Chapter 21

Brooke

I pull the rest of the bacon off the griddle, sliding it onto a plate lined with paper towels. I cooked an entire package this morning because I don’t know how much Bishop will actually eat on game day, but I didn’t want to underestimate. I won’t start the eggs until he gets up, which should be soon. He’d set the alarm last night for 8 A.M. because he has a morning skate at ten. Then it’s off to rest until he has to get to the arena for the game tonight.

The sound of creaking on the floorboards causes me to turn that way, ready to level a smile at him. Instead it’s Nanette padding through the living room and heading into the kitchen. She’s holding her hand to one side of her head and I’m guessing she’s nursing a nice hangover. She’s wearing a bathrobe, but I’m thankful it’s one of those big, fluffy ones that covers her almost neck to toe.

“Hey,” she says in a hoarse voice as she enters the kitchen.

“Hey,” I say cautiously. “Want some coffee?”

“I can get it,” she says with a wan smile, and rounds the kitchen island to help herself.

I turn to the toaster and load it up with bread. “Would you like some breakfast? Bacon’s done and I can whip you up some eggs.”

“No, thank you,” she says, and the politeness actually causes me to turn and look at her. She’s leaning back against the counter, sipping a cup of coffee. She lowers the mug and admits, “My stomach’s not feeling that great. Way too much alcohol last night.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell her. “Want some ginger ale or something?”

She shakes her head. “I’m good. But I can totally help you make breakfast if you want.”

“I’ve got it covered.” I smile to her and turn back to the toaster.

“I’ll help with the kitchen after,” she says, and it’s a good thing I’m not facing her or else she’d see the shock she’d just given me by the offer to help. Apparently, Bishop’s words must have made an impact on her last night.

I was awake when they got home. I stayed in the bedroom listening as the front door opened. No conversation and two sets of footsteps heading to the bedrooms. Bishop opened my bedroom door and closed it again, looking dismayed to see me awake with the bedside lamp on.

“Thought you were supposed to go to sleep,” he chided before stripping to his briefs and sliding into bed next to me. He then told me how everything went down with Nanette, including the way she came on to him. He’d also told her to just be a better guest, and apparently she remembered that.

“Hey, Brooke,” Nanette says softly to get my attention, and I turn to face, her eyebrows raised in question. She looks to the side a moment, screwing her face in what I think might be courage, and then starts to just gush as her eyes come back to me. “I’m really sorry about last night. Calling you like that. I wasn’t broke. I just wanted you to come out and have fun with me. I was lonely, and I never expected Bishop to show up. And I’m really sorry I’ve been a bitch and a bad houseguest. I’ve always been a little bit of a slob, but this is your house I’ve been disrespecting and you’ve been nothing but kind. So please…forgive me for being a total bitch. I’m really, really sorry.”

Luckily, Nanette doesn’t see my jaw drop wide open in surprise as Bishop enters the kitchen and catches her attention. He catches my attention too, because he looks amazing just freshly out of bed. He’s got on a pair of workout shorts, a Vengeance T-shirt, and running shoes. His legs are strong and tanned and sexy as hell. He’s wearing a baseball cap turned backward, but by the bright green and navy trim on the edges, I’m sure it’s got the Vengeance logo on the other side.

Bishop gives Nanette a tight smile and then moves my way. He steps behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and drawing me back into him. He bends, kisses me on the neck, and says in a voice that has my toes curling, “Good morning, sexy.”

Nanette turns away quickly to give us privacy. I wonder if that’s genuine, given she blatantly came on to my boyfriend last night. She can blame the alcohol for sure, but in her long-winded apology just now, I note she didn’t apologize for that.

“Want some breakfast?” I ask Bishop, feeling slightly woozy from his attention. It’s been a long damn time since someone has wrapped me up in their arms so affectionately and for no apparent reason other than to say good morning in the sweetest of ways. A genuinely painful cramp of longing hits me square in the chest, not that I could have something like that on a more regular basis, but for it to be real with Bishop.

In all the ways I thought this stupid idea of trying to pull off a fake relationship to appease my father would go, I never thought it would be me falling for Bishop. For God’s sake, I’d sought out a one-night stand, feeling that the only time I had in my life right at the moment was to settle into my new career and watch over my father as he embarked on his. I know they say love and romance hit you when you’re least expecting it, but I can tell you it knocked into me with the force of a hurricane, because I truly, honest to God, deep down in my heart, wasn’t looking for this with him.

“I’ve got time for a quick bite,” he says just as the toast pops up. “What do you need me to do?”

“Get yourself some coffee,” I instruct him as I pull out of his arms. I start to slather some butter on the toast before stacking it on a plate. “It will only take me a moment to do the eggs.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Bishop skirts around Nanette, who watches all of this silently. Bishop doesn’t say a word to her as he makes his coffee from the Keurig.

“Nanette,” I say to get her attention. “Sure you don’t want some eggs?”

She shakes her head, then winces as if it caused her physical pain. Pressing two fingers to her temple, she asks me, “Are we good, though? About what we just talked about?”

Well, we didn’t really talk. She talked, I listened. But I have to give her some credit. She apologized for several things, and I know that took something for her to do. So I give her a bright, genuine smile. “We’re absolutely good.”

“Oh thank God,” she gushes with a relieved look on her face. She walks to me and gives me a hard hug. “I was afraid you were going to toss me out today. I really don’t want to be a bother, but do you think I could just stay through next week? I’ve got that job interview with Sebastian, and, well…if that doesn’t pan out, I thought I’d put in some other applications just to see what’s available. I’ll even pay you rent.”

“How can you pay for rent when you can’t pay for an Uber?” Bishop cuts in, and I turn to see him now leaning against the counter, one arm folded across his stomach and the other holding his cup up to his mouth as if he’s getting ready to take a sip.

Okay, that was…wow, in your face. I quickly intervene. “She has money. She said that she didn’t only to try to get me to come out and have fun with her last night. We’ve talked about it already this morning and Nanette’s made a very sincere apology for her behavior.”

Bishop just cocks his eyebrow at me with so much skepticism that my face actually burns with embarrassment for Nanette, who is taking the brunt of his distaste.

Turning to Nanette, I tell her, “We’ll talk later after Bishop leaves for the morning skate, okay?”

She gives me a wan smile and nods. “Okay. Thanks. And I think I’m going to go lie back down for a while if that’s okay with you. Leave the kitchen. I’ll clean it up a bit later.”

“Okay,” I tell her as I watch her retreating back. When I hear her bedroom door close, I turn to Bishop and give him a bit of a chiding look.

“You’ve got quite the burr up your butt,” I tell him, and he snorts. Moving to the fridge, I pull out a carton of eggs and start cracking six of them. I figure that will feed him and me nicely.

“So she apologized, huh?” he says, and by the tone of his voice I can tell without him even knowing what she said that he doesn’t buy a word of it.

“Profusely, and for most of the things that were driving me nuts.”

“What didn’t she apologize for?” he inquires.

“She wasn’t sorry for coming on to you last night,” I mutter, and then feel my cheeks heat up once again, because technically I don’t have the right to be mad about that.

I don’t technically have room to be jealous.

Beating the eggs gives me a respite from saying anything further, so I put some muscle into it.

That is until Bishop’s hand clamps down on my forearm and my whisking comes to a dead stop. He stares at me intently. “She will be sorry if she tries it again,” he says in a low voice filled with the promise of retribution. “And you have every right to be mad about it, Brooke. No matter what led us to this moment, right now I’m yours, and no one should touch what is yours.”

The feeling that sweeps through me is indescribable. Something short of euphoria, but much more intense than joy, tempered with wonderment that perhaps those words are just too magical to believe. I’m left blinking at him stupidly.

His face softens and his lips curl into a tiny smirk. He leans in, presses a kiss to my mouth, and releases me.

I have no clue what just happened, but I start whisking the eggs again until they’re light and frothy. Grabbing a pan from a bottom cupboard, I set it on the stove to preheat and head back to the fridge for some butter.

“Are you going to let her stay here like she asked?” Bishop asks me as he settles onto a stool on the other side of the kitchen island.

I cut a few pats of butter and toss them into the pan. “I guess. I mean…she apologized for the things that matter. So what reason would I have for asking her to leave?”

“Because she didn’t mean that apology,” Bishop says, and wow, he just really doesn’t like her. “Because she was just saying that to calm you down and ensure her ability to stay here longer. You’re going to regret it, Brooke.”

“So I just ask her to pack up and leave?” I ask him. “Because I really don’t think I can do that. It’s just…too confrontational. I mean, if she hadn’t apologized, sure, but I have to give her the benefit of the doubt right now, don’t I?”

“You’re a lot nicer than I am, Brooke,” Bishop replies softly. “That’s the difference. If in your heart you think the right thing to do is let her stay, I’ve got your back. And when she does something to fuck you over or becomes a big pain in your ass again, I’ll be the best boyfriend ever and won’t say I told you so.”

I turn to look at him and see he’s grinning broadly at me, green eyes sparkling with amusement.

“You’re way too sweet,” I say dryly, and turn back to the pan.

“But seriously,” Bishop adds. “I’ve got your back. Do what you think is right, and that’s all that matters.”

“Okay,” I tell him as I pick up the bowl with the eggs and pour them into the sizzling pan. “But let’s stop talking about it. You have a game tonight and you need to start getting in game mode. So no more talking about Nanette or anything else that will cause you to lose focus.”

“You make me lose focus,” Bishop says, and my head whips around so hard my temples throb.

He laughs at my startled expression. “Sorry, babe, but it’s true. And tonight, after the game, I want to really regain that focus right on that delicious body of yours.”

More heat flushes through my face and other body parts this time. I can’t believe I’m trying to focus him on the game and he’s absolutely rattling me to the core. How he can go from having a serious discussion and being overprotective of me one minute, to talking about sex the next is beyond me. But the fact that he’s throwing me off and making me feel like I’m teetering on the edge of a cliff is some of what makes me like him so much.

Too much, I think.