Page 26

CHAPTER 25

JILL

“ S o, you’re saying nothing happened?” LeAnn’s voice came from the kitchen, just before a clatter of pots and pans.

Poking my head around the corner I winced when I saw half her cupboard strewn across the floor. She and my brother had been planning to renovate the tiny, inefficient space since they’d bought the 1800’s farmhouse five years ago. But they’d never gotten around to it and now Joey was in a mad dash to get as many projects done as he could before the baby came. The kitchen was next on the list, and watching LeAnn sigh as she kneeled to gather her cookware, it couldn’t happen soon enough.

I sat on the ground with her, nesting a set of metal bowls one inside the other. “I’m saying there’s nothing to worry about.”

She’d been peppering me with questions since I got there. Word had gotten back to Joey about our little double-date last night, and the group was chirping about what we might have gone to do after we’d left Cory and Sky at The Docks.

LeAnn eyed me over her slow cooker. “You telling your brother not to worry about you is about as productive as thinking maybe winter won’t come this year. The nature of things just are what they are.”

I laughed at her attempt to sound deep. “LeAnn,” I started, waiting for her to stop fussing and look at me. “I’m fine.” I held my arms out as if to show her I was, in fact, in one piece. “Never been better. So, if at all possible, please use your sway over my brother to get him to calm down. Ten calls in twenty-four hours is a bit much—even for him.”

“You could have answered.”

“He could have left a message.”

She laughed, because she knew as well as I did that Joey left messages all the time. The only time he didn’t was when he wanted a live audience for his soapboxing. I hadn’t had any worries there’d been a true emergency since he’d started blowing up my phone because he’d never once muttered a word into my voicemail.

LeAnn looked me over, finally shrugging her shoulders. “You do look pretty good.”

I dropped my eyes to the mess in front of us, hoping she wouldn’t take that observation to the next logical step; that I looked like I’d gotten some. It wasn’t the some I might have wanted, but I could get used to all these orgasms—however Grady wanted to give them to me. I still felt a twinge in my core every time I thought back to how hard he still was on my porch before he’d gone home. He’d left a huge stain on my dress, so knowing he’d gotten that riled up again turned me on. Knowing I did that to him was an aphrodisiac I’d never experienced before.

“So,” LeAnn started, snapping out of my reverie. “Was he really hurt?”

I sighed, because Grady had acted like it was no big deal. It looked awful to me, but I wasn’t exactly used to seeing hockey players after a game. Maybe that was normal wear and tear?

“He wasn’t bad,” I muttered, reaching for the measuring spoons mixed among the rest of the debris.

“He was fine,” Joey grumbled from behind, startling me.

I tossed him a quick glance over my shoulder, the flare of my frustration turning up even as I tried to stay calm. I was in his house, and I really didn’t want to fight about this.

“If you say so,” I jabbed without looking back. “I know I’m new to sports and all, but is it normal for teammates to tackle each other ?”

Joey stepped around me, bending to give his wife a quick kiss. She looked up at him sympathetically before he reached into the fridge for a beer.

“I didn’t mean to hit him.”

My smirk dripped with disbelief as I glared at my brother. “Sure. That makes sense. About as much sense as slamming your friend into the boards, when he has a hurt shoulder and his career is on the line.”

I changed my mind, maybe I did want to fight about this.

Joey scowled at me, but I could see the regret in his eyes. He might have meant to hit Grady, but he hadn’t meant to hurt him. It had been a long time since my straight and narrow brother had lost control of his temper. He usually left that to Cash.

“Cory said he looked fine.”

“Jesus, Joey, did you even ask him yourself?”

He sniffed, shaking his head as he fixed his eyes out the window. “I will.”

“When? Next year?”

“Next time I see him.”

I laughed out loud, this entire situation borderline insane to me. “You think he’s going to come play in another game? With you gunning for him? Why should he bother?”

The funny thing was, I actually would have bet money that Grady was going to go back and play again. He wasn’t going to stop trying to right this thing with him and Joey, I knew it. And even if I thought it was a load of bullshit he had to put in so much effort, I also kind of liked it. He wasn’t willing to lose Joey as a friend so easily, but he wasn’t going to put our feelings for each other aside either. Something about that spoke to the man he was, and I was even more excited for him to get back from Boston.

“I’ll see him,” Joey grumbled, the muscles in his jaw clenching like they did when he was biting back his anger, and I remembered what Grady had said about him being more worried about me than anything else.

“I’m okay, Joe,” I told him, lowering my voice. “We’re just having some fun before he goes back for the season. I’m going to be fine.”

My brother’s eyes slid over to me, his body still tense as he looked me over, like he was verifying I was telling him the truth. He might have made it hard to remember sometimes, but he really did just want to protect me.

“Okay.”

That was all he said. One word and then he made his way back out of the kitchen and into the garage. I sagged back on my hands, letting a giant gust of air out of me. That had gone better than I’d thought.

LeAnn was looking at me with a sisterly grin. “You two have come so far.”

I chucked a pot holder at her, laughing with her as it smacked her in the chest and dropped into her lap. Snagging the baking pan from what was left on the floor, I handed it to her and said, “Let’s get this cleaned up so you can make those cookies and then we can get back to work on the library.”

Her face beamed back at me as she nodded. She’d been secretly collecting books for almost a year and had finally shown me what she’d amassed. She wanted me to help curate them, get them all organized and set up on the shelves Joey had built in the baby’s room. It had been the best surprise—way better than last time when she’d gotten me over here to help wallpaper.

As I left later I pulled out my phone and shot Grady a text. I’d never done that before—sent him something that wasn’t related to the program, logistically or otherwise. But he’d said I could, and it had seemed like he wanted me to, so I let it rip.

Jill: Hope you survived your day. If you’re around tomorrow, want to do a late lunch?

It took only a minute for his reply to come back.

Grady: Survived is the word. Joey still walking?

Jill: Sure. With a limp

Grady: Oh boy

Jill: He’s fine. We’re good

Grady: Yeah?

Jill: Yep

Grady: Good. I’m in for tomorrow

Jill: Meet me at Ernie’s at two?

Grady: You got it

I tossed my phone aside. I’d never been this impatient before. Cramming in a lunch date with a guy was wildly out of character. But I had a work event tomorrow night and the prospect of going two whole days without seeing Grady just didn’t feel right.

A little alarm went off in my head, that this was something I should be wary of. But I shoved it aside, because all it really meant was that I hadn’t lost sight of what this thing was. Grady and I had an expiration date, I was just making sure I squeezed every drop I could out of this summer fling.