Falling for the Backup – Nashville Assassins Read Online Toni Aleo

Categories Genre: Contemporary, Novella, Romance, Sports Tags Authors:
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Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 170(@200wpm)___ 136(@250wpm)___ 113(@300wpm)
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“It is crazy, because she’s hot, right? Tell her, Brittany. She thinks it’s because she’s not hot enough for him,” Sadie complained from the seat beside her. “He’s a sexy hockey player.”

“Not hot? Are you crazy! Hockey player or not, babe, you are smoking! I’d give my left

nut to be as gorgeous as you!”

“You have nuts?” Aynslee asked, holding back her laughter.

“Of course I do! I stole my husband’s!” Brittany declared, causing the whole salon to laugh. “But seriously, Ayns, you are beautiful and smart, and funny! Any guy would be lucky to have you.”

Aynslee whined, “But why did he walk away without at least getting my number? Twice!

What is wrong?”

“Maybe he’s gay?” Brittany asked with a shrug.

“That’s what I said, but he plays hockey. Then again, hockey players can be gay,” Sadie supplied thoughtfully.

Aynslee wanted to scream. “He is not gay! But I don’t know what to do—do I keep after him or do I give up?”

Brittany shrugged as she concentrated on painting the polish perfectly on Aynslee’s nails. “I mean, I like getting laid regularly, so I think you should go after him, but, then again, maybe you shouldn’t. You’ve given him ample opportunity to get you into bed, and he failed. Move on, my friend, move on.”

The problem was, she didn’t want to walk away. But she was afraid. She had every chance to watch his practice last week and she didn’t. She was afraid to face him again, because even though everyone guaranteed her that it was him, not her, she was beginning to feel as if she wasn’t up to his standard. Maybe he wasn’t attracted to her.

She had replayed their impromptu coffee date over and over in her head, and she couldn’t find anything that would have caused him to run. She didn’t know what to do, but she did know that for the last week all she’d done was search YouTube and Google for Jordan Ryan. When she wasn’t watching the Assassins’ games to catch a glimpse of him, she was online looking at videos of him. She was completely pathetic.

“Listen, don’t worry. Just because he jumped back into the sea, that doesn’t mean another fish won’t swim by,” Brittany said. “Keep swimming.”

Aynslee smiled as Sadie said, “Plus, you never know, maybe you’ll run into each other again. Third time’s the charm, you know.”

“I don’t know, like Brittany said, he ran out on me twice. I’m not sure I want to give him a third try.” She was a liar.

Sadie nodded before saying, “This is true, but I don’t believe you for one second. If you ever saw him again, I wouldn’t put it past you to attack him, and in the good way!”

Aynslee laughed out loud as Brittany said, “Hell, yeah, you should take him and squeeze him and then kiss the shit out of him! I bet you he wouldn’t go anywhere after that!”

“Yeah, right. He’s, like, six five, two hundred and something pounds—there is no way I could take him out and make him mine without hurting myself!” she said through her laughter, even though the last thing she wanted to do was laugh.

Aynslee felt more like crying. She put on a good front, but it was bothering her. She wanted Jordan to realize that, if he gave her a chance, they could be happy. She had hopes of him being the guy for her. Call her crazy, but she was completely smitten, and she was more than ready to move forward with him. The only thing she needed was for him to be on board too, and there was no telling if that was ever going to happen. He was untouchable, and Aynslee didn’t know what to do, because giving up just didn’t feel right.

But what else could she do?

After Brittany finished her nails, she hugged Aynslee tightly. “If it’s meant to be, then it will happen.”

Aynslee smiled and nodded. She got her wallet out and had just paid when Sadie came out of the bathroom for the thousandth time. The poor girl was sick as a dog. Apparently the baby didn’t like anything she ate. Aynslee felt horrible for her. She looked terrible.

Holding her stomach, Sadie glanced over at Aynslee. “I am not running today.”

Aynslee laughed; she’d figured that. “I didn’t think so, not when you couldn’t even sit long enough to finish your nails.”

“Yeah, I’m going home; I’m sorry. Maybe tomorrow?” “Sure thing, babe—same time, same place. Bye!”

The friends exited the salon, and Aynslee waved at Sadie, wishing her well, then jogged to her car to put her things away and to grab her iPod. After strapping the player to her arm, she ran across the street to Centennial Park. For the last four months, Sadie and Aynslee had been running midmorning every weekend, which was Aynslee’s favorite time to run. She hated when people watched her, so she tried to go when no one else would be there.


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