“Hey, don’t pull your hair out. Alex won’t be happy with me if you do that.”
He lets out a wet laugh and drops his hands before wrapping them around my shoulders. He hugs me so tight. I let out a squeak, and hug him back.
“I love you, you know that, right?” he says into the side of my head.
“Yeah, I do. And I love you too. And Alex. And Ernie.” I grin at the thought of his dog. “Can I steal him again soon?”
“You know you’d steal him anyway, even if I said no.”
“Yeah, I would,” I agree.
We hug for another thirty seconds before we get our stuff out of the back of the car and head toward the elevator. Blaine swipes his key card and presses the buttons to our floors. I wait until the car is moving before I drop another nugget of news.
“Um, so, you don’t have to worry about me being lonely now, though, because I’m dating Hunter.”
Blaine’s head snaps up. “Hunter? As in firefighter Hunter?”
I nod, unable to stop the wide grin from spreading across my face. “Yep. The one and only.”
“How… When… What.” He cuts himself off with a shake of his head. “No, wait. Don’t tell me yet because Alex will want to know. Come to our place?”
“I can’t, ’cause he’s on his way over.” A bubble of laughter escapes my throat. “But—” I hold up a finger as his jaw drops. “You can’t come over because I want to make out on the couch before my nap, and I deserve to make out on the couch with a hot man because I’ve been sad for ages, okay?”
His mouth clamps shut, and then his lips purse with a smirk. “Okay, I won’t use my key to break in. But only this once. Nexttime, I’m going to break in, and I won’t care if you’re about to get acquainted with his fireman’s pole. I’ll be giving him the talk.”
I press my lips together to stop myself from laughing. “The talk? Like the awkward birds-and-the-bees talk Mom and Dad gave us?”
“No, not that bad. The talk, as in if he hurts you, I’ll end him,” he says sternly.
The seriousness of his tone has me slapping my palm over my mouth and trying so hard not to laugh. He might only be two minutes older than me, but he’s always been coming to my defense. I let go of my mouth and give his shoulder a loving pat.
“I appreciate the sentiment, and it’s cute you think you could win a fight against him.”
He rears back like I’ve slapped him. “Hey! I could take him in a fight.”
I give him a pointed look. “Blaine, he’s an ex SEAL and as tall as a tree. I plan to be the koala.” I wiggle my brows.
He screws up his nose, and I burst into laughter as the car reaches my floor.
I step out into the hall and turn to say, “I’ll see you in a few hours. And if you think about interrupting my couch make-out nap time, I will break into your apartment and steal the left of every shoe you own.” The doors begin to close, so I quickly wave and shout, “Bye, twinny!”
My mouth is on Hunter’s the second we walk through the door of my apartment. The door slams closed behind him, and we both stumble as we try to kick off our shoes without tearing our lips apart. I know it’s only been a few hours since my tongue was in his mouth, but I feel starved of him.
We beat Winnipeg, winning the game 4-1. It strengthened our position as the leaders in our division and increased our chances at a spot in the playoffs. I saved thirty-two out of thirty-three shots on goal, and the one rogue goal was a shitty rebound slipped past me. But it’s okay. We still won, and I’mbuzzing.
And now I’m winning again because Hunter’s shrugging out of his sexy leather jacket. He’s wearing a faded Alice in Chains T-shirt and worn jeans that hug his strong legs.
“Can we…” My words trail off as he kisses down my throat, and I let out a gasp. Fuck, who knew I was so sensitive there? “Can we go to my room?”
“Mhm,” he hums, then takes me by surprise when he reaches down and hooks his hands beneath my ass and lifts me up. I instinctively wrap my legs around his waist, looping my arms around his neck. Looking down at his handsome face, there’s no way of hiding my face-splitting grin.
“Is this okay?” he asks.
I nod firmly. “Very okay.”
He flashes me the same lopsided smile from the first day we met, only this time, his eyes are burning with heat. He carries me down the hall to my room like I weigh nothing. I guess it’s his job to carry people out of buildings, but having him carry me like this makes me feel so safe. Like he could protect me from anything.
Hunter places me down on the bed, and I make quick work of removing my socks and jacket. My blackout blinds are already down, and my bedside lamps are on a timer so I don’t come home in the dark. It’s cozy, just the way I like it, and the perfect setting forsomething.
