But one look in those dark eyes today and I was right back in his arms, feeling his kiss, smelling his skin on mine.
Damn him.
No one got under my skin as much as he did.
And now I’d have to see him almost every single day.
Heat flashed in my core, the memory of him in nothing but a towel vibrating through me.
It had been so long since I’d felt that . . . umph.
I poured myself another drink, wishing it had the effect of a cold shower.
Day one of the official season hadn’t even started, and I was already terrified simply watching Bentley would melt the ice.
Chapter 3
Bentley
“You made it!” Gage’s little girl, Lettie, greeted me with a ferocious hug around my leg. I scooped her up, situating her on my side.
“Couldn’t miss my favorite girl’s barbecue,” I said, grinning down at her.
“Flip me, flip me!”
I scanned Gage’s backyard, spotting him behind the grill, wrapped up in a convo with Rory.
“One time,” I said, opting for my best and most serious tone.
She nodded enthusiastically, agreeing to the terms . . . for now.
“One,” I said, hefting her up before sinking her back to the ground. “Two.” Another lift and drop. “Three!” I gave her a little toss before catching her and spinning her upside down, stopping her little body just before it touched the ground.
She giggled, and I tickled her under her neck before hauling her upright.
“Again!”
“Not a chance,” I said. “Once is more than enough.”
She pursed that lower lip but the laughter didn’t leave her eyes.
“Fine,” I said, sighing. “One more time. That’s it.”
She clapped before we did our signature flip move again.
And then one more time.
Finally, I faked being tired and in need of rest and set her on her feet. She raced around the backyard, dashing to play with the other kids who’d been invited from her school. Sometimes it was hard as hell to believe Gage had a six-year-old and an eighteen-month-old—Ethan toddling around the swing-set under Bailey’s attentive gaze.
To say Lettie had me wrapped around her finger was an understatement, but I wasn’t alone.
Gage, Rory, and Warren were all useless against that girl’s smile, her laugh. We’d become instant friends the first time Gage invited me over a year ago. I’d talked to her most of the night, more than I even talked to the guys. She’d made me an honorary princess at her tea-party before we’d switched to being amazon warriors fighting off deranged gorillas. The guys had given me hell over it, but in all honesty, I think it was the determining factor on Gage’s olive branch.
Lettie approved, so he did.
“Hey, Rookie,” Gage said as I approached the grill.
“Something smells good, Grinder,” I fired back.
His, Rory’s, and Warren’s heads all snapped to mine.
I groaned, gesturing to him. “You’re the one who always calls me rookie,” I said. “Why can’t I call you by your position?”
Rory shook his head, tsking me. “Because we’ve earned those spots.”
“And all you’ve earned is rookie, Rookie,” Warren added but he was smirking.
“That’s not fair,” Gage said, flipping a brat on the grill. “He’s stepped it up. I would have no worries about him taking over my spot if I decided to retire.”
My eyebrows raised as I gaped at him.
“Dry your panties, Rookie.” He pointed his tongs at me. “I didn’t say I was retiring.”
My shoulders dropped but I laughed it off.
I didn’t want him to retire, not really.
But I wouldn’t say no to the extra ice time if he did.
“Lettie know you’re here?” he asked, tending to the burger patties on the other side of the grill.
“Spotted me the second I walked in.”
“That girl,” he said, a wistful smile on his face.
“I think she has a crush on him,” Rory said, nudging Gage.
Gage’s eyes cut to mine, his jaw locked, eyebrow cocked.
“No, she doesn’t, dick,” I snapped at Rory. “I’m younger than you old men. I can throw her in the air and chase her longer than you can.”
“You may be younger but you sure as shit don’t have my stamina,” Rory argued.
I furrowed my brow. “You can never prove that.”
“Both of you can’t match up to me,” Warren said, taking a long tug from the beer in his hand.
“Fuck all of you,” Gage said. “She doesn’t have a crush. And don’t talk about stamina when I have a backyard full of kids.”
“Stamina?” Bailey called out as she approached us from behind.
Each of us flinched like we’d gotten caught stealing.
She had Ethan on her hip and somehow managed to look graceful and stunning in a pair of yoga pants and soft cotton T. “You four wouldn’t be comparing, would you? Because,” she said, smirking as she planted a kiss on Gage’s cheek, “you do realize that Nine and Paige are my absolute best friends.”
Warren, Rory, and Gage went stark still.
“So, I do know who has the most . . . stamina.”
A laugh burst from my lips at the way she teased them. I reached over and gave her a fist bump. She returned it before flashing a seductive smile at Gage.
“Guess we’ll have to wait for your girl to find out once and for all,” Rory said, nodding to me.
“I don’t have a girl.” The words came fast and clear and sharp. Enough for Bailey’s smile to drop and for her to study me with a little more depth. I shrugged off the inspection. “Haven’t in a long time.”
“Well,” she said, bringing the light teasing back to her tone. “We’ll just keep it to the trio then. Until the time comes.” She winked at me before heading off to chase Lettie with her baby brother.
Warren whistled and a shudder ran over Rory.
“That was scary for a second,” Rory said.
“Damn them,” Warren said. “Sometimes the amount of intel those women exchange terrifies me.”
“Ha!” Gage snorted. “You’re one to fucking talk.” He pointed at his chest with his empty tongs. “I’m the one who had to have a play-by-play on each of your relationships—from both sides.”
“Poor Gage,” Rory said, fake-whining. “Not like we weren’t front row and center when you fell for the nanny.”
Gage cocked an eyebrow at him. “I will end you.”
“Bring it,” Rory said, dancing on his feet without spilling a drop of his beer. “I haven’t been in a good fight for ages.” He motioned his head to me. “Especially not since this one learned to keep his mouth shut.”
“Ha, ha,” I said, rolling my eyes. “If you need a good beat down,”—I raised my arms—“I’m fully prepared to give you one.”
“That right?” He handed Warren his beer.
“Yup.” There was nothing but laughter among us as he stepped around the grill, stopping within an inch of my space.
We were eye to eye, both of us jacked, but my muscles were slightly bigger where his were more lithe. Perks of living at the gym while these guys had other things to do—like be with their families.
Something cold prickled in my gut.
A dream from a lifetime ago—one with a houseful of dogs and babies and Chloe on the ice with me. Teaching our kids how to skate. Family barbecues like this one.
The force of a hammer barreled into my gut, knocking the long-lost dream free from my skull as I hit the grass.
Rory’s shoulder—fucker hit like a truck.
“All talk, Rookie,” he laughed, pinning me to the grass.
“Not likely,” I said, my arm darting up in a flash to hook around his neck. I jerked him to the right, my forearm bulging under his chin as I gained the upper hand, rolling to my knees for better leverage.
Rory smacked
at my hold before he got his feet under him and fucking stood up, flipping me back to the ground with a hard thwack. Air whooshed out of my lungs from the force.
“Uncle Rory,” Lettie chided from a few feet away. “Leave my Rookie alone.”
Fuck, she was just like her dad.
Couldn’t be mad at her though. It was impossible.
“We’re just playing, sweetie,” Rory said as I wiggled out from under his weight and kicked his feet out from underneath him.
“Rookie!” Lettie said as I fell on top of his chest with my elbow.
Rory groaned but wrapped his fucking legs around me, jerking me to the ground in a grip I couldn’t shake. “Tap out, Rook.”
“Never,” I growled, unable to stop the laugh as Lettie rolled her eyes and stomped off—that was all Bailey.
I elbowed him in the ribs again, but he held firm.
“Surrender!” Rory was enjoying this too much.
I couldn’t let him win.
I had to go for his weakest spot.
“Never,” I said again, and reached up to grab a fistful of his blond hair.
He hissed. “Not the hair, man.”
“Is that normal?” Chloe’s voice cut through our grunts and laughter as if she’d spoken through a personal speaker in my ear.
I craned my head—which was way too close to Rory’s chest, as he hadn’t let go of me and I hadn’t let go of him—and there she was.
Chloe.
Looking sexy as hell in a pair of skinny jeans and white flowy top, holding some kind of wrapped platter. Her eyes wide and confused as she glanced from Bailey back to us—Rory’s legs wrapped around me in a wrestling match that went a few clicks beyond awkward.
Fucking hell.
I let go of his hair, and he unlatched his legs from around my abdomen, and we both scrambled to our feet.
One light punch to my gut had me cringing for a split second. “That’s for the hair, Rookie,” Rory said, eyeing me as he walked back over to Gage and Warren who had shit-eating grins on their faces.
Dicks.
“Next time, old man!” I shouted.
“Next time you two should do it shirtless,” Paige hollered, and Rory gaped at her from where she sat at the patio table with Jeannine. Daphne bounced on Paige’s knee, while Katherine slept soundly again Nine’s chest, still so tiny at only two months old.