Overtime Read online

  “Thank you. And you?”

  “I got engaged three weeks ago,” he said with a grin and she scoffed.

  “Well, I guess both of us weren’t really in it, huh?”

  He shrugged. “I guess not, but I am sorry for how it all ended. That was rude of me, what I said. I was just mad.”

  “It’s cool. I forgave you a long time ago,” she said, reaching out to cup his elbow. “I’m just glad you are happy.”

  “Me too, for you too,” he said and she grinned up at him.

  “Okay, well, it was great seeing you. I won’t wish you luck tomorrow at the game ’cause I want you to lose,” she said with a wink, sidestepping out of his way. “But I gotta go do these pictures.”

  He laughed as he waved to her. “It was great seeing you. Good luck.”

  She smiled as thanks before heading toward where she was supposed to meet them. That was actually okay. She had thought it would be awkward, but she was glad that she could see Liam and have it be cool. Rushing toward the spot, she saw Harper first, her hair purple this time and shaved up the side as she took various pictures. What surprised her was that Elli was there, a camera around her neck, both of them taking pictures of Jordie as he stood like a model. While he was wearing the brown tweed jacket, he was not wearing anything else she had bought for him. Instead of the nice shirt with a tie and brown slacks, he was wearing a blue button-up shirt with no tie and the first few buttons open. His black slacks complemented his brown dress shoes, but still. It wasn’t what she had picked out. Even if he did look downright sinful, he still drove her insane.

  When he tucked a hand into his pocket, looking at the camera, the fingers of his other hand resting lightly on the rim of his sunglasses, she couldn’t help it, she snorted with laughter.

  She caught his attention and he grinned as he came toward her. Elli and Harper turned and smiled too as he took her in his arms, dipping her back and kissing her hard against the lips. Cupping her ass, his lips moved along hers as he righted them. The smell of coconuts intoxicated her and made her dizzy as he pulled away, grinning down at her.

  “Man, I love your hair like this,” he said, drinking her in as he cupped her face. “You look gorgeous.”

  She grinned back as she wrapped her arms loosely around his neck. “Well, thank you, and so do you. Yet, this isn’t the outfit I picked out,” she reminded him and he smiled sheepishly.

  “This is true, but my ass looks better in these pants,” he countered and she glared. He was right, but still.

  “Jordie, we are supermatchy now except you have a blue shirt and I have beige.”

  “Doesn’t that mean we are super in love?” he asked and she rolled her eyes.

  “No, it means we are trying too hard.”

  His brows rose before he shook his head. “No, it means we are in love,” he said, nuzzling his nose against hers. “Why are you late?”

  She smiled sheepishly. “Well, first, traffic. Second, guess who I ran into?”

  “Doucheface?”

  She rolled her eyes. “If you mean Liam, yes.”

  “Yes, doucheface. Mountain of dicks…I could go on,” he supplied as she glared.

  “No need, he got engaged.”

  Jordie laughed. “What a loser,” he said, shaking his head. “Couldn’t get you to marry him, so he settles for the first thing he sees?”

  “They could be in love.”

  “And I could love wearing tutus and dancing around like an idiot.”

  She paused. “You do like doing that. I have pictures from last week with Shelli and Posey. Your hair was in pigtails, and you had flowers in your beard.”

  He glared. “I told you, we don’t speak of that.”

  “Oh, my bad,” she laughed and he glared some more.

  “Now, hush and let’s do this.”

  Still laughing, she took his hand, lacing her fingers with his as he dragged her toward where Elli and Harper were clicking away. “Oh, you brought your guitar?” she asked when she saw it leaning against the tree.

  “Yeah, I wanted to do some shots playing and stuff since it has been such a huge part of my recovery. I brought hockey sticks too, but then Elli was saying we should go to the rink and do some pictures too,” he suggested and she smiled.

  “Mr. Prop Man,” she teased, kissing his nose. “But that is a great idea. With our skates on, it would be adorable. Where were you when we were deciding this?” she asked Elli with a grin.

  Elli smiled as she shrugged, her camera in her hand as she looked at them sweetly. “No one asked me till yesterday, but I’m excited to be here. I miss taking pictures.”

  Elli had run a photography business for a very long time before becoming the owner of the Assassins and selling her business to Harper, her best friend. She still did some work, but mostly on her kids. She was very talented and Kacey was excited she was there, but she didn’t understand why Harper was too. They didn’t need two photographers.

  “Cool, I was telling Lacey on the phone, maybe we should have waited though, since we’ll probably take pregnancy pictures when I’m big,” she said, more to Jordie than Elli and Harper.

  “But this will be good for just you two, plus you don’t even look pregnant, so no one will know,” Harper said, pushing her hair out of her face. The wind was blowing, a chill in the air, but Kacey was still stuck on the idea of not looking pregnant. She thought she was huge.

  “I don’t?” she asked, looking down at her little protruding stomach. “I thought I was.”

  “Oh, to me you just look a little pudgy.”

  “Pudgy?” Kacey asked and then she looked up at Jordie, who was shaking his head.

  “Thank you, now she’s going to think she’s pudgy,” he said and Harper smiled.

  “Listen, I’d take pudgy over fat and pregnant any time of the day,” Harper said and Elli nodded.

  “I was huge, all the damn time,” Elli complained, shaking her head. “You look adorable, so let’s do this. I want to go to the rink and finish off there.”

  Kacey really didn’t feel like taking pictures since she looked “pudgy.” But soon, Jordie was pulling her along, grinning at her as Elli and Harper directed them, catching them in sweet little moments. It was so natural for them, and they didn’t need too much direction. Their love was just so inescapable and rolled off them in waves. Add in the fact that the scenery was gorgeous: the rolling hills of Tennessee, the picturesque view of the lake, and the beautiful colors of the orange and red leaves on the trees, and she knew the pictures were gonna be amazing. Especially the ones with her hunk of sexy, man-meat boyfriend in them. When he picked her up, like a prince carrying a princess, she beamed up at him as he looked at the camera, ever the model. She giggled as he put her on her feet, dipping her back and kissing her deeply.

  Man, she loved him.

  “Gosh, y’all are adorable!” Elli cheered as she hopped on her toes.

  Harper nodded as she looked through her viewfinder on her camera. “Y’all are. I’m getting some great shots.”

  “Great,” Jordie said, his arms around Kacey’s waist, his head resting on her shoulder.

  Elli snapped a picture and grinned. “Why don’t we do some with the guitar, Jordie?”

  He nodded as he let her go to get it and Kacey grinned. “Are these only of you and her, or can I join in?” she asked, speaking of his guitar.

  He shot her a look as he put the strap over his head and ran his fingers along the strings. “Hush, you,” he said and then he started playing, like really playing.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Shh,” he said again and she smiled, confused. She loved watching him play, but weren’t they supposed to be taking pictures? She understood authenticity, but really? It was getting cold out there. But then he started singing, his eyes locked on hers, and she froze.

  What was he up to?

  As he sang, “God Gave Me You” by Blake Shelton, her heart started to speed up in her chest. It was a beautiful so