Page 9 of Inside the Penalty Box

“You better introduce us to him later on,” Adalyn said before standing up. “Ladies, shall we eat?”

“We need all the details,” Lorelai added. “Leave nothing out.”

“And she means nothing out.” Hannah winked.

The three of them stood, but Willow stayed. “Go ahead,” she said, dropping her glasses to cover her eyes once again. “I’m not hungry just yet.”

We watched them walk away. I looked off toward the water. I had nothing to say to Willow. I was angry she’d do something like this to me. As soon as the others were out of earshot, Willow cleared her throat and put her hand on my arm.

“What?” I muttered, not turning to look at her.

“Aurora, there is no reason to be embarrassed at the fact you didn’t get his name.”

“How on earth do you know I didn’t get his name?”

She shrugged. “I don’t, but I sense something is different with you.”

I looked over at her, wondering if she was just throwing things out there to see what would stick, or if she really did sense something different about me.

“Also, there isn’t any shame in a one-night stand. Some of the best sex I’ve had in my brief life has been with one-night stands. I recommend everyone have at least one or two of them in their lifetime. The reason being is that there is no pressure if you don’t know the person, nor any pressure because you never have to see them again if you don’t want to. Makes for epic sex.”

I felt my cheeks heat at the memory of last night. I didn’t recall ever coming as hard as I did last night.

“See what I mean?” Willow whispered before she stood up and took off toward the other girls. Halfway across the room, she stopped and turned around, making her way back over to me. “Oh, and don’t worry. I’m sorry if I put you on the spot. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. From now on, I promise I won’t say anything about it to anyone. Now stop the blushing, own what happened, and eat your fruit.”

Chapter 4

Aurora - 9 Months Later

I waited impatiently, standing just outside the airport’s departure area, watching people exit as I waited for my brother. His plane had come in late, which was making us late for our next stop, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t really all that excited about the next stop anyway. I let out a huff, sat down, and checked the time on my watch. When I looked up, I finally spotted Walker, his large green duffel bag flung over his shoulder, looking over the crowd for me.

I stood up, waving my hand in the air and smiling. This was the longest we’d ever been apart, and I’d missed him a lot. I’d struggled a lot this year after returning from Mexico. It wasn’t just the actions on the trip, either; it was school. This last semester had been hard, and losing my friendship with Willow, Adalyn, and Hannah hadn’t helped matters. I hadn’t even been able to call my brother while he’d been away, so to have him home for a weekend meant a lot.

“Walker! Over here!” I shouted.

He glanced in my direction, waved, and made his way through the crowd to me.

“Hey, sis,” he said, throwing his arms around me.

“Walker!” I cried, hugging him back. “It’s so good to see you.”

“You too. You look good. Thanks for coming to pick me up. I figured Mom would have wanted to be here as well,” he said, looking around as if he were hoping she was going to jump out of some undisclosed location.

“Ah, yes, our mother. I offered to pick her up, but since Mr. Romance appeared, she’s been… preoccupied.”

“Ah, yes, Mr. Romance. Have you met him yet?” Walker asked as he held the door open for me.

I shook my head. “No, not yet. Not sure I really want to, given her track record. We’ll just get used to him and he’ll be gone, just like all the others.”

“Can’t say I blame you there… I feel the same way, although she told me in her last email that this one was different,” Walker replied, giving me a funny look.

I let out a laugh. “Oh yes, different. I think we have heard that before, haven’t we?”

Walker nodded. “We have. I think it was guy two, five, and eight, or maybe it was five, seven, and twelve.”

“No, I know it wasn’t number eight. He was the one with that crazy laugh that she couldn’t stand.”

“No, that was seven. Number eight was the fire investigator that she met the night of the bar fire, remember?”

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