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“I have.” She smiles over the floaty at me. “Nice to meet some other people; did you come with Gunnar?” she asks.

“Uh, no, he was in the middle of something with Sasha.” When I had left the apartment, he couldn’t even get a word in with her before she would cut him off again.

“Again?” she sounds as exasperated with it as I am. “I feel so bad for him; he’s constantly worried if she’s going to see anything on social media. I couldn’t even get him to shoot this new drop because she didn’t like the first one.”

“He told me about that; she wanted approval?” I scoff, shaking my head.

“Yeah! Said the pictures I picked showed him off too much.” She snorts out a laugh before taking a long drink. “If I had a hot hockey boyfriend, I would brag every minute of every day.”

“In the market for a hot hockey boyfriend, are you?” I waggle my eyebrows at her, more to make her laugh than to be serious.Well, not completely.

“Boyfriend? Right now?” She quirks a brow before laughing, showing she's just joking. “No way; I’m not ready for anything serious.”

I nod grimly; I guess that’s my answer to whether we could move this thing between us to being more.

“Maybe something fun,” she muses, bringing her lips between her teeth like she's thinking about it, “but nothing serious.”

“Fun, right?” I nod. Interesting, I could work with fun and Brooke.

She looks at me over the floaty with her tipsy eyes and smiles lazily, tilting her head. “The girls earlier were talking about you being fun.”

“I am fun, yeah.” I chuckle lightly, not sure what she’s getting at.

“You know what kind of fun I’m talking about.” She kicks me teasingly under the floaty.

I smirk at her and catch her foot before she can pull it back, I watch as she bites that damn lip. I look at her and can tell she’s let her guard down. “I haven’t had fun in a while,” I say, shrugging, pulling her around the floaty by her foot, and she lets me.

“No?” She says breathily, 'Now we are closer; I can hear her reactions better.'

“I’ve been kind of distracted.” I slide my hands up either side of her hips, and she puts a hand on my shoulder, leaning into me.

“That’s not good,” she says, looking up at me through her lashes while stepping back, pulling me with her; our fronts are touching, her breasts pressed against my chest. I sneak a look around to see if anyone’s paying attention, but it looks all clear, so I grab her hips and move her back to the wall for a bit more privacy.

“You could say I need some fun,” I whisper, stroking her hips.

“Well, you’ve got an entire party practically lining up.” She averts her eyes away, I’ve said the wrong thing, and I can feelthe guard coming up. I’m desperate to keep her here with me, so I keep stroking my hands up and down her hips and sides, trying to bring her back slowly.

I lean down and whisper in her ear, “Maybe I’m only interested in having fun with you.”

“I’ve heard the stories.” She sighs, pushing on my shoulder so we are face to face again, looking up at me, but doesn’t move away. “Don’t pretend to make me feel special, Grant.”

I frown down at her, sure, I’ve messed around a lot, but that was before she showed up and made me look for her everywhere I go. “You think I just want to have fun with you and then I’ll find someone else?” I ask her while pulling her legs up to wrap around my waist. She gasps at the sudden movement, and she feels just how much I want her. “That’s not going to happen, Brooke.”

Her arms move more securely over my shoulders, and she’s biting her lip again, and it drives me crazy when she does that; I can tell she’s in her head.

“Tell me what you’re thinking, please?” I squeeze her hips as I beg her to get past whatever keeps pulling her away from me.

“I don’t want to be another girl you mess around with, Grant.” She looks away, embarrassed, but I put my hand under her chin and move her back to look at me.

“I would never treat you like just some girl, Brooke.” Staring into her eyes and watching them widen slightly. “I would treat you like everything.”

She pulls back to look me in the eye, searching for something, and I stare her down, letting her know I’m not joking around. Our flirting had never reached this intensity before.

She looks down at my mouth, and like something snaps for her, closes the distance and our lips meet finally, her hands slip from my shoulders into my hair, gripping it tightly, and I move a hand from her hip to cup her cheek.

I wanted to wait for her to make the first step to ensure she was ready, but now that I’ve got her, I’m not letting go.

Chapter Twenty Two