Chapter 32
THIRTY-TWO
DAISY
Our little group ends up at Mash & Marlow to celebrate Connor’s win as a coach. We’re crammed into one booth at the back of the diner, three chairs tagged on at the end to make room for everyone. Our table is piled high with enough food to feed a whole village.
I take a bite of my burger and sigh in contentment, sinking back against the vinyl seat. I never thought being the tag along in a group of seven rowdy hockey players could make me feel so at ease, but it does.
Connor shifts beside me, his thigh brushing against mine, and I jump at the slight touch. I hate how attuned I am to him, like my whole body has decided that he is the only station we’re dialed into just because the sex is good and he knows how to make me come.
He grins behind the rim of his coke, confirming he did it on purpose. He cocks a brow at me like he’s daring me to say something in front of all of our friends. Asshole.
“Pleeease?” Ollie begs from across the table, stealing my attention away from the cocky hockey player beside me.
Ollie is turned sideways in the booth, hands clasped in front of his chest as he pouts at Tanner with wide eyes.
He looks three seconds away from climbing onto the table just to kneel in front of him.
But Tanner continues to ignore him, eyes focused on the plate of hot wings he’s currently devouring.
“Why is Ollie begging you like a dog looking for a treat?” I ask, curious what I’ve missed in the small moment I was distracted.
“Because he’s an idiot,” Tanner grumbles.
He sighs, wiping his fingers with a napkin before reaching for his beer.
He looks exhausted and my heart aches a bit for him.
Aside from Aiden, he’s the quietest of them all.
But where Aiden’s focus always seems to be divided between here and somewhere else, Tanner is different.
Being an introvert in a sea of extroverts is not easy, and I can’t imagine that trying to keep up with this crazy lot is making it any better.
“He won’t come with me to the ballet auditions on Friday,” Ollie explains, turning his wide eyes onto me. “Will you tell him to come, Daisy?”
“For fuck’s sake.” Finn sputters across the table, beer streaming down his chin when he barks out a deep laugh. “You in a leotard? Pure gold!”
“Boys can do ballet,” Ollie defends.
“I know they can, but you don’t.”
“Who says I don’t?”
“You refused to do a spin in practice the other day because it came from an ice skater. You don’t do ballet,” Connor chimes in, and I just can’t help myself—my eyes find his and stay there.
He smiles, gaze softening as they move over my face.
Tanner sighs and I drag my eyes away from Connor’s. “He’s trying to hook up with the principal dancer.”
“That’s more like it.”
“I just need you to distract the team long enough for me to convince her to give me a shot. Twenty minutes, it’s all I need,” Ollie begs again.
“No. I’m not parading around in a leotard for twenty minutes so you can get shot down again.”
“Why are you so hung up on that girl?”
“Probably because she’s the only one who has ever turned him down.” Tanner scoffs.
Ollie smirks, throwing his arm around Tanner’s shoulders. “Are you calling me irresistible?”
Tanner rolls his eyes, but there’s a small tint to his cheeks when he pushes Ollie off him. “She’s Jake Donovan’s sister. There’s no way he’ll let you anywhere near her.”
Ollie rolls his eyes, taking another swig of his beer. “As if big brother controls her life.”
Tanner arches a brow. “Hey, Luke,” he calls, drawing the attention of everyone else around the table. “You’ve got a sister right?”
“I do.”
“Would you let Ollie date her?”
“Fuck no,” he says without hesitation. “I wouldn’t let any of you near her. I know you too well.”
“See?” Tanner grins at the begging hockey player on his right.
Ollie rolls his eyes, brushing off the comment. “It’s not like I’m trying to fuck Luke’s sister.”
Luke groans, and I swear I see Aiden wince beside him. “Say fuck and my sister in the same sentence again and I’ll kick your ass.”
“As if you could catch me,” Ollie snaps back, but at least he has the decency to look a little sheepish about the comment.
Aiden tilts his head toward Luke and gestures at Ollie. “I’ll pin him down while you pummel his ass.”
“Deal.”
“I’m going to need another drink to wash away this conversation,” I declare, sliding out from the booth and taking my empty glass with me.
“Me too,” Connor says, rising with me. I don’t miss the fact that his glass is still half full when he snatches it off the table and follows me.
We’re halfway to the bar when he sets both of our glasses down on the closest table. I’m about to ask him what he’s doing when he tugs me behind a wooden beam, separating the front of the diner from the back.
He steps closer to me, one hand coming to rest on my hip when I turn into him. His warm, woody scent wraps around me and he’s looking down at me with that soft smile on his face, the one that makes it hard to look away.
“What are you doing?” I ask when he hooks one finger in the belt loop on my jeans, tugging me a little closer.
“Nothing.” He feigns innocence.
“Someone is going to see,” I argue, but I don’t step away, letting him slide his hands around to the small of my back and holding me to him. He’s lucky that the diner is practically empty aside from our friends in the back.
“I thought you weren’t embarrassed of me, Tulip?” he teases as he leans down, touching the tip of his nose to mine. “Don’t worry. They’re not going to see anything.”
I can’t help myself from pressing a little further to him. Without thinking, my fingers find the hairs at the nape of his neck, tangling there.
“Mm, I like that.” His eyes slide shut, a look of contentment on his face. He lets out a little hum, his fingers flexing at my back. “Thank you for coming today.”
“I loved it,” I tell him. “I can’t believe they’re shutting it down.”
“Mm.” His arm tightens around me, like my proximity is a comfort to him. “Tanner’s dad knows someone on the city council. I’ve got a meeting with them next week.”
I pull away so I can look at him properly. “You’re saving it?”
“I’m going to try.” He shrugs half-heartedly, as though he doesn’t quite believe it himself. “I can’t just give up without trying.”
“I like that.”
He chuckles. “What? That I’m stubborn?”
“That you care.”
“Always,” he says, all traces of laughter gone.
Then he leans down and gently brushes his lips against mine in the softest of kisses before peeling himself off me and grabbing our glasses again, leading me to blink away the slight off-kilter feeling he’s left me with.