Always Only You by Chloe Liese (z-lib.org).epub

swallowed something sour. We didn’t meet. I just saw him from a distance when
he awkwardly hugged Ren, then took off. What about the other ones? “You have
a bajillion siblings. One of them couldn’t hang with Ziggy so your parents can
attend a game?”
No answer.
“Do your brothers and sisters know why your jersey number is seven?”
His whole body stiffens. I watch his throat work as he swallows. “I just like
the number seven.”
“Bullshit, Zenzero. It’s for your family. Seven siblings, isn’t it?”
Who barely come to his games. In what world does being a professional
hockey player make you the black sheep of the family?
As if he’s followed my train of thought, he shrugs, opening the oven and
peering in. A burst of cinnamon and sugar wafts from behind the oven door, but
before I can glimpse what’s in there, he snaps it shut. “The Bergmans aren’t a
hockey family.”
“You’re Swedish for Christ’s sake. Northern Europeans invented hockey.”
“Nova Scotians, sweet pea.”
I choke on nothing particular except the absurdity of what just came out of
his mouth. “I’m sorry, what did you just call me?”
Ren grins as he turns off the heat underneath the stew and covers it with a
lid. “I need an endearment for you. I’m trying them out.”
“Um. How about Frankie? That’ll do fine.”
“Pff.” Ren closes the distance between us, standing inside my legs. Those
warm, calloused hands slip around my neck and delve into my hair, massaging
aching muscles. “You call me sweet things.”
I groan as he hits a tender spot. It makes my eyes fall shut. “The Italian word
for a root vegetable. And a thinly veiled reference to a brutal, pillaging Viking.
Not exactly amorous.”
“They don’t have to be amorous,” he says quietly. “They just have to be
mine, for you…turtledove.”
“Nope.”
“Huckleberry.”
“Hell, no.”
“Lambkin.”
I crack an eye open and give him a look. “You’re hopeless.”
“We both knew that.” He presses a long kiss to my forehead again. “You’re
in my kitchen,” he whispers, tipping my head up to meet his eyes. “Pinch me.”
I grab a nice little bit of skin at his side. Just skin, because there sure as shit
isn’t any fat on his torso.