A Very Merry Hockey Holiday (Assassins #6.5) (15 page)

“You’re gorgeous, Kacey King.”

“You aren’t too bad yourself,” she answered back, leaning down to press her lips to his. Bracing her hands at the sides of his head, she looked deep into his brown eyes and decided she was really going to miss him. “This is the last time, Jordie.”

His brow came up. “No, I plan on making you come at least three more times tonight.”

She scoffed. “You wish. You don’t make me come; I choose to.”

He laughed. “Baby, don’t test me. I’ll throw you up on my face and have you coming in seconds.”

Her body was engulfed in flames at the thought, but she reined it back in. That wouldn’t happen. She’d never leave if it did. “Maybe.”

Jordie chuckled. “Are you challenging me?”

“No, shit. Shut up,” she said, setting him with a look before kissing him deeply. When she got off him, that was it. They were over. Never again would she find herself in Jordie Thomas’s bed. Pulling away, she gazed at him as he looked up at her, confused.

“What is it, Kacey?”

“This is it. This is goodbye. We can be friends because I do enjoy picking at you, but we can’t sleep together anymore.”

His eyes held hers as he asked, “Can I ask why? I like what we do.”

“Oh, I do too, but I’ve caught feelings.”

His eyes went wide but he recovered quickly, looking up at the ceiling, his thumb stopping at her nipple. “Caught feelings, huh?”

“Yeah, I love you, and while I know that horrifies you,” she said since she could see it all over his face, “I know the score. I know this was supposed to be just fucking, but somewhere in there, I fell for you. So, yeah. I gotta stop this before it gets so bad that I can’t walk away.”

Glancing away, he moved his hand down his face. “I wish you wouldn’t have done that. I like this. A lot. You. I like you, but I can’t love you.”

“I know,” she said with a nod and slowly got off him, patting his chest. “And I’m not mad. Hurt, yeah, because I could see us having a good life together, but it’s not you.”

She got up, but he took her hand, stopping her. She met his gaze and pushed back her tears as his eyes searched hers. She expected him to tease her, to lighten the mood, but instead, he said, “I wish I could.”

“Me too,” she whispered before swallowing past the lump in her throat. She got dressed in silence as he watched. It took everything not to cry, but she wouldn’t. She couldn’t. She wouldn’t show weakness. As she went for the door, he took her hand, and she was surprised that he had gotten out of bed. His leg was still pretty messed up and it was hard for him to walk, but soon he had his arms around her, his lips at her neck as he hugged her tightly. Kissing her jaw, he then took her lips with his, kissing her long and hard, curling her toes in her boots.

Pulling back, he looked deep in her eyes. “Karson isn’t gonna come after me for hurting you, right?”

She shook her head quickly. “No, I promise. I knew the score. This is my fault.”

“I was just joking. I owned up to being with you.”

“Oh, okay.”

Lifting her chin with his finger, he looked deep into her eyes and whispered, “I’m gonna realize one day that I shouldn’t have let you go, and I’m pretty sure I’m gonna regret it. By then though, you’ll find some schmuck who will love you the way you deserve, and you’ll be happy. That’s what I want.”

Her lip quivered as she looked down at his bare chest, the scars of his past screaming at her. He’d had it so hard growing up; the scars weren’t just internal, they were even visible. She got it. She got him; she just wished it would end differently.

“But if, for some reason, you haven’t found him, you better believe you will be mine, Kacey King. There won’t be any stopping that.”

Smiling, she looked up at him and said, “That might be the only time I’ll let you win.”

His grin was infectious as he nodded. “I always win.”

Kissing his jaw, she had to get away before she lost it. He kissed her once more, and then against her lips, he whispered, “Know that you’re the only girl who has left a mark.”

She nodded. “I wish that mark was enough.”

“Me too,” he admitted, but she knew it wasn’t. He wouldn’t trust someone enough to love them. He couldn’t. Kissing him once more, she opened the door and shut it before walking away as fast as she could to make sure he didn’t come after her. She didn’t want him to see her cry. She wanted him to think they ended things and her heart was intact, but that wasn’t the case. As she rushed to the car, she didn’t cry because they were over, she cried because it happened and she knew she’d never be the same.

Looking at the clock, she saw that it read midnight, which meant the new year was here. She had heard from Lacey that the person you are with on New Year’s is the one you’ll be with for the next year. Well, she was alone, crying in her damn car.

Wonderful.

“Happy fucking new year to me.”

Happy Holidays!

My amazing readers,

Thank you for reading this novella and I hope it brought some holiday cheer into your heart. I know that Kacey’s story didn’t end very merrily, but that just gives a chance for her story to continue. Look forward to
Overtime
, coming spring 2015, to see if Kacey gets her Happily Ever After.

I love y’all so much and I couldn’t do this without you.

Thank you & Happy Holidays!

Love,

Toni.

Upcoming from Toni Aleo!

Becoming the Whiskey Princes
s (Taking Risk Novel 2) January 2015

Clipped by Love
(Bellevue 2) February 2015

Overtime
(Assassins 7) April 2015

And a brand new series is coming in Summer 2015 from Toni Aleo

The Spring Grove Novels

Bring on the cowboys!

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This book,
A Very Merry Holiday,
is a work of Fiction. Any names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

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