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I lift a brow at her. “Independence Day, huh?”
She laughs and the way it burbles out of her throat sets my pulse speeding out of control.
“Yeah. Something like that.”
A horn honks in the driveway, shattering our focus. She laughs. “I better get going before he changes his mind and storms in here to mess you up.”
“Yeah. Well, I’ll see you in a few days for the dinner, Chastity. I can’t thank you enough for helping me out here.”
“I’m only doing this for the poor woman you are in love with. I hope you can tell her soon how you feel.”
I can feel my face freeze, trying not to give my feelings away. “Yeah. Me too.”
Me too, little firefly. Me too.
CHAPTER7
Chastity
The night of the auction is a full moon night and that feels kind of apropos right now. It’s a little warm for this time of year and there’s a feeling of excitement in the air around me.
Or maybe that’s just me. I never thought I’d be this excited to go out with Steele. I mean…not on a real date, but just a date.
Ugh!I scream inside my head. Wanting to pull at my hair. Dammit, it’s not a date. Not a real date and I need to be able to keep that fucking straight.
The limo pulls up in front of my place and I wrinkle my nose.What the hell is Steele thinking?He could have driven me. He didn’t need to rent this monstrosity.
The back door opens and I hear him call to the driver. “No. I’ll help her in. Don’t worry about it.”
My eyebrows lift to my hairline and he grumbles when he sees me. “Don’t give me that look. It’s a real fake date. I wanted to do this right.”
“Fine. Just don’t shut my dress in the door.” Since it’s formal, I’m wearing a teal-blue dress that wraps around my waist and falls to the floor in a flattering a-line. My chunky gold jewelry glows with crystals along the chain ropes. More crystals are wound through my hair. Hair that I paid a fortune to have taken care of.
“How was work?” He says as he settles me in the backseat of the car.
“Terrific. I got to purchase a new book that all my patrons are excited about.”
I love my job. The library is my life. I don’t care what people say. I just can’t believe that libraries will go the way of video stores. Everybody loves a good book.
He looks over, holding up a bottle of champagne. I nod my head and he pours me a drink. “You really love what you do, don’t you?”
I nod. “Don’t you?”
“No. Not really. Hockey has always been the means to an end for me. When I was growing up, it meant the possibility of a future that would be a helluva lot better than the one I had growing up.”
I eye his big body and feel myself leaning towards him. But I pull myself up short. “What do you mean?”
“I know I told you that I was in foster care when I was growing up. My parents weren’t able to take care of me or my brother. So we went to different foster homes. Nobody wanted to take two teenage boys that were both big as houses.”
“Oh.” Tears prick my eyes.
“No.” He says. “Don’t cry for me, firefly. I got by and when I found hockey, I found an outlet for all the anger and pain I’d felt over the years.”
“But…didn’t you have anyone to watch out for you?”
“When I was older, my brother and I found each other again. He’s been by my side since then.”
“I’d love to meet him.”
