Page 3 of Best Things in Life

SARINA

Damn that fucking Nate and his hot-as-fuck bod and not to mention his seriously insane macho attitude. How was I ever so drawn to that—I mean before he enlightened me about what a puck-boy attitude he has? Hockey first forever. He actually said those three heart-shattering words to me. The bastard.

Hanging on to Bigsby’s arm, which is just as solidly muscled as Nate’s though not nearly as tempting—maybe it’s Nate’s Italian olive skin that makes his muscle bulge so much more mouth-watering?—I drag my boyfriend back outside to his shiny new car where I have my bags stacked in the small space behind the seat.

“Help me unload my things and then I’d like some time to get to know the girls at the house.”

“Of course, but I thought we were going for dinner—”

“You should hang out with your friends. We don’t have to spend every minute together.” I smile to take the sting off. To say that Bigs has a suffocating relationship style would be like calling the mafia a social club—which my uncle Tony does, but he knows he’s lying.

“Whatever you say, sweetheart.”

“And… don’t call me that. Please?” His sweetheart endearment doesn’t feel right at least partly because I’m the furthest thing from a sweetheart he’s ever met and it makes me feel like a pretender. Which I am not. He chuckles like I’m someone to be indulged, in a patronizing way, and I huff a breath. I know he means well, but I punch him to remind him who I am, the badass sexpot who turned him to jelly on sight.

“What do you want me to call you?” He’s asking not for the first time and I shrug it off, cringing because the first thing that comes to mind is the pet name Nate had for me and it should be the last thing in mind. That pet name should still be buried under the mound of broken pieces of my shattered heart.

“Use your imagination—I know, how about devil pussy or—?”

“I’m not going to call you anything like that.” He clamps his mouth shut and then whispers, “Not outside our bedroom.”

“Aww you’re so considerate.” He smiles, missing my sarcasm because he really is considerate, and opens the door for me. I sigh and roll my eyes because, hell, he’s opening the door for me and it’s the door to a freaking Porsche Boxster, so who am I to complain? Seriously, he’s a wonderful guy and has all the credentials on paper that I could ask for. Ask Mama, because she made the list for me.

But like I said to Mama—much to her horror and rosary bead wringing—you can’t fuck paper. Well, maybe I didn’t say fuck, but she got my meaning. My sister Carina says she’ll take him off my hands if I don’t like him and that makes me defensive every time. Because I do like him. What’s not to like?

“This is going to be like fucking heaven, Sarina, having you here on campus where we can be together every day—and most nights. You have no idea how hard life can be living with a bunch of wild guys all the time at BMOC House.” I nod, though he’s right. I have no idea what he’s talking about. “Don’t get me wrong—they’re a great bunch of guys—solid—and they have my back, especially the hockey guys.”

“What’s the problem, Bigs?” I don’t know what he’s talking about. I can’t figure what the problem is for him. To me they seem like a bunch of horny jocks with too much testosterone cooped up in a small space and more cockiness than one roof can stand, and he’s one of them. He laughs.

“Sometimes I get the feeling I’m not one of them.”

“Why not? You’re the fucking captain.” Indignation on his behalf rears up. He smiles at me. He has a gorgeous smile, one of those strong manly jaws. I reach up and caress it. But I stop short of kissing him and I’m not sure why.

“Of course you wouldn’t guess, but I think it’s because… my family has money. And none of them do. They tease me about it all the time, giving me shit, but it’s all in good fun. Except…”

“Except what, Bigs? I think it is all in your imagination. They wouldn’t vote for you as captain unless they liked you. They’re just teasing and you have to stop feeling guilty about having money. Especially since it’s not even your money.” He laughs and kisses me. A short kiss. The kisses seem to be getting shorter lately and I’m not sure why, and it’s strange that I don’t even mind. We’ve only been together a couple of months so it’s not like kissing should be so routine. It never had been with Nate and I need to not compare him to Nate.

Except Nate is the only other relationship I had that was longer than a few dates.

“I’m co-captain. With Nate. He’s the real captain.”

“What do you mean?” I don’t want to talk about Nate, but at the same time I have this compulsion to hear everything about him. Bigs sighs.

“He was voted captain and he says the vote was close so I should we should be co-captain. Coach is the only other person who knows what the vote actually was, but I have a feeling Nate fudged the numbers.”

“Because he didn’t want the responsibility. He needed you to help him.” I’m being unfair to Nate, but I don’t care. Bigs gives me one of those understanding looks, the kind that usually make me feel happy, but right now I feel the opposite, like if I let the devil on my shoulder have his way, I’d slap the look off his face.

“You know Nate isn’t like that? Or maybe you don’t, but he’s a very responsible guy. I’m not sure what he was like when you knew him—”

“Let’s not talk about Nate.” Ever.

“Maybe we should. You know he’s a friend of mine and he’s pretty upset with me. Maybe he has unresolved feelings—”

“That hardly matters. He left me, Bigs. And I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive him for it or why I should.”

“Not even for me?” I look at him to see if he’s serious and he is.

“Well hell…” I don’t know what else to say because the last thing I want to do is worry about forgiving Nate. Next thing Bigs will want me to be friends with him and he just doesn’t understand the impossibility of that. Not after what we shared. I try not to let my mind go there because it was so scorching hot that it’ll make Bigs seem like a cold fish and that’s not fair.