Page 10 of Tempting

If I understood men, I wouldn’t need a fake date, now, would I?

Cait places the last pin, then stands and adjusts her edgy black leather skirt. “Men always want what someone else has, or what they’re told they can’t have. And you’re going to be walking in on the arm of one of the hottest men in the city. A star hockey player and a Sinclair. People will take notice.”

She moves across the room to put away her pins, and Everly and Lindy nod in agreement.

“I don’t have time for a man, ladies. I work around the clock, and when I’m not working, I don’t want to spend my time fretting over a man.” I turn so I can get a better view of the low, drapey back of the dress and the way the beautiful silk slides over my ass. “Caitlin...” I look over at my cousin. “This really is beautiful.”

Long dark hair frames her pale, delicate face, and a smile spreads along her cherry-red lips, making her look even more like Snow White than her mom does. “I know.”

“Four-inch heels, Kenz.” Lindy moves next to me and lifts my hair off my shoulders. “And try not to kill yourself in them, okay?”

“Ha. Ha. Ha. I’m not that bad,” I counter and step off the dais very carefully. No need to wobble and prove them right. “I was an athlete, remember?”

Everly unzips the hidden zipper as she ushers me into the dressing room. “We were all athletes, Kenz.”

“I seem to remember being the captain of the team and beating your tiny ass for the spot on the all-state team,” I correct her.

“Come on, Kenz. You’ve got to admit if you’re not in sneakers or soccer cleats, you’ve always been a bit of a klutz.” She holds her hand out for the dress and waits as I slip out of the silk and back into my jeans and sweater.

She’s not wrong, but I refuse to acknowledge that out loud. “So... you’re not mad about me taking Nixon to the event?” I pull on my riding boots and throw my hair up into a bun. “Because I can bail on the whole thing if it’s a big deal.”

I wait, practically hoping she’ll tell me she’s uncomfortable and that she’d rather I not go with her brother.

It would be a fantastic excuse.

But I have great friends who would never do that to me.

Damn it.

Everly opens the door and waits for me to walk through it before following behind. “Nope. Not a biggie at all. I hope Nixon scares the piss out of Dr. Dick. And Cross and Ares and Easton will all be there if Nixon needs backup. They’ll make sure he knows to keep his hands, his leers, and his creepiness in check and to himself. Look at it this way, your brother and three honorary brothers will all be there for you.”

My heart sinks a little bit because somehow even my fake date just managed to get even more friend-zoned, if that’s possible.

What is it about me that everyone finds so utterly unattractive that there isn’t a man in my life who looks at me as more than a little sister?

Then I remind myself that I’m a twenty-seven-year-old successful doctor.

My mother didn’t need a man, and neither do I.

It might be time to do some one-click shopping for a stronger vibrator though.

Why do we insist emotionally unavailable men are always hotter? Is it the chase that makes them attractive? The idea that we can fix them? This reporter isn’t sure, but I was recently reminded, yet again, why it’s so much more fun to write about sexy athletes than it is to date them in real life.

#KroydonKronicles #FriendlyReminder #PSA

NIXON

“Dude. You should have seen her,” Leo chuckles as he walks through our front door and carefully steps over Gordie Howe, my lazy bulldog, who’s been waiting patiently for us to get home. “She was fucking perfect. Blonde hair, blue eyes...”

“Dude,” I mock him before he gets the chance to keep going, then bend down and scratch Gordie behind his ears as Leo walks into the kitchen. “You realize you just described our sisters and half our family, right?”

My phone rings as Leo drops his hockey bag against the wall and grabs something from the fridge. It’s my agent, Hunter, again.

I send it to voice mail.

“Grace has had brown hair for years. So really, I’m just describing...” His words die off like he just realized I’m right. Took him long enough.

“Okay, yeah... What-the-fuck-ever. You made your point. But she was hot and stacked and looked nothing like our sisters. Don’t ruin it for me because I choose not to live like a monk. What crawled up your ass anyway?”

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