“Right,” he says, before glancing down at my body. “Are you okay?”
I blink up at him. “What do you mean?”
He looks over his shoulder before giving me a secretiveisn’t it obvious?look. “Like… Hunter Wilde is a big guy, Fallon,” he says, laughing nervously as he takes stock of my body. “You know what I’m saying.”
“Oh my God,” I groan, before laughing with embarrassment. “Connell, for one, you’re huge too, and you’ve tried to get with me before.”
He gives me a cocky grin. “Don’t try to butter me up, Fallon. I know that Hunter’s got twenty pounds on me.”
We both laugh as I try to fan away the heat from my cheeks.
“We, um… we didn’t actually do anything like what you’re thinking. I was only staying over because the weather got crazy and he didn’t want me on the roads during the blizzard. I knowthe whole ‘hockey captain’ thing gives him that player vibe but he’s, uh… traditional. Respectful. You wouldn’t even believe how gentlemanly he’s being with me.”
Connell nods, his expression more serious now. “Good,” he says, his voice confident and sincere. “You look hot as hell by the way.”
I glance down at my outfit – a pretty lilac mini dress, matching with Aisling’s blue one – and I prop my hands on my hips, cocking him a happy cheerleader pose. “Thanks,” I say, and he crushes me into another laughing bear hug.
“Let’s not argue again,” he says, as we all begin filing out of the condo. He gives me a grin and adds on, “Second baby sis.”
Aisling locks her arm with mine as half of the cheer team and the football squad squishes into the dark elevator.
“Well, this is safe,” I say dryly and Connell snickers as the door tries to close again.
Ash still has music blasting from her cell and, tipsy on champagne, we scour her playlist for our next target. By the time that we’re in the back of the Uber I’m so excited for my night out that Ireallywish I’d invited Hunter. I slide my phone from the side of my panties and tap on the screen so that it lights up.
I ignore everything on the home screen except the six texts from Hunter, smiling secretly to myself as my eyes scan over his messages.
Instead of texting him a response, I pull up the camera app and hold my phone an arm’s length away from me. Connell is sitting directly across from me and he smirks, shaking his head, already knowing what I’m doing.
“You’re gonna drive him crazy,” he says to me.
Then he elbows one of his teammates in the ribs when he catches him staring at my legs.
I squeeze my chest up with my free arm and look up at the camera as the flash goes off, before zooming into my owncleavage as I check the pic. I bite at my thumb, giggling because I’m nervous and excited.
Then I attach it to the Messages app and shoot it off to Hunter.
Three seconds later Hunter is calling me, making me bite back a laugh and arch my neck against the headrest.
I click the answer button.
“Baby,” Hunter grunts, his breathing hard and laboured down the line.
“Hey,” I whisper back to him, smiling at the sound of his voice. “How’d your shift go?”
He inhales deeply and I hear the sound of metal unzipping in the background. “I only just got back to my parents’ house. Needed to finish up this car ’cause the owner’s picking it up on Monday.”
“My strong hardworking man,” I whisper teasingly.
He groans through the speaker and I hear a door lock click shut. “You drunk, baby?” he asks, his voice painfully deep.
“No,” I lie, smiling when he laughs down the line.
“Wish I could be with you right now,” he murmurs, sounding exhausted. “Text me when you get home?”
“You’ll be asleep,” I say, bouncing slightly as the Uber brakes to a stop.
“Baby, the thought of you going out looking like that, without me by your side? I’m not gonna be sleeping for a damn month.”