Page 74 of Melting the Ice

I groaned. “Don’t remind me. I know. And now he’s coming out here in a week and a half. Josie freaked and said she’d ask Harper if she could crash there while he’s here.”

Which had also made me think she wasn’t as invested as I was. Shit. That had hurt more than it should have, but clearly, I wasn’t going to do anything about it right now.

See? Chickenshit.

“Oh, man. So I guess we won’t talk about how much you two are in love in front of him?” Dom teased.

“Fuck off. And don’t you dare.”

“Sometimes it helps if someone else lets it slip.”

“Pretty sure you weren’t saying that a few months ago when Baz let it slip to Harty that you were Ally’s baby daddy.”

He grimaced and rubbed his jaw. “Yeah, but your situation is totally different.”

“True. But I’m letting Josie lead for now.” I didn’t want to pressure her if her feelings weren’t as strong as mine.

But how long would I have to wait before I could tell everyone—including her family—how I felt about her?

JOSIE

“You’re here,” Cora said, opening her condo door wide the following night.

She’d invited a bunch of us WAGs—I guess I was one now, still weird—to watch the game in her oversized penthouse condo. Nate had moved into her place since her unit was better because, of course, her brother had kept the best unit in the building for her. I’d only met Christian once, when he’d come by the suite during the game, and it was clear that he doted on his sister.

“I brought my seven-layer dip, chips, and some NSFW images based on your characters. Oh, and I printed out a few logo and avatar options for your new pen name.”

Her smile was blinding. “Yay! I can’t wait to see it all. I’m still not totally sold on the pen name. C.S. Monroe feels kind of boring, but I definitely can’t use my real name since it’s tied to my bunny books.”

“Exactly. And now you’re not writing bunnies, just characters that fuck like bunnies,” her friend Joy called out.

“Oh my god, Joy. You have to stop yelling that,” Cora admonished, and I giggled, following Cora farther into the condo.

“Please. It’s not like there’s anyone else on this floor to hear you. The other unit up here is still empty, right? Hey, Josie. I want to see those pics.” Joy walked toward us with grabby hands and a grin.

“Let her in first. I want some dip.” Harper slid off one of the barstools at the kitchen island and took the dish from my hand.

“Come in, come in. And I get to see the pics first. They’re my characters, after all,” Cora said as I followed her into the condo.

Anna, Flower’s wife, Brooke, and Ally were on the couch. There were two other women whose names I couldn’t remember, but I thought one was married to Alan Lambert. I said my hellos and set a bag of chips on a table overloaded with every snack we would need for the game, including treats from Anna’s bakery.

“I brought the chocolate salted caramel cupcakes you like, Josie,” Anna said.

I did a fist pump. “Yes. I’m definitely having one of those soon.” I reached into my bag and pulled out the envelope with Cora’s images that I’d printed.

“Thank you.” Joy snagged it before Cora could.

“Hey, me first. You know, I don’t have to invite you to these things since you aren’t dating any of the players,” Cora said to her best friend, humor in her tone.

“That’s easy to fix. Who should I snag?” Joy asked, fanning the envelope in front of her face. “Not Sin. Ooh, maybe Xan. Kind of young, but superhot. Maybe he’d like an older woman?”

“Stop it. Don’t corrupt the babies. Fine. You can stay. Just give those to me.”

I reached back into my bag and pulled out the spicy images. “Those are just your logo options.” I motioned toward the envelope Joy had just opened.

Cora chuckled. “You’re the best.” She waved the envelope I handed her. “See what happens when you’re impatient?” She opened it and spread out the images on the island. “Ooh, these are amazing.”

“Holy shit, they’re hot. Cora, whoa. They’re definitely fucking like bunnies.” Joy peered over the images that Cora had spread out on the kitchen island.

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