Gametime: A Moo U Hockey Romance, Jami Davenport [best reads txt] 📗

little cleft in his chin, but Paxton’s chin was slightly different, squarer maybe. His eyes didn’t have the twinkling mischief of his brother’s but were deeply serious. Yet he had a playful side. I’d seen it last night. He was so panty-dropping handsome, with straightforward goodness and a quiet strength. I was getting hot just thinking about him minus his clothes.

I shook my head to clear it. I was lusting over Paxton. My friend.

Paxton nudged my foot to get my attention. “Don’t worry. We’re good. Lots of friends hook up. Doesn’t mean anything. Don’t give it another thought.” He winked and gave me a cocky smile. If I hadn’t known him as well as I did, I’d have believed him. He wasn’t fooling me. Lots of friends did hook up, but they usually knew exactly who they were hooking up with. I had not known.

“Are you sure? We’re good?” I studied him intently, drawn to those deep blue eyes with the laugh lines in the corners. Patrick’s lines were more pronounced than Paxton’s. I’d never noticed that before. Now that we’d been as intimate as two people could get, I saw things I hadn’t seen. Perhaps I’d been guilty of viewing Paxton as an extension of his twin rather than as his own person.

I glanced toward Patrick. He regarded us quizzically from across the room, and my heart didn’t do that pitter-pat, pound-pound thing it always did when our eyes met. I turned back and met Paxton’s gaze, and my heart pitter-patted and pound-pounded.

What the fuck?

My brain was confused because I’d slept with the wrong twin. That had to be it.

Right?

“Naomi?” Paxton’s dark brows knit together as he watched me. He ran his hands through his wavy dark hair, which he’d let grow longer than usual. In fact, so had Patrick.

“Uh, yeah, uh, I just want to make sure everything is good between us.”

“We’re good,” Paxton insisted with forced lightness. He signaled to Carly, who was walking by. “I’d like to buy Naomi a drink.”

Carly smiled at me. “What’ll you have?”

“I’ll just have whatever light beer you have on tap.”

“You got it.” Carly hustled off.

“You won’t tell Patrick what happened, will you?” I didn’t want Patrick to know about Pax and me, but not necessarily for the obvious reasons. Things had gotten way more complicated than simply not wanting the guy I’d been lusting over to find out I’d slept with his brother. Correct that—we hadn’t slept. We’d had sex so epic I feared sex with Patrick or anyone else would be a letdown.

“Not on your life. If I did, then he’d know how you felt about him, and I’d be betraying your confidence.”

I was relieved, but I wasn’t sure I cared if Patrick knew I’d been crushing on him for two years. More importantly, I wanted—needed—to protect Paxton’s pride.

“Then we’re good?”

He rolled his eyes and smiled. “Yeah, I said we’re good. It’s not a big deal, Naomi. Let it go.” He sounded annoyed. I guess I was driving the point home a little too strongly.

“How’re your classes this semester?” I asked, changing the subject.

“I’m carrying a full load and then some. I might graduate early and go pro.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, but don’t mention this to anyone. I haven’t even told Patrick.”

Since he was revealing something Patrick didn’t know, we were back on solid footing, or so I hoped.

We talked about classes and hockey and issues with our dads for a few minutes. Shortly after my beer arrived, Patrick ambled over to join us. With an assessing gaze, he looked from his twin to me and back to Paxton. I suspected he’d been having a serious case of FOMO.

“Can anyone get in on this secret?” he asked and verified my suspicions.

I licked my lips and guiltily glanced at Pax. “Uh, no secrets.”

“Right.” Patrick studied us as if he were calculating his chance at a clear shot at the net. Only he had more time to dissect our behavior than he ever would his scoring chances.

Speaking of scoring chances, we were in luck because a couple senior girls flopped down next to him, claiming his attention. He flipped on the charm and flirted outrageously, forgetting his twin and me.

Paxton shrugged apologetically. “What can I say? My bro’s a ho.”

I laughed. Watching Patrick in action didn’t hurt me nearly as much as it would’ve even a few days ago. In fact, I wasn’t certain it bothered me at all.

WTF was going on here?

One of the girls turned her attention to Paxton, and he fell into an easy conversation with her. She scooted close to him, placed a possessive hand on his muscular thigh, and snaked an arm around the back of his neck. He smiled at her, but his expression was mildly disinterested and didn’t sizzle with the heat he’d shown last night. Or was I imagining he had a special smile just for me?

Patrick would go home with one of these women, and Paxton might also. My stomach twisted at the image of Pax having sex with someone else less than twenty-four hours from our night together. Thoughts of them together smothered me, and I gasped for breath. I had to get out of here.

Abruptly I stood and grabbed my purse. All four pairs of eyes looked up at me. “I have to go study. See you guys later.”

I didn’t wait for Paxton’s reaction, but I got the hell out of there.

Paxton might be the good twin to a point, but he wasn’t an angel. He got his share of action if campus rumors were to be believed, and this particular senior appeared to be one of his hookups hoping for a repeat performance.

Seeing her cuddle up to him upset me, and I didn’t know how to deal with this bit of information. I was suffering from twin confusion and had to get my head on straight. I didn’t like things out of order or not following my plan. Patrick was my crush, not his brother. Patrick was the guy destined to be