Page 18 of Triple Pucked
I yank him to a stop.
“Oh, god.” I stare at D’Angelo, wide-eyed. I work hard not to laugh. “You didn’t do this…?”
I hold up my fingers in the gesture forgirl power.
He grimaces. “I won’t admit to that even under torture.”
That’s ayesthen.
“Maybe you should write down a list for me.”
“Isn’t it more fun to hear about them as surprises? Like this room I’m about to show you?” When D’Angelo’s eyes glitter with amusement, I’m relieved to have at least driven the glassy look away. His hand stills on his thigh. “The press already call me apuck boy. I lost my sense of shame a long time ago. I’ve proved over this season that they can’t screw me on my reputation, and what matters is how I play on the ice.”
“Eden has been working hard as your official photographer to show less of you dancing, fucking, and drunkenly singing and more as the stern captain who holds his team together. Eden is amazing at running the social media accounts to gain you global fans. We’ve both worked to be Shay and your shield. You’re now less theMisfitsandLosersand more the brave Rebels taking on the bigger teams and winning.”
“But not to the owner of our own club.” D’Angelo’s eyes are icy. “Charles Heine and I made a deal. Charles shouldn’t have come back to America. He drugged Shay and you. I’m going to wreck him.”
He turns sharply on his heel, heading down the corridor.
Even thinking about Heine is a trigger for D’Angelo.
My shoulders stiffen with concern.
I hurry after him. “He hurt you too.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“You matter.”
D’Angelo doesn’t look around. “Charles pushed past my limits. He didn’t respect my consent or safeword. But he’s also broken. His dad is a monster, and I wish that I’d been able to see how damaged Charles was earlier. One day, he will meet the wrong dom, and what he’s begging for will get him killed. But that doesn’t mean I will let the asshole hurt the people I love just because he thinks that he can use his wealth to buy anyone he wants.”
Suddenly, he turns to me.
He’s become ashen.
“Do you think that’s what I’m doing?” D’Angelo reaches to cup my cheek; his hand is shaking. “I’m not. I’ve just never had anyone to spend my money on before. It feels better than anything in the world to give the twins what they’ve spent their life missing out on. They’d never even been to the beach before I took them to my beach house. Spending the last few months designing our home for us and knowing that I can provide for you has made me happier than I realized I could be.”
“You’re not buying us,” I reply. “We’re already yours.”
He gives a crooked smile. “Would you still want me if I was that poor scholarship student who you met in college? The one without enough money to eat?”
Fiercely, I push myself up to kiss him, biting his lip like I need his full attention for my next words. “Jude D’Angelo, I’d love you even if we had to live in a cardboard box.”
He curls his hands around my waist, and his shoulders relax.
He smiles, before biting my lower lip back and then licking it to soothe it. “And I’ve always loved you.”
“I wanted the twins, didn’t I?” I need D’Angelo to understand this. “They had no money. Young newbies. Then Eden’s injury lost him his pro career, before he started as your PA. What’s important is that everyone is happy. Whatever happens with our finances, we’ll figure it out together. It doesn’t matter how much or how little one of us earns, right?”
D'Angelo shakes his head. “Not to me. So, I get to spoil you all.”
“Spoil away,” I reply, airily.
When I shiver, D’Angelo slips off his jacket and hangs it over my shoulders. “You’re easy to spoil, cara mia.”
I hug his warm jacket around me, taking a deep breath of its fresh, masculine scent.
D’Angelo’s suit jacket hangs almost to my thighs. Somehow, it makes me feel more undressed and not less. Yet I love how secure it also makes me feel.
