Pinkie Promise (Carter Ridge Book 1)

I grab my gym bag from the backseat as Hunter opens up my door, taking my hand as I step down into the rising blanket of snow. He hoists me up his body as soon as he realises that I’m already ankle-deep, he shoves the door closed, and then jogs us to the entrance of the hockey house, slipping my bag from my fingers so that he can take the weight of it on his right shoulder.

I wriggle to dismount as he takes the first steps inside but his fingers tighten on my body, silently telling me no. I wrap my arms around his neck, silently replying okay.

“Tanner’s out,” he says as he reaches his right hand into the front pocket of his joggers for the key to his floor. “Don’t know if Caden will be back yet. He was picking up his girl from the airport.”

“Girlfriend from home?” I ask, surprised.

Hunter wedges the metal o-ring halfway down one of his fingers, before raking a hand through his hair, melting the rogue snowflakes down the side of his tan face.

“High school sweetheart – that’s why he’s living on our floor. Tanner and I have less through traffic than some of the other guys on the team.” His cheekbones flush a deep ruddy colour and he rumbles, “Sorry. Maybe that was a bad way to word it.”

It might have been a bad way to word it but, for some reason, my belly begins to pound.

“Through traffic,” I repeat, secretly intrigued.

He drags his hand down his stubble, taking the stairs two at a time. “You know what I’m talking about, right?” he asks, his tone low. “Like, the kind of stuff that goes on at the frat houses. That’s why Caden lives with us, because Tanner does his stuff elsewhere and… and, uh, and I…”

He rolls his lips into his mouth, shutting himself up before he can say anything else. He glances briefly down at me and I feel my pupils dial out at his towering angle.

Suddenly he drops me to the floor and, when he moves me so that I’m in front of him, I realise that we’ve reached the door to his floor.

Now that I’m not facing him I have the courage to ask, “And you?”

His large palms ease his jacket from my shoulders and, holding them firmly, he gives them one rough knead.

“Sure you wanna know?” he murmurs.

I nod, still looking blankly at the unopened door.

His chest swells against my back and he presses his mouth against my ear. “Then I’ll tell you later.”

He rams his key into the lock and then kicks the door open.

We’re instantly met with a loud squeal followed by a muffled chuckle, and I watch as Hunter’s burly roommate shoves himself over the back of their living room sofa to grab a hold of the waist of a petite pink-haired girl who’s belly-down on the couch. He pulls her up hard against his abdomen, one arm keeping her in place as his other hand rubs and tickles at her ribcage.

He’s wearing a pair of pyjama pants and she’s wearing the matching top.

“Cade! Oh my God, stop!” she yelps. A thrilled giggle leaves her throat as she lifts her head up, shooting me an apologetic look from over the arm of the sofa.

He smirks against her flushed cheek and rumbles, “Whatcha squealing for, piglet?”

She bursts into another fit of laughter and hides her face under her cotton-candy cloud of soft pink hair. She rolls onto her back and then kicks at her boyfriend, making him grunt as he tries to wrestle her back down.

“The door,” she laughs breathlessly. “You gotta stop, there are people at the door.”

Hunter’s roommate immediately lifts his head up before compressing himself down on top of his girlfriend, a shocked look on his face. “S-sorry man,” he blinks. “Didn’t hear you.”

Feeling like this whole situation is too precious and intimate to be intruded on I take a small half-step backwards, but Hunter’s palm spans on my lower back and he gives me a gentle but firm shove over the threshold. Then he kicks the door shut behind us, winds his arms around my front, and yanks up the zipper on my jacket, hiding my sparkly cheer outfit. He wraps his forearms over my chest and gives me a hard belly-flipping squeeze.

“You didn’t hear him?” the pink-haired girl laughs, shoving hard at her boyfriend’s chest so that he sits upright between her legs. His eyes are trained on her as she gets to her feet and, as if compelled, he immediately does the same. “He almost broke down the damn door.”

Her boyfriend settles his hands on her shirt-covered hips, giving me an eyeful of his darkly tattooed forearms.

Lord almighty.

“I was otherwise engaged,” he says huskily, his southern accent low and rough. Then he casts his eyes back up to Hunter and he says, “We’ll go to my room.”

His girlfriend flashes me a grin and I can’t help but smile back at her.

“Oh, will we now?” she says in her light honey drawl. Her boyfriend starts pushing her forward, walking them out of the living room, but she reaches a slender arm out to me, making him pause in confusion. His eyes trail down to her fingers as if he doesn’t want anyone else touching her.

“Winter,” she says, her eyes sparkly and a little nervous. Her boyfriend shoots his eyes directly into mine and I feel Hunter’s arms lock harder around my body.

I take her hand and we do a little shake. Another laugh tinkles out of her.

“Fallon,” I squeak in reply.

Hunter’s chest is moving hard against my back. “Winter, Fallon. Fallon, Winter. And that’s Caden, but y’all aren’t shaking hands.”

Caden lets out an exasperated exhale, his gaze still burning into his girlfriend’s hand.

“Y’all can have the living room if you want,” Winter says when we let go of each other, gesturing to the sofa that she was just being mauled on. “We really will stay in Cade’s room.”

I shake my head. “Oh, no, I probably won’t be staying! I’m just… because of the roads… but the weather will probably be fine in a minute.”

I glance out of the balcony doors behind them and notice that, if anything, the blizzard is getting worse. Hunter lets out a quiet snicker.

I glance up at him over my shoulder and he gently wraps one fist around my ponytail. “We might put a movie on or something. So thanks,” he says, calm and authoritative.

I look back at Winter and see that her eyes are on my skirt, poking out from beneath Hunter’s jacket. She tucks her hair behind both of her ears and gives me an excited look as she says, “You a cheerleader or somethin’?”

“Alright, that’s it.” Caden grabs her by the biceps and begins steering her towards his bedroom. She shoots me a mischievous grin from over his shoulder and then howls in delight as her boyfriend bites into the curve of her neck.

Hunter’s hand slides around the front of my throat, stroking me gently as he presses a kiss to my jaw.

“We’re gonna watch a film?” I ask him curiously as he walks us over to the sofa and settles me down onto the padded cushion.

He stays standing upright and he pulls his jumper off from over his head, tossing it beside me before raking his fingers through his fringe. His shirt lifts up as he tugs at his hair and I stare entranced at the happy trail rupturing its way down the centre of his thick abs.

“Yeah,” he grunts. “Seeing as you won’t let me take you to the movies again.”

I look at him coyly from under my lashes. He maintains my eye-contact while untying the knot at the top of his joggers.

“I’ve been busy,” I tell him. “We’ve been busy.”

He gives me a half-smile, dropping his cell onto the coffee table behind him. “Your schedule’s so damn tight. Thank fuck I get to spend some time with you over Christmas break.”

I purse my lips and he pauses his fingers.

“What?” he asks, his jaw ticking.

“It was really sweet that you said you’d stay here over Christmas but… you don’t have to do that. You should spend it with your family.”

“My family lives here, Fallon, in Carter Ridge. I don’t need to spend the whole break with them to see them.”

“But you have siblings, little cute ones. You should go.”

“Fallon, it drives me fucking insane how hard it is to get a hold of you.”

His chest is pumping in fast swollen drives. When I pull down the zipper on his jacket it starts pumping even faster.

“You got any work you wanna do while you’re here?” he asks as I shrug the sleeves down my arms. His eyes land on my cheer outfit and he rolls both of his shoulders.

“Nope,” I tell him, dangling the jacket out for him to take. “I don’t have my laptop. I’ll have to wait until I’m back at the condo.”

“D’you, uh…” He scratches at the back of his neck and glances towards his bedroom. “D’you wanna change into something more comfortable?”

I kick off my little shoes and prop my feet up on the coffee table. He rakes his eyes up my legs, swiping his tongue over his bottom lip when he reaches the top of my thighs.

“I thought you liked what I was wearing,” I say quietly, cocking my head and lacing my fingers over my waist.

He grips both of his hands behind his head, exposing his large tan biceps. They’re thicker than my thighs and I’m completely in love with them.

“Okay,” he rasps out. “I’m gonna go to the kitchen – make some drinks, grab some food. You can pick a movie and, uh… if the weather stays like this, you can take my bed. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“I’ll sleep on the couch,” I counter.

“Fallon, no.”

“Hunter, yes.”

He stares down at me with a dangerously calm expression. I tilt my head again and he gives me one of those self-assured jerks of his chin. “Then it looks like we’re both sleeping on the couch.”

He kicks off his shoes and gestures over to the TV.

“There’s a stack of DVDs if you wanna pick one. Or I can grab my laptop and download something. Literally anything. Whatever you want.”

“What snacks are you getting for me?” I ask, a smile in my voice as I watch him walk to the kitchen and begin pulling bowls and packets from the cupboards.

He turns to flash me a boyish grin. “All the sugary stuff.”

I smile back at him before clambering upright and padding over to their DVD stack.

“You were really good at our previous training sessions, by the way,” I tell him as I settle cross-legged on the floor and set the pile of DVDs between my knees. “When you had me standing balanced on your hands and held me steady so that I could do the split kicks? I didn’t actually know that you’d be able to handle it.”

I hear him still in the kitchen, his eyes burning into my cheeks. “I promised,” he says simply.

My cheeks turn a little pink as I fight back a smile. Yeah, he did promise. He made a promise and he kept it.

“It sucks that we didn’t get to do any of the positions today though,” I continue, my fingers stilling when I land on a DVD that I definitely was not expecting to see in this stack. I re-read the title three times before confirming what I already know by turning it over to look at the back.

Oh my.

The gentle thud of bowls and mugs hitting the coffee table sounds to my left and I glance up at Hunter whose eyes are on mine.

“We had to hit the road before the weather got worse. You know I’ve been lovin’ helping you train so I’m sorry that we couldn’t do it today.” He swallows and adds, “I don’t think that it’s safe to do any positions in the apartment.”

I hold up the DVD in my hand and ask him, “Not even these kinds of positions?”

As soon as he sees what I’m holding his eyes go wide and he stumbles over the side of the table, trying to get to me. I shoot to my feet and run to the back of the armchair, a surprised yelp leaving my throat when he storms after me, rounding the chair, and making me scamper back over to the sofa.

I jump up onto the arm and then run across the cushions, screaming excitedly as he leashes his forearms around my thighs, incapacitating me from running further, and then pulling me down onto my knees. I try to hold the DVD out of his reach but he kneels behind me and thrusts forward so that he can grab it.

I moan in defeat as I watch him toss the DVD back over to the armchair, but then his hands settle on my hips and he makes a rough sound against my ear.

“You don’t wanna watch that,” he murmurs, fingers sliding under my skirt and rubbing over my panty-covering cheer shorts.

“Oh, but I think I do,” I reply, a hot and frenzied feeling throbbing in my belly.

He slides his fingers down my thighs until his palms are fully encasing the backs of my knees. “It ain’t mine, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“It’s in the communal pile,” I whisper. “I bet you all use it.”

He presses his jaw against my cheek, the feeling of his stubble making me shiver. “I don’t watch that stuff. I have a different source for what I need.”

“You’re telling me that you’ve never watched it?” I whisper, turning my head so that I can look up at him. The hard expression on his face makes my breathing hitch.

He shoves his tongue into the side of his cheek and then he eases himself upright behind me, pulling me along with him by gripping his hands into my waist. I turn on my knees as he stands from the sofa, and he cups my jaw before leaning down to kiss me.

“That DVD? It was a Secret Santa thing from last year. One of the guys gave it to Tanner.” He huffs out a humourless laugh and says, “Okay, yeah, I watched it. It’s pretty niche. There’s probably not a lot of ice hockey themed pornos out there. Not that I’ve ever checked. Fuck, it’s getting real warm in here.”

He yanks the neckline of his shirt away from his chest and pulls a pained expression as he looks briefly away from me.

“That video’s like… the guy’s coming back from an away game and, uh, she’s his wife I guess and they just, you know… they just end up fuckin’ in every room of the house.” He winces hard and scratches at his stubble. “I’m gonna shut the hell up now.”

My eyes slide over to the cover of the DVD on the armchair. “She looks small,” I acknowledge.

Hunter struggles down a swallow. “Yeah,” he chokes out. “Hockey guys are pretty big so…”

“Is that your thing?” I ask him in a whisper.

His eyes scrape down my front as he rasps, “Isn’t it obvious?”

I lean forward so that I can press my chest against his abs and I say quietly, “I wanna watch it.”

He groans loudly and bites hard into his forearm.

“Is that a no?” I ask, teasing him a little.

“You can have it,” he says hoarsely. “But we can’t… not together.”

“Why not?”

“Because I won’t have any control over… I’ll need to…” He wraps his fingers around the sides of my throat and looks desperately into my eyes. “That’s not why I brought you here.”

I frown up at his beautiful tan face. “Don’t you want us to?”

“Yes,” he growls. “I want that so much. But you’re literally trapped in my apartment because of a damn blizzard, Fallon. Doing anything while you’re vulnerable like that would be taking advantage of you.”

“But what if I want it?”

He scrubs his palm against his forehead and angles his hips away from my belly. “Maybe don’t say things like that,” he pleads quietly.

I stare up at him, unsure about his hesitance when I thought that it was quite clear that he liked me. I couldn’t have been more open with him today, and a dull ache begins to spread in my chest as I wonder if I was too open.

I’ve been closed off to romance since I was a junior being scared out of my mind in my parents’ house, and I thought that I’d waited long enough. I thought that, now that I’d distanced myself from them, I would be able to move past those fears. From the moment that I saw Hunter I knew that he was perfect on the outside. The only problem was that he ended up being perfect on the inside too.

Or maybe he’s not. Maybe I’m too damaged, even for someone with a heart of gold.

I drop my arms from around the warm expanse of his shoulders and I scoot away from him, slipping off the sofa.

“What are you doing?” he asks, his voice still gravelly as I pick up my gym bag.

“I’m going to get changed,” I tell him. “Which one’s the bathroom?”

“Fallon, you don’t have to…” I position myself on the other side of the sofa and we watch each other with cautious expressions. Hunter’s chest is rising and falling so violently that I’m surprised he hasn’t actually tackled me back down onto the couch.

He flexes his hands, thrumming with testosterone.

“You can get changed in my room if you want,” he says in a voice that makes me think that that’s what he wants. He sounds sad and sorry, as if he thinks that he’s done something wrong.

Maybe he can’t see that having had no romantic interactions in my past means that every wrong move I take with him is simply me dipping my toes into the water because I don’t know what the right moves are yet.

“The bathroom’s through that door, but you really don’t… I didn’t mean to…” He stops himself and then stabs a thick digit towards the sofa. “I’m gonna be here. If you’d rather have some time to yourself, that’s fine. Take my bedroom. But after you get changed if you still wanna hang out here…” He looks at me with those beautiful sparkling eyes. “I’ll just be waiting.”

The sincerity in his tone makes my heart ache.

Unsure about what I want to do versus what I should do, I nod and then I quietly close myself into Hunter’s bedroom.