Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 107453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
When the first period ends, he yanks up his helmet, turns to the stands, and flashes a smile my way. I tug on my shirt so he can see it.
Well, he sent it to me today. I’m wearing his Number Seventeen jersey.
Two days later, Ivy and I join Trina for the first game of the Sea Dogs across town. We don’t go to the former wives and girlfriends’ section, now called The Partners’ Suite.
For this game, we have seats rink-side.
“My, how times have changed,” I tease Trina. “You were slumming it in the VIP suite with me, holding up revenge signs to get even with your ex. Now look at you. You’re Mrs. Hockey,” I say to the double wife.
She rolls her eyes, then nods to Ivy too. “Pretty sure we all are.”
I raise a who me brow. “Not me.”
But even to me it feels like the lady doth protest too much.
“Not you yet,” Ivy corrects, as the team hits the ice, and all my attention turns to the veteran forward.
Ledger flies across the ice, tough and stoic and focused.
Does his knee hurt? Is he masking any pain? Or is he hanging in there and enjoying his swan song? I hope it’s the latter.
Before he heads to the bench, his eyes find mine and his smile feels private, just for me, when he sees me wearing his jersey—the one he sent me today.
These guys and their need to claim me.
When the game ends, I text my brother and ask if he can have dinner with me on Friday night after book club. He says yes.
I breathe deeply and try to just keep in this moment right now.
That Friday night, Briar and I head into An Open Book for Trina’s Page Turners club. “Finally,” I chide playfully as I push open the door. “Took you long enough to come with me.”
She shoots me a look with those crystal blue eyes. “You act like I’ve been avoiding book club.”
“You have,” I tease.
“You only invited me a month ago,” she points out.
“Details,” I say airily. Then I narrow my eyes at her as we wander past the new release shelves. “And it turns out you were secretly reading romance without telling me.”
“Well, I needed some…tips,” she says, lowering her voice.
“Tips? Like on how to date?”
She leans in and whispers even more quietly, “Toy tips.”
Ah, I’ve got this one. “I love books with toys. I’ll rec some.” We head to the back, where Trina’s setting up with Ivy. The regulars are here, like Prana and Kimora, who’s petting the paperback in her hand.
The book has a red cover with a brown cartoon couple kissing swoonily under the title Overnight Shag. In the story, the heroine meets a hot Brit named Naveen who stays at her B and B in a small town. Prana suggested it because the heroine is Desi, like her.
Kimora’s loving on the paperback so hard. “This book. This freaking book. Yes. Finally. When I said I’m over bad communication, I am over it. Like forever. And I am so glad it’s not in this story.”
Prana taps her chin, ever the diplomat. “Me too. I’m not into it when something can be worked out with a simple convo. But miscommunication is a thing. It happens in real life.”
“It does, but so do periods and UTIs. I don’t need any of that stuff in a book,” Kimora says, no ifs, ands, or buts.
“In real life I don’t really O,” Briar blurts out.
Whoa.
We all whip our gazes to the blonde by my side. “You don’t?” I ask.
“By myself I do. Not really with…a partner.” Briar winces like it pains her. Well, it pains me on her behalf.
Kimora’s voice softens as she turns to Trina. “Give her the mug. I don’t care who got the bang prediction right. This girl needs the mug.”
“You really do,” Trina says with sympathy, reaching for the gift for the bang prediction winner. It’s a “We Are Well and Truly Fucked” mug.
Briar clutches it like it’s a precious gift. “It’s the I have no Os mug.”
I consider the slogan, then turn it around in my head. “Or maybe it’s a promise for the future. Like, you’re going to be well and truly fucked.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’ll just start with the O.”
“I’m rooting for you to be well and truly fucked, B,” Kimora says, then flicks her black braids off her shoulders.
“I’ll bring the pom-poms,” Prana seconds.
As we sit and debate the banter and the tension in the story, my mind drifts to my own bang prediction.
To Dev reading me a scene from The UnGentleman.
To Ledger’s sex math.
To the guys coming over and declaring they’ll wait for me.
Then, Kimora’s saying to Briar, “Just ask for help with the O. Life is too short.”
And you know what? It really is.
On that life lesson, I head out to meet my brother for dinner.