Rush: The Season (Austin Arrows Book 1)(19)

Like I said, complete opposites.

About the only thing we really have in common is the fact that we both grew up around hockey. Oh, and we’re both single.

“No sex,” Spencer says, his tone gruff and deeper than I expected. He glances over at Kingston. “Absolutely no sex.”

Well, that piques my interest. Knowing I’ll regret asking, I can’t help myself. “What’s the favor?”

“Our boy here”—Spencer nods toward Kingston—“has found himself in a bit of hot water. With the fans and the media.”

“Not the first time,” I note.

Noelle’s head bobs back and forth as she watches the verbal volley. Then again, she generally hangs on every word Spencer says. Or any hockey player, for that matter. She insists one day she will marry one, but up to this point, she has refused any who have made a pass at her. And trust me when I say there have been a lot. She’s not a puck bunny, because she doesn’t chase after the players, she simply wants to have a happily ever after with one. In her warped little mind, it would be the thing of fairy tales. If, you know, fairy tales were real.

However, unlike the puck bunnies who’ll take the first one to look their way, Noelle is waiting for the right one to come along, whoever that might be. Personally, I think the right one is sitting right in front of her. Literally. In my opinion, Spencer and Noelle would make an incredibly cute couple. However, for some reason, the two of them have never realized that.

“And probably not the last,” Kingston says, his smirk mirroring the mischievous gleam in his dark eyes.

“Definitely the last,” Spencer counters firmly. “Thing is … the team’s in the process of … doing some makeovers. Kingston’s first.”

Noelle’s head tilts to the side as she looks at Kingston. “Why in the hell would they wanna do that? He’s so … pretty.”

I laugh, can’t help it. Kingston Rush is not pretty by any stretch of the imagination. Ruggedly handsome? Yes. Body to die for? Check. Hot as hell? Most definitely. But he certainly doesn’t need a makeover.

“Last I checked, I owned a sports bar, not a beauty salon,” I tell Spencer.

“Not the kind of makeover I’m talking about.”

Oh.

I meet my brother’s gaze.

Oh. “Not interested,” I blurt as I grab a beer bottle, pop off the top, then push it toward the waitress currently waiting for me.

“Oh, come on,” Noelle pleads, a wicked gleam in her eyes. “You’re thirty-four and single. What’ve you got to lose?”

Traitor. “You don’t even know what the favor is.” I can’t believe she’s doing this to me.

Okay, scratch that. Yes, I can. Noelle’s been attempting to hook me up with Kingston for longer than I care to remember. When I said that no one knows about my infatuation with him, I forgot about Noelle. She knows, and she enjoys the hell out of exploiting that.

“Does it matter?” Noelle asks, tilting her head toward Kingston. “Have you seen him?”

I cock my head, pretending to be looking at him for the first time. Heat ignites low in my belly, and I have to look away, busying myself with another drink order. “Answer’s still no.”

“Hear them out,” Noelle says sweetly.

I don’t need to hear them out. Whatever they want, I’m not interested.

“He needs a girlfriend,” Spencer finally says.

I choke on my own spit, leaning over behind the bar and coughing uncontrollably.

Surely I’m hearing things. The last thing in this world that Kingston Rush needs is a girlfriend.

Then it dawns on me…

“Wait.” I pop my head back up to bar level, peeking over the top so I can glare at Spencer. “You want me to be his girlfriend? Are you insane?”

“Hey,” Kingston grumbles. “Sitting right here.”

Yes, he is, but that doesn’t change a thing. No way am I going to sign up to be Kingston’s pretend girlfriend. No way, no how.

Still, I’m curious as to whose stupid idea this was.

“Who in the world decided to pimp him out?” I ask, glaring at my brother. This is quite possibly the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard. “No, better yet, why?” I clarify.

“If he looks to be in a relationship, some of the heat from last year will go away,” Spencer explains.

Yeah. I’m not buying it.

“And you agreed to this?” I turn to Kingston. Surely he isn’t going along with this … nonsense. Then again, maybe this was his idea. If that’s the case, I might be a little flattered.

A little.

The shrug he offers says it all. Whether it was his idea or not, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have much of a choice.

“I think this is a stupid idea,” I offer, taking the drink I just poured around to a customer at one of the nearby tables before heading back to the bar. “Really stupid.”

Although my brain is screaming for me to turn Spencer down, to refuse to support this crazy idea, I can’t help but think it through. I’ve always been that way. I try to think before I react.

Granted, any thoughts of being Kingston’s girlfriend—pretend or otherwise—result in visions of hot, sweaty sex, and I seriously doubt my brother had that in mind when he made the suggestion. Or maybe he thinks that is a possibility because he specifically said absolutely no sex.