Snow Angel (The Hope Falls Chronicles) (9 page)

crumble when faced with peer pressure.

“Where are we going?” Lily tried to inquire casually. She figured if she had a heads-up then maybe she

could mentally prepare herself for the temptations she would be facing.

Karina smiled a smile that Lily had seen on many magazine covers, reminding her just how ridiculously

famous Karina was, before replying, “You’ll see.”

As the two stepped through the double doors that led into the gym, Lily’s confusion grew.

Why would they go to a gym?

“Voila! Our treat.” Karina motioned her head to the opposite side of the gym.

Lily looked down the court and saw four incredibly gorgeous men, two of whom were shirtless, playing

basketball. She recognized three of them. She saw Ryan, Karina’s boyfriend, and Ben, who was Lauren’s

fiancé—they both had shirts on. Then she saw a really well-built tattooed guy she didn’t recognize, and the other shirtless player was Eric.

Watching as Eric’s muscles rippled in his back as he shot from the free-throw line caused her mouth to

go dry for a completely different reason than fear. She felt her lips begin to tingle and a heat spread from her core out through her arms and legs. She could hear her heart beating in her head.

It wouldn’t have mattered if Karina had given her a heads-up about where they were headed. There was

no way
Lily could have prepared herself for this temptation.

Lily felt her arm being tugged, and it snapped her back to the moment. Her shoes squeaked on the

hardwood floor as she and Karina made their way over to a set of bleachers on the right side of the gym.

They stepped up to the top of them, sat down, and leaned back against the cold, hard concrete wall. Lily

appreciated the support. Not only was she exhausted but seeing Eric shirtless had made her go weak in the

knees, which was apparently her body’s natural response to him. It was odd because she used to think the

strange phenomenon was just a saying. Now she knew that it really did happen.

Karina motioned down to the four men racing back and forth in the gym. “So you know Ryan, Ben, and

Eric. The other shirtless player is Levi. He just bought JT’s Roadhouse, a bar just outside of town on the

highway.”

Lily nodded, trying not to be ridiculously obvious about the monumental crush she had on her

neighbor.

“So did you have fun at dinner last night?” Karina asked.

Reluctantly tearing her eyes away from the court, Lily turned to Karina. “Yeah, it was great. I loved

meeting everyone.”

Karina smiled and looked back out at the game so Lily followed her lead and did the same. She

certainly didn’t need any more of an invitation to watch Eric’s half-naked form as he ran up and down the

court.

“Everyone loved you too. Ariana and Carlos were going on and on about how beautiful you are and

how flawless your skin is.” Karina paused as she took a drink of water, and Lily felt a light blush rise in her

cheeks. It was sweet that the two of them had nice things to say about her, but it was embarrassing all the same.

Karina cleared her throat before continuing. “They also kept talking about how you left with Eric and

how chivalrous the whole scene was.”

Lily knew that the light blush that had been on her cheeks was probably now a deep red. Defending

herself, she quietly whispered, “I didn’t
leave
with him. He just walked me to my car.”

Karina nodded, and Lily thought that the subject was officially dropped. Until Karina dropped her

follow-up. “So, do you have a boyfriend?”

Lily wasn’t born yesterday. She might be an exhausted, hormone-crazed basket case these days, but she

knew when someone was digging. She had found that short, simple answers were the best diffusers of

these types of personal inquiry bombs. “Nope.”

“Girlfriend?” Karina asked.

“Nope.”

“Just out of curiosity… If you were inclined to have a significant other, which would you prefer?”

Lily had to smile. In all of the years people had asked her about her personal life and she had given

them vague, somewhat non-responses, that was the most politically correct, innovative, polite way she had

ever been asked if she was gay or straight. She felt that that kind of creativity and tact deserved an answer.

“Boyfriend.”

---~---

Eric felt the rim beneath his palms as he dunked the ball. For a moment, he relished in the pure

exhilaration of making the difficult shot. He’d juked around Ben for a layup and been met by Ryan so he’d

jumped and put the ball in the basket. But as soon as his feet met the unforgiving wooden floor, pain seared through his body in protest. His hand immediately flew to the stabbing sensation in his lower back.

“You all right, old man?” Ben teased as he took out the ball.

“I’m good.” Eric rolled his shoulders and positioned himself in front of Ryan to try and block the pass.

“I think he might be showing off for a certain brunette who is sitting in the stands,” Ryan said, trash-

talking as he moved to position himself farther away from Eric.

Levi looked up at the stands. “Who is the hottie with Karina?”

“Lily Sotelo.” Ryan seemed oh-too-happy to explain. “She’s Karina’s new choreographer.”

“What’s her deal?” Levi asked, sounding a little too interested for Eric’s liking.

Ryan smiled and looked at Eric. “Why don’t you ask Eric?”

Eric didn’t reply. It was best not to engage. Anything he said could and would be used against him in

the court of basketball trash-talk.

“Why would I ask Eric?” Levi asked.

“Well, they are neighbors,” Ben interjected, shooting the ball to Ryan.

Thanks, Ben.

“True,” Ryan nodded as he caught the ball. “I also think that he’s put in some time getting to know her.

On a personal level.”

“Oooooh, it’s like that,” Levi acknowledged with a smile.

“It’s not anything.” Eric tried to keep his tone even as he abandoned his initial instinct not to engage.

“So it’s cool if I ask her out?” Levi stole the ball as Ryan attempted to pass it back to Ben.

Eric was genuinely regretting his decision to ask Levi to fill in for his brother Jake, who had gotten

called into the station and hadn’t been able to make the two-on-two game. But considering the alternative to having Levi here would be to have his flirtatious, ball-busting brother, he figured this wasn’t so bad.

Levi threw the ball behind his back and Eric caught it in perfect position for a three-pointer. He lifted

his arms, aimed, and sent the ball swooshing through the hoop. There were cheers from the stands as Eric

walked over to get his towel and water. That three-pointer had just won him and Levi the game.

“Good game,” Levi said as he slapped Eric on the back. “Looks like you have a cheering section.”

Eric picked up his jug of water, deciding to ignore Levi’s observation and revisit his plan not to engage.

“Good game, babe.” He heard Karina’s voice behind him. Which meant Lily was probably beside her.

Eric tried to prepare himself for the reaction he would inevitably have when he turned around and came

face to face with Lily. It seemed that the closer they were proximity-wise, the more intensely his body

responded.

Eric turned around and the second he laid eyes on Lily he felt his body tense with need. She was

wearing workout clothes that showcased her thin waist and the flair of her hips. Her hair was piled loosely on the top of her head and a few stray strands fell around her face that was flushed with a light shade of

pink.

“We lost,” Ryan said, but he had a smile on his face as he picked Karina up into his arms.

“But you looked good doing it. In my book, that’s a good game,” Karina declared as she threw her arms

around Ryan’s neck.

Watching his friends, he knew for a fact that that was what had been missing in his life. The connection.

The friendship. The love. The real thing.

Eric realized in that moment that his recent unhappiness with casual relationships may in part be

attributed to the fact that the last year he had watched several of his childhood friends find what, for all intents and purposes, appeared to be their soul mates. Seeing two people fall in love was different than

seeing a couple at any other stage in their relationship.

Eric had had a daily example of love growing up. His parents adored each other. And after almost forty

years, his dad still couldn’t seem to keep his hands off of his mom. If those two were alone in a room for

even a minute, his dad started playing grab-ass. Jake and Nikki had always thought it was gross, and

although Amy didn’t say anything about it, he thought she may not have thought it was the greatest thing.

Eric had always had a different take on it. Growing up, his friends that did have parents who were still

together just didn’t seem happy. Eric had observed that most of them didn’t even seem like they liked each

other, much less loved one another.

That wasn’t to say that his parents were always lovey-dovey. No, far from it. His mother was Italian and

his father was Irish. They were both proud, loud, and opinionated. When they disagreed, it was not done

quietly. And more likely than not, if the disagreement happened when his mom was in the kitchen, which

was her favorite place to be, then seeing a pan, glass, or utensil flying across the room was par for the course.

But those outbursts had always ended almost as quickly as they’d started. Then it was forgotten. He’d

never known his parents to hold a grudge.

“Hi,” Levi said as he stepped in front of Lily.

“Hi.” Lily smiled a friendly smile.

“Oh, my bad,” Karina said as Ryan set her down. “Lily, this is Levi. I’m usually good at introductions

but someone distracted me.”

Lily held out her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Levi said with his trademark half-smile that Eric had seen a lot of women swoon over at

JT’s Roadhouse. Jake referred to it as “the panty dropper.”

Ben picked up a call and excused himself, saying he would see the guys on Tuesday for their next game

and then said goodbye to Karina and Lily.

“We’d better get going too. We promised Renata that we’d be at her place by six for dinner,” Ryan said

as he reached out for Karina’s hand

Eric loved Karina’s grandmother Renata. The woman was a force to be reckoned with. The only time

Eric had seen even the smallest crack in her steel-like façade was when Bernie, Karina’s manager, was

around.

The two were an odd couple visually. Renata was tall and rail thin, and she had a regal air about her.

She always wore her hair in pulled back tightly in a braid that fell almost to her waist. Bernie was a short, stout, balding man with tufts of hair at the sides of his head and full, bushy eyebrows that he seemed to like to waggle suggestively at Karina’s grandmother.

Karina snapped her fingers. “Oh right, I forgot. Okay, we’d better get going.” Turning to Lily, she

pulled her into a hug. “Thank you for kicking my ass today! You were amazing. See you tomorrow,

sweetie!”

As Karina and Ryan left, Levi wasted no time and made his move. He stepped up to the plate and

swung. “So what are you doing later? I could show you around. Maybe we could grab something to eat.”

“Oh thanks,” Lily said, tilting her head to the side, “but I am actually just planning on going home and

crashing. It’s been a long week.”

Swing and a miss. Eric couldn’t help feeling just a little—okay a lot—happy that his friend had struck

out.

Levi did not look the least bit discouraged as he grabbed a card from his wallet. “All right. Well, most

nights—and days for that matter—you can find me at JT’s Roadhouse. Come by and have a drink. On the

house.”

Lily smiled as she took the card from Levi. “Sounds good. Thanks.”

Eric didn’t like that answer. Not one bit.

She was probably just being polite. What else was she supposed to say? She was a friendly person. Eric

had observed that the night before. So why did this little exchange make him want to punch something?

Eric had never considered himself the jealous type, and in this particular case, he had no right to be jealous in the first place. Lily wasn’t his to be jealous over. But that didn’t stop that very strong feeling from rearing its ugly head inside of him.

“See you kids later,” Levi said as he flung his bag over his shoulder. Eric did not miss the fact that he

winked at Lily as he left.

The second that it was just the two of them standing in the now empty gym the entire atmosphere

changed. If the florescent lights overhead would have been turned off, Eric was sure that sparks could have been seen flying between them.

“Hi,” Eric said, not trusting himself to say much more.

“Hi.” Lily’s voice sounded strained as her large almond-colored eyes stared into his.

Her chest moved up and down as her breathing came in shorter pants. The movement caused his eyes to

drift down to the hint of cleavage peeking out above her pink sports bra. He wanted to growl with

appreciation at the tempting sight she presented.

He realized that he needed to look away if he didn’t want his shorts to start showing exactly how much

he appreciated what he saw. When he looked back up into her gorgeous face, he saw that she was no longer

looking up at him. Instead, she was staring straight ahead—at his bare chest.

She licked her lips, and his eyes followed the path of her tongue as it ran along the seam of her full

mouth. He had no idea whether it was a nervous habit or something she did when she was turned on, but

he knew he liked it. A lot. And he also knew that if she kept staring at him like that, he wasn’t going to be able to hold on to the thin thread of restraint that he had.