Page 105 of Pucking Sweet

“What game?”

Her glare turns icy. “The game you two made up about me. Finders keepers, right? I want to know how it works.”

I glare at Novy.

“I told her there was no game,” he says.

“Yes, youdid,” she snaps. “You cornered me in the bathroom, and you told me that chasing me into bed is a game you’re both playing—”

“She misunderstood,” Novy says at me. “That was the whole me getting tongue-tied part that really sent everything off the rails.”

“Oh, and it wasonthe rails before then?” I challenge. “You chased her into the goddamn bathroom?”

“I followed her,” he clarifies. “It was impetuous, but I’m not feeling quite myself at the moment—”

“Impetuous?” she echoes. “Lukas, it was borderline criminal. You don’t lock yourself in the bathroom with a woman and tell her you’re using her to win some creepy sex game!”

“Okay, I want tostronglyclarify that there is no game,” he says again. “Cole,please.”

“Please, what?” I cross my arms too.

“Help me,” he begs. “Tell her that this isn’t a game to us. Tell her what finders keepers means, before she sets me out to sea on a goddamn boogie board.”

She looks to me. I can see the hope she’s trying to hide in her eyes under a thick wall of hurt and suspicion. She wants to believe I’m still a good guy. She wants to believe I’m therightguy. Taking a deep breath, I hold her gaze. “You’re not a game to me, Poppy. Or if you are, you’re the endgame. You’re it. That’s what ‘playing for keeps’ means. It means this is not catch-and-release. I catch you; I fucking keep you. I love you, and marry you, and follow you to the ends of the fucking earth.”

Her eyes go wide, and I take a step closer. “But I am not going to compete with this asshole for your attention or your affection. You’re attracted to him. I get that. You can’t help it. I’m sure you’d probably stop if you could—”

“Okay,ouch,” Novy growls. “I’m standing right here, asshole.”

She glances between us.

“My jealousy issues are my own,” I say at her. “I need you to let me work through them in my way. In the meantime, you can be attracted to him all you want. What I need to know is if you’re going to act on it again. Because for as much as I dream about you and want you, at the end of the day, I want to be with someone who wants to be withme. Not someone who’s settling for me while dreaming of someone else.”

She blinks back tears. “Colton, I—”

“Wait, don’t I get to say anything here?” Novy butts in. “He gets a big, long speech, and I just get to stand here with my dick in my hand?”

I swallow a growl of frustration, turning to him.

Poppy looks nervously between us, her gaze settling on Novy. I’m pleased to see the same hope isn’t shining in her eyes. He’s already hurt her once. She doesn’t want to open the door to letting him do it again. But she’s still curious to hear what he has to say.

Fuck, is this more than physical attraction? Did this cocky, immature asshole actually find a way to worm inside her heart?

We both look to him, waiting.

He glances between us. “Well, I can’t just whip out a speech like he can,” he whines.

Poppy sighs.

“What? I mean, come on, Cole’s probably been practicing that in the mirror for weeks.”

“That came straight from the heart,” I assure her. “That’s this thing that sits right about here,” I add at him, tapping my chest with my fist. “The poets like to claim it’s responsible for regulating things like love and other genuine human emotions.”

He rolls his eyes before turning back to Poppy. “Okay, so I’ll admit I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. I’m not a poet. I’m just a guy who plays hockey. And I’m not good enough for you or nice enough for you,” he goes on. “You’ll probably have to hide me in your closet if your parents ever come to visit. But I mean, there’s something here, right?”

Poppy stiffens, saying nothing.

With no encouragement whatsoever, he charges ahead. “And I mean, sure, our default settings are sarcasm and insults, but it’s fun, right? I’ve never had a girl serve it back to me the way you can. I’ve never been, I don’t know, inspired? Is that the word?” He looks to me.