Reckless With the Rookie (Love on the Line #6)

Chapter 1

Blair

My sister steps out of the fitting room looking like she’s modeling the wedding dress she’s wearing for a magazine shoot. Again.

“Another ten, right?” Suki says, looking at me.

“Like it was designed just for her.”

“Your boobs are ... magical.” Mara stares at Jules’s chest like a man with unlimited audacity.

Jules smiles at her. “Thank you. But you guys, I need critical opinions, too.”

The three of us study the sleeveless ivory gown, which has pink flowers embroidered on the bottom.

Suki and Mara are newish friends Jules met through her job with the Cleveland Crush, which is also how she met her fiancé Noel, who coaches the pro hockey team.

They quickly brought me into their group and it feels like we’ve all been friends forever.

“Well, it does draw attention to your shoulders.”

I flick my gaze to Lorraine, our fiftysomething stylist at the upscale wedding boutique. She’s looking at Jules over the rim of her glasses on a chain, and she seriously just said that.

“Her shoulders are beautiful,” I snap. “And she wasn’t asking you.”

My sister’s smile fades as she looks at her reflection in the floor-length mirrors surrounding the pedestal she’s standing on. Lorraine walks over to the pedestal, her attention focused on Jules.

“An empire cut would help disguise your tummy,” she says, her tone gentle.

My brows hit my hairline. “She’s a style influencer and you look like you’ve been haunting a creepy mansion for the last two hundred years.”

Jules turns to look at me. “Blair.”

“No, she’s right,” Mara says. “Nothing on your body needs to be disguised.”

“I apologize,” Lorraine says.

“Well, Lorraine,” Suki says. “This is the first store we’ve been to, but we have others in mind, too.”

Lorraine winces. Inwardly, I’m celebrating harder than a shirtless guy chugging beers at a snowy football game. Suki and Mara are protective of Jules, just like I am. Just because she radiates joy and confidence, that doesn’t mean shitty comments don’t hurt her.

“Is Jana here today?” Suki asks Lorraine.

“No, but I assure you, I c—”

What little color our sales associate had in her face is gone now. Suki looks at Jules, who looks down before raising her chin and squaring her shoulders.

“I think we’re done here, Lorraine,” she says. “If I decide to come back, I’ll work directly with Jana.”

Lorraine pastes on a smile. “As the owner, Jana doesn’t usually handle fittings.”

“That’s too bad.” Jules gathers the dress’s skirt so she can step down from the pedestal. “The boutique is a major sponsor of the Crush. I wanted to support her with my business.”

“The ... Crush?” Lorraine looks like she may be sick.

“The Cleveland Crush? Pro hockey team? I’m the social media manager. That’s how I met Jana.”

“Really?” Suki furrows her brow. “I figured you knew her through Noel.”

“Noel Turner.” Mara gives Lorraine a fake smile. “He’s the head coach of the Crush.”

I stand from my seat. “That man is crazy in love with my sister. The last thing he would want is for any part of her to be disguised on her wedding day.”

Lorraine gives Jules a pleading look. “I’m so sorry.”

Suki and Mara both stand, too. Mara gives me a genuine smile. “I, for one, am relieved I won’t have to try on bridesmaid dresses after all that queso with a side of tacos.”

“Same,” I say. “And now we have enough time to try the cupcakes at that new bakery.”

“I’ll get dressed,” Jules says.

Lorraine leaves the room. I glare at her back, and then at the door she left out of.

“Aw.” Suki smiles softly at her phone screen, then turns it so we can see. “Look at these two.”

Lainey, who is married to Bash, one of the Crush players, sent a selfie she took of her and Talia, one of the team’s trainers. They’re both reclined in chairs, dressed in fluffy white robes. Both women have a pale-green clay mask on their face.

“Lucky bitches,” Mara says.

The team had four off days in a row, and Lainey and Talia are spending three days at a spa in Sedona, Arizona. Mara, who is seven months pregnant, is saving all her days off for maternity leave.

“Oh my gosh,” Suki says, looking at her phone again.

She turns the screen again, showing us a video of people skating at an ice rink.

After a few seconds, I realize it’s her husband, Carter, Mara’s husband Leo, and Magnus and Isaac, who are all teammates.

They offered to let my two sons hang out with them today while we shop.

Carter’s girls are there, too, his youngest daughter in his arms.

Noel is there, too, and he’s showing my seven-year-old, Eli, something to do with skating. My heart swells at the same time my stomach churns.

My boys don’t remember much about their dad, who left a long time ago.

I don’t allow men around them because I don’t want them getting attached.

But Noel is marrying Jules, so he’s family.

My sons adore him, but seeing Eli with Noel reminds me of kids with great dads, which my boys deserve but will never have.

“Are my husband’s nails ... blue?” Mara squints at the phone screen.

“Hallie opened a business giving manis and pedis,” Suki says. “Fifty bucks a pop.”

That’s her youngest, and it makes me laugh.

“My husband paid her fifty bucks to paint his nails?” Mara scoffs. “Good thing I’m already pregnant, because that would have done it.”

A few seconds later, she says, “Uh-oh, Blair. You better pick up a pregnancy test.”

Coop, my five-year-old, grins and laughs while sitting on Magnus’s shoulders. Magnus is skating fast and smooth, one hand on Coop’s back to keep him secured.

I smile and laugh at Mara’s joke, but inside I’m reeling.

I’ve worked hard to raise my boys well. Before Jules hit it big as a social media influencer, I was a waitress and I picked up every side gig I could manage just to pay the bills.

Now she’s putting me through nursing school and covering the bills, which was hard for me at first.

She convinced me to take her help for my kids. It’s changed our lives. My sons play youth hockey now, and they go to a great school because we live in a very nice neighborhood. I don’t have to make them keep wearing shoes that are getting too tight.

Before, I couldn’t afford extras. We rotated between pancakes and spaghetti for dinner. Jules has taken that weight from my shoulders, but I still feel the heaviness of what my boys will never have.

No matter how great a mom I am to them, I’ll never be a dad. Lots of kids have better homes with a single mom than they do with a mom and a dad. I know that, but it still makes me ache to see how happy my boys are right now.

Magnus is tall and fit, like all his teammates, but he also stands out.

His shoulders are impossibly wide and he has light-brown hair that always looks perfectly unstyled.

He’s Swedish, and he hasn’t completely lost his accent.

I’ve noticed he does things with his teammates, but he’s never as all in as they are.

He lives in a downtown Cleveland hotel room.

And that smile. It doesn’t come out often, but when it does, hold on to your panties, ladies.

Jules approaches, dressed in her jeans and hoodie now. “What are we looking at?”

“Carter sent me this video.” Suki turns her phone screen toward Jules.

“Oh.” My sister’s expression turns dreamy. “That’s my baby.”

She means Noel, of course. When they got engaged, they went IG official, and the entire internet has said on her socials that they’re the most attractive couple in human history. I love seeing her so happy.

“Ohh ...” Her lips part as she continues watching the video. “Not number fucking one making your kid smile like that, Blair.”

I roll my eyes, feeling my cheeks warm. Mara’s brows are pinched together in a curious look.

“Number one?”

“From her spreadsheet.” Jules slings her massive handbag over her shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.”

Lorraine just watches us go, probably knowing anything else she says will just make things worse. I shoot her a withering glare on the way out the door.

No one dulls my sister’s sparkle. This wedding day is probably the only one we’ll get between the two of us because I closed the door on men a long time ago. We’re going to enjoy every last second of planning this celebration for Jules and Noel.

“Tell us more about this spreadsheet,” Suki says once we’re out in the ice-cold Cleveland winter wind.

“Or don’t.” I groan.

“The baby wants a cookie,” Mara says, pointing to a bakery nearby.

“That’s in the opposite direction of the car,” Suki grumbles.

Mara angles her belly toward Suki. “Tell the baby Aunt Suki said no. I’m sure the amniotic fluid will absorb all the tears.”

Suki rolls her eyes, smiling. “Fine, drama queen. Is this what Leo has to live with every day?”

“I’m incubating his progeny. Rubbing my feet and bringing me cookies is the least he can do.”

We speed-walk as fast as we can with a very pregnant woman in our group, and when we walk into the bakery, we’re greeted by the smell of baking chocolate chip cookies.

It’s a quaint local spot, the display cases filled with all kinds of cookies and brownies. There are tables with chairs and also a few lounge areas.

Once we all have our orders, we sit down in one of the lounge areas with a green velvet sofa and two pink leather wingback chairs. Suki takes a bite of her cookie sandwich—two chocolate chip cookies with frosting in the center—and hums with satisfaction.

“I’ll be getting a box of these to go,” Mara says.

She ordered the same thing, but her frosting center is also covered with sprinkles. I went for a frosted brownie, and Jules got a German chocolate brownie.

“Back to the spreadsheet,” Suki says.

Jules’s eyes light up. I take a long drink of my iced coffee, dreading what’s to come. I don’t have many friends because I’m so busy with nursing school and my kids. Suki and Mara are about to find out something I never meant for anyone but my sister to know.

“When I was new at my job, Blair made me a spreadsheet of eligible players,” Jules says. “She thought I’d want to try to date one, but I didn’t. I didn’t even mean to date Noel, but he dated me so hard and well, I fell for him anyway.”

“The spreadsheet was for you,” I remind her.

She ignores my comment. “The number one man on her spreadsheet is Magnus Lundgren.”

Suki’s jaw drops. “Yes! He’s so sweet. Did you guys know he knits?”

“Number one for Jules,” I say. “I don’t date.”

“Leo says Magnus lives at a hotel,” Mara says.

“I think he’s afraid to commit to a permanent place here because he doesn’t know if the team will offer him a contract,” Suki says. “He’s on a one-year prove-it deal.”

“Well, he’s proving the hell out of it,” Jules says. “He got a natural hat trick in Tampa the other night.”

“Let me set you up with him.” Suki gives me a pleading look. “He’s not a womanizer. Carter says he never goes out with the guys and he doesn’t drink at all. He’s completely focused on getting a contract.”

My pulse pounds nervously as they all look at me. “Let him focus then. I’m completely focused on nursing school and my boys. I don’t have time for a man.”

“He doesn’t have to be up in your business every day,” Jules says. “He’s on the road a lot. Wouldn’t it be nice to go out for dinner with him once in a while?”

“And get railed after, obviously,” Mara says.

My tongue ties itself into a knot. I don’t think I’ve ever been railed, but I can’t deny it sounds nice. The boys’ dad was usually drunk when we had sex, and it was about a two-minute event from start to finish.

“I’m good,” I assure them. “Really. Please, please don’t make it awkward by saying anything about my spreadsheet or him to anyone.”

“We’d never say a thing, I promise,” Suki says. “But think about it.”

“She will,” Jules says.

That means she’s going to try to nag me into it. Which won’t work. Noel is going to be my brother-in-law, and through Jules, I’ll be around him and the Crush players sometimes.

I’m not making it weird by bringing my spreadsheet into the mix.