Page 28 of Three Hockey Hotties

I frown. She doesn’t even have enough stuff to fill up three drawers of a dresser?

That itch to pull out a credit card and take her straight to the nearest clothing store gets stronger.

Instead, I close the suitcase and latch it. I look around the room. “What else?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “The apartment came furnished. The dresser and bed and everything in the living room were already here.”

I nod. That’s very good.

“Dishes? Appliances? Anything special that you want to keep?”

She shakes her head. “Just my plant. I had a throw blanket on the sofa that I liked.” She looks sad for a moment. “But no, the dishes are just from the secondhand store. I have a toaster and⁠—”

“You won’t need a toaster.”

She nods. “Okay.”

“We can try to get the blanket cleaned.”

She shakes her head. “It’s not really special. I got it in college at Target.”

“You sure?”

She nods.

“We have lots of blankets. And I’ll get you a new one.” I need to get her a new one suddenly.

I hate that she has so little, but it is going to make moving her in with us easier. Not only because it will take just one trip in Benjamin’s SUV, but also because spoiling her will be easy and a fuck ton of fun.

“You don’t have to,” she says.

“I know.” I move past her, and on impulse, I stop and press a quick kiss to the top of her head. “Change your clothes. Then we’ll leave.”

She looks a little dazed when she meets my gaze. “Okay.”

I think I’m going to leave it to Benjamin to explain to her that she’s going to be moving in with us versus a hotel.

I head to her bathroom to be sure that we get her strawberry bath gel, shampoo, or whatever the hell it is that makes her smell so damn good.

CHAPTER 6

KANE

There are only a handful of hotels in Willow Bay, and most are intended for quick overnight stays right off of the highway for travelers en route to Chicago or Milwaukee. Or for kids’ sporting events like soccer and hockey tournaments. Low rates and a-bagel-for-breakfast kind of places.

In other words, the exact opposite of any place my brother would ever stay or by default, put someone up in.

Mrs. Litwinski’s eyes widen in disbelief when Benjamin’s SUV rolls up to the only posh hotel in town, owned by a major luxury hotel chain, but designed to fit into the small town atmosphere of Willow Bay.

“You got me a room here?” she asks, astonishment in her voice. “You should have warned me. I would have taken the damn curlers out of my hair.”

She starts frantically unrolling them one by one. Her elbow catches me in the shoulder. I grunt a little.

“Sorry,” she murmurs. Then adds, “And I know my little old elbow didn’t hurt you one bit. You easily take twenty a game.”

“I was just…” Annoyed she’s in the backseat between me and Abby.

Not put out that she’s with us. Just that she is preventing me from being snug up against my girl in the SUV.