19. Brady

19

Brady

" N o," she yells and stumbles backward, landing right into Brighton, who laughs as she catches her. Melanie turns and gives her friend a hug, and Conner stalks toward her, taunting her with the big fish.

"Conner, get away from me," she yells, and whacks at the fish, although it doesn't appear she has any intentions of touching it. "That thing is disgusting and is only going near my lips if it's deep fried and served with a side of fries." She glares at me, and while she's feigning outrage, there's warmth, playfulness and genuine happiness dancing in her eyes. "This…" she huffs out, and steals another fast glance at the fish. "This is my celebration? This is what you had planned?"

"You said you weren't mad."

"This is crazy." Her words are saying one thing, but that smile on her face tells me a whole other story. She loves this and maybe the fact that I'm asking her to be an honorary Newfoundlander holds a lot more meaning than I'm letting on.

I angle my head. "You're not going to do it? Not ready to be a Newfie?"

She arches one brow and folds her arms across her chest. "Wait, didn't we agree that I already kissed the cod?"

Whistles and back slapping erupt around us as the guys jostle one another, totally getting the gist of it. I shrug. "I once tried to give you an out, but nope, you said that was cheating and lying, so the only way you can become an honorary Newfoundlander is to actually do it. This is kind of on you, Lanie."

She laughs and shakes her head at me, but seeing her this happy totally fucks me over.

"Do it, Melanie," Gunter yells.

She points to him and laughs. "You do it."

Big-ass cod still in hand, Conner turns his attention to Brighton. "How about you, Brighton?"

She backs up into Noah's arms. "Come near me with that thing and I'll be making deep fried fish and chips with your…" She glances down. "Well, you know."

"All right, give them a break." I wink at Melanie again. "For now."

Melanie shakes her head. "I need a drink."

Gina sets the cake down. "Right this way." Gina threads her arm through Melanie's and Melanie grabs Brighton.

"Screech is over here." I say as Ash hands me the bottle.

Everyone laughs as I crack open the cap. Melanie glances at me over her shoulder and smiles. I smile back, and can't deny that there's something very different about her tonight. Hell, there's something very different about me, too. Up until Melanie, I tried never to let myself feel and when I did, I hid those emotions behind a veil of sarcasm and humor but feelings aren't so scary when I'm with her.

Conner backs up, turns the fish toward himself, puckers up and gives it a big sloppy kiss.

"Ohmigod, Conner, you're disgusting," his sister-in-law Dani says and cringes. He jokingly grabs her, and tries to put his fish lips on her cheek, but she whacks him and runs to Melanie as Gina pours them all a glass of wine. Man, I can't believe I pulled this off without Melanie finding out. I had everyone in on it, and thought the perfect place to celebrate was at Gina's new café, so Gina could meet new people, and Melanie could see just how many friends she really has, how many people really care about her.

Tania and Trevor walk over to me, and they both look so starstruck with so many players from the team here. Trevor slaps my back. "Thanks for the invite. I don't think I've ever seen Melanie surprised before."

"I think I'm going to pay for this later."

Tania laughs. "If you're lucky." I laugh with her and she scans the room. "I think I've died and gone to heaven." Her mouth drops. "Is that…" Her words fall off as her brain stalls.

"Elias, yeah. Nice guy. Why don't you go say hello?"

Taking deep breaths, she grabs Trevor's arm. "You come with me in case I stumble over my words."

"Like I'm not going to stumble over mine. Jesus, that man is hot."

I turn as a few more guys arrive, most of them alone, but a few of them with dates. I smile. It's kind of nice to have this get together before we hit the ice hard for the season. I search out Melanie again, and while I'm excited about our upcoming conditioning camp scrimmage, I'm going to miss her like mad. She's laughing with her friends and they all keep glancing at me. I'm not sure what they're saying, but she does have a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

"So, what now?" Conner sets the fish onto the big tray, and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. "Aren't I supposed to drink something?"

"Actually," Melanie says coming toward us with her glass of wine. She shoves it against Conner's chest and he takes it. "You did it wrong. You drink and then you kiss the cod. So, you're not an honorary Newfoundlander, Conner, and if anyone here is going to be an honorary Newfoundlander, it's going to be me."

My jaw nearly drops to the floor. What the hell had come over her in the last five minutes? I'm not sure but I like it. I like her. "No way."

Her chin lifts an inch and bobs it. "You don't think I'll do it?"

I love the challenging way she's bobbing her head, and looking at me like she wants me to dare her, which reminds me of our game of truth or dare. I still owe her a truth. Should I tell her the truth of how I'm feeling? Is that something she might ask me?

"No, I'm pretty sure you'll do it."

The guys start chanting, "Do it. Do it!" and I pour her a shot glass of screech. She takes it from me and lifts her arm, raising her glass.

"Is ye an honorary Newfoundlander?" I ask and when she eyes me, I lean in and whisper, "This is where you say, "Deed I is me ol' cock, and long may your big jib draw!" She laughs, and recites the words. I nod toward her glass. "Now shoot it back."

She shoots it back and winces like she's drinking paint thinner and when she pounds the empty glass on the table and smiles at me, pride fills my soul. I crook my finger, and Conner picks up the cod and holds it out.

"Now ye kiss the cod."

She briefly closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and gives the big ugly cod a kiss on the mouth. Cheers erupt and she throws her arms around me, pressing her fish lips to mine, but I don't give a fuck.

I inch back and she asks, "What exactly was it that I said?"

I put my mouth close to her ear my words for her alone. "Just that every wish I make is yours to command. Apparently, you are now my sex nymph, Lanie."

She whacks my chest even though her cheeks just turned a pretty shade of pink. "Stop it."

Chuckling, I tell her the truth. "It means, yes I am, my old friend, and may your sails always catch wind."

She looks around. "Aren't I supposed to get a certificate or something?"

Gina holds a piece of paper in the air and the crowd parts for her. "Right here."

Melanie laughs and throws her head back. "You really thought of everything, didn't you?"

"I'm a guy who follows through, Lanie."

Gina hands me the paper and a pen, and I fill in Melanie's name. "Where on earth did you ever get that cod?"

"It wasn't easy." I hand her the paper and hold a hand out to shake hers. After the shake, I lean in and kiss her and a few people tell us to go get a room and I'm pretty sure that's not a bad idea. She puts both arms around me and presses her lips to mine.

When she breaks the kiss, she inches back. "Brady, I lo—" her words die abruptly as she glances around, like she'd forgotten we were in a crowd of people. "I love that you did this."

Was she going to say she loved me? Jesus Christ. Does sweet Lanie Clark love me? Is that what I want. I have so many people relying on me, but dammit, I want this. Deciding to play it cool, I pull her against me.

"Glad you love it."

"If I didn't like you before, I sure would now."

It's crazy to think I asked her out many times and she said no. It took my friends going away and me thinking she was a burglar to bring us together. Did Noah and Brighton set that up? I'm not sure, but if they did, I'll have to thank them. "I like you too, Lanie." She smiles at me and something inside me gives. Fuck it. I cup her face, my heart pounding in my chest because dammit, I'm going for it. "That's a lie," I tell her.

She blinks rapidly. "It's a lie?"

"No, it's not a lie. I do like you…but…" I take a deep breath as emotions flood my body and this time, I don't suppress them. "I love you, Lanie."

She gasps, and tears pool in her eyes. "I…I love you too, Brady. I wanted to say it. I almost did, but I didn't know."

"You love me?" I ask like a fool as an exuberant childlike laugh—a sound I'm sure I've never made before—bubbles up in my throat.

"Yeah, I do, and when we get home later, I'm going to show you how much, just like you showed me how much you loved me earlier."

I capture her lips with mine, and kiss her with all the love exploding inside me. Nothing in my life has ever felt so good or so right. I've been so afraid for so long that I haven't even been living. I've been hiding.

Music begins playing and she wraps her arms around me and we hold each other like our lives depend on it as we sway to it. We dance for a while, and when Gina starts bringing out hor d'oeuvres, Melanie breaks away.

"I should go help."

"It's your party." I take her shoulders and guide her to a table. "Gina, you've done enough, too. Have a seat. The guys and I will get the food and drinks."

She looks perplexed. "Are you sure?"

"Sit," I demand in a playful voice. She nods and drops down next to Melanie. Brighton and a few of the other women join them. Tania and Trevor are too busy chatting it up with Elias to even notice anyone else is in the room.

"Conner, Gunther!" I yell. "Come help me in the back."

I turn to spot Conner off to one side, no longer joking and happy. His head is dipped and he's in deep conversation with Dani, and for a second, my muscles tighten. I can't hear what they're saying, but from the looks of it, it seems pretty intense. What the hell? I know they have history and hang out a lot, but Conner is big into the bunnies. Wait, I haven't seen him with too many bunnies lately. Is there something going on between him and his sister-in-law?

"What's going on there?" I ask Gunther as he walks over to me.

He turns to see what I'm looking at. "No clue, man."

"Ash, give us a hand," I say when he starts walking by.

We all head to the back of the small café and step into the tiny kitchen. I pull open the fridge and find trays of food.

"Who's this Gina chick, anyway?" Ash asks.

"Melanie and I met her one day on the beach. She inherited this place and is pretty new to Boston."

"She's kind of hot," Ash says and jokingly sticks a toothpick into one of the meatballs and holds it up to examine it. "And I do love a woman who knows how to handle balls." He tosses the meatball into his mouth and moans in appreciation.

"She's a mom," I quickly inform him.

"Oh," he blurts out, stepping back like I was about to light him on fire. He holds his hands up, palms out. "Kids change everything."

"Yeah, they kind of do," I agree. That thought suddenly sours my stomach. I know in my heart that deep inside Melanie, she wants kids of her own. Fuck, there's no way in the world I'd want a kid ever counting on me to be a parent.

Gunther takes one of the trays from me, a grin on his face. "So, you and Melanie, huh? You're pretty into her, aren't you?"

"I like her." I'm not about to tell him that we're in love. It's new and exciting, and I want to keep that inside me for a little while longer.

"But the real question is, do I owe you another?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Double or nothing remember?"

"What?" I take another tray of food and hand it to Ash.

"You got her into your bed, so I owe you a beer," he explains. "Now do you owe me a beer because she didn't fall for you, or do I owe you two?" He angles his head. "I actually think she did fall for you, and I owe you two."

Knowing he's joking and ignoring that, I zero in on ‘fall for you' comment. "You think she's fallen for me, huh?" I ask, keeping the private words we spoke private.

"Oh, yeah, big time, dude."

"You looking for me?"

I turn at the sound of Conner's voice and when I find him standing there with Dani, who has a worried look on her face, my stomach tightens. Did she overhear Gunther, and if she did, does she think he was serious?