Page 17

17

I brushed my teeth, crawled into bed in my comfiest pajamas, and told myself I wasn’t going to cry over a homeless kitten. The tears threatened, burning behind my eyes, but I’d spent years forcing myself to respond in a certain way. I was good at it.

The easiest way to keep unwanted emotions at bay was to change the subject, a little trick I’d learned from my mom. My mind naturally moved to its favorite topic—Reece. I spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about him. Way more than I’d ever dedicated to Toby.

When Reece wasn’t around, I was constantly marking things I wanted to tell him. Wondering what his opinion would be about TU’s new zero tolerance rule. Wondering if he already knew about the illegal Pokémon gambling ring happening in Kerry Hall.

My relationship with Toby started out that way, but after years of him not engaging, I stopped wondering. When he was out of sight, he was out of mind.

Reece was never out of mind. I rolled over, suddenly too warm, and wondered what he was doing right now. What had made him so sure relationships weren’t for him? I could understand if he was talking about women like Amanda. She was part snake, and that was being unfair to the snake.

At least she’d been leaving me alone lately. Or maybe I hadn’t noticed her passive aggressive tactics while focusing solely on my fake boyfriend who maybe wasn’t as fake as I’d thought. My obsession with Reece had surprising benefits.

A tinkling noise came from the direction of my window, and I sat up abruptly to stare at the sliver of darkness between my curtains. My first thought was hail. Thunderstorms popped up all the time in north Texas, but hail usually arrived with rain and thunder, which were conspicuously absent.

Another round of soft tinkles made me get up and grab the closest weapon I could find—my sociology textbook. Not the best, but I wasn’t prepared for late night intruders. I crept to the window, raised the book with a shaking arm, and threw the curtain open.

On the other side of the glass, Reece jumped back, dropping his handful of gravel. I let out the air I’d been holding and tossed the book backwards onto my bed, where it promptly bounced off and landed on the floor.

Reece grinned and mimed opening the window. I crossed my arms and pointed toward the front door. He shook his head. The standoff lasted ten seconds before I rolled my eyes and unlocked the window.

He hopped through as if he’d done it a million times. Maybe he had. I wasn’t going to dwell on his past indiscretions.

“What are you doing?” I hissed at him.

“I thought I’d give you another thrilling new experience.”

“By getting arrested when I called the police? Which is what I should have done, by the way. You’re lucky I’m the stupid horror movie heroine instead of the smart, sassy one.”

Reece toed off his shoes and headed to the bathroom. “You are the smart, sassy one, wifey. Never let anyone underestimate your death order in a horror movie.”

“What a strange motivational phrase. Why are you here again?”

The water turned on, and he raised his voice over the flow. “I knew I wasn’t going to see you tomorrow, and I decided it was bullshit. I’m staying the night.”

“You decided, huh?” My group project people had finally agreed to meet tomorrow night, so I’d have to miss Reece’s second game against Belcourt. Honestly, I was kind of disappointed too, but after the way he’d dropped me off earlier, I wasn’t expecting him to care.

He didn’t close the door, so I followed him inside, where he was busy scrubbing his hands. “Why is your gravel sticky? You know what, I don’t want to know.”

“Why didn’t you call me to come unlock the front door?”

“Because this was more fun, and I was trying to avoid Amanda. She doesn’t understand the meaning of the word ‘no’.”

“You’ll see her in the morning.”

“Yes. Coming out of your room, hopefully with you looking disheveled and very satisfied.”

My pulse took off, and I inhaled a couple of slow breaths to remind myself he was pushing the narrative. He wasn’t proposing anything.

I couldn’t think of a response that didn’t sound stupid in my head, so I left him to close and lock the window. While I was there, I checked the glass for any damage. A couple of tiny marks, but nothing some cleaner wouldn’t fix. He’d been smart enough to use the little gravel instead of the bigger rocks around the trees. I wasn’t sure how I’d explain a broken window without getting myself removed from the house.

The water shut off, and I turned to find him shirtless, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. All thoughts of giving him crap for the window stunt blinked out of existence. I’m not even sure I breathed.

He grinned, and I sucked in air to jumpstart my brain again. Twenty minutes ago, he was content to leave me at my doorstep without a kiss or anything. Now, he was shirtless and smug in my bedroom… because he wanted to see me? Was this a sex thing? Previous experience with Toby pointed to yes, but Reece had plenty of opportunity when choosing what to do tonight.

I mean, I’d shown up to his game naked under his jersey. He’d kissed the hell out of me in the parking lot, so I know it had an effect. My confusion increased when he walked past me to the bed.

“Reece, why are you really here?”

He stopped, but didn’t turn. His shoulders flexed like he was bracing himself for a hit, then he spoke quietly. “I decided I’d never give anyone even a hint of a relationship when my high school girlfriend tried to blackmail my family after I broke up with her.”

A lot of information was missing from that story, but I didn’t want to do anything to make him stop talking in case he wasn’t done. Reece sat on the bed and glanced at me, his playful attitude completely gone.

I eased onto the edge of the bed. “Why did you break up with her?”

“I overheard her talking to a friend about how she didn’t need college because she was planning to convince me to marry her without a prenup. She then went on to say how the deal wasn’t too bad since I was a nice guy and good in bed.” He let out a dry laugh. “She might even have dated me without the money. To be clear, I went to a private school on the east coast. Everyone there was rolling in money, including her.”

My nose wrinkled. “Sounds like she was beyond greedy to want a hockey star to bankroll her life.”

“It wasn’t about hockey. My family owns Tanner Pharma. We’re worth a couple of billion dollars.”

My mouth dropped open. “What the actual hell, Reece? No, let’s focus on your high school ex. How could she possibly blackmail your family?”

His jaw ticked. “She claimed she was owed compensation for the time she spent with me, and she threatened to release intimate details of our relationship to the press. Our lawyer deemed her threat credible because we’d had a relationship. He said if it had been only one night then he could make the problem go away. We paid, and I made an iron-clad rule. Until you.”

“Why are you telling me this now?”

“You asked.”

I pressed my lips together as a million questions flooded my mind. Reece seemed so normal. I’d met plenty of entitled rich kids back home, but they were medium rich. Still, none of them had Reece’s down-to-earth attitude, and none of them planned to work, let alone as a professional athlete. His dedication to the team, going as far as this whole fake relationship scheme to prove himself, said a lot about the kind of person he was.

Reece reached out and circled my wrist. “Are you okay?”

“Honestly, it makes my head hurt to think about how much you have, so I’m probably going to pretend you couldn’t buy the college we’re currently attending.”

He chuckled. “My family has the money. I only get a small percentage set up as a trust.”

I flipped my hand to hold his. “None of this changes my opinion of you. Do your friends know?”

“No, and I need you to keep this secret for me. They know I’m rich, but they don’t know how rich.”

I nodded as a lot of things suddenly clicked in place for me. “You want to be sure they’re responding to the real you, not a walking piggy bank. What about me now that I know? If this deal is too hard for you, we can call it off. Or I can sign a contract or something. I don’t care about your money.”

“Fuck, no. You’re not getting rid of me so easily. We’re going to work through every number on your list. If my Gram knew about the deal, she’d absolutely prefer you signed a contract, but she’s never interfered in my love life before. I don’t need a contract.”

Horror flooded me as I realized I’d agreed to dinner with his grandmother and her business associates. “She’s going to think I’m a gold digger.”

“Yes, and she thinks money can buy her whatever she wants, which is why I’m going to use your girl-next-door goodness to convince her she can’t buy my future.”

“What does that mean?”

“She wants me to be the heir apparent for the company, but I have no interest in running it, let alone working at it. I want to play hockey and go to dive bars with my friends and help take care of arrogant, pampered ducks.”

My brows rose. “That’s a very specific list.”

“I’ve had some time to consider before Gram started increasing the pressure. Boston drafted me years ago, but it’s not a guarantee I’ll get to play. If I want to make it onto the team, I need to work my ass off.”

I squeezed his fingers. “You’ll make the team.”

“Maybe, but becoming captain and winning the Frozen Four will go a long way toward making it happen.”

“And after?” I asked quietly, unable to help myself from digging a little deeper.

Reece tugged on my hand until I scooted across the bed. “I’m going to live off my ridiculous pro-hockey salary and use my trust to help people.”

He wrapped an arm around me and leaned back until we were lying on the bed face to face.

“I like helping people,” I murmured.

“I know. That’s why I took you to Lucky Duck tonight instead of skinny dipping. A massive sacrifice on my part, I’d like to point out. Alexis could use more people who care about her mission. She was running herself into the ground trying to keep it going.”

Suspicion narrowed my eyes. “And what did you do to help?”

“I may have given her a donation to hire the help she desperately needed. She said she’d only accept it if I came in to volunteer once a month. So I do. Secretly.”

My heart simply melted, like warm honey spreading in my chest. “As your fake girlfriend, I’m very proud of you. Even if you did show up unannounced to share your bombshell secrets and spend the night.”

His lips curled into a smile. “You’re right. I should have called first, and I should have asked instead of demanding. Can I stay?”

This time the question felt different as heavy anticipation filled the air between us. I’d never been nervous with him, but I had trouble catching my breath to answer.

“Of course. Everyone expects it anyway.”

“No, not for them. For me.”

My tongue darted out to wet my dry lips, and he followed the motion with hungry eyes. “Why?”

“Because I only feel like myself when I’m skating or I’m with you. It’s not about sex or revenge or the deal. You make me feel good—just being next to you, touching you—and I needed that tonight.”

I’d been convincing myself for months his interest was cursory. The result of a mutually beneficial deal neither of us wanted to ruin. I’d been fighting the truth at every turn because he made me feel good too.

I wanted to do more than feel good with him.

He was holding back, asking for the bare minimum. I appreciated his dedication to letting me make my own decisions, and I had no problem making this one. If Reece didn’t ask for more… I would.