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Instead, I walked outside to find Greyson waiting.
“It’s probably too soon for normal people to have a second date,” I teased him as I walked down the steps.
He pulled flowers out from behind his back. Tiger lilies. The name came to me even though I didn’t remember seeing them before.
“We’re not normal people,” he told me with a smile, handing the lilies over to me.
I held them to my face and breathed in. “I think these just might be my favorite.”
“Imagine that,” he said quietly, giving me a smile. “And I might just be your favorite, too.”
7
One minute, the most beautiful girl in the world was standing on the step above me, looking down at the tiger lillies as if no one had ever brought her flowers before. Pride surged in my chest: I could be the one to give her all these things she had lost, like the memory of a man who loved her, giving her flowers.
The breeze caught her long brown hair and teased it around her face, and all I wanted to do was lean forward and kiss her smiling mouth.
In high school, I hadn’t been the one who had thought to bring her flowers first. That had been Jack. But I was older and wiser, and I was going to be so fucking good to her that I would never, ever lose her again.
The next minute, as if I had summoned a certain blond-haired, sheep-dog-looking oversized hockey player, Jack shouldered out the doors then and barreled down toward us.
“Let’s go,” I told Kennedy, offering her my hand. “The area around the rink gets so trashy at night. Let me take you somewhere nice.”
She grinned and reached out for my hand.
“Kennedy! Get away from him!” Jack’s voice split the quiet night air.
She twisted, her lips parting in surprise.
This fucking asshole.
Now that she was happy, now that she had someone who cared about her, now that I would take care of her…he couldn’t stay away. But he had ignored her for five fucking years.
“Is that the first thing he’s ever said to you?” My voice came out harsh.
She twisted back to face me. “Well—practically. But…”
Her brows dimpled in a way that was adorable when that frown wasn’t directed toward me. I never should have said that.
“Because he fucks all the puck bunnies,” I went on. “He wants you now because he sees you with me.”
“He wants me?” Her brows arched. “What is happening?”
Carter slammed the doors open and headed down the stairs too.
“Fantastic,” I muttered. “I planned a nice night with you, but I guess a douchebag convention could be fun too.”
“Kennedy.” Jack reached her first, with Carter at his elbow; typical of the two of them even though Carter was supposed to be captain. “Where are you going with this guy?”
Kennedy’s lips parted as if she were going to answer him, and then her face changed as if she’d just edited everything she was going to say. “What business is it of yours?”
Jack looked as if she had just slapped him.Keep up, golden boy. You lost privileges of keeping tabs and protecting her about five years ago, when you abandoned her in the hospital.
When you stole her from me.
He should be thankful I was just taking her and not ending his miserable life.
“I told you,” I said smoothly. “They’re just a couple of jealous bastards. They’ve always wanted what I have—”
