Page 82 of Daring the Hockey Player
"Sidekick, my ass," I snort. "You think way too highly of yourself."
"Who has scored more goals this season?" Kyler asks.
"You're center. I'm right-wing—"
Parker wraps an arm around Kyler's shoulder, pulling him away before this debate gets any more heated between us. "How about we discuss your wedding plans."
Noah gestures for me to follow him, and he pulls open the sliding glass door, leading me to the balcony where it's brisk but beautiful with the city lit up. "Nice view," I say. The view from my place is pretty spectacular too, but it's nice to see a different vantage point.
"Yeah, it's pretty great." Noah pauses and turns around, his back to the view as he leans against the railing. "What's going on between you and the sister?"
"What do you mean?"
"You two are living together!" Noah's eyes widen, and he rubs his temples, clearly frustrated. He can't know that Amber, and I fooled around tonight. It's not possible. We both cleaned up. I'm not like wearing a giant sign above my head that readsalmost got laid.
"Yes," I say, not sure where he's going with his question. "We're just friends."
"But you're living with her! I thought I told you to stay away from Amber. That you're going to make a mess of shit with the team, your brother, all of it when he finds out you're screwing her."
"I'm not banging her," I say, staring him dead in the eyes, refusing to blink.
It's not a lie. I haven't had sex with her yet. Technically, she's still a virgin.
"So, you just jumped at the chance to invite her to move in with you? Live together, what is that?"
"It wasn't my idea," I admit, although I'm glad she did agree to move in with me. "Kyler asked me to have her move in. You know about the apartment fire. She didn't have anywhere else to go, and he flat-out asked me to take her on as a roommate."
Noah is shocked by the revelation that this wasn't my idea.
"Why would he do that?" He runs a hand through his hair.
Because he doesn't know that I'm falling in love with her; if he did, he'd never have suggested it.
"I don't know," I say, biting my tongue.
"Bullshit. We've been friends since the moment we met. Don't lie to me," Noah says.
"Kyler doesn't want her living with them while they're engaged and about to get married. He's worried it'll interfere with their lives as newlyweds."
Noah exhales a sigh. "Okay, that actually makes sense. I've never been married, but I could see where that might make things complicated." He rubs the back of his neck. "So, he doesn't know about your little crush on Amber?"
"It's not a crush," I lie. It's so much more than that now. It's out of control.
An obsession.
"Right. Well, yournot-a-crush. Youhave that under control?" Noah asks, unconvinced that I can handle it.
"There's nothing to have under control; like I said, not a crush." It's the truth. It doesn't have to be a crush anymore. Now that it's real and I've had a taste of Amber, I want more.
A crush implies feelings that haven't been acted on.
We definitely acted on those desires tonight.
I clear my throat and nod toward the door. "Anything else?" I ask. I could use another beer, and listening to Noah is killing my mood.
Why does everyone think that I can't handle being with Amber? Just because I haven't gotten serious with a girl doesn't mean that I can't or won't, eventually.
Do they think I will break her heart and mess everything up? That's not what I plan on doing. Though, who plans on hurting a girl on purpose? And if they do, they're a sick fuck.
