Page 107 of Icebound Hearts
I give him a skeptical look. “Grant Parker? The Aces goalie?Excitedabout a party?”
“Okay, maybe not.” We reach Reese’s car and climb inside, and he starts the engine. “But he’s being a very good sport about it. I know Sawyer is coming, and I’m sure Grant would love it if you were there. Think you can talk Sawyer into hiring a babysitter for the night to give you the evening off?”
“Umm…” I chew my lip, gazing out the window as we leave the parking lot.
Convincing Sawyer to hire a babysitter won’t be hard, since he already invited me to the party and said he’d make sure Jake is taken care of that night. I wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea for me to go though. Would showing up with Sawyer make it too obvious that there’s something going on between us?
But now that Reese has invited me, I have the perfect excuse to show up. And I really like the idea of getting all dressed up and going out with Sawyer, even if no one else can know that it’s a date. I love the time we spend together at his house, whetherwe’re fucking like wild animals or just hanging out on the couch talking late at night… but sometimes it bothers me that we can’tgoanywhere together. It’s better if it all stays a secret, but a night out sounds really fucking fun.
“Yeah,” I say, turning to Reese. “I’ll ask him. And hopefully, I’ll see you there.”
Chapter 35
Sawyer
I still can’t believe Grant let us talk him into having a birthday party, but I’m grateful for the excuse to let loose a little—and that Violet agreed to come too. She seemed a little surprised when I asked her to go with me. I know she worried it would be a bit risky for us to show up together, but I don’t think it will be. And even more than that, there’s some part of me that doesn’t even care anymore.
Would it be the worst thing if people found out about us?
I have to shove that thought away, along with the primal, caveman-like urge to claim Violet publicly, to mark her as mine somehow. It’s stupid to even have those thoughts when I know I’m still not cut out for another long-term relationship. And even if I was, she’s got a whole new life waiting for her in LA after this. She’s young, with an amazing future ahead of her, and this fling we’re having doesn’t change any of that.
I hired Kelsey to watch Jake tonight, and although he doesn’t adore her the same way he does Violet, he was perfectly happy to see her when she arrived.
He’s downstairs playing with her now, as Violet and I finish getting ready in our respective bedrooms. I’m not sure how formal the night’s supposed to be, but knowing Grant, he won’twant anything fancy, so I opt for a simple Henley in a dark blue color—I didn’t just pick it because it’s Violet’s favorite, I tell myself—and a pair of nice jeans.
A small, pink item rests on the nightstand by my bed, and after I check my reflection in the door-mounted mirror one more time, I tuck it into my back pocket and head quietly down the hall to Violet’s room.
The door is hanging half open, and I can see into her room as I approach. She’s fussing with her soft blonde hair, a look of concentration on her face, and my hungry gaze sweeps over her. She’s wearing a royal blue dress in a soft fabric that’s practically begging me to run my hands over it. The dress falls just past her knees, and her feet are wrapped in a pair of heels with crisscrossing straps.
I knock softly on the door, then open it the rest of the way, and she glances toward me as I enter.
“Well, we’re either going to be an hour late, or I’m going to be wearing my hair down,” she tells me as I step inside and close the door behind me. “I can’t get it to stay up in anything even remotely like an actual style. Are you?—”
Her words break off in a yelp as I tug her toward me. I press her back against the door and kiss her like a starving man, bracketing her jaw with my hand as I angle her head to deepen the kiss.
“Leave it down,” I murmur when our lips finally part, fixing her smudged lipstick with my thumb. “You look incredible, just like this. Like a fucking queen.”
Her hazel eyes gleam as one side of her mouth tilts upward. “How do you always know just what to say?”
“Because I always tell the truth,” I reply firmly, kissing her again to prove my point. She looks good enough to fucking eat.
She lets out a sound that’s half laugh and half sigh as we separate, reaching up to wipe my lips with her delicate fingers. Imust have gotten a bit of lipstick on them, since I can’t seem to keep my mouth away from hers.
“There,” she says, tipping her head to one side as she surveys her work. “Can’t have anyone knowing that you were defiling me before we got to the party.”
A chuckle rolls through my chest, and I slip one hand around her waist, pulling her flush against me as I reach into my back pocket and pull out the wearable vibrator that’s waiting there.
“Speaking of defiling you…” I hold it up so she can see it. “I want to check another item off your bucket list tonight.”
Violet’s jaw falls open, her eyes going wide. Recognition flares in their depths as her pupils expand, and my cock twitches in response.
“Do you know what this is?” I ask, although I’m pretty sure I already know the answer.
“A vibrator,” she whispers. “A wearable one.”
“That’s right.”
I nod, fighting down the hardening of my cock. This is supposed to be about her, not me, and showing up to Grant’s party with a hard-on tenting my pants will be anything but subtle.