Page 36 of The Grinder

Then he walked to the door and headed out, closing it quietly behind him.

She must have sat there for a full minute staring at the door, jeans in her hand, bare ass on the couch.

Holy shit.

She felt like she’d been run over by a steamroller.

That wasn’t good, was it?

Could you actually fall in love this fast?

No. Absolutely not. That wasn’t what this was.

She wasn’t in love with Riley. In lust, yes. Hell, who wouldn’t be? The man was worship-worthy.

But he wasn’t a man you fell in love with. Not if you wanted two-point-five kids and a picket fence and a house in the suburbs.

Everything she’d always wanted.

When she was a kid, her parents had always been on the move because of her dad’s job in quality control for a chemical company with plants all over North America. This house was the only one they’d lived in for more than four years and only then because her dad had exhausted himself and the company owners had insisted he take a desk job.

Aly had hated moving every couple of years. She didn’t make friends as easily as Vivi and she’d loved everything about this house, which was why she’d jumped at the chance to continue to live here when her parents moved to Florida.

Riley had the kind of life Aly never wanted to live again. He could be on the move next month, next week. Hell, he could be called up to play in Philly tomorrow.

Definitely not a man she wanted to get too involved with.

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