I move my gaze back to the smirking Exton as his rough shoulder bumps into mine, breaking me out of my stray thoughts. “Talk about mighty have fallen and all that BS you tried to sell me earlier.”
I almost want to laugh at how off his assumptions are, but now’s not the time.
“The mightyhavefallen, and Iwasreferring to you.”
“You know, I was starting to really believe in the whole conspiracy theory that you’re a secret monk and all that shit. I mean, you never take anyone home. You aren’t seen on any dates with anyone. You don’t even flirt with girls or guys,” he says, ignoring me and the scowl I’m wearing.
“I flirted with Electra.”
Exton waves me off flippantly. “Yeah, we both know that was to stir shit up with me. You weren’t actually flirting with her like that. But now…” He drags out the last word as yet another shit-eating grin graces his ugly mug that no girl could pass by without fawning over. “I’ve never seen you look at a woman the way you look at Aurora.”
“Like what?” I narrow my eyes, the muscle in my jaw ticks, but he just smiles wider.
“Like you’re ready to send in your application for Emett’s daddy position and make at least ten more with her right here and now.”
“You’re an idiot.” I shake my head, hoping the headache that’s brewing inside it magically dissipates as well.
“Wait, no, scratch that. You’d like to make babies before all other applications.”
“Jesus Christ, are you able to think of anything other than sex?”
“Not when you reek of it.” He waggles his brows, and I’m seriously starting to question what Electra is doing to him here because I haven’t seen this easy-going side of his in a long time. If ever.
If it wasn’t at my expense, I would be over the fucking moon. Alas…
“You need help,” I deadpan.
“Dude.” Exton huffs out a laugh. “You know you can admit you like the woman.”
“There’s nothing to admit,” I cut him off curtly and call out, “Emett, let’s do another round and a shot at the end.”
He nods and gets in position.
I turn to face my friend again. “Come on,Mr. Axe, get moving. Some of us actually have a life to get back to.”
“And here they all think you’re the nice one.” Exton clucks his tongue but finally leaves me alone as he speeds off to play interference.
I know I shouldn’t goad him like this, but I’ve felt unsettled from the moment I stepped out of my car. I feel so fucking unsettled, like an animal that’s been cornered and caged by a set of green eyes I’ve done my best to forget.
Because that was all I remembered clear enough to see in my dream. Everything else was a mess. But not the eyes.
She’s beautiful. So fucking beautiful, I’ve felt the wind getting knocked out of me as soon as my eyes landed on her small form huddled on that camping chair underneath all those blankets.
My eyes hungrily take in every small detail about her, committing it to memory like her thousand-shades of blonde hair sticking out from under her knit pink hat. Her small,slightly pointed at the tip nose, her plush bottom lip that slightly sticks out from the thinner top one. What should be been a slight imperfection, a small flaw, turns into my personal kryptonite in the span of one second.
I’ve never wanted to taste anyone’s lips like I did hers.
Never.
And if that isn’t the most cruel twist of fate, I don’t know what is. Because she’s the one woman I’ll never touch.
That fucking fate…
My lip curls at the mere thought of it as my eyes drift off in Aurora’s direction once again and catch her laughing at something Electra said.
Click. I hear the sound of the puck as it hits the makeshift net, followed by a loud squeal from Emett, who evidently just scored a goal. A goal I didn’t even see coming.
By a four-year-old.
