Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
“Part of her work is visiting underserved communities, so she and her partners rotate days to drive to other towns.” I look up at King and he raises his eyebrows. “What? Just providing info.”
Kiera laughs, her gaze coming to me. “I think it’s adorable how smitten King is with you. The question though… are you just as smitten with him?”
“All right,” King says, cutting in over the other ladies who are all nodding in agreement that they must have the answer to this question. “Let’s stop trying to get Willa to agree she’s head over heels for me. I know the truth of things.” I’m touched that he’s intentionally taking the spotlight from me because he knows I want to keep things casual and then I’m stunned when he looks back to Brienne. “I know you already donate a lot of money to some very good causes, but perhaps the Norcross Foundation could do something for Willa’s practice. They donate their time and pay for a lot of supplies out of their own pockets. I’ll even volunteer myself for a fundraiser.”
“King,” I exclaim, slapping my hand backward to catch him in the stomach as chastisement. “You don’t just come out and ask people for money, and most certainly not on my behalf.”
“Yes, I do,” he replies, his smirk telling me that he’s unrepentant.
“Actually,” Brienne drawls, “that sounds like a very worthwhile project to take on. I’ll get my people on it and we’ll come up with something.”
“Oh, Brienne,” I say with apology. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Nonsense,” she says, patting my arm. “We’re family here and if I can help out King’s girl, I’m going to do it.”
King beams proudly and I look around at the other ladies, all nodding their agreement.
Touching my hand to my heart, I say to Brienne, “Thank you so much. That’s really kind and generous. I promise anything we get will be put to such good use.”
“Of that, I have no doubt.” Brienne pushes up off the stool. “And now, I’m going to go hang out a bit with a hot goalie.” She punches King playfully in the arm. “That short-handed goal was amazing. I’m really glad we got you on this team.”
As the evening progresses, conversation isn’t focused on me and I have a wonderful time getting to know the other Titans women. We don’t all stay together, mixing about in the private area as King introduces me to more of his teammates. He steps out at one point and poses for pictures and signs jerseys and napkins and even one man’s bicep who said he was going to get the signature tattooed. Even with the women making brazen pushes for his attention, I’m really impressed by how generous King is with his time and how thoughtful he is to those fans who want to talk hockey. It’s a side of him I’m still getting used to, but I find myself falling for more and more.
And as I look around at this group of people, I realize that I’m not just dating King—I’m being welcomed into a new family of sorts. While that pressures me to face the truth that I’m not sure I can be casual with King, I can’t help but bask in its warmth. It’s a feeling I haven’t had in a long time, and I’m grateful for it.
We leave Mario’s at around one a.m., although I was more than willing to stay a bit later. King insisted we go since I have my first patient appointment at eight a.m. He has a fairly easy day, but they’ll be leaving in the early evening for a road trip to Chicago and Dallas.
And as he said as he whispered in my ear, “I need to get you home and have my way with you since I won’t see you until this weekend.”
The shivers that took my spine hostage spelled out that he’s already become master of my body and that’s fine by me. I’ve never experienced such a deep desire for a man before. It should shame me that I never even felt that for my husband, but I realize… Scott never did anything to earn that. Not even the early blush of love and excitement when we first started out had me feeling such sexual attraction to him and Scott is incredibly handsome in his own right. It goes to show you that desire, passion, lust… there’s more than just what happens on the outside that fuels it.
For me, it has everything to do with who King is on the inside. Whether it’s him gallantly offering to help coach little kids, protecting me from Scott, the pride in which he speaks about me to his friends and even squeezing Brienne for money to help my clinic, he’s proving himself to be everything that Scott—and my father—wasn’t. Hell, he’s even moderate in his drinking, stopping after two beers over the hours we were at Mario’s. When I mentioned it to him, thinking he might be holding back for my benefit and in deference to my experiences with an alcoholic father who lost his shit when he was drunk, King said, “I’ve never been much of a drinker.”