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He laughs before kissing my cheek. “Brat.”
Outside, Gage pauses at a group near the edge of a beautifully lit swimming pool that has rocks stacked on one end at least fifteen feet high, creating a waterfall.
They all watch as Coen and I approach, and it feels like there’s a spotlight on me. I can’t imagine how Coen feels since this is a homecoming of sorts.
A really awkward homecoming.
“Look who I found lurking upstairs,” Gage announces.
“Knew it wasn’t a party until I joined,” Coen replies smoothly, and everyone laughs.
It’s an easy laughter, obvious his return is beyond welcome.
Coen becomes Mr. Sociable and introduces me to everyone, starting with Gage’s girlfriend, Jenna, with sunny blond hair and a sunnier smile. She looks like she’d be at home with a surfboard tucked under her arm on some beach.
Next is Baden, and I recognize him from the articles about his fascinating journey from goalie with the Arizona Vengeance to goalie coach on this rebuilt team. That journey included learning to walk again after he was paralyzed in a violent encounter with some men who were attacking a woman. That woman is now his girlfriend, Sophie, and her first words to me are, “Hey… we actually kind of look alike.”
It’s true. She has blond hair like me, although it’s darker, but we’re both rocking the curls.
Last, I’m introduced to Stone and his girlfriend, Harlow, who looks like a movie star just stepping off the red carpet with her lustrous auburn hair that falls in waves down her back. Of course, Stone is as gorgeous as she is, so he makes a good leading man.
Hell, they’re all super beautiful people, just like Coen, and yet I don’t feel an ounce of discomfort. None of that matters because I have someone who loves me exactly the way I am.
Coen and I are immediately drawn into the group. Questions ping at us so fast, my head spins, mostly focused on our summer. They’ve obviously heard about me—assuming through Coen—and I’m asked about my art and how the studio renovation has progressed. Coen tells them about our plans to do the “long-distance” thing, and the women start making plans to hang with me on my trips here.
At some point, Coen presses another glass of wine into my hand, and he switches to water. We migrate over to an empty dartboard and pair up to play cricket. I’m a good player, having been in a bar league back home, and Coen enjoys rubbing it in everyone’s faces every time I hit a trip.
It’s my teammate who hits the last bullseye we need to win, and a good time for me to use the restroom. I make my excuses and before I walk away, Coen leans in for one of his quick smooches. Stone and Baden tease him about it, and he calls them jealous.
As I’m walking away, Harlow, Jenna, and Sophie all fall in with me. I look at them in surprise.
It’s Harlow who admits, “We’ve been dying to get you alone.”
“Why’s that?” I ask as we reach the bathroom, but there’s a short line waiting on it.
“We need to know how you turned the beast into a prince,” Sophie says without batting a shameful eye.
I’m not offended. Coen confessed to being an asshole to everyone.
I laugh and shake my head. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. He’s been utterly charming from the moment I met him.”
Jenna’s jaw sags. “Really?”
I laugh harder. “No… he was such as ass when we first met.”
I tell them about the tree line being the source of our strife, the lawsuit and injunction, my petty pranks that riled him up, and how he threatened to have me arrested if I didn’t clean up the mess.
I leave out the oral sex against the tree, but I tell them how even though we couldn’t stand each other, he came to my rescue when Cici was bullying me.
The women sigh warmly, and Jenna says, “I knew he was a softy inside.”
“He really is charming now,” I say. I don’t want them to think he’s putting on an act. “Fun, outgoing, loving, supportive.”
“The kind of man he was before the crash,” Harlow says.
“I don’t know since I didn’t know him then, but I saw a glimpse of what I think everyone here has experienced with him. He had some demons he wrestled with, but he’s put them to rest.”
“We’re just thrilled,” Sophie says. “He’s going to be what gets this team truly back on their feet next season.”
