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Prologue

Jeannine

Six Months Ago

The shot of Patron slid down my throat like water, but the buzz in my head told me I’d had three

“Fuck yes!” I cheered, slalass down on the bar “Another!”

“I’ainst the bar He sat so close his ainst mine, and my insides purred

“Hoe get stuck together?” I teased, taking the next round of Patron from the bartender

“Our friends are all stupid in love with each other”

I snapped ht” I threw the shot back, hissing slightly “I’ve never seen irls happier”

“Sae and Rory,” Warren said after he’d taken his own shot He rubbed at the scruff on his chiseled chin as he scanned the crowd for our friends He smiled at them across the room, then spun around to face me

“You next?” I asked,for another shot

He cocked an eyebrow at lazed from the liquor “Next for what?”

“Getting hitched?” I chuckled “Seems like the Sharks are on a hot streak”

They’d won the Stanley Cup

Gage and Bailey had an eight-month-old son

Rory and Paige had a four-irl

Odds were Warren was next, cause it sure as hell wasn’t going to be me

Warren laughed “Hell no The Sharks are on a hot streak because I’m focused on the ice—oes without me”

“Right!” We were there celebrating his going away since he was taking this season off to play for Canada in the Olyotiation since the NHL wasn’t pausing the season for the games this round

“I don’t have time for a relationship, let alone a wife,” he continued, and I nodded

“That’s how I am with my restaurants I’ve put in way too much of my time to throw it all away to be someone’s homemaker” I chuckled, and he handed me my next shot

“To not getting married”

We clinked our glasses together and threw the contents back

My insides were on fire in the best way, ht off I’d have to thank Bailey for that later—the babies ith the Grand away

I glanced overher as she was practically attached to Gage across the room

Maybefocus to the beast of a man next to me

Hot dalorious

Tall, ripped, with slightly shaggy black hair, dark eyes, chiseled features, and cocky to boot

If I had wanted to roll around with a otten a chance to see what Warren Kinley wasabout it, I sort of couldn’t not think about it

My core purred again, and I wetted my lips

I hadn’t had sex inmarried to my job

Tonight was ht off in just as many

“What about kids?” I asked, wanting to keep hi next to me

“You’re joking, right?”

I shrugged “Just because e is out of the question doesn’t e” He’d had Lettie before Bailey and hiirls I’d ever met

Warren nodded,for another round of shots

“Truth,” he said “Gage so an awesome father and a star on the ice Me? I’m not that multi-talented” He handed ames More worried about the ice and the opponents than diaper changes and the Disney Channel”

I clinked his glass “It’s nice being on the sae”

I threw the shot back,from the buzz and the delicious smell of Warren—crisp, spicy, and a hint of salt Al than the tequila

“No little ones on the brain?” He asked

“Nope” Ihis attention there I smiled when his eyes trailed back up to ate aunt to Ethan, Daphne, and Lettie,” I said “They easily satisfy any rare moments I contemplate motherhood”

“You’re pretty da forward

I reached up and boldly touched the scruff on his chin—our nearly year-long flirt fest giving me the confidence to do so

“Oh, honey, you have no idea,” I said, enjoying the prickly sensation on the pads of ers

“Is that right?” He cocked an eyebrow and damn if my stomach didn’t flip

“You want to find out?” I let go of his chin, standing up enough to brush ainst his

So I was being forward

So I asm fest

At least Warren knehere I stood and I knew his terms, too

It was simply a bonus he was the hottest Shark on the teae

“Fuck yes,” he whispered,my earlier words to the delicious bottle of Patron

“Then let’s get out of here,” I said, reaching for his hand and leading the way through the packed crowd His fingers were strong and warm, in

terlocked betweenlot The cool breeze shook off sohtly into his ridiculously muscled chest “You have a driver like the rest of the Sharks, right?”

He s black SUV rolled to a stop in front of us

“Hockey stardo into the car as he held the door open for me

“Oh, honey, you have no idea,” he echoed ht down my spine “Your place or mine?” He asked after he’d buckled his seatbelt

“Mine is closer,” I said and gave the driver my address

Warren held my hand the entire ten-ers over the creases,, and it hs If this innocent touch could get me wet, I couldn’t wait to see what he could do to me once ere inside

I hurried up the stairs, totally grateful—I ell-practiced in clis in my stilettos I didn’t slip once

Gold star for me

“You in a rush?” He asked, taking his sweet ass ti my front door open for him

“We’ve been dancing around each other for over a year,” I said, never one to beat around the bush “And you’re about to disappear for sixeous frame

Theover one shoulder, the white button down underneath tight over his muscles And that smirk that shaped his lips?

Fuck me

Yes please

He stopped within an inch of me, his hand on ainst e of my jaith his nose and inhaled deeply After my eyes had properly rolled back in my head, he pulled away

“God, you s into my apartment

I took two steps inside and locked the door behind me

Butterflies flapped in s as I watched him check out my place

It took ure out why my breath came in short, anxious bursts

For the first time since before I could remember, I was nervous

I didn’t get nervous

I ate men like him for breakfast