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Probably because she wasn’t stupid, and she knew that there was only one other person Icouldbe talking about, considering Fox had gone inside and the parking lot was empty of everyone but the man, the mayor, and me.
In typical Billie Rose fashion, she wasn’t fazed by my inquiry, and in even more typical Billie Rose fashion, she didn’t fuck around with an answer.
She just…gave me one, even as it shocked the shit out of me.
“My dad.”
Two words, but what crossed through her eyes told me a wealth of information.
And it wasn’t pleasant.
And seriously—thatguy was her dad? Calling her BR and lecturing her in parking lots and snapping out orders on the phone. Okay, well, that last part was pure Billie Rose, but the rest of it—
Well, it was cold and hard, and shecouldbe a hard ass when she needed to fight for her people, but it came from a place of love and caring.
I’d allowed myself to learnthatmuch about her.
It was something I shouldn’t know, definitely something I shouldn’t want to know more about.
But I was standing in front of her asking questions, anyway.
I stepped closer, resisted the urge to do what Fox had done—tug on one of those straightened locks. “You two don’t get along?”
More emotions crossing through her blue eyes—bronze to gold, cobalt to sky. “You’re going to be late for practice,” she murmured, ignoring my question.
I was still ridiculously early, but I gave her that play, anyway. “Or, let me guess, moreimportantly, you have lots of work to do,” I teased, inhaling, and not getting smoke for change. Getting flowers and woman and—
A rueful smile that sent a pulse straight to my cock.
It wasn’t defensive. It was one I’d seen her shoot toward Bailey and Axel—soft and a little sweet, as though she couldn’t help herself but to work all hours of the day.
An overachiever.
Never stopping.
Never taking a break.
All work and no play.
But before I’d tasted her, touched her, held her close and wiped her tears, I didn’t let myself think about those characteristics being something that were appealing, that I might want to see more of, that I might want to get creative in all the ways I could to tempt her tostopworking and to start—
Enough.
Because that night was…well, it didn’t matter. It wouldn’t go anywhere. Itcouldn’t.
I knew it months ago, and I still knew it now, even after the night we spent together. It was an unchangeable fact and why I’d spent all my time focusing on how abrasive and annoying and unwanted Billie Rose’s workaholic tendencies were, on pushing her buttons instead of pinning her to the wall and fucking her until she didn’t even want tothinkabout opening up her laptop.
But now I’d tasted her and touched her and held her close and wiped her tears and—
Nothing.
Now it would be nothing. Itmeantnothing.
So why couldn’t I turn the fuck around and walk into the rink, get dressed, warm up, and get lost in practice? Why couldn’t I forget about this woman? Get on with my life and go back to how I was before the fire?
Because of the fuckinglookin her eyes.
Because the flames had torn through River’s Bend.
