Misadventures with a Rookie Read online

“Yeah,” Maci agreed. “Didn’t think you two would become anything, though.”

  Bo looked over at her and shrugged. “Why?”

  She looked uncomfortable for a moment and then smiled. “Well, you know why… Everyone knows why.”

  Lizzy laughed at that and then sent us a small smile. “Maybe she tamed the beast?”

  I found myself laughing at that. “There is no taming the beast, ladies.” I felt Bo’s gaze on me. Looking down at her, I could see she didn’t appreciate that comment, but surely she knew I was just joking.

  Apparently not.

  Moving over at bit, she scoffed. “I never claimed to tame the beast.”

  “I didn’t say you did,” I answered back, and then I pointed to Lizzy. “She did. Get mad at her.”

  Everyone chuckled or laughed while our gazes stayed locked. “I was just joking. Don’t be upset, Bo.”

  Pulling her gaze from mine, she flashed Lizzy a small smile. “I’m not. I’m just teasing him.”

  Oh, she was such a liar.

  “It’s not about taming anything. We’re cool, and you guys aren’t surprised or shocked… You’re jealous.”

  “Oh, she told you guys,” Max joked, and laughter broke out in the group, though I didn’t miss the sideways glances from some of the girls. They were jealous, and they didn’t like that Bo had pointed that out.

  When Bo moved out of my arms, I stopped her, holding her close. “Where you going?”

  “To the bathroom,” she snapped, but before I could stop her, she was already moving away.

  “She’s pissed,” Max said.

  I nodded as I glared at Lizzy. “Thanks a lot, asshole.”

  She shrugged. “I was joking. My bad.”

  “Whatever. I’ll smooth it over. She can’t stay mad at me.”

  Max laughed as he shook his head. “Man, this must be serious if you care enough to smooth it over.”

  I raised my brow. This was my best friend. Surely he knew it was serious. “Duh. You knew this.”

  Max shrugged. “Honestly, no. I didn’t.”

  “What?” I asked, shocked. “You see us together all the time.”

  “Correction, I’ve heard you,” he said, and I laughed.

  “That too.”

  “But I seriously thought you were just hanging out and doing it. I didn’t think you cared for her more than a fuck. You’ve never been like that.”

  “’Cause no one else mattered the way she does.”

  Max laughed. “Yeah, that’s crazy. I didn’t think you had that in you.”

  He held my gaze for a bit, and then I shrugged. “I do.”

  “I can see that. I gotta tell Jessica.” Pulling out his phone, he flashed me a grin. “Maybe we can double date.”

  I knew he was fucking with me, or trying to at least, so I just grinned back. “Let me know when.”

  That stunned him for a second before he laughed and texted his fiancée quickly. Smiling to myself, I took a long pull of my beer as I looked around. Bo should have been back by now. I saw her walk out of the bathroom, but instead of coming toward our group, she went out the side gate that led to the shore.

  I put my beer down since I couldn’t take it out to the ocean and then jogged after her. When I reached her, she had her shoes off and she hugged herself tightly as the sea breeze blew her little pieces of hair around. Taking off my hoodie, I walked up behind her, wrapping my arms around her, and held the hoodie between my hands.

  “Here.”

  She didn’t even look back behind her. She just took my Suns’ hoodie and put it on. When she was situated, I wrapped my arms around her and nuzzled my nose into her neck. “Well, let me have it.”

  “Have what?” she asked softly, leaning her head against mine.

  “My comment upset you.”

  She scoffed. “No, it bothered me because you made sure to let everyone know taming you would never happen, so they know you are always available—”

  “But—” I tried, but she shook her head, holding her finger up.

  “And then I got annoyed that I felt that way, that I got upset that you were just being you, probably joking, but I immediately got jealous. That somewhere within the last couple weeks this went from just having fun to something important to me. Something where I get upset about someone else wanting you or you wanting someone other than me.”

  She turned in my arms and faced me. I gazed down at her, unsure what she was about to say or do.

  Swallowing hard, she said, “Gus—”

  “If you’re about to break up with me, save it. It’s not happening.”

  Her brows pulled together. “What? Why?”

  “’Cause I’m not letting you do it. Yeah, things have shifted, they have changed, and the thing is, if you had said that, I would have gotten pissed too. I was just fucking around, promise. And yeah, I don’t care that you don’t like promises, ’cause I’m a promises kind of guy, and I promise you that it’s okay where this is going. Honestly.”

  “Gus, this can’t happen.”

  “Well it is, so accept it.”

  She held my gaze, her eyes searching mine as her lips pressed together in a hard line. “So I’m not crazy? You feel it too?”

  I scoffed before taking her face in my hands, wanting so desperately to be closer than we already were. “Babe, I’ve felt like this was something since this started. I just didn’t want to tell you when you were all let’s have fun.”

  She exhaled hard. “We’re in for a load of hurt. You know this, right?”

  “Actually, I don’t,” I answered, holding her gaze. There was no light except for the moon shining down on her beautiful face.

  “Gus, you are a rookie with a one-way ticket out of here. When that happens, what happens to this thing we’ve found ourselves in?”

  I shrugged. Had I thought about that? Sure, but I didn’t want to talk about it. We didn’t have to worry about that yet. “Am I leaving tomorrow?”

  She shot me a dry look, her brows pulling together. “No, but it’s going to happen.”

  “And when it does, we’ll cross that bridge,” I said with a shrug. “Right now, I want to be with you, I want you to be with me, and I want you to be jealous ’cause I get jealous just thinking of someone even looking at you.”

  “You do?” she asked, her cheeks warming a bit with color. “I never thought you’d get jealous.”

  “Neither did I,” I said simply, rubbing my thumbs along her cheeks. “But then I never thought or expected some beautiful redhead to come into my life and completely turn it upside down.”

  A sneaky grin pulled at her beautiful lips. “What are we going to do about us?”

  “Let us be,” I said softly, moving my nose along hers. “Stop worrying about shit that doesn’t matter right now, and just enjoy what we have.”

  “We do have a lot to enjoy.”

  “We do,” I said, a grin pulling at my lips as I slowly turned her around and pressed her ass into my groin. “Like I’m enjoying the fact you’re more than likely not wearing panties tonight.”

  She feigned shock as I slid my hands up her skirt. “Why do you assume that?”

  “’Cause you’re wearing a bra,” I whispered in her ear, kissing her lobe. “And you never wear both.”

  When I found her soft and dripping wet, I smiled against her jaw. “Just as I thought.”

  “Proud of yourself?”

  “Not yet,” I breathed against her ear as she let out a little moan once I found her clit. “But I will be when I make you scream my name on this beach.”

  “I won’t.”

  “You will,” I demanded in her ear, kissing it once more. “And you’re going to like it.”

  “I mean, I won’t hate it.”

  I smiled.

  Yup, I was falling hard for this girl.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Gus

  I was carrying the puck and darting around the ice, looking for my teammates. They were on a line change,