by Toni Aleo
But when she found Benji leaning against the wall, looking all sexy and carefree, she all of a sudden didn’t care who saw her. Reaching for her, he brought her in close, holding her tightly in his arms. As he moved his nose along her jaw, she melted in his arms while his heart crashed into hers. “I almost thought you wouldn’t want to see me.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, hush. I told you last night, or, er, this morning, that all that doesn’t change anything.”
Pulling back, he looked down at her, his thumbs moving lazily along her cheekbones. “Still, I was worried.”
“Well, don’t be.”
“Okay,” he said roughly and she smiled. “Are you okay? You seem nervous.”
Was she? She was. Crap. “I hate lying to my family. To Angie. She asked me where I was last night.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“Please. I came speeding over, literally.”
He chuckled against her lips, but then he stopped, his eyes searching hers. God, she loved his eyes. They were so beautiful, so compellingly gray. Kissing her nose, he asked, “What else?” She made a face and he smiled. “Tell me.”
“I’m worried Rick won’t show up. She really wants him here.”
He nodded, his grin dropping. “Have you texted him?”
“Not yet,” she said, lacing her hands behind his neck. “I’m a little occupied at the moment.”
His lips curved, his eyes darkening as he leaned closer. “Oh yeah, we have some kissing to do.”
“We do.”
“You look really hot,” he murmured against her lips, his hands falling to her ass as she sucked in a breath.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Angie says you stare at me.”
“Oh, I do.”
“Do you?”
“Every chance I get,” he murmured before taking her mouth with his. Her eyes fell shut as her heart pounded into her ribs. When she leaned into him, he deepened the kiss, his tongue moving against hers with heated need. She couldn’t just kiss this guy. No, she had to consume him. Or he was consuming her, whatever, lots of consuming was going on, and it was freaking fantastic. When his hand squeezed her ass, his hard cock pressing into her stomach, she pulled back.
“Whoa, killer. We’ve got a game to go to.”
“Hey, not fair. Come back,” he muttered, but she shook her head.
“A kiss—one kiss—and you’re two seconds from doing me right here.”
He thought that over and then shrugged. “Am I supposed to be sorry for that?”
She laughed, rolling her eyes as she pulled away, fixing her shirt. “Give me a good three minutes before you follow.”
He rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion and then grinned. “Or I can stick my hand in the pocket of those naughty jeans and walk out there with you.”
She side-eyed him. “Want to piss on my leg instead?”
He scoffed at that as she shook her head, going to walk away. But of course, he pulled her in for one more kiss. A long, delicious one that she felt in her toes. She could kiss this man for the rest of her life and be completely fine with it.
Shit, did she just think that?
Crapola.
This time, he was the one to pull back, kissing her nose and then the side of her mouth before waggling his brows at her. “I think your mom likes me.”
“Good Lord,” she complained before pulling out of his arms and walking away. But she was smiling.
Hard.
Rushing to where her family sat just before Angie took the ice, she climbed the bleachers as Jayden yelled out, “Jeez, did you have to take a shit?”
She stuck her tongue out at him as all the parents around them laughed, and their mother smacked him hard on the arm. He, of course, was laughing like a hyena as their mom complained. “Jayden! Goodness!”
Rolling her eyes, she sat down beside her mother, crossing her legs, and pulling her phone out to text Rick.
“Honey,” her mother said as she typed quickly.
Hitting send, she looked up. “Yeah?”
“Honey, your lipstick is smeared.”
Her eyes widened as she wiped the side of her mouth quickly while her mother eyed her suspiciously. But of course, that wasn’t the end of her embarrassment.
“Hey, Paxton, that red looks good on you, buddy,” Jayden called out. And when she glanced up to see Benji coming up to them, her eyes closed.
Fucking hell.
His brow rose. “What?”
“You have lipstick all over your mouth,” Jayden said dryly as Benji fell into the seat beside him.
“Do I?” he asked, wiping his mouth as Jayden chuckled.
“Yeah, jeez, who were you kissing?” Baylor laughed as Lucy died a slow and humiliating death.
“Funny, the same red that’s on his lips is the same red that was on your lips, well, now the side of your mouth,” her mother mumbled. But Lucy just kept facing forward, praying to God the subject would get dropped. “Wonder why that is?”
Still, she said nothing as Benji asked, “Did I get it all off?”
“Yup,” Baylor said, then leaned forward to Lucy. “Did you want a napkin? Since yours was smeared?”
Pressing her lips together, she wanted to die. “Nope, good.”
When her phone dinged with a text, she thanked God before looking down at her phone.
Rick: I’ll be there when I get there. Don’t rush me. I do have a life.
“Motherfucker,” she murmured as Benji leaned forward.
“Ignore him,” he said, shaking his head. “His life should be his daughter.”
“I know,” she said under her breath.
“You left—”
“Benji, shut up and watch the game,” she demanded and he laughed, leaning back as she shook her head.
Her mother, though, was looking from her to Benji over and over again. Finally, she leaned to Lucy and whispered, “You guys would make beautiful children.”
“Mother, please, just stop,” she begged as Angie lined up for the drop of the puck. Lucy saw her look up, and she waved her hands in the air, yelling Angie’s name. When everyone joined in, Angie beamed before looking back down at the puck. Lucy prayed Angie didn’t notice Rick wasn’t there, but once the puck was dropped, Lucy was sure she didn’t care about anything else but kicking some ass.
“Why are we all the way up here?” Benji asked, but she ignored him, watching Angie.
“I don’t know. I hate sitting so far away,” Jayden complained.
“Come on, let’s go down,” Benji decided, and together they made their way down. Lucy did not watch Benji’s ass that was clad in those damn sweat pants. Nope. She watched her daughter as Benji and Jayden went to stand behind the goal. She wanted to go down there with them, well, Benji. But she knew that her mother would know right away.
If she didn’t already.
Which she probably did.
Damn it.
But soon, she wasn’t worried about that, only about Angie playing. She was one of the fastest, on the line with the Adler sisters, and Shea loved playing them together. They stayed out there a lot. And when Shelli scored, the place lost it like it had been Shea Adler himself scoring. Standing up, Lucy cheered along with everyone else as Shelli and the rest of the girls hugged tightly before heading back to the bench. Two more shifts happened before Angie was back out, skating deep like she had been told by all the NHL’ers she was surrounded by.
“Angie! Sunshine! Look, left, cut left, there you go! Shoot!” Benji yelled, and Angie did, but the goalie blocked her and he clapped loudly. “That’s all right, keep going! Attagirl! Yeah!”
Jayden was right next to him, hollering just as loud, and she thought it was really cute. That is until Jude asked from the iPad, “Who are the gorillas that are yelling for Angie?”
“Your brother and Lucy’s boyfriend,” Autumn said simply, jerking back and forth with the play.
“What? Boyfriend?” Jude asked. �
�Like someone she likes when she doesn’t have to?”
“Like a real boy? Man? Manboy? Wait, what happened?” Jace asked, also from the iPad, and Baylor snickered.
“Mom, Benji is not my boyfriend!” Lucy complained, but it was like no one was listening because just then, Angie scored.
“That’s my niece!”
Benji high-fived Jayden as they both hollered for Angie, who had just scored one sick-ass wrister.
“I taught her that!” Jayden yelled up at his family but they all rolled their eyes, and he was pretty sure he heard one of the Sinclairs on the iPad call him an idiot.
But in all reality, he was pretty sure he taught Angie that last week.
Not that he was going to say that.
“That’s right, babe! Good job!” he said, pumping his fist when Angie looked back at them.
“Amazing! Good work,” Benji urged as Angie grinned, skating back to the bench. As the play started back up, they stood in silence as they watched. Shea was loud, animated, and the girls loved him.
But that Elli Adler, she was the loudest one out there.
“That’s my baby! Hit ’em! Get it, girl!” she yelled in her thick, country accent that had them laughing.
“Our boss is nuts.”
“She sure is,” Benji agreed as they looked back on the ice just as Angie got on. When she went behind the goal, getting the puck to send it back out, she grinned at them before heading to where she needed to be.
“She likes you,” Jayden said, folding his arms over his chest as the whistle blew for offsides. “A lot.”
“She’s a cool kid.”
“No, I meant Lucy,” he said, chuckling. “I guess I never really paid attention but, dude, she’s smiling up there.”
He looked up to where Lucy was sitting, doing her damnedest not to look at him, and she was smiling. Did he do that? Chuckling, he shook his head at her bare lips. He hadn’t even noticed her lipstick was smeared when she was walking away. He was too busy trying to get his desire under control. That girl drove him mad, and he sure as hell didn’t feel the lipstick on himself. It was embarrassing, and he was really starting to believe Lucy when she said she had only bad luck.
It was kind of funny.
But he was pretty sure he was the only one laughing.
Bringing his gaze from hers, he looked at Jayden. “Yeah, that’s my goal, at least.”
Jayden nodded. “Good. She needs that, and so does Angie.”
Benji looked out on the ice where Angie was lined up for the puck. She was breathing hard, her eyes on the puck. She was ready to go. He felt like a proud father, but he wasn’t her father, he couldn’t forget that. No, her dad was douche dude from doucheville.
“Where is the bag of dicks?” he found himself asking, his blood suddenly boiling. How dare he miss his kid’s game? Angie deserved way better.
“Fuck if I know. I hate that dude,” Jayden said, looking around, and then he paused. “Ah, he’s sitting on the visitors’ side.”
Benji glanced to where he was looking, and there was Rick with a pretty blonde and a girl the same size as Angie, playing on her iPad. “Is that his wife and kid?”
“Yeah,” Jayden said, his voice laced with acid.
That bothered him. The little girl looked Angie’s age. Maybe older. He almost asked, but then Angie got the puck, a breakaway. She rushed down the ice, leaving everyone in her dust.
“Deke, deke, shoot,” Jayden yelled and Benji scoffed.
“She’s seven, dude!”
But Angie did what her uncle said. She deked left, then right, pulling the goalie completely out before lifting the puck into the goal with ease. As she threw her arms up, Benji was screaming so loud, he was sure he was going to lose his voice. Lucy was too, waving her arms and jumping up and down as Angie grinned big, turning to give him and Jayden a thumbs-up. They both gave her a thumbs-up, and she skated away with a grin nothing could touch.
“Hell yeah!” Jayden yelled and Benji was pumped. But when he glanced at Rick to see if he was cheering too, he found he wasn’t cheering. No, he wasn’t even watching.
His fury-filled gaze was on Benji.
Narrowing his eyes, Benji looked away as the buzzer rang and the game was over. The home side was cheering loudly as the girls all wrapped around each other, hugging tightly, and Shea fist-pumped from the bench. “Let’s go over there,” Jayden said, and together they headed over, reaching Shea as he was cheering the girls on.
“Great passing, great puck control, and, Hart! That breakaway, amazing! I’m so proud of you girls. You did awesome. Now, all together. Ready? On three. One, two,” he hollered, and then together everyone said, “Glittery Butterflies!”
Jayden chuckled and said under his breath, “Ha, who would have thought that big Shea Adler would be coaching a team called the Glittery Butterflies?”
“I sure as hell did,” Benji said between laughs, but when Adler glanced back at them, they both stopped laughing. “Great game, Coach!”
“Yeah, I hear y’all,” he said dryly, but a grin pulled at his lips as Angie came toward them, waddling in her skates.
“Okay, that was awesome!” she decided, and Benji shook her by her shoulders.
“Awesome? That was freaking amazing! You’re so fantastic!” he cheered and she beamed as he undid her helmet.
“How you feel, superstar?” Jayden asked as girls passed by, congratulating Angie on a good game.
“My feet hurt and I’m tired. A nap is in order for this glittery butterfly princess,” she decided, and they both laughed as Benji picked her up, putting her on his shoulders, watching her skates so they didn’t cut him.
“Well, then, glittery butterfly princess Angie, I’ll shall carry you to your bag,” he said and she giggled.
“Thank you, good sir. Man servant, my stick, my helmet,” she said, handing Jayden her things and he took them, a grin on his face.
“Yes, yes, princess.”
Dissolving in laughter, Benji’s heart almost couldn’t handle it. It was all too damn much. Too damn sweet and perfect. Man, this was the life.
As they walked together toward the door to leave, Angie replayed the game. While Benji listened, he saw that Rick was talking to Lucy, his wife and daughter behind him, everyone looking very awkward and uncomfortable. When Rick’s face got red and Lucy glared, the hair on the back of Benji’s neck stood to attention. He looked up to Angie, but she was too busy talking and didn’t notice Rick, which was good.
Clearing his throat, he said, “Why don’t you go change? You’re all wet. Jayden will take you.”
Jayden nodded, noticing where Benji was looking, and said, “Yeah, come on, glittery butterfly princess.”
Carefully, Benji took her off his shoulders and she went with Jayden as Benji made his way to Lucy. Her mom and River were with her, and he was sure she was fine, but he needed to be there.
Wanted to be there.
Coming up just as Rick sneered, “You made a big deal about me being here, and she doesn’t even care I was here. She didn’t even look at me! Why did I come if she didn’t care?”
“She did care! She looked at you twice. I don’t know what you want, Rick. I can’t make her get up your ass,” Lucy snapped back as her mother’s hand came down on her shoulder.
“Lucy, just come on.”
“He isn’t worth it,” Baylor sneered, her eyes in slits.
“Whatever, you don’t even know shit,” Rick said to her, but then River was in his face.
“Watch it, buddy.”
“Get out of my face, old man. This has nothing to do with any of you and everything to do with her,” he said, pointing his finger to Lucy. “This is bullshit and you know it. Your family steals all my time. She doesn’t even care about me half the time.”
“Do you know you sound like a toddler right now?” Lucy bit out, her eyes flashing, and Rick stepped toward her, pulling up short when Benji came up beside her.
“All she cared about was�
��” he stopped and pointed to Benji “—this douche. Who are you? Why are you even here? You like little girls or something?”
“Rick! That’s enough,” Lucy yelled and the blonde behind him put her hand on his arm.
“Let’s go say bye to Angie. People are watching,” she said and Rick glared back at her, which made her snap her mouth shut.
“Buddy, you don’t know me, but I’d watch it,” Benji said sternly and Rick laughed.
“You aren’t even on my radar, dude. You don’t even matter. You’re nothing, you don’t know my kid, so go on somewhere else. This slut may be fucking you, but believe me, she’ll be done soon. She doesn’t last long. That door on her bedroom is revolving.”
“Whoa, now,” River yelled, pointing to Rick’s daughter. “You are disgusting to talk like that in front of your child.”
“He’s worthless,” Baylor mumbled, but Benji’s gaze never left Rick’s.
“What, big boy? Got something to say? That’s what I thought,” Rick said, and then his gaze went to Lucy. “Keep this dude away from my kid.”
Before Lucy could speak, Benji said, “Not gonna happen, dude.”
“What?” he roared, taking a step toward Benji. He went toe-to-toe with him, his hands shaking at his thighs. Rick was a good foot shorter than Benji, but he’d give it to him, the guy didn’t back down. “What did you say to me?”
“I said, not going to happen. I not only coach Angie, but I’m friends with her mother.”
“You mean, the fuck of the week? Listen, she’s a whore—”
He was cut short when Benji’s nose came toward his. “One more time. One more time, you disrespect the mother of your child, and I swear you’ll never speak another word a day in your life.”
“Benji,” Lucy urged as she pulled on his arm.
“Rick, that’s enough,” his wife complained, pulling at him, but he shook her off.
“You think you’re winning, dude? I had her before you. I know what that is. You’re wasting your time fighting for her.”
“You son of a bitch, you are a piece—” River pulled Autumn away as she kept screaming, Baylor going with them.
Lucy pleaded, “Please, Benji, he isn’t worth it. You’re only making it worse.”
