Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
“I looked up the schedule. There’s a Monday meeting at a church a couple of miles away.”
I just looked at him in silence. He shifted on his feet and sighed heavily.
“So Monday,” he finally said. “I’m going to start on Monday.”
“Hey, you know what everyone who cares about you wants, right?”
He shrugged, still aggravated. “For me to go to meetings for the rest of my life?”
“For you to be healthy and happy,” I said gently. “And as far as I’m concerned, you’re well on your way. If you go back to hockey, great, but if you don’t, that’s great, too. You’re part of the world again, and you’re not muting your feelings with alcohol. That’s all I wanted for you.”
He nodded, then took off the hoodie he was wearing, revealing a sweat-soaked T-shirt.
“I get that, but I need a purpose,” he said. “I can’t just wake up and sit at home every day.”
“You have enough money, though. You can coach hockey if you want to. Or travel. Hell, come travel with me if you want to.”
He finished off the water. “I’m not ready to decide anything. I’m just trying to lose this fucking beer belly and get back to a place where I can run five miles without feeling like I’m about to die.”
“Okay. Do you need to shower before we go shopping?”
He nodded. “Where are we going?”
“There are a few stores I want to go to, but they’re all at the same mall.”
He held up a finger in warning. “I’m not taking you to Victoria’s Secret to buy lingerie to wear for Kon.”
“That’s fine. I’ll take myself there if I want to go.”
He shook his head, frowning. “You aren’t taking yourself anywhere. You could have been killed the other day.”
“You can always track me with my phone, and I also ordered an AirTag in case you need to find me and I don’t have my phone with me.”
“So I’ll know where your dead body is located?” he deadpanned. “Awesome, thanks.”
I smiled, glad to see the old Sawyer was slowly reemerging. “No need to argue. I don’t need to go to Victoria’s Secret. I can buy my thongs at another store.”
He groaned and covered his face with his hands. “Don’t fucking tell me that, Luce. It’s hard enough to imagine you with my teammate. I don’t need any visuals.”
“You thought everything was great when I was with Nate, but it turned into a living hell when I ran across that information at his office. Kon treats me better than any man ever has.”
“Yeah, but he’s just a distraction until you leave, right? He’s my teammate, Luce, but you’re my sister. If this is just a fling…” He cringed and put his hands up. “Then whatever. But it feels like it’s more to you.”
“Just go take a shower so we can go shopping, Dr. Laura. I didn’t ask you for relationship advice.”
He pointed a finger at me as he walked away. “I didn’t use the word relationship. That was you.”
I folded my arms, trying to come up with a witty comeback, but failing. I was living life one day at a time right now, too. But I couldn’t do that forever. Things with Kon couldn’t last, so I planned to enjoy every moment I could while I still had him.
That evening, I felt sexy as hell when I opened Sawyer’s front door and Kon looked me up and down, mumbling something in Russian.
For the first time in my life, I’d gone for it. I’d bought black leather pants, black booties, and a red wrap shirt that showed off my cleavage. The pants weren’t the shiny kind—I wasn’t going for the dominatrix look—but they were actually very comfortable.
When Sawyer got a look at me in the outfit, he shook his head and went down to his office, grumbling that I should try not to “come home tomorrow carrying Kon junior.”
“I am so lucky,” Kon said, his gaze soft when it met mine. “You are…everything, Lucy. You are everything.”
The butterflies in my stomach clamored. No man had ever thought I was everything. I was starting to realize that running across that damning information in Nate’s office may have been the best thing that ever happened to me. That had brought me here.
“Are you ready to go?” I asked him.
“Yes, very much.”
I put on my coat but skipped the hat because I’d spent too much time on my hair to ruin it. He took my hand as we walked to his car.
“We are trying a new restaurant,” he said. “My agent got me the reservation. It’s supposed to be the hottest ticket in St. Louis.”
I smiled as he opened my car door. “Sounds like fun.”
Once he was behind the wheel, he put his hand on my knee and looked me in the eye.
“You are the only woman I want, Lucy. Tell me you know you are the only one.”