Rushing the Goal
Page 23

It had been a tough couple of years, but they were good now. Rick didn’t toss it in her face as much anymore, and Angie was great. Lucy was proud of her little nugget, and when she looked at Benji, she was happy to see he wasn’t judging Angie, only smiling at her.
“It’s cool. I love crazy!”
Angie beamed as Lucy smiled. “All right, Hans.”
Benji looked confused, which made her question that he had a daughter. Anyone with a daughter had seen Disney’s Frozen at least a million times. “Who’s Hans?”
“From Frozen!” Angie said with a laugh and Benji chuckled. She then promptly started singing the “Love is an Open Door” song. Benji looked confused and Lucy just smiled. Man, Angie was a nut.
“I haven’t seen that one yet.”
“What!” she cried out and Lucy laughed. “Mommy, we have to watch it with Benji.”
“Honey, I’ve seen that movie so many times, I don’t think it would be fair to subject Benji to that. But we’ll see. Okay?”
Benji looked over at her and smiled. What surprised her, and also made her a bit breathless, was that his smile filled his whole face. He was like a happy little puppy that had just been promised a treat.
She really needed to stop associating this man with a dog.
It wasn’t nice.
But then, she never claimed to be a nice person.
His eyes were darker than a puppy’s, though, and full of something. Something dirty, maybe. As he dragged his eyes from hers to her daughter, his face broke into a happy grin. “A movie night sounds awesome. I’ll bring candy. But let’s wait a bit. Gotta make sure your mom doesn’t think I’m a weirdo.”
Angie scoffed. “She already does.”
“Angela!” Looking at Benji, her face beet red, Lucy shrugged. “Sorry?”
But he laughed. “No biggie. Maybe I can change that.”
Whoa… Lucy’s hands tightened on Angie’s bag as she got lost in the depths of Benji’s gray eyes, hot lust gathering between her thighs. If that wasn’t suggestive, she didn’t know what was. She’d been out of the game for a bit, but she knew when someone was hitting on her. And weird, puppy-dog cutie Benji Paxton just hit on her.
Felt pretty fucking nice, too.
“I’m so glad you guys came. I almost texted Jayden to make sure you guys could make it,” Benji said then, his eyes still holding Lucy’s.
Breathless, she nodded. “Yeah, Angie really wanted to come, so I moved some things around.”
“She’s the best,” Angie said, her eyes full of love for her mom. “I’m so excited.”
She was bouncing. Like, literally bouncing in place, and Lucy could only smile. “She is. Obviously.”
“Me too. Why don’t you go get ready? You know how to now, right?”
Angie nodded quickly. “Yeah, I’ve been practicing. I’m a little spotty on my stick tape, though, and getting my skates tight.”
“I can help with that,” he said with a smile.
Lucy swallowed hard, still very much reeling from two minutes ago. Apparently, she wasn’t prepared to be hit on by this guy, which was odd. Usually, guys didn’t affect her that dramatically. But the way he looked at her made her feel something, and Lucy didn’t feel. So she was still trying to find her footing. But she was on a mission.
The other reason she made sure to move things around was not only to make Angie happy but also because she had to talk to him. After a long chat with Avery earlier that day about Benji, she decided she needed to apologize to him. She had been a bitch, and that wasn’t fair. He was really good to Angie and she loved him already, so Lucy needed to man up and apologize for her actions. She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to do so, but she did, and she was going to own up to her mistakes.
She knew what she needed to say to him, but the problem was saying it.
“Honey, why don’t you go get ready so I can talk to Benji?”
Angie eyed her, and so did Benji. “You’re gonna be nice, though?”
She gave her a frustrated look. “Really, Angie? Go get ready before I wear out that butt.”
Angie’s eyes widened before she glanced up at Benji. He shrugged. “I’d go.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, taking the bag from Lucy and then walking toward the bench to get ready. When she sat down, Lucy looked up to see Benji watching her.
“Um. Yeah, hi,” she said with a wave because she didn’t know what else to say or do. Why was she being so awkward with him? This wasn’t Lucy. She was strong, she was smart, and guys didn’t have any effect on her!
But when he grinned, she found everything she just thought was not true. Shit.
“Hey.”
Ugh. Just that word had her skin breaking out in gooseflesh. What in the world? Swallowing hard, she said, “Thanks for not being put off or judgmental with the whole crazytown thing. I said it once, regretted it, but now, it’s our normal.”
He nodded. “No big deal. When was she diagnosed? ADD?”
“ADHD, two years ago.”
“My brother had bad ADD when we were growing up, so I get it. No big deal. She’s still the coolest kid I’ve ever met.”
Lucy smiled. “She’s great, but when she isn’t medicated, she’s too busy to feel her emotions so she may be a little scattered. That’s why I worry like I do when she is medicated because she feels everything due to the fact she is so focused. That’s why I probably came off as a psycho mom the other day. I was kinda panicking. But with Jayden not here to calm her and know her triggers, I was freaking out. But you did really great with her and I appreciate that.”