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I wanted to learn all about them.
To expand on the small details I’d come to know about them so far, details Joel had shared willingly.
Details that freaked me the fuck out because my family wasn’t like this.
My familycouldn’tbe like this.
But…maybeIcould be like this, could fit in and participate in this conversation, this meal. Maybe I could just be with a family that was…normal.
And downed garlic bread and pasta properly—like the delicacies they were.
Lila jumped right in, garlic bread hanging from her fingers and launching into a story about a client who’d apparently committed the cardinal sin of dyeing her hair black and then wanted to go platinum…and had tried.
At home.
The descriptions had me laughing as much as I did when I was with Bailey and Dessie, had me relaxing. So did Kyra’s softer voice as she spoke about her husband and job, Avery’s enthusiasm when she talked about classes, Rob’s love blatant on his face as he watched Janette describe the trip up to Alaska and how excited she was to go whale watching.
And Joel.
Smiling down at me at regular intervals, brushing his knuckles over my cheek, tugging a curl, stroking a hand down my spine.
Making me think maybe I could be a normal woman, in a normal relationship, with a normal man.
Not the mayor of a town who hid behind her responsibilities because she was too scared to have anything else.
Not a woman who was terrified to step out of her box because she wouldn’t be enough.
Maybe I could just be me.
And maybe he’d love me for it anyway.
Thirty-Seven
Joel
“That’s it, baby,” I murmured, gripping her hips, my dick hard and deep inside her, grinding her down, knowing that she needed the friction, especially when she was in this position.
Ten dates.
Four weeks.
Lots of hockey. Lots of work.
But also, lots of us.
And it had been fuckinggreat.We’d found our rhythm, my Rosie girl wasn’t fending me off and avoiding me, and…it was fucking great.
Christmas was coming up.
The town was having a Winter Festival and Billie was elbow deep in sugar cookies and Christmas lights and elf costumes.
The Rush’s season was going well—we were leading our division.
Myseason was going well—I’d played a few games up with the Gold and done it well enough to be on the occasional rotation (I liked this for many reasons, including that I got paid more money when I played with the Gold, and I had house to rebuild).
And…I had this woman in my life.
She was stubborn and technically still living in the trailer, but she was staying at my apartment almost every night.
