One side of Wes’s lips lifts infinitesimally. “Now I need to hear this.”
“Isla needs a date,” Spencer announces without an ounce of finesse.
I cross my arms across my chest. “I do not need a date.”
Spencer places a finger over my mouth and shushes me. “She needs someone to show her family and her ex that she’s moved on. It’s an hour or two tops, and you’ll make her life so much easier.”
Right, like Wes will care about that.
“A date and a meet-the-family. You’re going to owe me, Covington.” Wes smirks.
Everything between us has turned on its head since we found out that we both remember our chance meeting as kids, and I don’t know what to do about it.
“This dinner will be a nightmare. My dad will grill you. My mom will undercut you. My ex will get mean. I wouldn’t wish my family on my worst enemy.”
But it would be nice to have someone other than Brooks with me. He has his own baggage with our family to contend with.
“I don’t scare so easy, Red.”
I skate to the rink barrier, passing Thea and Spencer talking while she warms up for practice. I prop my elbows on the top of the boards. “What do you want in exchange?”
“Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to, Isla.”
An inferno sparks to life in my belly as we hold eye contact. I want him once, to extinguish this curiosity. That’s all this is: a hot man, a long stretch of celibacy, and a fucked-up imagination causing my body to react this way.
What if I want the answer?The words claw up my throat, but I suppress them. “I can’t accept your help if I don’t know the payment.”
“Or you could take a risk, Covington.”
I continue to stare him down, staying silent, hoping he’ll buckle and tell me his terms. His gaze remains steady, unruffled by my intensity. Has my stubbornness met its match?
“Just a thought,” Wes says, turning away from me and heading down the tunnel, leaving me staring after him, wondering whether I’ll survive whatever he throws my way.
Chapter 14
Isla
Iwalkthroughthefrontdoors of the rink, a bounce in my stride, ready to work out in the glorious morning silence.
Spencer doesn’t arrive for another hour, which leaves me the time to wake up gradually. I might love the morning atmosphere, but I’m cranky as hell until my coffee kicks in and I finish a run.
I push through the door that leads from the foyer to the hallway and take two more steps before pulling open the gym door. The light’s already on, like usual, but unlike every other time I’ve worked out at this hour, I’m not alone.
Wes lies on the weight bench, wearing gray sweatpants and nothing else.
The definition of each muscle along his torso flexes as he stabilizes his body while pressing the hundred and twenty pounds on the weight bar. Sweat drips from strands of his brown hair onto the floor as he pushes the weight bar straight over his chest.
I’m spellbound, unable to tear my eyes from him, and suddenly I’m hit with this blinding anger that he’s ruining my morning routine. That he’salwaysaround with his stupid hair and that raspy voice calling me a nickname that I didn’t endorse.
The words,You were my first kiss too, Red, haunt my dreams.
My bag falls to the ground, the sound echoing off the walls. “What are you doing here?”
Wes presses the bar one more time before setting it onto the rack. “Good morning to you, too, Red.”
He sits up, giving me a closer view of his body. The tattoo I’ve seen peeking out from beneath his shirt, which he has perpetually unbuttoned, finally comes into view. It’s a night sky, dark blues and purples blended against one side of his chest, with the outline of what looks to be a connected constellation of stars.
I swallow hard, but refuse to look away and give him the satisfaction of knowing how the sight of his body affects me.
