Page 112 of Pinkie Promise

“That’s perfect,” I tell her, and I dip down to gently kiss her lips. When I look back at the stands I see that my teammates are still watching her, getting themselves nice and comfortable in the seats with no intentions of leaving.

I can’t blame them.

Fallon Ford is the most beautiful girl that I’ve ever seen.

We skate together until she’s sleepy and then she howls with laughter as I flip her over my shoulder, hauling her off the ice like a proud caveman.

My teammates can’t take their eyes off her for one single second.

Chapter 28

Fallon

Ash pads around the side of the pool, half of our cheer squad already submerged in the hot lapping water, and she sets down another small cardboard crate of bottles. I’m laying back on a padded recliner, my large towel draped across my body covering me from the top of my chest to the apex of my thighs, adding songs to Aisling’s playlist. She sits cross-legged on the recliner next to mine, unfastening about ten thousand dollars’ worth of jewellery from her wrists.

“I needed this,” she sighs, dropping another diamond-encrusted bangle to her little pile. “Like, an excuse to hang out with some hot guys.”

As soon as Tanner mentioned that Hunter’s birthday was coming up I knew exactly what we could all do to chill out and celebrate, and luckily – seeing as my idea consisted of taking over the top floor pool at Aisling’s parents’ condo for the day – the timing had been perfect for Ash too.

After weeks of to-ing and fro-ing, she finally had enough and decided to end things with her boyfriend, so now she’s back to being sophomore-year-Ash, who was officially the hottest heartbreaker on campus.

She’s wearing a pale pink bikini that makes her golden tan pop, and her hair is scraped back into a high ponytail that endssomewhere halfway down her back. She looks like a Hollister model on summer break.

My phone blips beside Aisling’s and I smile when I see the name on the screen.

“The guys are here,” I tell her, a magical shimmer in my belly. “I should go buzz them up.”

Aisling, the hostess with the mostest, gives her ponytail a dazzling flip.

“Nu-uh,” she counters. “Today’s all about you and him, and he should be sweating about seeing you for as long as possible. I’ll buzz them in.”

She swipes a beer bottle from the crate and quickly tip-toes her way around the pool, so that she can head back to our room for a minute and let Hunter and his teammates up here.

I set a new song on the playlist and wiggle my freshly polished toes as I wait for Hunter to get himself up here.

The top floor pool is light yet somehow still cosy, like a hot-tub deck at a mountain resort. The music on our playlist mingles in with the laughter from the pool, making me feel every bit the college student that I never used to allow myself to be.

When the doors straight across from me are pushed open I shoot to my feet, clutching my towel around my body, and I begin running carefully around the side of the pool.

As soon as Hunter comes into view he shoves a hand through his hair, his eyebrows raised in surprise as he takes in his surroundings. He catches sight of me and immediately grins, striding my way before I can reach him at the door.

He scoops me into his arms, towel and all, and tucks his face into my neck, shaking his head as if he thinks that he’s dreaming.

“Happy birthday,” I whisper, clutching him tighter, while the girls in the pool behind me scream theirhappy birthdaysat him too.

“This is way too much,” he murmurs back to me, but I can hear the smile in his voice so I know that he likes it. He pulls back so that he can look down at me and he says, “How’d I get so fuckin’ lucky?”

I preen like a spoiled kitten and then practically purr as he starts kissing my neck.

“Didn’t know y’all had a pool up here,” he admits, before placing me back on my feet and scratching roughly at the back of his hair. “Shit, I don’t have any swimwear with me, baby.”

“Why’d you think she was texting me?” Tanner interrupts, shoving his shoulder straight into Hunter’s, before reaching into the gym bag over his shoulder and slapping a pair of swim shorts into Hunter’s chest.

Hunter breathes out a startled laugh as he catches the garment. “What are these?” he asks Tanner.

“Your present. Happy birthday.”

Hunter shakes his head dazedly and then grins back at his friend, his teammates already heading to the guys’ shower area to get changed.

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