Page 12

Chapter 12

Zeke

I wasn’t sure who kissed first—maybe neither of us?—but it didn’t matter. All I cared about was that I was kissing Piper, and it was quickly becoming the best kiss I’d ever experienced.

Sure, it was all for show. She had obviously been upset, and I assumed it had to do with her jerkface ex. But as I continued to kiss her, holding her body against mine, I couldn’t find it in me to care if this kiss was real or fake. Not sure what that said about me, but it was the truth.

What I did know was that the longer I kissed Piper, the more I didn’t want to stop.

Her soft body pressed up against mine had me straining to hold in a moan. Her hands were tangled in my hair, my fingers digging into her waist as our slanted mouths continued their frenzied dance. Neither one of us was holding back, both of us putting our entire focus and attention into where our mouths connected. The way we matched each other’s rhythm made it feel like this wasn’t our first kiss. My mind kept chanting more , more , more .

Soon, I realized it wasn’t so much my mind chanting as it was the crowd around us hooting and hollering.

Shoot . I’d gotten so lost in Piper that I’d momentarily forgotten we were making out in the middle of some bar in Chicago.

I reluctantly broke our kiss, catching Piper off-guard as she stared down at me with a dazed expression.

I searched her face. Her lips were slightly swollen, and an almost sleepy look covered her features. I wanted to carry her out of this bar, away from the onlookers, away from her ex. The look I’d seen on her face when she’d spotted me, equal parts relief and elation, like I was saving her, made me wonder if she really was okay.

I kept her in my arms as I quietly asked, “Are you okay?”

She blinked once, finally coming back to the present. “Oh, uh, yeah.” She nodded. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

A sense of pride went through me. That’s right. Piper wanted me here. She was glad I was here. I wanted to puff out my chest in satisfaction.

“You walked in at the perfect time. Jordan doesn’t want to take no for an answer. He doesn’t believe we’re actually a couple.” A smug grin lifted the corners of her mouth. “Looks like we just proved him wrong.”

Oh . Right. We were fake dating, and that was a fake kiss. I knew that. I did. I mean, it sure as heck didn’t feel fake, but nevertheless, it had all been an act. An act I had set in motion when I had opened my dumb mouth and told him we were a couple.

I released my grip on her and slowly set her back down on her feet.

“Glad I could be of service.” I hoped she didn’t hear the slight annoyance in my voice.

I wasn’t upset with Piper. I was upset with myself. How had I gotten myself into this situation? This wasn’t my thing. I didn’t date. And I definitely didn’t fake date.

I wished I could go back in time and let Piper handle things between her and Jordan. Because heaven knew she was capable of it. That was one of the things I liked about Piper. She wasn’t afraid to stick up for herself, and she had no problem giving you a piece of her mind.

But when I replayed that moment of Jordan continuing to ignore what she was telling him and how it didn’t seem like he was going to stop harassing her, I wanted to step in and be her fake boyfriend all over again.

Piper was messing with my head. And that had been true even before we’d kissed or pretended to be a couple. What was I going to do now that we’d added a very different kind of physical touch to our relationship?

“Are you okay?” she asked, placing her hand on my arm. “And how did you end up here?”

She looked different from when I’d last seen her in the therapy room. Her scrubs had been replaced with jeans that accentuated her curves. The leather jacket she wore gave her a sexy edge, every guy in the room was checking her out.

“I’m good,” I lied. I was all kinds of messed up right now. “The guys wanted to go out somewhere, and I remembered Seth mentioning this place.”

“I can’t tell you how happy I was to see you walk through the door. I almost didn’t believe it. The timing was just so perfect.” She looped her arm through mine, walking us back to the table where she’d been standing. “Now you can be my Jordan repellent.”

Oh, yippee.

I didn’t have a problem helping Piper out. I wanted to help her. Especially if it meant keeping Jordan away from her. What I was having a hard time with was how she only seemed excited to see me because of how I could help her, not because she wanted to spend time with me. Which… what in the world ? Why was I all of a sudden a sappy guy getting sad about a woman?

I pushed back my shoulders and rolled my neck. I was being ridiculous. Who cared if Piper only needed me to repel Jordan? Fine by me.

Jordan had sulked away as we approached, shooting daggers at me with his eyes. Seth looked between me and Piper, his devilish grin showing how much he was enjoying all the drama.

“I knew you were lying to me when you said nothing was going on between you two,” Seth said, elbowing Piper.

I looked down at Piper, who still had her hand tucked in my arm.

I raised one brow, giving her an almost challenging look. “I wouldn’t call that kiss nothing.” There was no denying that she and I had chemistry. That kiss had been electric, and whether it was fake or not, everyone witnessed the sparks flying between us.

Right on cue, her cheeks blushed that pretty pink, rapidly becoming my favorite color.

She swallowed and couldn’t quite look me in the eyes. “We’ve been trying to keep things quiet,” she told Seth.

“And you thought kissing him in front of both teams at a public bar would do that?” Seth asked sarcastically.

She gave him a deadpan look. “Oh, shush. What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t get Jordan to leave me alone.”

Seth lifted his hands in surrender. “Hey, you know I don’t have anything against physical displays of affection. I’m not complaining.”

She rolled her eyes at him and then turned to me. “Sorry about that.” She gestured her thumb over her shoulder to where we’d been standing for our kiss.

I knew she was apologizing for kissing me and not for outing our fake secret relationship, but Seth didn’t. So I continued our ruse.

“I’m not,” I told her with a smirk. “Now everyone knows your mine.”

She bit her lip, as if she were trying to hide a coy smile.

Wow . She was a good actress. Even I was almost buying it. That look and the way she tugged at her lips had my eyes dropping down to her mouth, the desire to kiss her again flaring up inside of me. I needed a breather.

“Do you want something to drink?” I asked her.

She nodded, giving me her order of a club soda. I had known she was going to order that, not because she had ordered it last time we were at a bar, but because it reminded her of her dad. A weird sensation went through my body as I realized I knew that about her.

I took Seth’s order as well and headed over to the bar.

Several of my teammates said hello and congratulated me again on scoring the winning goal. A few mentioned my kiss with Piper, their smirks and waggling eyebrows making me feel itchy under their scrutiny. I was quick to brush off their comments as I continued through the room.

Leaning against the dark wood bar, I waited for the bartender to take my order.

“You and Piper?” Holden’s voice surprised me as he came up beside me.

I should have known that everyone would want to talk to me about that kiss, especially Holden since he and I had known each other before getting traded to the Wolves. He knew I wasn’t a relationship kind of guy.

I had been too wrapped up in the kiss and what it all meant to consider what my teammates were going to think about it, which had left me at a loss of words.

“Uh, yeah.”

I hadn’t thought any of this through. Piper and I hadn’t even talked about this whole fake dating thing. I think we both figured it wouldn’t leave the physical therapy room. Which, looking back, was probably naive of us—but now that it was public, we needed rules.

“I had no idea,” he said, still looking surprised. “I guess you have been spending a lot of time with her. I thought you were a forever bachelor.”

Yeah, you and me both . But I kept that to myself.

I didn’t like the idea of lying to Holden. He was really my only friend on the team, even if I was using the word friend loosely. But I had to tell him something, so sticking to the truth as much as possible would be the best.

“Yeah.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I wasn’t expecting it.”

“But you like her?” He seemed genuinely interested in my answer, and I wasn’t sure if he was grilling me to see how serious I was or if he was protecting Piper.

Answering that question was easy though. “Yes. I really like her.” And that was the truth.

How far that like went I wasn’t sure, but I did like Piper. I always looked forward to seeing her, never got sick of being around her, and thought about her way too much when I wasn’t with her. So, yeah, I could safely say I really liked her.

The bartender took my order and started making the drinks.

“That’s good, I guess.” Holden took a sip of his drink and then asked, “Is that allowed? You and her? I didn’t even think of Piper as an option to date since she works for the team.”

I stiffened. “She’s not an option.” My voice came out gruff. The thought of her dating Holden, or any guy on the team, did not sit well with me.

He held up a hand. “Calm down, Hulk.” He shook his head. “I don’t think of Piper that way. Yes, she’s beautiful, but you know I’m not in the market to be in any kind of relationship.” He gave me a knowing look. “Something we used to have in common.”

Holden and I had similar backgrounds, with our parents not being a part of our lives. He luckily had an aunt and uncle who had taken him under their wings, but both of us were all too familiar with the solitary life. It was easier to keep people at a distance. That way, being alone was the norm, not something to dwell on.

The bartender slid the three drinks toward me.

“Good luck with Piper.” Holden lifted his glass to me in a mock toast.

I nodded a thank you and tapped my glass against his.

“What are you ladies toasting to?” Ryder asked, resting his arms around my and Holden’s shoulders. “Lawson, don’t tell me that you’re drinking a club soda.” He looked genuinely disappointed in me.

“Okay.” I set the drink back down. “I’m not drinking club soda.”

I could smell the alcohol on his breath, his face between mine and Holden’s. “C’mon, have some fun. We won tonight.”

“I am having fun,” I told him.

There were a few things I’d learned as I’d gotten older. One: I can’t drink like I used to when I was young. Two: Everything changes when you turn thirty. And three: I don’t have to drink to have a good time.

Okay, and possibly four was that my definition of a good time has changed too. I wanted nothing more than to go back to the table to drink club sodas with Piper. Heck, I’d actually prefer not to be in this bar but back at my place with her, sitting on the couch watching a show or talking. Yeah, times had definitely changed.

Ryder must have seen me looking over at Piper. “Oh, I see how it is. That does look like fun.”

Ignoring that comment, I grabbed the three glasses and left Ryder and Holden at the bar.

I came here to hang out with the team, but all I wanted to do was get back to Piper. To protect her from Jordan, of course. No other reason whatsoever. And it definitely didn’t have anything to do with the buzz I was feeling—a buzz that had nothing to do with alcohol and everything to do with that kiss.