Enticing: Chapter 11

It only takes me a few minutes to get to Addie’s after she goes radio silent, but when her front door swings open, the woman standing on the other side isn’t the one I’m looking for. She looks eerily similar to the angel who’s been starring in my dreams for weeks, but it’s not her. This one is a little shorter with the same eyes and similar hair. But the biggest difference is the way she’s looking at me. Adelaide never looks at me like I’m a hot-shot hockey player, unlike this woman, whose entire face changes when I’m betting she realizes who I am.

“Is Addie here?” I ask, wanting to get inside and check on my girl.

Fuck . . . My girl.

I mean, I’ve been thinking of her that way for weeks, but damn if I don’t want to say it out loud. To claim her. I want her to let me. To make her believe it.

Making her believe will be the trickiest part, but she’s worth it.

The stranger’s smile spreads, and the similarity ends.

This woman is younger. Freer, if I had to guess. She doesn’t have the weight of the world on her shoulders like Addie does.

“You’re Leo Sinclair,” she announces, like I don’t know exactly who I am. I try to look around her. “Come in.”

I take the invitation like a vampire excited to be invited to cross the threshold. And this is definitely the moment I decide I’ve watched too many chick shows with my sisters and Caitlin and Bellamy through the years.

“What are you doing here?” she asks before I get a chance to ask who the hell she is.

“I was texting Adelaide, and she stopped answering. Who did you say you are?” I have zero doubt my mom would tell me that was rude, but I don’t give a shit. She’s in Addie’s house, and I don’t see or hear her or the kids. “Where’s Addie?”

She offers me her hand. “I’m Coraline, Addie’s sister. Our girl is probably passed out on the couch. She’s not much of a drinker, and she got a little drunk earlier before Caitlin left.”

Coraline moves, and I follow her into the kitchen, listening to her ramble on about Cait and Callen and too much wine mixed with killer cookies, but my brain seems to be stuck on the way she said our girl.

Does this tiny woman know something I don’t?

Has Addie mentioned me?

“Anyway, Adelaide isn’t much of a drinker, even when she’s not breastfeeding. But I’m pretty sure tonight was the first time she’s had a full glass of wine since she gave birth to Lennox, let alone a whole bottle. And trust me . . . she had every bit of that bottle. She’s going to have to wake up at some point to pump and dump later, and she’s going to be hurting when she does it.”

“Pump and what?” I ask as Coraline starts picking up the mess in the kitchen while I stand and stare.

“Pump and dump.” She stares back as if to say duh, isn’t it obvious. “She’s breastfeeding so she obviously can’t nurse Lennox after she’s been drinking.”

When I continue to stare wordlessly, she reaches up, squeezes her boobs, and gives me a hey, dummy look. “Pump. And. Dump. She pumps the breast milk, and instead of freezing it to give Lennox later, she dumps it out. Pump. And. Dump.”

“Oh . . .” Okay, yeah. Maybe I’m a little slow to this shit, but in my defense, whenever my sisters whipped their boobs out to nurse their kids, I fucking ran away.

Some things a brother just doesn’t need to see.

“You think she’s on the couch?” I ask, wanting to get the hell out of this room and find the woman I came here for before this one squeezes her tits again.

Coraline picks up a chocolate chip cookie and points it at me. “Are you going to hurt my sister?”

I open my mouth to answer, but she stuffs the fucking cookie in it like I’m a damn dog.

“What the fuck?” I mumble around the cookie before I spit it out.

“If I wanted you to answer, I wouldn’t have filled your mouth,” she tells me like it makes all the sense in the world.

“You’re a little crazy, aren’t you?”

Coraline thinks about that for a hot fucking second, then shrugs one shoulder. “I’ve been called worse. Now listen up, number ten . . .”

“How do you know my hockey number?” Fuck. Is she a crazy stalker or a puck bunny?

Crazy girl picks up another cookie, and I step back before she can attack again. “Has Addie not told you anything?”

“How about you just fill me in.” I reach out and snatch the chocolate chip goodness I’m betting either came from Caitlin or Sweet Temptations. Like mother, like daughter, and these ladies make the best in town. As long as they’re not being shoved down your throat, that is.

“Nope. That’s for Addie to tell you, but let’s just say I know who you are, Sinclair. I’m a hockey fan. And before you think it, I’m not a puck bunny⁠—”

“Too late,” I warn, and she glares.

With a roll of her eyes, she grins. “Whatever. I love the sport, and you have impressive speed and had an incredible season last year.” Her gaze travels over me a little too slowly for my liking. “Although this season seems to be off to a bit of a rough start.”

“How about I come to your office and tell you you’re doing a shitty job?” I fire back, not sure I like her snotty little tone, even if this is the kind of verbal sparring I thrive on.

“Chill out, speedy.” She leans across the counter and narrows her eyes. “I don’t have an office. I have a semester left in law school, and then I hope to have an office in a sports agency. Feel free to put in a good word with your agent for me if you want to. Maybe I could start a branch in Kroydon Hills.”

“Are you going to kick me out or are you going to let me go find Addie?” She’s like Izzy negotiating her bath time but with higher stakes.

Coraline studies me for a long minute before finally breaking. “Here’s the thing. I think you could be good for my sister. And she could really use some good in her life. But I swear to God, Sinclair . . . if you hurt her, I will hunt you down, and I will scoop your balls out of their sacs with a dull teaspoon.”

I wince, and she smiles.

“I don’t want to hurt her,” I try to reassure her, but she shakes her head and moves around me.

“Yeah . . . they never do.”

She doesn’t stop me when I move around her in search of Addie. It only takes a minute before I find her exactly where her sister said she’d be, curled in a ball on the couch. Her blonde hair spread out like a halo around her head. She looks peaceful as she sleeps, and I’m not sure that’s something I’ve seen from this woman.

I’m pretty sure my new goal in life might be to put that look permanently on her face.

I squat down next to her and tuck her hair behind her ear as her eyes crack open. “Leo?”

“Yeah, sweetheart. I’m here.” And I’m not going anywhere. Fuck, I’m a goner.

“I don’t feel so good,” she murmurs, and any remaining peace vanishes. “Why did I drink so much?”

“You need me to get you something?” I ask as I slide my hand over her head and rest it on her back.

She shakes her head the smallest bit, then winces. “I just want to go to bed.”

“That I can help with.” I curl my arms under her and lift her as I stand up, and a sound from the other side of the room catches my attention.

“Goddamn . . . speed and strength.” Coraline fans her face, and I laugh silently. “Her room is at the top of the stairs. Last one, all the way down the hall on the right. Be quiet, or you’ll wake Izzy and Lennox.”

I nod and enjoy the way Adelaide settles against my chest. She buries her face in my neck and makes the sweetest sounding sigh as I carry her up the stairs. “Why do you always smell so good, Leo?”

“Soap,” I offer quietly as we pass by closed doors I’m assuming belong to Izzy and Lennox before I come to the open door at the back of the house.

“Not fair.” She exhales. “No one should smell this good. You smell like my hero.”

“I don’t want to be your hero, Addie.” I lay her gently down on her bed and tug the blankets back.

She looks at me so confused, it’s adorable.

“I want to be your everything.” I pull the covers over her and run a hand over her face. “But you’re gonna have to let me in for that, sweetheart.”

A sliver of silvery lights slices in through the gauzy white curtains covering giant windows overlooking the lake behind the house, illuminating her face and giving her an ethereal glow. Goddamn. She’s beautiful.

“Not sure you’d feel that way if you really knew me, Leo.” Her heavy eyes close before I can answer, and my heart slams behind my ribs.

“Guess I’m just going to have to prove you wrong . . .” I brush my lips over her forehead and hear Lennox’s faint cry coming from down the hall.

Maybe there’s a way I can help tonight.