The Best Kind of Forever (Riverside Reapers, #1)(21)

To my surprise, she bites back with enough intensity to shake me to the core.

“No, Hayes, I didn’t know who you were. And no thanks to you lying to me about what you did for work,” she hisses, her narrowed eyes terrorizing me.

The knot in my throat bobs. “You didn’t know?”

“No, asshole. And why would it matter if I knew or not?”

“Can we go somewhere more private?”

Aeris considers me for a second, but she eventually nods her head, although I wouldn’t put it past her to eat me alive when we’re alone.

I lead her to a more private part of the parking lot, hand on her bare back, which is cold to the touch. The tip of her nose is red, her skin has been robbed of color, and she hasn’t stopped shivering.

I pull her into me, wrapping my arms around her frame, hopefully engulfing her in a decent amount of heat. I tend to run warm.

She only allows me a breath of time before she pulls away from me. “Why the fuck did you lie to me, Hayes?”

Guilt roots in the bottom of my stomach, elongating into tendrils that choke my body in a vise grip. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lied to you. I’ve told women in the past about my career, and they’ve used me for fame.”

“So that gives you a pass to lie to me?”

“Of course not. I should’ve been honest with you from the beginning.”

Unbridled fury rises in her like bubbles in champagne. “Were you ghosting me or something? Did you think you could get away with lying to me because you never intended to talk to me again?”

I gently tip her chin up so I can meet her eyes, and my heart goes all slippery, wanting to jump out of my body and land in her arms. “No, Aeris. That wasn’t my intention at all. I was so busy with practice I haven’t had a moment to text you, but you haven’t left my mind.”

“How can I trust you?”

“I don’t know, but I promise, no more secrets.”

Another fucking lie.

“No more secrets,” she parrots.

I honestly wasn’t expecting her to give me a second chance, but I needed that fucking kick, because it’s shown me just how high the stakes are now.

A sigh billows from her chapped lips, and either her anger’s been snuffed out or the cold has finally gotten to her, because she nuzzles into the bulk of my arms. That fragrant lavender and strawberry mix of hers engulfs me, pulling me back to the night I met her.

I can barely hear my own breath over the blood pistoling through my ears. I need to go through with the plan. Ask her out, dumbass. The sooner we play it up for the cameras, the sooner I can get back to my former life before everything went downhill.

Even though I know this is all fake, this feeling is foreign to me…this nervousness. I only get nervous before a game. I don’t get nervous around women.

I continue to hold her in my arms, and I will my words to shoot out of me and construct themselves into a sentence. “I wanted to ask you out. Properly. On a date,” I mumble against the crown of her head.

Aeris pulls back slightly, moistening her bottom lip. God, what I wouldn’t give to have her tongue in my mouth again right now, tracing the inside of my cheek, running along the blunt edges of my teeth. I remember how life-changing that kiss was. Hell, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since.

“A date?”

“A date,” I repeat confidently. “You. Me. Maybe some handholding.”

I can tell she’s intrigued, but there’s also a part of her that’s wary, and I don’t blame her. I lied to her, then ghosted her. I was an asshole. And I’m still technically lying to her.

I don’t know how long I’m waiting for her to answer, but it feels like I have to swallow each everlasting second.

She steals a few glimpses at me, then eventually gives me a nod that diffuses the tension in my shoulders.

“I’d love to go on a date with you,” she finishes.

I hold her face in my hands, brushing my nose with hers, my parted lips mere inches away from slanting over her pretty mouth. Our breaths mingle, and I can smell the mintiness on her tongue, like she’d popped a piece of gum halfway through the game.

I want to kiss her. And judging by the heavy pants racking her chest, I know she wants this just as badly as I do.

But my self-restraint must be at an all-time high because I don’t kiss her. I pull away the minute she leans in, and it’s not because I want to be a tease. It’s because I’m afraid what will happen if I lose myself in her.

“I’ll pick you up at seven tomorrow.”





11





THE FUTURE’S NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD





AERIS





My pulse is off the charts, and I’m sweating so much that I can feel it seep into every pore. If I wasn’t wearing a dress, I would have major pit stains. My stomach’s been a mess all day, so I haven’t been able to eat anything. I’ve only been in heels for five minutes, but my feet are already starting to ache. Maybe this was a bad idea.

After Hayes dropped that nuclear-sized truth bomb on me, I did some digging on him. He got drafted to the Reapers when he was a senior in college, and according to some fan sites, he’s been playing hockey since he was eight, he’s allergic to shellfish, and his birthday is on November twelfth.