Page 27

Chapter twenty-seven

Holt

“This is a nice neighborhood,” Becca says, hopping out of my G-Wagon that’s parked in front of the first house we’re seeing today.

I have to agree with her. All of the houses we passed driving down this street were large two-story homes set back from the road, each surrounded by a gate, making the homes even more private.

Something I appreciated, and what made me want to see this house.

So far, it’s also proved to be quiet. Which I really like.

We passed a few people walking or running as we drove in, but the street was empty of cars.

I shove my hands in my pockets and follow her up the driveway to where Ashley, my realtor, is standing.

“Good to see you again, Mr. Abbott.” She smiles at me and turns to Becca. “You must be Mrs. Abbott. Nice to meet you.”

My brain short circuits at her words. At Becca being called Mrs. Abbott. Does she want to change her name if she gets married? She’s a doctor. How does that even work? Does she even want to get married?

Becca shakes her hand. “I’m not his wife. I’m his—”

“My girlfriend,” I say, shaking off the shock and slipping my arm around her, tucking my hand into her back pocket.

“Ah. Sorry.” Ashley grimaces. “I shouldn’t have assumed. Right, this way.” She leads us up to the porch, where she enters the code for the front door before rattling off the information about the house.

I’m not paying attention to any of it. I should be.

But I can’t. My brain is still fixated on Ashley thinking that Becca was my wife.

Do I want her to be? Last week I would have told you I didn’t want a girlfriend.

Then yesterday, I told Becca I wanted us to be exclusive.

Now I’m thinking about Becca being my wife.

“What do you think?” Becca asks, gesturing around the space. “About the split-level plan?”

“It’s nice.”

“I’ll leave you two to wander around. Let me know if you have questions,” Ashley says.

I take Becca’s hand and lead her out of the kitchen and into the living room. As soon as we’re out of the room, Becca tries to pull away.

“No.” I growl, tugging her closer to me.

Shit, should I let her pull away? Will she be mad at me for not letting her?

Before the panic can fully take over, she giggles and pats me on the chest. “I like holding your hand too, but you’re going to have to let go of me if we’re going to look at this house.”

“What if I don’t want to?” I murmur, checking out the living room and trying to picture it filled with my furniture, my family. Hadley reading in a chair by the window, Hazel playing with her toys on the floor, Becca lying on the couch.

But I can’t.

I shake my head.

This doesn’t feel right.

We spend the next few minutes wandering around, but my mind is made up. This isn’t the one.

“How many more houses are we seeing today?” Becca asks as she climbs out of my SUV a few hours later.

“This is the last one.” I peer up at the house in front of me.

Becca whistles as she looks around at the other homes on the street. “This is the same subdivision Hunter lives in, right?”

I wrap my arm around her. “Yep. A few of the other guys live a few blocks over, too. ”

“I see the appeal then. Being close to your friends. Makes sense,” Becca says.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, folks,” Ashley says as she walks over to us. “My assistant called me on the drive over because there’s another home that meets your criteria. It literally just went on the market, but it will probably go fast, so if you want to see it, we should go today.”

“Let’s see this one first,” I say.

“Sure thing,” Ashley agrees.

The minute I step foot in the house, I know this is it. I can picture my friends, brothers really, coming over to hang out before a game or on a night off. My family, spending the holidays here. There’s plenty of room for everyone since this house has six bedrooms, and four and a half bathrooms.

“Wow,” Becca says, running her hand over the light-gray marble countertop on the kitchen island. She spins around to take in the rest of the kitchen. “This is gorgeous.”

Suddenly my mind flashes to her lying naked on the island, waiting for me to feast on her, biting down on her bottom lip like she’s doing now. Her hair spread out, her brown eyes sparkling with lust as I stalk over to her, pull her to the edge of the counter, and . . .

I give myself a mental shake. This is not the time or place to be thinking about Becca like that.

“It’s a great kitchen for hosting.” My voice comes out gravely, and I clear my throat, hoping neither of the ladies noticed.

“It is.” Becca’s face lights up. “You could have so many parties here.”

“Come on, let’s see the rest of the house.” I hold out my hand for her, and she takes it.

“What was that face in the kitchen for?” Becca asks a few minutes later when we’re checking out the bathroom in the primary suite.

“What face?” I ask, moving to where she’s standing in front of the Jack and Jill sinks.

“You know the one.” She whirls around to face me, and I drop my arms, bracketing her in against the counter. I lean closer to her, bending down so I can whisper in her ear.

“You mean the face I was making when I was thinking about using the kitchen for other things besides cooking and hosting parties?”

I don’t miss the shiver that runs down her body.

“Holt,” she says tentatively, her tongue peeking out and swiping along her bottom lip.

“Becca.”

I lean closer and brush my nose against hers before kissing her on the forehead. Her eyes flutter shut as she tugs on my shirt, pulling me closer.

“Kiss me already,” she whispers.

That’s all the permission I need to crash my mouth against hers.

I move one of my hands so I’m gripping her hip, and the other one comes up to caress her face.

I love how smooth her skin is under my calloused hands.

I get lost in her, in this, in the feel of her pressing up against me.

My cock hardens at her warm body grinding into me.

Far too quickly, she pulls away. It’s probably for the best, although I don’t like it.

“Holt. We got carried away. We should probably finish looking around.” Her voice is breathy.

I smirk. “This is the house I’m going to buy.”

“Just like that? You haven’t seen the entire place yet.”

I take a half step back and adjust myself. “I knew the minute we walked in this was the one.”

Her gaze drops to the bulge in my pants. I really hope Ashley doesn’t decide to walk in right now because that would be fucking awkward. Becca bites down on her bottom lip, her eyes widening.

“Don’t do that.” I reach over and pull it free with a pop. “It’s giving me ideas.” I wink.

She sucks in a breath. “Holt. We can’t. Not here.”

I nod, moving to check out the rest of the bathroom. I don’t really care what it looks like, but I need a bit of space from her before I do something crazier than kiss the shit out of her.

We spend the next few minutes checking out the rest of the second floor then go back downstairs .

“I’ll take it,” I say as we walk into the kitchen where Ashley’s leaning against the island, scribbling on the notepad in front of her.

“Wonderful. I’ll draw up the paperwork when I get back to my office, and email it all over to you so you can sign it. What were you thinking you wanted to offer? It’s been on the market for”—she checks something on her phone—“a month, so I’d suggest—”

“Cash offer. Whatever the asking price is.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I want to close as soon as possible, too.” Now that I’ve found the perfect place, I’m itching to call it home. Have more space.

“You got it.” She jots down something in her notepad before gathering her things.

“Thank you,” I tell Ashley as we walk out of the house.

“You’re welcome. I’ll be in touch,” she says before getting into her Jeep.

I turn to Becca, grinning. “Guess we bought a house.”

She shakes her head, pointing at me. “You bought a house.”

I open the passenger door and help her in before walking around to my side.

As I’m opening my door, I feel as if I’m being watched.

I glance around, but the street is quiet except for a silver sedan parked on the street.

I swear there’s movement in it, but I can’t be certain from this far away.

It’s probably my imagination, or the sun playing tricks on me. I turn back to the SUV and climb in.

“You’re going to help me decorate, right?” I ask as I buckle my seatbelt, forcing myself to focus on Becca, and not on the feeling I still can’t shake.

“You’re asking the wrong girl. Have you seen my place? I still have boxes. I lived in my last place for five years, and never hung anything up. My furniture is all mismatched.”

“Maybe I want your help.”

She chuckles as I start driving.

“Where are we going?”

“Thought we’d stop in and say hi to Hunter.” I turn down his street.

“It’ll be nice that you can walk over to see the guys. ”

“Agreed. Now we gotta get Wes to buy a house here so we’re all close to each other.”

I pull into Hunter’s driveway and put the G-Wagon in park. Holding hands, we climb the steps to the front door, and before I can even knock, Hunter swings it open.

“Hey, Holt. What’s up? Come on in.” He holds the door open for us. “Good to see you, Rebecca.”

“We were in the neighborhood. I’m buying a house here,” I tell him as we follow him inside.

“You are?” His eyes light up as they bounce between me and Becca, and I wait for his unasked question.

Was it stupid to come over here when Becca was with me? Maybe. The entire team will know about this before the day is over. Guess the cat’s out of the bag.

“Around the corner. On Wayfair Street,” I tell him.

“That’s fucking awesome, man. I’m so happy for you.

” He pulls me into a one-armed hug. Letting go, he steps back.

“Mads, sweets, Holt is going to be our neighbor,” Hunter yells toward their living room.

He turns back to me, rubbing his hands together.

“We can have pregame meals together now. Carpool to the arena.”

I hold up a hand. “Slow down. I haven’t signed on the dotted line yet.”

“Hi, Holt.” Madison walks into the kitchen, she grins when she spots Becca. “Hi, Rebecca. Nice to see you. What’s going on?” she asks, coming to stand next to Hunter, who wraps his arm around her.

Hunter turns to his wife. “Holt here is buying a house down the road. About fucking time.”

“That’s wonderful. Congrats, Holt. Welcome to the neighborhood. Can I get either of you coffee? Something to eat? I just made blueberry muffins.”

“Coffee would be great, Mads,” I tell her.

“I’ll have a muffin if it’s not too much trouble,” Becca says.

“No trouble at all. Holt, do you want one too?” Madison asks, untangling herself from her husband.

“Sure, why not? Can’t say no to your baked goods.”