Page 67 of Rowdy Hearts

“I’m just a guy, standing in front of a girl?—”

“Wait, wait, wait. You arenotgoing to quote ‘Notting Hill’ at me?” Now she looked astounded and amazed, and I bit back a smile.

“What’s that?”

She stared for another few seconds, her mouth hanging open in shock, before she smacked me in the chest with one of those delicate hands of hers.

“I honestly don’t know what to do with you.”

“I have a few suggestions.”

And all of them had to do with her naked and me worshipping every inch of skin on her body before I fucked us both into oblivion.

Her eyes got brighter, and her expression transformed with sheer joy.Absolutely beautiful.

“And I really hope we get to do a few of them tonight.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Another pause, another smile, but this time, there was something else there, something a little sad.

“I guess I should get dressed.”

“You don’t have to on my account.”

“I think I might be a little cold if I go out in this. And I think I might shock your parents.”

“Princess, my parents have owned a minor league hockey team full of misfits for the past two decades. They wouldn’t be surprised if you walked out of here naked.”

Her brows arched. “Are you trying to tell me something?”

“My life’s an open book. Ask me anything.”

I thought she’d make a joke. Instead, her eyes narrowed, and I could tell she was working something over in her head, and that I should probably be worried. I’d just given her a free pass to my life. And I’d meant it. I just hadn’t expected her to take me seriously.

“Do you ever think about moving away from here?”

Damn, it’s like she know exactly what I’m hiding.“Sometimes, yeah.”

“Have you never thought about playing for another league?”

“Once or twice, yeah.” Or, like, five hundred times in the past few weeks.

Her head cocked to the side, and she looked at me like she could read my mind.

“Why do I think that’s not entirely true?”

Because I was a pretty shitty liar, and everyone around here knew that. But I was damn good at telling people what they wanted to hear without answering a straight question.

I shrugged, letting my lips curve in a grin that usually allowed me get away with almost anything. “So maybe I’ve thought about it more than a few times. But, I love it here. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”

But would I like to play somewhere else? Play for a team that actually gave a shit about winning? And leave behind a group of guys who counted on me to be here, to be the one stable thing in their lives?

“But would youplaysomewhere else?”

Maybe she could read minds.

“My team depends on me. My dad depends on me.” Hell, the town depended on me, to some degree, because I was the face of the team and the town depended on the team. And that wasn’t ego. That was just the way it was.

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