Page 67 of One Timer With A Wingman

“Shit, sorry. My motto is usually, go big or go home. I’m proud to be this nugget’s dad.” I really want to be angry with him right now but when he says things like that, he melts my heart. Damn him.

“Maybe you’re right. You ripped the Band-Aid off tonight. I hope I’m not going to suffer the consequences,” I say, and he winces.

“Shit. I feel bad, Briar.”

“It’s fine, but from here on out, please. No big announcements. I hate attention on me,” I state and I realize Aaron is exactly the opposite. He loves the attention. He’s the focus of attention off and on the ice. That’s how he’s wired, and it isn’t a bad thing. The guy is oozing confidence while I have issues with my self-confidence.

I finish my shift and head outside. I don’t see that it’s Aaron waiting by the entrance because he has his hood on his head.

“Shit, you scared the crap out of me,” I scold him. When he’s in town he likes to come by at the end of my shift to give me a ride home. I thought he left an hour ago with the guys.

“Sorry, I wanted to wait for you,” he says.

“You waited out here for the past hour?” I ask, flabbergasted.

He nods. “You aren’t mad at me, are you?”

“I’m not,” I deflate.

“Good.” He walks up to me and gives me a hug. He holds me close and it feels good to be in his arms, to feel this connection, but it also ignites a fire inside me. A fire that’s been a slow burning ember since we returned from Punta Cana.

“It feels good to hold you,” he says, reading my mind. I love how he can just say what he is feeling. I want to tell him that it feels good to be in his arms, but I’m not brave enough.

Instead, I sigh and take in his fresh scent of sandalwood and shea butter. I pull my head back and our eyes lock, and my mouth fills with saliva. I want to kiss him so badly. He licks his lips and slowly moves toward my lips. If I want to stop this kiss I have plenty of time, but I want to feel his lips again. I want to taste him and get lost in him. The kiss is slow to start but then he growls and pulls me into him, my fingers tangling in his hair as our tongues lash out hungrily. That ember inside me turns into a flame, burning hard. I don’t know how long we are kissing when someone whistles and we break apart.

“Don’t stop on my account,” Levi says.

Aaron waves him off and calls him a fucker. When he looks back at me, I am still in a state of shock.

“We shouldn’t have done that,” I say. “We should head home.” I was planning on taking an Uber, but now that Aaron is here he’ll give me a ride.

The ride back to the house is quiet, but there is a tension crackling in the air and it feels like the hottest sexual tension of my life. He’s my baby daddy. Would it be so bad if we had a little more sex? I can’t get pregnant again, but it could hurt our relationship.

We arrive on the driveway of the hockey house and I thank him for the ride. When we get in the house I tell him to have a good night and head straight to my room, but my head is spinning and I don’t know what to do.

CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO

Briar

I’ve been avoiding Aaron ever since our kiss outside Black Jack’s. It hasn’t been that hard. Every morning the guys leave early for morning skate. I’m asleep and head to classes later in the morning. When afternoon rolls around, the guys sometimes have meetings. I stay at the library to get work done. By the time I come home, everyone in the house is dispersed and I head to my room. The only catch is I’ve been buying a lot of food at school instead of prepping at home, which is cheaper.

It also helps the guys had an away game this weekend so I’ve been spending time with the girls. Having them as housemates has been the best. But having time with the girls means they also have time to ask me all the details about my and Aaron’s fling. I’ve been evading the topic like the plague. Not because I don’t trust them, but because I don’t understand it myself. Those hot nights in paradise. That kiss outside of Black Jack’s. Getting pregnant. It’s all given me whiplash because I’ve never had this kind of chemistry with someone before.

It is now Sunday evening. Charlie and Ruby went out, and Annie and I are the only ones home, so we make breakfast for dinner. “I can’t believe we are all living in the same house,” Annie says as we sit at the kitchen table together in the hockey house. We just finished eating.

“You’ve been saying that for the past week,” I bring to her attention.

“But you have to admit, it’s over-the-top,” she says.

“That you’re all in love with hockey players? Yes, it really is,” I say playfully.

“Aaron is quite the catch. I can see you guys getting together.”

“Not happening. We agreed to keep things platonic.”

“You’ve been very tight-lipped about your affair with him. Mind sharing the details?” she inquires, lifting a mug of coffee to her lips.

“There isn’t much to say,” I reply and then I realize how transparent she’s been with her relationship with Cade. Opening up in general is hard for me, maybe because those I trusted most growing up left me on my own and now I have trust issues.

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