Chapter 11

It’s only an extra bottle of beer if you don’t drink it.

-Hancock’s words of wisdom

Hancock

“Your brother’s name is ‘Holden Peters.’” She stared at me, her face cracking into a grin.

I snorted.

“Yeah, my parents weren’t really thinking that through at the time, were they?” I asked as I sat down onto the bed.

“You need any help?” she bit her lip.

I shook my head.

“No,” I leaned back slowly until my head hit the pillow, my whole body protesting the movement.

“Alright,” she said as she came to my side of the bed and stood over me. “Gentry texted you to say he’d bring your dog home in the morning.”

I grinned.

“I think Gentry thinks he wants her,” I murmured.

“He doesn’t?” she asked. “You could’ve fooled me.”

I nodded.

“She’s good for him because he gives her treats.” I shifted until I was facing her. Her eyes took me in as I gazed up at her. “But the moment she realizes that he’s not going to give her goodies every single day, she’ll go back to her asshole self.”

Sway’s brows rose.

“She’s an asshole?” She had laughter in her voice. “Why is she an asshole?”

“She’s spoiled rotten. Eats my shoes. Swims in the water and then tracks mud all over the house. Sometimes I find her in the weirdest places.” I shook my head. “You have no idea of the weird places.”

Sway’s lips twitched.

“Like what?” she asked. “The bathtub?”

I laughed.

“No,” I shook my head. “More like on top of the fridge. On top of the dining room table—which, as you can see, is bar height—and once I found her on my book shelf.”

“What kind of dog is she?” She leaned her hip against the bed, and I moved my hand to cup the outside of her thigh.

“A Husky.”

She grinned. “I always wanted a Husky. What does she look like?”

“Pure white.” I smiled. “Although, I’m not sure she’s completely one hundred percent Husky. The lady I got her from said that she was knocked up by one of her dogs. One was a Husky, and the other was a wolf hybrid mix.”

Her mouth dropped open.

“You could have a wolf?” she gasped.

“Or, which is the more logical answer, she’s a Husky,” I pointed out. “She could go either way.”

She pursed her lips.

“I’ll let you know what I think when I see her again.”

I patted her thigh, and my eyes closed involuntarily.

“Alright,” she patted my hand and pulled away. “I’m going to go since your mom’s here to take care of you now.”

My eyes opened into slits.

“Don’t you dare leave me here with them,” I ordered.

She smiled at me, thinking I was joking.

I was far from joking, though.

“I can’t handle them on the best of days when I’m at a hundred percent,” I informed her sleepily. “When I’m sick like this, there’s no way I can handle three of my brothers under my roof. Please save me from them.”

She smiled at me like she thought I was joking, but I wasn’t.

“Please,” I pleaded.

“You’re serious,” she shook her head.

I nodded my head.

“I am.” I nodded my head. “Come to bed.”

“I can’t sleep in here with you.” She crossed her arms. “And all your other guest rooms are taken.”

I patted the bed behind me again.

“Pleaseeee,” I poked my lip out, putting a little bit extra whine in my pleading.

She sighed, long and loud, and I felt, more than saw, her move around the room.

My eyes were heavy, and it took everything I had not to give in to sleep.

“I don’t have anything to wear,” she said. “The only clothes I have in my car are too small. I’ve gained about twenty pounds in the last month.”

“Good weight,” I informed her. “You look edible.”

She snorted. “I don’t look edible,” she sniffed. “I look fat.”

I rolled over until I could see her staring at herself in my mirror above the dresser. “You’re not fat. If you were fat, I’d tell you. And you, woman, are not fat. You’re juicy and delectable. Not to mention every time I see your luscious ass in jeans I want to fuck it.”

She lifted her nostrils in the cutest grimace I’d ever seen.

“I’ve never done that,” she admitted.

“What?” I pushed. “Had anal sex…or had sex all together?”

Was that hopefulness I heard in my voice?

Hopefully she wouldn’t hear that in my voice, because it made me sound like a caveman to want my woman virginal upon meeting her.

“Anal. But I can’t say I’m a sexual connoisseur either.” She admitted. “I haven’t had any time. I’ve been working my ass off since I was eighteen to get where I am, and everyone in my family, except for my dad and brother, is in the medical field. There’s no way I would randomly sleep with a stranger in this day and age. I met Langston, and we did give it a try, but...well…he was kind of sucky so we didn’t do it more than twice before he’d decided I was no longer worthy of being his.”

I tried to keep it cool, but I was unsure if my voice or face betrayed me.

“What does your dad do?” I asked as I grabbed for the covers and bunched them up over my hardening dick.

“He’s a cop.”

That did it.

My dick went down instantly.

“Bummer,” I muttered. “You can wear one of my shirts.”

I pointed to the dresser she was standing in front of and she grimaced again.

“They won’t fit me,” she hedged.

“Then sleep naked,” I countered.

She glared.

Slipping the shirt off over my head—which proved to be a lot harder than normal—I bunched it up in my hands and launched it at her.

“Here,” the t-shirt I’d been wearing had my jersey number on it, as well as the Lumberjacks’ double L logo on the front breast area.

She immediately threw it back at me.

“No,” she refused, shaking her head. “I’m not wearing that.”

I frowned hard at her. “We just talked about this.”

She smiled.

“It has nothing to do with my weight, and it not fitting,” she told me. “And everything to do with the fact that I only wear the team shirts on game days.”

My mouth dropped open.

“Are you saying that you have superstitions?”

She blinked.

“No.”

I picked up the t-shirt.

“Then wear it.”

She immediately shook her head.

“No!”

My mouth kicked into a small grin.

“Why won’t you wear it?” I asked then.

“Because.”

“Because why?”

“Because if I do, you might lose!”

I was laughing by this point.

“Half-Pint,” I started. “That’s called a superstition.”

She glared and started rummaging through my drawers, coming up with one of my favorite shirts that I used to wear in high school. One that hadn’t fit me in a very long time.

In fact, it was so small that I wasn’t quite sure why the hell I even had it anymore.

With angry movements, she ripped her polo shirt off over her head, tossed it onto the chair in the corner of the room and snapped the shirt in the air to unfold it.

The moment she slipped it on, and the tight black Panthers baseball shirt slipped on over her breasts, I knew I’d made a good decision in saving it.

The t-shirt fit her like a glove.

Then she went and ruined me for all other women.

With a practiced move, she slipped her hand up the back of the shirt, unbuckled her bra, and slipped it off through one sleeve, followed shortly by the other.

My mouth went dry as I watched her breasts sway with the movement.

“Will you marry me?” I asked her.

She blinked.

“What did you just ask me?”

I licked my lips as she started to push her jeans down her thighs.

My cock started to pulse with each beat of my heart, and I wanted so badly for her to walk over here and sit on my cock.

I wanted to grab a hold of those luscious globes of her ass, dig my fingers in, and urge her to ride me hard.

“Black panties,” I muttered. “I said I like your black panties.”

She looked down at the black panties, and then back up to me.

“Huh,” she said, then an evil grin lifted the corner of her mouth. “If you like the front,” she turned. “Then you’ll definitely like the back.”

And oh, God, did I.

She was wearing those cheeky underwear where half of the ass cheeks hung out.

On others, they were definitely sexy.

On Sway…no words did her justice.

They were freakin’ amazing.

I had a stern talking to with my cock while she was in the bathroom, and then switched off the light in anticipation.

The moment she got out and switched off the bathroom light, I was nearly on the verge of demanding she take me.

Begging wasn’t beneath me.

But she crawled into bed moments after the light switched off, and then seconds later she was asleep.

How was that even possible?

She had to be faking. Had to.

But then a soft little snore had me blinking in surprise, and I laid there for another half an hour while I contemplated masturbating right next to her before I fell asleep.

***

“Ummm,” my brother drawled as he held the paper up the next morning. “Is there something you’d like to tell us?”

I looked over at the paper, and my eyes widened.

Sway, who’d been behind me, was reading it and staring in horror.

“Why do they think we’re getting married?” she cried. “Oh, my God. I need to call my parents!”

Then she left the room, leaving me to face my family. Alone.

“I wanted her in the room with me…so sue me.”