Page 95 of Holding Penalty

“Boo,” I whisper sharply in her ear, sending her jumping almost out of her cowboy boots, which still make my cock twitch from the mere sight of them pulled up her calves.

She yelps and falls back into my chest, where I curl my arms around her waist and press her close against me, inhaling the sweet, floral scents from her hair.

I only get to enjoy it for about a second, though, because she quickly hops away, spins around, and lifts the hose, covering me with a jet of water.

“Shit, Piper!” I half-gasp-half-laugh, zig-zagging backward to dodge the stream.

She pursues me, and no matter how I bring my hands up to block the rush of water, she continues to soak my hair, face, and everything I’m wearing.

Instead of backing up more, I charge forward, and she lets out a high-pitched peel of a screaming laugh, running away. I chase her, not running nearly as fast as I can, because my eyes find the sight of her ass swishing back and forth in her cut-off shorts entirely too enjoyable.

She stops on a dime and turns around, bringing the hose back up. I get a face full of water, but with one more stride forward, my arms are around her, and she’s dropping the hose as we both fall tangled onto the grass below our feet, a pile of laughter and heaving chests.

While we roll around the ground, I look over at Cheesecake. She’s standing at the edge of the pool, her black eyes stuck on us, an expressionless look on her face.

“I think she’s judging us,” Piper says when we sit up on the ground, angled toward the capybara.

“Can you blame her?”

She laughs. “Not really.”

With that, Cheesecake steps out of the pool. She doesn’t even spare us a parting glance as she waddles past us, into the open land, back to her herd.

“It’s a good thing she’s leaving,” I say.

“Oh?” Piper says, turning her bright green eyes to me.

The happy grin splitting my face morphs into something more wolfish. “Yeah, what I’m in the mood for right now isn’t something she should be present for.”

Piper yelps again as I slide my arms underneath her and gather her up. Something about her weight in my arms brings that feeling of sheer rightness back, and as dangerous as I know it is, I don’t do anything to push it away.

I don’t push it away as I march Piper into our house; or as I slowly strip off her clothes, lavishing every inch of her exposed body with my lips and tongue in the process; or when I push into her, losing myself in bliss as we hurtle toward a quick release; or when we spend the rest of the night just enjoying being together.

I don’t push it away, even though I know time is going to push us apart way too soon for me to prepare myself for.

45

NASH

“Maybe we need to lose a couple games, actually,” Vaughn says gruffly, annoyance thickening his voice when he approaches our table. “I got mobbed for autographs just walking the block from my parking spot.”

“I’m sure we can think of better solutions to that problem than tanking our season,” Cooper says.

“Like not going out on Friday nights,” Vaugh grumbles, sitting down.

“You could get a fake mustache,” Hayden proposes.

“And fake bushy eyebrows,” Noah joins in.

“Giant plastic nose,” Adriano adds.

“What you three could do is—” Whatever Vaughn was about to finish that sentence with was probably none too pleasant. But his voice stops on a dime when Piper and Hallie come back from the bar with their drinks, and the grumpy goalie’s gaze lands on my wife’s younger sister.

A small, strangled noise creaks from Vaughn’s throat. Color seeps into his cheeks, and he brings his fist to his mouth to clear his throat with a cough. “I’m getting a drink,” he says, then hurries to the bar.

I look around the table, but I think I’m the only one who caught that display. I don’t dwell on it for long, though. Piper and her sister take their seats and we start talking again.

Despite how I’ve tried to talk myself out of feeling this way, meeting Hallie feels like a big deal. I want to make a good impression.