It's Our Time (Carolina Rebels 3)

“You’re here with him?” he dumbly questions.

“How do you know him?” I ask her.

“Ah, he was my date to the hockey game.”

My head snaps to Tom with a glare. My skin crawls just being near him, even though the date had to go horribly since Sydney’s attention was on me the entire time.

He holds his hands up. “I was hoping for a photo.”

“No,” I quickly answer.

“Ian!” Sydney protests. “Don’t be ridiculous. Let me see your phone, Tom. Ian, stand next to him.” When I don’t move, she shoves me out of the chair. I stand next to him with no expression while she takes the photo. The moment Tom has his phone back, he mumbles a thanks and walks back to his table. “You’re rude.”

“You went on a fucking date with him.”

“He took me to a hockey game, Ian. And he was late picking me up,” she says as if that explains everything. “You should also know that when he was talking to me, he talked about how much he loved you and when I obviously had no interest in listening, he spent the rest of the date talking to some other girl…about you! You were being a jerk to a fan. Aren’t there rules against that? You probably broke his heart.”

“He’s a grown-ass man, babe. If that broke his heart, he has issues.”

Sydney shakes her head at me and turns in her seat to face the band. Oh, so now I get the silent treatment in person? I’ve always wondered how that would be. If she would be able to stick to her guns as well as she did over the phone if I were here in person to work my magic and plead for her to talk to me again.

She starts fanning herself and moving her hair off of her neck. The alcohol is hitting her. She might be a lightweight. She picks up her beer and gulps down three swallows. That’s not going to help her, but I’m not going to say a thing. Instead, I grab her hips and pull so she’s closer to me. Still, she ignores me.

“I’m sorry, gorgeous.” Totally not sorry. She must know this because she ignores me. Okay, let’s try the tactic I’ve always wanted to use, but never could. One arm goes around her waist while the other reaches around to slowly glide down the outside of her thigh, up along the top, down to her knee, and then along the inside of her thigh. The moment my lips touch her neck, she leans into me. Ah, this is what was missing. She’s so going to talk to me. Her hand shoots down to grab mine when I get too close to her center.

“Ian.” It’s a warning, but it’s also her talking to me.

I grin against her neck. “Yeah, babe?”

“Let me go, you evil bastard.” Laughing, I do as she demands. She turns in her seat, glaring at me. “When I give you the silent treatment, you’re not allowed to do that.”

“All bets are off now that I’m here.”

“Keep on and there will be no sex for you tonight for sure.”

My dick hardens just thinking that she was planning on us having sex. “We’re not having sex tonight, so you can’t hold that over my head. Nice try, though.”

Her brows pinch together. “What?”

“Do you usually have sex on the first date, Sydney?”

“No, but—”

“It doesn’t matter that it’s me or that it’s us.”

“Yes, it does,” she argues.

“New normal, babe. That means we hold out.”

I see the moment it dawns on her face. “So, that’s why you haven’t tried…”

“Yeah. How are you going to trust me if that part doesn’t change too?”

Sydney grabs my face and kisses me. Even after all this time, her kisses are the same. They start tentative and slow until they build into a demanding kiss as she gives in and takes what she wants. I pull her into my lap, which is when she pulls away, damn it. “Take me home and let’s make out, then.”

She doesn’t have to ask me twice.