She hesitates for a moment, and I unclip her belt and pull her into my lap.
Fingers tangling through my hair, Billie peers down at me. “I thought we were supposed to be at the cabin by lunch?”
“This is more important,” I volley back, hitting the button to warm her seat for the journey. “Ask what you were going to, or I’ll never order pineapple pizza again.”
She drops her forehead to mine. “That’s fighting talk, Mr. Richards.”
My cock twitches. “Ask your question, or we’re going back upstairs.”
Billie breathes out slowly. “What are we, Em?”
Pressing my head back into the rest so I can get a better look at her, I cup Billie’s face in my hands.
So much goddamn beauty.
Deep down, I knew this moment would come, whether it was me asking or her. At some point, everyone wants to know where they stand with each other.
When that time came with Maria, our conversations centered more around hockey and the pressure it would put on us. The dangers to my relationship with Maria had nothing on the land mines Billie and I will face. Like the hurt and betrayal that my best friend is going to feel when we ultimately step out into the open together. The rage my ex-wife will likely embody when she discovers that I fell in love with her best friend’s daughter.
Regardless of all the odds, Billie and her baby girl aren’t just what I want for my future; they’re the only route forward I can see.
Another kiss against her swollen lips pulls a whispered confessionfrom my own. “We’re so fucking good together. That’s what we are.”
“But …” She massages her fingers into my scalp. “When you saytogether, do you actually mean that we’re dating, or are we stuck in a?—”
“You’re my girlfriend, Mama,” I cut off her anxious rambling. “If that’s what you want, too, then I’m yours.”
She presses her mouth against mine, and it feels like the Fourth of July just came early.
Her voice is buoyant, almost giddy when she bursts out, “I can’t believe we’re doing this. You, me, and Blake. We’re actually going to give us a shot.”
I’m burning to tell her that this isn’t “a shot” to me even though I totally get why she’s viewing our relationship like that.
“Can I update my social media with a profile picture of us together and tell the world that I’m officially dating the NHL’s hottest hockey player?”
I pull off my glasses and set them on her face. Jesus, she looks fucking cute in them. Especially when she wears my favorite smile.
“When we get home, I want to talk with Scott and Freya.”
Billie worries her lip at the thought, and I hold her face again in my palms.
“This is my mess to clean up, Bill. And the fallout is my responsibility to bear.”
She shakes her head at me. “I want this as much as you do, and that means I need to be there when you talk to my parents.”
My girlfriend is even cuter when she’s determined, even if she’s also wrong. There isn’t a chance that she could want us as much as I do. I’m a fuckingboy obsessed,and I’ll happily wear that badge with honor.
“I get that—honestly, I do. But trust me when I tell you that your parents will want to murder me for this, and it’s going to take some time for them to wrap their heads around the fact that I’m in …”
The sentence dies on my tongue, burning to be voiced.
“And then there’s Maria,” I eventually tag on.
Billie stiffens at the mention of my ex-wife.
When she tips her chin up to look at me, I don’t fucking like where this is heading.
“What’s going on, Billie?”
