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"Shit." Jonas reaches for her hand, pulling her in front of him. "Jamie, this is my baby sister, Parker. Parker, this is Jamie Knight, your future sister-in-law."
I didn't even know he was dating anyone, let alone seriously enough to be considering marriage. Judging by the look on her face, she didn't know he was thinking about marriage, either.
"It's nice to meet you," I finally say, pasting a smile on my face. "Can we skip the wholedon't hurt my brotherspeech or do I really have to say it?"
"We can skip it," she says, giving me a little smile. "Hurting him is the last thing I want to do."
I'm pretty sure she means it. She's looking at him like he hung the moon. He's looking at her the same way. It's weird. I've never seen him look at a woman the way he's looking at her. I've never even seen him with a girlfriend. It's…good to see him happy. I like it.
"Is it okay with you if Jamie spends a few nights here?" Jonas asks me.
"It's your house."
"You live here too," he says quietly.
"Are you sure that's what you want?"
"Um, I'm going to use the restroom," Jamie murmurs.
"It's down the hall, first door on the left." Jonas points her in that direction before turning back to me. "What do you mean am I sure?"
"You threatened to pull my sponsorship application and send me back to Canada," I remind him.
"I know." He blows out a breath. "I was an ass, and I shouldn't have said that. I didn't mean it."
"You can't just threaten to send me back to Mom and Dad every time you get mad at me." I perch on the edge of the sofa, preparing to confess that I was at the club. "I'm an adult too, Jonas. You have to treat me like one. Otherwise, living together isn't going to work."
"I know, I know. But fucking hell. You left me that note, and I thought you were at the sex club. Jamie was cornered inside by some asshole. I kept thinking about the same thing happening to you." He meets my gaze, his dark and stormy. "You may be grown, but you'll always be my baby sister. The thought of someasshole putting his hands on you stresses me the fuck out. I'd burn the damn place to the ground before I let you go there."
I'm pretty sure he actually means that. Whatever happened with Jamie inside is still too fresh. If I tell him the truth now, he's going to overreact. I swallow back my confession, saving it for another time.
"Promise me that you'll never go there," he demands.
"I'll make you a deal. If you promise to stop trying to run my life, I'll promise to never go to this club."
"Deal," he says immediately, grinning. "But take it easy on me, will you? No dating until you're fifty. Between the guy at the club and Jamie's boss, I've dealt with more than enough assholes this year."
"Sure." I smile weakly.
The game is intense.Jonas, Kellan, and the Predators are on fire on the ice, but the Stars aren't playing to lose either. Both teams are tied, with less than a minute on the clock. But judging by the way my brother and Kellan are playing, they aren't going to let the game roll into overtime.
Kris shoots the puck to Kellan, who immediately passes it over to Gray. Two of the Stars players are on him in an instant, doing everything they can to keep him away from the goal. I think they want to drive the guys into overtime.
Gray sails around the net with the puck, passing it back to Kellan right before one of the Stars collides with him, sending him into the boards. The Stars' center charges after Kellan, leaving Jonas an opening.
Kellan sees it and shoots the puck off the back of his stick. It lands against Jonas's stick
The entire arena jumps up, screaming as the clock counts down. I hold my breath, gripping the edge of my seat with my heart in my throat.
The Stars' center realizes he's going after the wrong man and immediately changes course, but he's already too late. He never should have given Jonas an opening. If there's one thing my brother can do, it's nail a short-handed goal.
He lines up the shot.
My hands tighten on the edge of my seat, the metal digging into my palm.
Instead of taking the shot, Jonas whips the puck to Kris at the last second. The goalie isn't expecting the move. He loses sight of the puck for a split second, frantically scrabbling to keep it out of the net. That's all it takes for Kris to sink the puck into the goal behind him.
The goal horn blares and the lights on the siren spin as the crowd around me goes crazy. I exhale the breath I've been holding on a laugh, climbing to my feet, too.
