Chapter 17

Reed

I lock the Tahoe remotely and head toward the steps that lead up to my town home. The lights in Josie’s place are burning bright, and as I jog up, I can hear peals of laughter coming from her place. A small smile forms on my lips, because this amuses me.

Josie’s hosting a little party at her place tonight for some medical peeps, and this makes me smile because it’s so “anti-Josie.” I’ve come to learn a lot about her over the last several weeks, and my girl is somewhat of an introvert when it comes to crowds. I first saw it at the Cold Fury party as I introduced her around. If we were standing with a group of people, Josie was utterly quiet, choosing to listen to the conversation with rapt attention. But if she was in more of a one-on-one situation, she could chatter up a storm with anyone.

I’ve learned over the weeks that is how she leads her life. By the way she talks about the patients she cares for, I see a genuine compassion and connection to the individual. I also get to hear about her disdain for meaningless conversation or pack mentality, which is why she avoids large groups of friends.

So for her to host a little get-together means she’s pushing past her boundaries, and that makes me happy. Just like the way she’s pushed past some boundaries with me. Every moment we spend together, I see her loosening up just a little more. She lets her guard down with me, and through her actions I see her gently poking at the parameters we established so early on when we started sleeping together.

Friends with benefits. It’s still our motto, but only because the friendship started first. It’s holding strong, but Josie’s exploring the benefits side more, and I’m not talking just about the sex. I’m talking about intimacy, and the reason it’s so important to me is because I’m exploring it right along with her.

We’re like two people stumbling along a path, not knowing where it’s leading and with a little bit of fear causing us to falter even more. But the excitement is there, knowing the destination could be fucking fantastic, so we keep pulling each other along.

This is so new to me, and in a million years I never thought my heart would start to get tied up with a woman. I thought that because I always told myself I was too young to settle down, but I guess fate has a funny way of grabbing you by the balls to lead you in another direction.

Better yet, Josie invited me over tonight to hang with everyone.

Best yet, she was disappointed when I had to decline, as along with several other teammates, I’d already committed my Saturday to helping Stephanie and Lucas move into a new house they purchased. Seeing that disappointment on her face was almost enough to make me bail on Lucas, but Josie quickly wiped it off and followed it up with a hug as she said, “That’s so sweet.”

Life is fucking awesome right now, that’s for sure.

Once I get into my house, I toss my keys onto the kitchen counter and rummage through my fridge. Stephanie fed us all copious amounts of pizza before we started the unloading process, but that feels like it was hours ago. I stare at the box of cold pizza and a container of General Tso’s chicken, but before I can make my decision, my phone chimes with an incoming text.

I pull it out of my pocket and see it’s from Josie. I notice your Tahoe sitting outside. Get your butt over here, Olson.

Grinning that she was apparently watching for me to get home, I respond. I’ll come if you tell me you have food. I’m starved.

We do, she responds. And lots of beer.

Be there soon.

While I don’t mind mooching on food, it’s always polite to bring more alcohol to a party. I dive back in the fridge and pull an almost full twelve-pack out, tucking it under my arm.

When I step into Josie’s house, I immediately understand that the beer has been flowing freely. There can’t be more than fifteen people spread across her living room, kitchen, and balcony, but they are all laughing and cutting up with music playing in the background. It’s just a vibe…a party vibe for sure.

My eyes focus on Josie as she stands in the kitchen. She’s leaning in toward a guy, stabbing her finger playfully into his chest, and I can hear her voice rise above all the others. “The Cold Fury kicked your team’s ass in the conference finals this past year and they’ll do it all over again this season.”

Holy shit…my girl is spouting out Cold Fury talk. She’s clearly a quick study, as I’ve spent several nights lying in bed answering her questions about the sport, which have included a recap of this past season and our road to the Stanley Cup. She was obviously paying attention when I told her we met the New Jersey Wildcats in the conference finals, and that produces a feeling within me that I hadn’t felt before with Josie.

It’s a warmth, a humility perhaps, that Josie is as invested in what I do as I am in what she does. She’s not been able to see me in action yet, but that doesn’t mean she’s not proud of me, and that knowledge sets me on fucking fire.

I stride through the crowd, smiling and nodding as they look at me curiously. My eyes are locked on Josie and she turns to face me as I approach. The heat over her defense of the Cold Fury fades and is replaced with pure happiness to see me. It causes my stomach to flip and my heart to stutter.

“You came,” she says with a bright smile.

“Well, you said you had food,” I say, teasing her, and then I’m about bowled over backward when she throws herself at me. She wraps her arms around my waist and squeezes me. I can only reciprocate with one arm, since I’m holding a beer with the other.

Josie’s then pulling away and turning to the guy she was just talking to. Her eyes are sparkling with mischief as she says, “Kevin, this is Reed. And he’ll kick your ass if you dare say the Wildcats are better than the Cold Fury.”

I let out a bark of laughter as I to a double take at Josie. That’s totally the beer talking. I turn to Kevin and hold my hand out. “Good to meet you, man. And I’m not going to kick your ass. Just your team’s ass this season.”

Kevin laughs and shakes my hand while someone beside me pulls the beer from my hand. I look to see a woman smile at me and say, “I’ll put this in the ice bucket.”

“Thanks,” I say, and then turn back to Josie. “Just how much have you had to drink?”

“Enough to make a spectacle of myself,” she says with her chin lifted in defiance. I laugh again, and because I can, I lean down to give her a swift kiss. She sighs into my mouth and I want to beat my fists on my chest.

This is made more so when I see Aiden standing a few feet away as I pull back from Josie. He gives me a chin lift and says, “Hey, Reed…good to see you.”

I take a few steps toward him, lean out, and shake his hand. “Good to see you too.”

His grip is firm and his smile is friendly. Perhaps he’s got no hidden agenda with Josie. She seems to think so, as she filled me in on their lunch at the hospital cafeteria on Monday where he said he wanted to be friends.

I’m not overly worried about it, though. It seems Josie is solidly on Team Reed, and that’s exactly where I want to keep her.

“Ouch,” Josie mumbles after I release her lower lip with my teeth, but then she crushes her mouth harder to mine. I practically stumble as she drags me backward into her bedroom, fists clutching my T-shirt hard, and I crack my elbow on the doorjamb.

“Fuck,” I curse into her mouth, but then forget all about the pain as one hand lets my shirt go to palm my erection through my shorts. “Oh…yup…that right there, babe.”

Josie giggles against my mouth, causing tiny tickles over my tongue. My hands start jerking her blouse over her head and we stumble a few more feet toward her bed. Her little party is over, the last straggler has left, and now it’s all about getting naked.

I manage to get her shirt free of her head, kiss her hard again, and then push her down onto the mattress. I pounce on top of her and she laughs as my hands go to her ribs for a light tickle fest.

“Stop it,” she gasps as she bats at my hands.

“Gladly,” I tell her, bringing one hand to her bra-covered breast and the other between her legs. Josie wore a loose, flowing cotton skirt today and I can feel the heat of her pussy through her damp panties.

Perfection.

I lean down to kiss her, but something catches my eye. I freeze as I look to her nightstand and see a plush brown teddy bear about twelve inches high sitting there. It’s got a red ribbon with white polka dots around its neck and holds a satin stuffed heart in its furry little bear paws.

“What’s that?” I ask her as I eyeball the bear that stares back at me with beady little eyes.

Josie’s head tilts so she can follow my gaze. “Oh, just a bear Aiden brought to the party. A housewarming gift, I guess.”

My head swivels and I look back down to her. “A housewarming gift?”

“Yeah…I guess.”

I shake my head and sit up as I straddle her hips. I put my hands on my thighs as I look down at her. “A housewarming gift is a plant. Or a bottle of wine. It’s not a teddy bear with a heart in its hands.”

Josie looks to me, back to the bear, and then back to me again. “I collect bears. He knows that. I guess he was just trying to personalize it.”

“Josie…seriously? Do you not see that he’s making a play for you? And when in the hell did you start collecting bears? I don’t see a single fucking bear in this house.”

“Are you mad?” she asks with a little anger tinging her voice. She tries to wiggle out from under me but I just lock my legs to the sides of her hips.

“A former boyfriend comes to your house with a teddy bear with a heart? Um…yeah, little mad. Sure as shit suspicious.”

“For your information, my bears are all in storage boxes,” she says primly. “And what does it matter what his intent was? I took it as just a friendly gift.”

“You are naïve,” I tell her adamantly. “You seriously can’t see this as a ploy? That he wants something more from you?”

“I don’t get why you’d think that.” And to her credit, she looks genuinely perplexed.

“Hello,” I say sarcastically as I point to the offensive object. “Cute teddy bear with a ribbon and a heart.”

While my insides rage, Josie’s face softens and her smile becomes knowing. She reaches out and takes my hands in hers, squeezing them. “Want me to throw it away?”

Fuck yes!

“No,” I grumble, because that’s the right thing to say.

“Because I will,” she says sweetly. “If it bothers you that much.”

“No,” I grumble again.

“Reed.” The way she calls my attention to her so softly, I can’t help but listen. “I don’t want Aiden. I’m here with you. Doesn’t matter what his intention was, what matters is how I accepted it. And I chose to think of it as a gift from a friend.”

I sigh and stretch my body out on top of hers. With my arms pressed into the mattress at her side, I look down on her and admit, “This is different for me.”

“Don’t let it be,” she says softly. Her eyes are warm and deeply accepting of my insecurity.

“You have a lot of history with this guy. I don’t think he wants to be just friends with you. But I also trust you, Josie, and I know you’re not going to play with me.”

“No, I’d never do that,” she agrees gently. “But what I had with Aiden is just that. History. I’m in the present with you.”

I smile sheepishly, but I don’t need to discuss this further. Her words are enough, and I have more important things I’d rather be doing right now.

So I put my mouth on hers and forget all about that stupid, fucking teddy bear and the guy who gave it to her.