He figured the most romantic thing he’d ever done was whisking her off to that chapel in Vegas, giving her the wedding of her dreams. Even if it was just for shits and giggles and not the real deal.
“I…”
Dammit.
He really couldn’t think of anything else.
That probably wasn’t a good thing.
“Wow,” Charley teased. “Don’t strain so hard, Alex. You’ll break your brain.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to reveal his lone romantic act just to teach her a lesson, but Bella’s warning drifted through his mind once again.
He’d be smarter to start pulling back a bit, trying to find a way to put some more distance between him and Charley.
“Very funny,” he said, standing up and stretching. Charley followed suit. “We should probably head to bed.”
“To sleep or to…”
She let him fill in the blank. Charley was the only woman he’d ever been with whose sexual appetite matched his. She was as insatiable as he was.
Hell, she might be even more insatiable.
And as tempting as it was to drag her back to her bed and lose himself in her body, tonight he craved something different.
Something that felt infinitely more dangerous.
“Get a handle on yourself, sex maniac.”
He took her hand, and the two of them stopped by the bathroom to brush their teeth.
She grinned at him through their reflections in the mirror, the casualness of their actions, the way it felt right when he slid his toothbrush into the cup next to hers when they were finished, shaking him to the core.
They made their way to the bedroom, both of them stripping off their lounge pants and tees. They slept naked.
Crawling beneath the sheets—him on his side, her on hers, another thing that felt right—he pulled her close once more. Charley rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arm around his waist.
Neither of them sought to do more than that, content to simply share each other’s space.
It was companionable.
Comfortable.
Romantic.
Alex closed his eyes, trying to shut down this unfamiliar feeling.
He couldn’t be in love with Charley Matthews.
Could he?
Chapter Twelve
Charley caught the football and managed to dodge two of Alex’s brothers before his twelve-year-old nephew, Mike, grabbed the flag from her back pocket.
She’d been around the Stone family all of her life, which meant she knew exactly how cutthroat their flag football games were.
Actually, for a lot of years, they played tackle.
The flags were only added in the last few years, after Alex’s oldest brother, Reggie, broke his arm one summer during the game.
From that point on, Mrs. Stone insisted they would play flag football at her summer picnics, or they wouldn’t play at all.
It was funny to see Alex, and his equally gigantic brothers and father, bend to the will of Mrs. Stone, who was five foot nothing.
Despite being stopped by Mike, she’d managed to move the football a fair distance down the yard. One more good pass and they’d score.
Alex was quarterback to her running back. They got in the huddle with his father and Bella’s boyfriend, Josh. “Okay. This is it. I can smell the burgers, which means this is our last play of the game. We score. We win. Same play, Charley.”
Josh started to protest. “Why do you keep throwing to her?”
Alex shot Josh a “really?” look. “Because, unlike you, fumbler, she knows how to catch the ball and score.”
Josh grumbled. “I only fumbled twice. Besides, blame your sister. That top of hers—”
“Josh,” Mr. Stone said. “You’ve dated my daughter long enough to understand that in this family, it’s sports first. Save your ogling until after we’ve wiped the floor with those guys.”
“Sorry, Mr. Stone,” Josh said.
Charley loved Alex’s family.
They all spoke just two languages—sports and sarcasm, and they never took anything too seriously.
They’d always included her in pretty much everything they did, piling her into their station wagon along with Bella and Alex whenever they went on ice cream or Happy Meal runs. As an only child, she’d always been covetous of the craziness, the loudness, the endless siblings/playmates the Stone family offered.
Glancing over, she saw a scene that was as familiar as her own face.
Of Mrs. Stone and her mom—who had been best friends since before Charley was born—setting out the food, while Bella and Charley’s dad flipped the burgers at the grill. Alex had six nieces and two nephews, running through the sprinkler, laughing and squealing loudly.
This was the first year she and Alex had made it home for his mom’s summer picnic at the same time in eight years.
The first four summers, she’d spent her entire summer break serving as a camp counselor.
Then the next two years, Alex had missed due to NHL obligations.
Last year, she’d missed because she and Ben had taken a trip to Niagara Falls.
This summer, they were all back together again. Something that seemed to please Charley’s mom and Alex’s too much. She’d caught the two women glancing over at them constantly, hopefully.
Charley felt bad about misleading them, making them believe that what she and Alex were doing would last beyond the end of next weekend.
Then she realized she was really screwed.
Because there was a very large part of her that felt as hopeful as they did.
Alex had remained with her the entire week, and this morning, they’d spent an hour or so packing for her trip to Baltimore with him.
With each passing day, she worried less about him calling things to an end early and instead allowed herself to look forward to the trip to Maryland, the exhibition game, the fancy shindig where she’d get to rub elbows with some of her favorite players.
So yeah.
Screwed.
“What’s taking so long?” Reggie called out. “Come take your ass-whooping like real men.”
Charley laughed when no one bothered to correct Alex’s brother about her presence in the huddle.
In the Stone family, she was destined to forever be “one of the guys.”
Except that tradition was broken when they started to take their places in the formation.
Alex reached for her hand, tugged her toward him, and…kissed her.
It was a pretty bold show of affection, something they’d kept safely hidden away in her apartment.
And there wasn’t a soul in the backyard who hadn’t seen it.
Now that she thought about it, it felt like all eyes had been on them ever since they’d arrived a couple hours earlier.
Her mom and Mrs. Stone actually high-fived, and Dad must’ve made some funny comment about them because Bella rolled her eyes and laughed.
Charley started to pull away from him, but Alex tightened his grip.
“You’ve just opened one hell of a can of worms,” she warned.
While she’d been very aware of their surroundings and the fact everyone was watching them, she got a sense Alex had actually been oblivious to it until she spoke.
He looked around, then grinned.
“Score this touchdown, or I’ll take you over my knee tonight and spank your ass.”