Chapter 2
Finn
“It’s karaoke night,” I announce to Kenzie as we walk up to Hoppy’s bar. It’s the go-to place for everyone in Lit Creek, and on a Friday night, it’s bound to be packed in there.
“Karaoke?” Her voice has a slight quiver in it.
“Ya, what song should we sing, babe ?” I wink at her, hoping to see her cheeks blush even just a touch. It might help me if I can throw her off her game a little bit because the dress she wore tonight caused my balls to ache so bad I thought they might explode on the spot. They’re fucking heavy and drawn right up into my groin. And let me tell you, that is not the easiest condition to take a walk in.
I managed to adjust myself without her noticing—I think. But did she really have to wear that dress? Tight black, hugging all her curves. God, I knew I wanted her before, but I thought I had dealt with those feelings when I learned that she didn’t date firefighters.
“I don’t sing karaoke.” Tucking a loose strand of golden locks behind her ear, she’s stalled on the sidewalk outside the bar.
“Next thing you’ll be telling me is that you don’t dance either.” I chuckle at the thought that someone would say they never—
“Never.”
“What?” There aren’t enough ropes in the world to restrain the shock in my system. I mean, I’m not a dance-aholic. But, c’mon…everyone dances sometimes.
“Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”
Without a second though, I grab her hand and entwine our fingers. She’s not going anywhere. “I need you, Kenzie.”
Her coffee brown eyes find mine. I could drink those babies in, but I need to focus on Kenzie’s impending panic attack. After all, she’s my girlfriend, my fake girlfriend, who may not any longer be my fake girlfriend which I need so I can get a real girlfriend. I’m sure it’s less complicated than it seems.
“I don’t know, Finn. This karaoke thing might be a sign.”
“Of what?”
“That I’m not supposed to be doing this.”
“How could something as innocent and fun as karaoke be a sign of that?”
“It’s just something I would never do. Just like fake dating is something I would never do.”
“Playing poker is something you would never do.”
“Exactly. Look how that turned out.”
“Shit. Bad example.”
“No, I think it’s the best example. I should go.”
“C’mon. You’re telling me you’ve never sung karaoke.”
Her hair swishes against her cheeks as she shakes her head.
“Okay. Well, it’s no big deal. We don’t have to sing karaoke. That’s not even why we’re here. Remember the mission.”
“Mhmmm…” I barely hear the little murmur that comes from her throat. Her nerves are pulling on my heart strings. Everyone thinks of me as the prankster, which I am. Eli, my twin brother, and I are always trying to pull off some prank. Including the cliche pranks of switching places. Ya, we did that a few times in school. But I’m more than just a good time.
I really like Kenzie. I always have. But I’ve never made a move because I knew (from multiple sources) that she wasn’t into firefighters. But I also always had it ingrained in my head that I would never mix love and work. I might fuck around a lot, but I’d never jeopardize my team. Messing around with someone at work could change the whole dynamic. Create tension. Drama. And worse. Ya. Respect for her combined with respect for my reputation as a firefighter prohibited me from ever crossing that line. I’ve always respected her choice and my resolve, and I know I need to be selfless here again.
“Hey, look at me.” I cup her jaw. “We don’t have to do this. We can just go in as single people. Or we can go home. It doesn’t matter. I really don’t want to make you do something you’re not comfortable with. I know how much you like to be in control of things—”
“I don’t need to be in control of everything.”
Her words take my aback, but I don’t let her see that.
“Okay. Sorry, I meant that you just like things to be safe and predictable—”
“I don’t need everything to be predictable.” There’s a clench in her jaw and a small flame in her eyes. Then she grabs my hand and hauls us inside.
“Let’s go, loverboy.”
Okay. Wow. Kenzie is hot when she’s determined. I’m not saying no. This is exactly what I wanted. Wait. I mean, this is exactly what I need for tonight only to make Summer jealous. Though…I can’t lie. I’m not really thinking about Summer as we make our way inside and greet a bunch of our friends.
Just like I expected, the place is packed. It’s a good thing our friends saved a huge table.
Kenzie does this cute, shy wave to the group as one-by-one they take notice of us holding hands. Eli just raises his brow at me. I know there’s a train load of thoughts barreling through his mind, but he says nothing for now.
No one says anything until we’re about to sit down. There’s one chair open.
“You can have it,” I say to Kenzie. “I’ll go find something.” But I know that my suggestion is hollow.
“It’s fine,” she murmurs over her shoulder to me. “I’ll sit with you.”
I plop into the seat and drag her onto my lap. And the second I do, there are no more thoughts of Summer. Summer? Spring? Winter? Autumn? I got nothing. Seasons do not exist. There’s only Kenzie.
Having her sit on me feels so right. I can tell she’s shy about it because she doesn’t put her arm around me or anything, she just sits with her ass nuzzled right up against my dick.
And son of a monkey, I’m fucking hard. There’s no way she can’t feel that, and there’s nothing I can do about it right now. I just spread my legs and let her get comfortable.
“So…you two?” Jessa’s sitting the closest to us and has the biggest grin on her face.
Kenzie leans over and whispers in her friend’s ear. I can’t hear what she’s saying and it’s not just because she’s whispering. It’s because my hearing isn’t working. All my body parts, every cell in my system is concentrating on how Kenzie’s ass feels as she wiggles from side to side over my cock.
Shit.
I rake my hands through my hair trying to find some calm in the chaos that’s happening in my pants.
Hunter’s across from us, sitting with Sierra, and he just gives me a nod and a smirk. His brothers, Rhett and Levi, are cozied up with their SOs Sawyer and Piper. There’s gotta be like twenty people here. A couple of guys from the firehall including Nolan and Wyatt, who’s sitting next to Georgie (the youngest sister to all the five Anderson brothers).
Ya.
Let’s get this ball rolling. Uh…never mind. I’m not gonna touch that slip up.
“Rhett, what’s your news? We’re all here now, aren’t we?”
The karaoke is loud in the front room, but luckily we’re not too close to it, so we can all hear Hunter. Not that the singing is bad. In fact, Lit Creek is home to a few incredible musicians, but tonight is not the night to indulge in that.
“Guys, I’m stoked about this plan I have.” Rhett’s eyeing everyone slowly around the table. “I’m going to set up the Lit Creek Hockey Academy. It’s going to be a place where kids, young adults, and amateurs can train. I’ve already talked to some of my teammates and they’re on board.”
A chorus of encouragement goes up from the group.
“How can we help?” Kenzie asks.
“That’s the thing. We want Lit Creek to really be involved and Hunter,” Rhett slaps his brother on the shoulder, “already said that he wants the firehall to support it. So we’re going to work together and raise some money so that the whole town is invested in this thing.”
“That’s awesome,” I say. “What’s the plan so far?”
“Mainly we’re hoping to plan a fundraising event to invite some Calgary Courage players to. And then everything else is up for brainstorming.”
“We should totally auction off some players and firefighters,” Summer says.
Oh ya…Summer’s here.
With Summer’s suggestion comes a cloud of ooohs and ahhs.
And from there, the plans for the fundraising take off. We spend the evening brainstorming and laughing about all the possible options.
And I don’t know how, but by the end of the night, Kenzie and I have been assigned some tasks. Which makes sense. Apparently people think we’re together. We work together. And we’re excited to support our buddy, Rhett, with this incredible vision he has.
Ya. He has a billionaire brother. Ya, he knows a bucketload of millionaires. But this is Lit Creek. We’re loyal to each other and want to do life together.
The chatter on the hockey academy has faded and Hunter’s smirking at me again.
“So, are you going to say anything?” His eyes dart between Kenzie and myself and then he chucks a fry at my shoulder. Good aim.
Only, the fry bounces off and falls between my legs. Without thinking I read down to grab it. But at the same time, Kenzie is uncrossing her legs, which means my hand snakes between Kenzie’s thighs, feeling her soft creamy skin. Fuck, I think my forearm grazed her pussy. Her body tenses and I’m pretty sure I felt a soft shudder go through her spine.
I need something to do so I don’t groan too loudly. Quickly, I retrieve the fry and pop it into my mouth wishing I could be doing something else with my tongue right about now.