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Bears Hockey continues with
Good Hands
Two people who only want sexy hookups have their lives turned upside down by a positive pregnancy test…
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One-click Good Hands now!
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And read on for an excerpt!
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Excerpt - Good Hands
Brandon
“You must be the guy who’s going to buy me a drink.”
I turn to see a pretty blonde smiling at me. I smile lazily back at her. Hell yeah, I’ll buy her a drink. I’ll buy her a drink all day long. “Cute line.”
“Thanks.” Her smile broadens. “I have lots.”
I laugh. “You go around getting guys to buy you drinks a lot?”
“Only the ones who remind me of a magnet.”
I tilt my head and lift an eyebrow.
“You remind me of a magnet because you’re attracting me to you.”
I laugh again. “Nice. What would you like to drink?”
“I’d love another Ariba.” She holds up an empty glass, which I take from her.
“When in Aruba,” I say. “I’ll be right back, beautiful.”
I head to the bar. My friends and I are hanging at this spot on the beach in Oranjested, having just finished dinner. We’re here in Aruba for a week of sun, sand, and sex. At least, I’m hoping for the sex. As one of only two single guys with the group, that wasn’t a given. On the other hand, women usually find me attractive…and tonight is now looking promising.
I’ve had women approach me before so this isn’t unusual, but her cheeky lines and saucy attitude, not to mention her flirty smile, are super appealing. I mentally rub my hands together as I order the cocktail and another beer for myself. Then I cross the wooden deck and step back onto the sand where she’s waiting for me.
I hand her the drink.
“Thank you. I’m Lola.”
“Hi, Lola. Nice to meet you. I’m Brandon.”
She sips her fruit-garnished drink through the straw. Her shoulder length pale hair stirs in the breeze off the ocean. The lights strung above us illuminate her face, and yeah, she’s beautiful, with amazing, clear turquoise eyes. Her loose, button-down white shirt has the cuffs folded back, and is partially tucked into cut-off denim shorts that leave a sweet length of tanned leg visible. The combination of pale hair, light eyes, and tanned skin is incredibly sexy.
She’s checking me out, too. Fair. Check away, Lola.
“So you’re here on vacation,” she says.
“Yep. With some friends.” I wave a hand in the general direction of the group, who gathered around a picnic table on the sand. Lola’s part of another group we met up with, discovering some of them are also from New York, and also discovering they’re hockey fans.
“You’re a hockey player, too?” she asks.
“Yes, I am.”
“Cool. I like hockey.”
I didn’t catch where she’s from. “Are you from New York, too?”
“Yep.”
“Do you come to our games?”
“Sometimes, yeah.”
“Awesome. How long are you here for?”
“Tonight’s our last night,” she says with a regretful sigh.
“Damn.”
“I know, right? I love it here.”
“She says that now.” A woman passing by pauses to interject. “We had to drag her by her hair to get her here.”
Lola shakes her head and huffs. “Sure, Kaylee.”
The woman grins and continues on her path toward the bar.
I smile. “Your friend?”
“Cousin. And best friend.” Lola rolls her eyes.
“Why didn’t you want to come to Aruba?”
“I did…but I’m super busy at work and taking a vacation is hard.” She looks briefly troubled, then shrugs. “But I did it and it’s been super fun.”
“Is it your first time in Aruba?”
“Yeah. How about you?”
“Same. Tell me some things I should make sure to do while I’m here.”
We start chatting about the things Lola and her friends have done—snorkeling, sailing, horseback riding. “And we did the cave jump thing,” she says. “That was fun!”
“What is that?”
She describes driving ATVs along the coast, seeing the rock formations and caves, and jumping into a natural pool.
“I’ll have to check with our cruise director to see if that’s part of our itinerary,” I say.
She blinks. “You’re on a cruise?”
“I’m kidding. We call my friend Nadia the cruise director because she likes to plan everything.” I grin. “Tomorrow we’re doing a sunset catamaran cruise.”
“Oh, that sounds amazing. One night we did a bar hopping tour on a party bus. That was fun, too.”
Our conversation turns more personal. “What do you do for a living, Lola?”
Sipping our drinks, we drift away from the group
“I’m a change manager manager.” She makes a face. “I know it doesn’t sound exciting, but I love it.”
“Well, that’s what’s important. But you have to tell me what a change manager manager does. I assume you manage change.”
She laughs. “You got it! I work for Synoptic Global Services.”
I’m sure I look blank, but I nod.
“We’re an international insurance consultancy. We provide independent insurance due diligence, insurance program review, and financial solutions to the mergers and acquisitions business.”
“Ah. That explains it.” I’m still totally lost.
“Insurance for M&A businesses helps buyers and sellers mitigate risk and helps close a deal. Like, buyers and sellers are usually concerned about how taxes or ongoing litigation or contractual obligations a business has might impact a merger or acquisition.”
“I assume you’re talking about really big businesses.”
“Yeah.” She nods. “Right now, my job is working on a project for one of our clients to ensure their insurance programs are optimized to deliver better protection, improved broker service, and additional premium savings. My job is to create a plan to implement the changes—milestones, time frames, resources. Then I help implement the changes, making sure everyone’s engaged and on board. I deal with resistance to change, handle communications. I also do training for management and supervisors so they can do the same with their teams.” She shrugs. “There’s more, but that’s basically it.”
“Holy shit. That sounds impressive.”
“Thank you.” She tilts her head, eyes shining. “I love my job. I just wish…”
“What?”
“Well, this particular job is a term. One year contract. I’ve been doing contract work with Synoptic for eight years.” She sighs. “It would be nice if they’d actually hire me.”