry to have bothered you. Hope this didn’t ruin whatever good memories you had of that night. Because it sure fucked mine up.”
I’m three long strides toward the door when Maddox calls out, “Motherfucker, hold on. Give me a minute here.”
I don’t know if he’s talking to me or Kayla because when I glance over my shoulder, she’s standing behind her desk, her jaw dropped open in shock, and eyes on me. Maddox is standing too, arms outstretched in a T, one toward me and one toward Kayla like he’s some peacemaker man in the middle when he’s the biggest shit-stirrer there ever was. If he’s our mediator, we’re fucked.
“We’re sorry for coming here unannounced,” Maddox says quickly before anyone else can say something to fuck this thing up any more than it already is. “That’s my fault. I thought it’d be better than showing up at your front door.”
“Phones exist, you know,” she snaps back. Under her breath, she mutters something that sounds suspiciously like ‘stalkers’.
“Can we sit down and talk for a minute? Please.” Maddox sounds desperate, and I remember that I wasn’t the only one looking forward to seeing Kayla again. He wants this, wants her, just as much as I do… did… fuck, still do. And he has his own way of handling things, a much less asshole-ish way than my usual cold grunts and silent stares.
“You’re here to talk?” Kayla repeats, her eyes jumping from mine to Maddox. “This isn’t a shakedown?”
“Who the fuck did that to you? Name, address if you have it. I’ll take care of it,” I offer gruffly. Kayla starts to smile uncertainly, and I bust through the tiny opening in her defensive shields, hoping to reassure her. “No, not here for that. We’re here…” The words disappear, my mind going dark, and I automatically look to Maddox for rescue, but he doesn’t save me this time. He nods encouragingly, silently telling me to do it myself. Telling me that I can do it. I have a fair amount of experience with torturing myself, but even with that history, it hurts sharply to leap into the unknown and say, “For you.”
It’s a huge confession for me to make, not only to my best friend, but to a woman I don’t know all that well. It feels stupid and dangerous, like I’m peeking out over my protective defenses, asking to be shot in my already scarred heart by a woman happily wielding the gun.
“Me?” she echoes, sounding confused. But she sits down slowly, and I return to my chair, feeling slightly less like burning the world to ash.
All seated, we stare at each other.
God, she is stunning. Even more so than I remembered and have imagined dozens of times. But it’s not the beauty on her outside that’s calling to me. It’s the flicker of emotions crossing her face so fast that they’re hard to name before the next one appears. I’d bet she thinks she has a stellar poker face, stoic no matter the hand, but even the slight shifts in her eyes, the smallest lift and curl of her lips, and the tiny flare of her nostrils are near-shouts to me of what she’s thinking and feeling. And the emotions battling it out for top ranking right now are desire and doubt.
Maddox holds up a hand, waving. “Guess I’ll go first. Hi, I’m Maddox Brooks, left winger for the Devils, charming playboy, devastatingly handsome as you can see, and all-around good guy. This is my best bro, Riggs Patrick, defenseman, strong, silent type, who’s been moping around missing you for months. When we finally pulled our heads out of our asses and admitted that we’ve been jacking off… separately” —he holds up a finger to emphasize that point like it’s extremely important to the storyline— “to memories of you and that night, we knew we had to find you. That was harder than you’d think since we had to figure out your actual name first.” Despite trying to smooth things over, he still sounds a little salty about that, and Kayla flinches at the dig. “But once we did that, you and your family are basically all over the internet, so here we are.” He spreads his arms wide like he’s a Price Is Right model and we’re the Showcase Showdown prizes.