Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
“That’s right,” Robbie responded, his gaze level.
“And your first official date is observing the Page Stakes?”
“He’s not observing.” Skylar lifted her chin. “He’s my teammate.”
Madden’s head jerked up, his blue eyes concerned. “What about Eve?”
“Eve has to work through spring break.” No help for it. Skylar’s tone turned to velvet when addressing Madden. “She can’t make it this year.”
Her brother’s best friend didn’t like hearing that at all. Of course he didn’t. He was compassionate and thoughtful. He wouldn’t want Eve missing their one chance for the four childhood friends to be together every year, right? “I’ll go see her,” Madden said, breaking from the group. “Maybe I can cover some shifts.”
“Don’t even think about it, man. We’re defending champs,” Elton called after Madden. “Get your head in the game.”
“Gosh. Have you always been this empathetic, Elt?” Skylar mused.
Robbie chuckled at her sarcasm.
Everyone looked sharply at Robbie.
Down at Skylar’s and Robbie’s connected hands.
Then at one another.
“Isn’t there a rule stating that any changes to the teams have to be reported in advance?” Elton asked. “A few hours before the opening ceremony doesn’t count.”
Vivica inclined her head. “The change was reported beforehand. Your sister emailed me days ago.”
“And you didn’t tell me?” Elton was appalled.
“And lose the element of surprise?” Doug scoffed. “We need to take every available advantage.” He rubbed at his lower back with the hand not holding the trumpet. “We no longer have youth on our side, you know.”
Skylar and Elton traded a smirk.
“Uh-uh. You’re not going to play that old and feeble card, so we underestimate you. It didn’t work last year and it won’t work now.” Elton exhaled up at the sky. “So the hockey player is around for the whole week, huh?”
“Afraid so.” Robbie tugged Skylar into his side. “Longer if I’m lucky.”
“Gross.” Her brother gave Robbie a disgusted once-over. “Don’t think we won’t be having the ‘hurt my sister and die’ talk.”
“Looking forward to it,” Robbie said without so much as a blink.
Elton rubbed the corner of his eye with a knuckle while muttering under his breath something about getting himself into this mess, before wearily stalking up the porch steps into the house. “Thank God Sky’s bedroom is the farthest one from mine.”
When her parents and Madden turned and followed him, Robbie leaned over to whisper in her ear. “We’re going to be in one bedroom? Singular?”
Skylar studied his face for signs of early regrets but saw only pure, unadulterated hope. Like he was actually holding his breath for confirmation they’d be staying in the same room. This man was a grade A horndog, through and through. “You seem even less bothered by sharing a bed than you were about the blow job workshop.”
“Facts.”
“We’re sticking to the schedule.”
“I’ll stick it to whatever you want.”
A laugh snuck out, so she shoved him for the sake of balance. “Robbie.”
He allowed himself to stumble back, never losing his grin. “Yeah?”
Skylar shook her head at him, then said, “As far as introductions go with my crazy family, that one was pretty decent.”
A combination of relief and pleasure moved across his features. “We got this in the bag, Rocket.”
“Don’t get cocky yet, Redbeard,” she said, ascending backward up the steps. “There will be curveballs.”
There was something she couldn’t quite read about his tone when he said, “I’m ready.”
Chapter Ten
Walking into Skylar’s childhood bedroom was like stepping into a time capsule.
Replace the baseball posters with hockey and it could have been his room—if it wasn’t for the subtle feminine touches, like the lamp on her bedside table with a shade made of feathers. The light teal pintuck comforter. A vanity in the corner with a little stool in front of it, adjacent to a shoe rack filled with muddy cleats in various sizes.
She must have noticed Robbie’s eye drawn to the cleats, because she sighed. “It’s so weird, I know. I can never throw them out, even when they’re falling apart.”
“No, I’m the same with skates.”
“Are you?”
“Sure. Hard to toss something that was with you through a whole season of wins and losses. They hold all the sweat and blood. They’re yours.”
Skylar slid him a surprised look. “Exactly.”
He’d never dated a fellow athlete before. If he recalled correctly, one of his high school girlfriends had been on the soccer team, but high school soccer was a far cry from the heights Skylar had reached. That took a lot of drive and ambition. Qualities he was extra familiar with. Now, as he stood shoulder to shoulder with Skylar, relating to her, Robbie tried to remember what he usually spoke about to women. Surely, they talked about something other than the logistics of where the bone down would be taking place. Right?
It was possible that he’d simply never tried to get to know anyone as well as he wanted to know Skylar.