My mind is strangely quiet with the contact. Maybe it’s because all I can focus on is the sensation of his calluses against my smooth palms, and how warm and long his fingers are. He takes my hand again once he pulls onto the road, and I swear, it warms me more than the heated leather seats.
I want to ask him what the hell is happening between us, but I can’t find the guts. Instead, I hold his hand, enjoying the slow circles he makes with his thumb and the pleasant fluttering in my belly. I don’t ask him when he tugs me from the car and into the metal stands along the football field at Reed’s school. And when Logan pulls me against his side, wrapping an arm around me to keep me from shivering, I don’t ask then, either.
Maybe that makes me a coward. All I know is that it’s been a long time since anyone made me feel taken care of, and I’m going to enjoy the moment while I’m in it.
I can overthink all this tonight, when I’m alone in my bed.
twenty-eight
LOGAN
What the fuckam I doing right now?
I’m sitting next to a beautiful woman, who I have slept with and definitely want to sleep with again, with my arm around her shoulders while we freeze to death on hard metal bleachers at an eighth-grade football game. Eighth. Grade.
This is boyfriend shit, and I have never, ever been anyone’s boyfriend.
The guys have been teasing me all week about my football game dates with Blair because it’s so out of character for me. It’s all good-natured, and they’re not wrong, but damn, does it chafe my balls. Ever since they all started pairing off, they’ve been giddy at the prospect of me doing the same.
Something I swore I would never do.
Yet here I am, cheering for a thirteen-year-old kid with his sister, who I haven’t evenkissedsince that night in LA. And yeah, I want to get Blair back into bed. Or pushed against a wall. Or maybe bent over a bathroom sink. I’m not picky. But I also want to spend time with her. I want to earn those bright-as-shitsmiles she gives out freely to everyone but me. Every time she smiles at me, it’s hesitant or shy or like she’s trying to hold back.
Why the fuck do I care if she’s holding back?
Whatever the reason, I do. I care about her and Reed, and after seeing her apartment and getting a peek behind the curtain, I’m even more determined to get to know her.
The photos in Blair and Reed’s apartment were eye-opening. She was so young when she became Reed’s guardian. In that family photo from their last Christmas, she still looked like a kid herself. And I guess she was. She was nineteen or just barely twenty. The way she had been hugging her dad’s shoulders alluded to a closeness in their relationship that I’ve never experienced with my own, and her smile was so carefree. She was a young woman with her whole future before her. And I’m sure she believed she’d have the support of her parents as she navigated it.
Now she’s doing it alone, and I know all too well how that feels.
Don’t get me wrong, my dad has always been an active participant in my hockey career—maybe too active—but as far as the rest of it goes? I’m on my own and have been since my mom left. The difference is that I have the guys on my team behind me. They’re more my family than my dad and whatever comes my way, they’ll have my back.
Blair and Reed may not realize it yet, but they’ve got the Rogues behind them now too. Even if I didn’t feel…whatever the fuck this is for Blair, the girls adore her, and my teammates adore their girls. They’ll include Blair and Reed, no matter what happens with us. Which is why I’m about to ask the question on the tip of my tongue.
“Do you and Reed have plans for Thanksgiving?”
The crowd roars around us as the team runs the ball down the field for a second down. But Blair’s attention isn’t on the field. It’s on me. “Thanksgiving?”
“Yeah. You know, turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie…”
“I know what Thanksgiving is,” she says with a roll of her eyes. “I think we’re just going to order some takeout. What about you?”
“You’re coming to dinner at Griffin and Mira’s.”
She stares at me for a beat, blinking exaggeratedly. “What?”
“You can’t order takeout for Thanksgiving. That’s depressing as fuck, and none of us are going to let you do that. Have dinner with us.”
Any other time, Blair would probably give me shit for telling her what to do, but not now. She blinks at me a few more times, her mouth opening and closing. I’ve completely stunned her. A pleased little thrill warms my body at that.
“I… Like your whole team or something?”
“No, angel. It’ll just be me, Maddox and Isla, Ryder and Lexi, Griffin and Mira, obviously, and Bash. There are like twenty guys on the team, so that would be pure chaos.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m sure. But I—we—barely know you all. Why would you invite us? Are Griffin and Mira okay with that?” Blair sucks her lower lip between her teeth, and fuck, do I want to lean over and give her something better to do with those lips. But I keep myself under control, and instead, I reach up and tug her abused lip free with my thumb. The sharp little breath she sucks in goes straight to my dick.
“Why wouldn’t they be okay with that? You’re friends with the girls, right? They love you. We all want you two there.”
