Page 22 of Any Second Now (Fort Collins Blizzard Hockey #2)

Is this Helping?

ATTICUS

Y ou would never know that prior to kissing Raleigh Hayes last New Year’s Eve, I haven’t had a case of nerves around women since my college days.

Which was also related to Raleigh Hayes.

I can’t believe she suggested coming back to my place, but I’m not sure what it means. Does she really just have to use the bathroom and want to finish the movie?

Nah. There’s more to this.

My fucking hand is wobbling as I fit the key into the outside lock to my building. Embarrassing. I can’t even sneak a look at Raleigh standing next to me, because I’m afraid I’d drop the keys altogether, but I know she’s watching.

The key finally goes in and I turn it before pushing the door open for her, doing my best to be as casual as possible.

Raleigh clears her throat and walks through. “So your construction is all done?”

“Yup.” I nod and touch her back as we head toward the elevator. Small talk? Not sure I can handle that right now.

I’ve never been insecure around women. Just like I’ve never been unsure of my hockey abilities .

But here I’ve been, questioning my fitness level and being intimidated by the idea of Barrett fucking Steele, the one who is responsible for my injury to begin with.

Which, by the way, he STILL hasn’t apologized for yet.

After kissing Raleigh—twice—there’s some kind of storm brewing inside of me.

Maybe it has to do with my father’s fourth divorce.

How that truly sealed my own fate as a player and a rake.

How could the son of someone like that ever be taken seriously as a romantic partner?

It’s impossible. If I was different, I would’ve shown those differences by now.

Lucy is. She’s kinder. Sweeter. An authentic person in relationships, even when she got walked over by her ex-fiancé.

But me?

I’m hopeless.

I was still a baby when Mom divorced my father after finding him cheating with a twenty-five-year-old woman, who he later married. And later divorced.

I played along with seeing Richard with my sister on ‘his’ weekends, but he mostly ignored us when we were there. Lucy would make excuses for him. I was always pissed off about it. So when Lucy went off to college, I was done.

I had no interest in a relationship with that man.

I was worried if I was around him, he’d rub off on me. In case it was nurture over nature. But it was hopeless—I was already a player by the end of high school.

Lucy got our mom’s genes, and I got our father’s.

That’s why I haven’t ever cared to try to date someone.

Until now.

Wait—until now? Do I really want to date Raleigh? For real?

There’s no one else in the elevator, and the muted quiet envelops us as the doors slide closed. Both of us stare at the floor ticker as we ascend.

“Where did we stop the movie last time?” Raleigh asks as the doors slide open to the long hallway leading to my fifth-floor apartment.

“I think we stopped around when they hunkered down in that pub, surrounded by zombies.” I hold my hand over the elevator door sensors as she steps off.

“Ah, right.”

And now I’m thinking about what interrupted the movie last time. Her ass wiggling on my lap, her mouth on mine, the feel of the soft skin of her waist beneath my fingers.

Raleigh slides her hand around my elbow for the walk to my door.

Is her heart beating as fast as mine? I don’t know what to do with my body right now.

If this was a woman I was taking home for the night—and it would never be to my own apartment—I’d be all over her, anxious to get started and done so I could sneak away.

But I seem to have lost all game when it comes to Raleigh.

Because it’s not a game with her.

My apartment renovation is basically finished, the new kitchen appliances all installed and the granite countertop secured. But as we walk in, I watch Raleigh note the plastic sheet still covering the couch to protect from construction dust.

“I can pull that off real quick,” I say. “They’re coming back next week to finish cleaning.”

“Don’t you have a TV in your room?”

I turn to Raleigh, who crosses her arms and looks at me with wide, brown eyes. Dark eyes I could drown in. I’ve never been that guy who loves girls with blue or green eyes. It’s the dark brown ones that really draw me in with their depth and richness.

Like hers.

“Yeah, I do.”

I throw my keys on the side table and lead Raleigh down the hallway, past the guest room where my sister stayed last year. I gesture to the hallway bathroom. Raleigh disappears through the door .

I step into my bedroom and take it in. King-sized bed carefully made.

Freshly-vacuumed carpeting thanks to the cleaners, who were here two days ago.

Next time I’ll get them to deep clean the living room of all the dust. The entrance to my large walk-in closet is cracked open, revealing carefully hung clothes.

I’m a mostly neat and organized person, so I don’t have to dart around straightening things up now.

A deep-set comfortable loveseat is against the wall next to my bed, facing a large television mounted on the wall. I don’t use it much in here since I live alone and have a bigger TV in the living room, but it’s come in handy during the construction.

“You are such a neat freak,” Raleigh says from behind, startling me. “I usually am too, but the Pink Palace is so small it feels cluttered and out of control.”

I turn and drink her in, t-shirt snug against her chest, arms hanging by her side, her expression uncertain. “Want some popcorn?” I hand her the remote control. “Just search for the movie and buy it if it’s not on streaming.”

I escape down the hallway and stick the popcorn bag in the microwave, leaning against the counter to ground myself.

This is Raleigh.

This is my chance with her.

I can’t let her slip through my fingers.

Three minutes later, I sink into the couch next to Raleigh, handing her the big plastic bowl of popcorn and throwing a few pieces into my mouth.

She’s got the movie paused at the scene in the pub where the group is surrounded by zombies.

Our thighs are a few inches apart, and I regret the fact that my loveseat is much bigger than the one she has in her RV.

“Where would you go?” Raleigh asks.

“Huh?” I turn to her.

“In a zombie apocalypse. Where would you go to hunker down?” She looks at me with her eyebrows raised.

I chuckle before reaching in and grabbing more popcorn. “ Maybe the Blizzard arena, because it’s pretty secure. We could get the whole team there. There’s plenty of food at concessions and in catering, and we could fight off zombies with hockey sticks and skates.”

She laughs. “That’s perfect. I’m screwed in the Pink Palace. Can I join you guys?”

“Eh, not sure there’s room.”

“Hey!” She tosses a piece of popcorn at my face and it bounces off my nose. “But I have cross-stitch needles that I can stab zombies with. I’d be useful.”

“They’re pretty short, so you’d have to get really close.” I take a handful of popcorn and casually lift my hand over her head. “But you could toss Megghen at them as a distraction.”

“How dare you.” She glances up and I drop the handful of popcorn. Pieces bounce off her head onto her lap and the couch. “Seriously? You want to have a popcorn fight?”

Raleigh reaches for popcorn and throws it at me point blank before I can even flinch.

“Hey, you got popcorn in my eyeball,” I say, giving her a sad look while I fist another pile of popcorn and come in from below to toss it up like confetti.

She giggles and reaches again for the bowl, but I grab her wrist and shake out the popcorn she’s got in her clutches.

“No you don’t. You’re making a mess in my clean room.”

“Not fair,” she says, her voice airy and breathless. “And you started it.”

Both of us stare at where my hand surrounds her narrow wrist. There’s a tingling shooting up my arm from the site of our connection, and she visibly shudders.

It’s not just me.

She feels it too.

“I have a confession.” I slide my hand down her wrist and onto her palm to stroke her fingers with mine.

“What’s your confession?” Raleigh turns her body toward me, her knee nudging against mine. She meets my gaze.

I pick a piece of popcorn from her hair and drop it back into the bowl. Her mouth twitches and she waits for my answer.

In the background, there’s a battle against the undead. We ignore it—both of us know how it ends, and it’s happily ever after for Shaun and his girlfriend.

“I lied about needing a dating coach.”

Raleigh snorts a laugh and it should break the growing tension between us right now, but it just doesn’t. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t want to ask anyone else out.” I pluck a few more pieces of popcorn from her lap, the couch, and one perched on her shoulder.

Her laugh is easy and light, just like it was back in college when she’d make fun of me as I tried to flirt with her.

“Anyone else?” She repeats my words.

“Yeah.” I reach over and tuck a strand of her wispy hair behind her ear, letting my fingers linger against her earlobe. “It was an excuse to spend time with you.”

“With me?”

“You keep asking me questions.” I can’t help but lick my lips, tasting a hint of butter. I glance down at her mouth, plump and pink. “I’m in a weird place.”

“With your injury?”

“That, and more. But then you show up in town in that pink contraption.” I swallow hard and lean toward her, closing the distance by half. “Looking at me like this. How am I supposed to resist you?” Desire roars through my veins.

She makes a mmm sound.

Does she want this as much as I do? I don’t know. Maybe. Because I want her so bad right now that my whole body aches.

But this isn’t only about wanting to hook up with her.

I want her .

“Why did you come here, Raleigh? When you knew Lucy was gone?”

“I don’t know.” She shifts her body but doesn’t drop eye contact.

“What was your plan? I know you had one, even if you say you didn’t, because I know you, Raleigh. What was going on?—”