Misadventures of a Rookie Read online

  “Of course you are. You’re smart as a whip.”

  I beamed over at him. “Okay, you don’t have to suck up to me. I’ll sleep with you tonight.”

  He laughed out loud. “That’s a given. Your puss is healed, and now it’s time for me to make it happy.”

  I shook my head, completely and utterly blown away by him. He was… Shit, he was Gus, and I absolutely adored that about him. That no-holds-barred, no-shits-given-about-anything way he had. I was feeling things I hadn’t felt in a really long time. Dangerous feelings.

  “How was practice?” I asked, trying to distract myself from the flush warming my face. “How’s your hand?”

  “Fine. I got the stitches out this morning. I’m good.”

  “Will you play tonight?”

  “Duh, and watch out, ’cause I’m scoring all the goals for you tonight.”

  “For little old me?” I gushed.

  “Yup, for being so amazing.” He laughed.

  I couldn’t help it. I swooned at that.

  “So I gotta be honest,” he said.

  I looked up from my soup. “You brought me food thinking we’d do it behind the building?”

  He thought that over. “Man, why didn’t I think about that? Yet, not what I need to be honest about.” He chuckled softly. “So I brought you food because I wanted to talk to you about where we are on the meeting-the-parents thing.”

  I choked a bit on my lunch. “Um. I don’t think we’re anywhere near that.”

  He made a face of distress. “See I assumed so, but my mom is being a pain in my ass about meeting you when they come this way next month for a game.”

  I held his gaze. “Next month?”

  “Yeah,” he said shyly. “She says I talk about you too much and that I need to bring you to dinner with them.”

  I smiled and reached out to cup his chin. “Look at you being all vulnerable and shit.”

  He playfully smacked my hand away. “Just say you’ll go.”

  I laughed. “No way. I’m sure I can get something out of this.”

  Gus glared. “All you’ll get is a nice smack to that ass if you don’t go.”

  “Maybe I want that nice smack?”

  His lips curved as he leaned toward me, kissing the side of my mouth. “Please,” he said.

  “Oh my,” I gushed, fanning myself. “Gus Persson begging might be the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  He leaned into me. “See, and every time I look at you, I think you’re the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Stop.”

  “No,” he insisted, nipping at my nose. “You know they call me the Bus. Nothing can knock me down. I do the knocking down. But with you…fuck, Bo, you knock me clean on my ass.”

  I was breathless as I held his gaze. “You’re laying it on thick.”

  He shot me a dry look. “Just say yes so she’ll leave me alone.”

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I mean, sure, we were joking around, but these were his parents. Meeting them meant something more than I wanted it to mean. I could see he really wanted me to go. That he wanted to show me off to his parents. I swallowed hard, thinking of how to lighten the intensity of what I was feeling. “Yeah, I’ll go, but I want lobster.”

  He scoffed. “Anything you want.”

  “And wine, lots of wine. Oh! And ice cream.”

  “I love a woman who eats well.”

  “Then you picked a good woman to take to dinner,” I said with an exaggerated wink. “Also, I want you to say all that stuff about being the Bus again. But I want you to say it while we’re doing it behind the building.”

  He shot me a lusty look. “Done deal.”

  With a grin on my face, I grabbed a fork and looked down at my salad. I realized it didn’t have tomatoes. That meant Gus remembered I didn’t like tomatoes. Breathless, I glanced over at him and beamed. “This was really sweet of you.”

  He shot me a small little smile that tickled my gut. “It’s nothing. Just a guy bringing his girl some lunch between classes. All guys should do this.”

  “Your girl, huh?”

  He leaned over, pressing his forehead into mine. “All mine.”

  That fluttering feeling filled my chest as I held his lusty gaze. His eyes were so dark and sinfully sexy. All I wanted was him to take me on the bed of this truck. But then, it was more than that. I wanted every single inch of him to touch me, and I wanted to touch him. I wanted to become one with him. I wanted to consume him.

  Hell, this thing really was moving from just a good time to something more. I couldn’t stop it, and I’m pretty sure Gus couldn’t either. Not that he would even try. I was pretty sure he was happily driving the bus that was about to go straight through every wall I tried to put up.

  And I think that’s what scared me the most.

  For the simple fact, I didn’t want him to.

  I wanted to ride passenger.

  Like the damn idiot I was…

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Bo

  Bo: So we’re gonna be cool, right?

  Gus: About what?

  Bo: Don’t be difficult. Tho, I know that’s how you love to roll. Just to drive me insane.

  Gus: lol I won’t disagree on that, but no really, I don’t know what you’re talking about.

  Bo: Sure you don’t. I mean when I get there. Let’s play it cool. I don’t want a huge spectacle around us. You know what I mean?

  Gus: I think what you’re saying is that you want me to ignore you when you get here?

  Bo: You do that, then I’ll kick you.

  Gus: Rude. And mixed signals. Tell me what you want, Bocephus.

  He was going to drive me into an early grave, I swore it. Rolling my eyes, I leaned back in Lizzy’s truck and stared at the screen as she drove.

  What did I want?

  We had been inseparable the last two weeks since my allergic reaction to Unicorn Spit. When we got back to his apartment, I promptly threw that bottle in the trash. I even went and got him some regular boring stuff to replace it. He wasn’t happy about it, since it didn’t make him hungry after he whacked off… His words, not mine.

  But things were good. He was finally able to play again, and while I still had my trusty boot, I was happy. I went to school. I coached. Gus sometimes still helped, and when we were not at work, we were together. This would be our first outing since deciding that we were exclusively dating. The concept of Gus and me dating was still weird to me. Being tainted as I was, I assumed he would already be done with me, moving on, but Gus continued to prove me wrong. He was very diligent and very thoughtful. He texted me first, every morning, and even when I didn’t expect it.

  It was really fucking great but also had me on edge.

  I was getting used to it. Getting used to feeling good about a relationship and for the first time in maybe forever, feeling good about myself. I still felt I needed to be on high alert, that I needed to prepare myself because there was no way this would last. But the more time I spent with him, the harder that was to do. I wanted to get lost in him—fall over the edge and just be. But I could not get rid of that nagging voice that reminded me that not only was he Gus Persson, the guy with one hell of a track record of loving and leaving them, but also the same Gus the Bus Persson who had a one-way ticket to the NHL.

  And where would that leave us?

  It scared me. It all scared me. I knew too well and too acutely how fast something that felt so good could not just end but shatter me.

  Exhaling hard, I typed back quickly.

  Bo: I don’t know. Just be cool.

  Gus: I’m always cool.

  Bo: You know what I mean! Like just greet me but don’t make a big deal about it.

  Gus: So greet you? Don’t ignore you. Don’t make a big deal about it. Question.

  Bo: Yes, and yes?

  Gus: Is the IT you keep referring to us?

  Bo: Yes, it is.

  Gus: Okay, so don’t make a b