Chapter One

Nash

 

“Oh, yes you do, Reese’s Pieces,” I respond to her quick dismissal. “I've just been trying to figure out what it is you have against me,” I continue before taking a quick drink. The Queen’s Rum is packed with my Bangor Badger teammates and adoring fans ready to ring in the New Year, but I can’t take my eyes off Reese.

I haven’t been able to since the first day she fired that sharp tongue at me.

“Oh, would you look at that, Lawson's calling me over to him. Bye,” Blakely says, not at all subtle as she bolts from the table.

“You know,” I continue, leaning over the table to make sure Reese is listening. “People usually get to know me before they decide to hate me.”

Reese’s lips part, and I can’t help but focus on them. She has that irresistible, natural pouty lip look that’s my kryptonite, and they’re painted a light pink tonight to match her dress. 

“I don’t hate you,” she says. 

I smile wider at that. “Then why do you love to give me a hard time every time I see you?”

A small grin shapes her mouth. “Why do you?”

“I just rise to the occasion,” I say, shrugging. “I think if you gave me a chance, you might actually want to be civil around me.”

She laughs, shaking her head. “Why do you care how I act around you, Stokehill? I’m not one of them,” she says, motioning to the group of women that have been following me around since I got here. 

“I care because we run in the same circles,” I explain, even though it’s only half true. I care because I haven’t been able to get her out of my head for the last couple of months and it’s driving me nuts. “Maybe it’s time we call a truce and behave nicely toward each other.”

Her eyebrows raise. “Nash Stokehill wants to make a friend?” she teases, pushing away from the table. “It is New Year’s Eve,” she continues, looking down at me. “I suppose anything is possible on a night like tonight.”

I swallow hard. Jesus, she’s beautiful. Her long, dark hair is half up, half cascading down her back, and her pink dress hugs her curvy body in all the right places. 

“Anything?” I ask, following her across the bar like a freaking dog on a lead. 

She glances over her shoulder, confusion flashing in her light-green eyes. “Sure,” she says, moving through the crowd and heading to the back corner where the owner set up a massive snack spread for the night. “Why are you following me?” 

“It’s almost midnight,” I say. 

“And?” She plucks a strawberry from a platter, biting the tip of it off before chasing a few stray drops of juice with her tongue.

Fuck, I want that tongue in my mouth. 

I’ve wanted her since the moment she first snapped at me and ignited a delightful little word war between us any time we’re together. I’m no stranger to the fine line between hate and passion. I know it can be electric, but she doesn’t look at me like she hates me. She looks at me with a need I recognize. 

“Shouldn’t you hurry and grab someone you’re interested in kissing to ring in the New Year?”

I lean a little closer as she drops the strawberry stem in a nearby trash can. “I’m looking at who I’m interested in.”

Her eyes flare wide, then she laughs.

I furrow my brow.

“You’re joking,” she says.

“I’m not.”

“We can barely go two seconds without arguing,” she says as the people around us start a countdown.

“I can barely go two seconds without being mesmerized by that mouth of yours,” I counter.

She visibly swallows, her eyes falling to my mouth. 

“Nine…eight…seven…”

I step closer, and she doesn’t back away. Instead, she leans into me, nothing but fire in her eyes.

“You think I’ll fall for you from just a kiss, Stokehill?” 

“Never,” I say, reaching to cup her delicate face. Fuck, her skin is so smooth beneath my calloused hands. “But you may soften up to me a bit.”

She smiles up at me. “I highly doubt that.”

“Only one way to find out, Reese’s Pieces” I say, cocking a brow at her in question.

“Four…three…two…”

She reaches up on her tiptoes—even in heels she’s so much shorter than me—and bridges the distance between us. 

I don’t hear the countdown finish. 

 

I barely hear the cheers and claps that announce the New Year.

I can only feel.

Reese’s mouth fits perfectly against mine, and she tastes like strawberries as she parts her lips for me, letting me slide in. I shift us, drawing her flush against me as I take control of the kiss. I flick my tongue against hers, teasing and exploring, relishing the little hitch in her breath when I do it.

Fuck, my blood is on fire. She kisses just like she speaks to me—a combination that lands somewhere between feisty and angry, and it’s hot as hell.

My hands drop from her cheeks, roaming over her body in quick touches that have me aching to sink into her perfect body. She’s starred in more than one of my dreams lately, but the reality is so much better.

“Happy New Year!!!” someone yells so loud next to us it makes us break apart.

She draws back farther, her green eyes molten as she grins up at me. 

Then she laughs and shakes her head as she pulls away from me. “You can’t be bad at anything, can you?”

“Some things,” I say. 

“Happy New Year, Stokehill,” she says, brushing past me and heading toward where Blakely and Monroe are celebrating at the bar with Lawson and Pax. 

“Happy New Year, Reese’s Pieces,” I say, wondering why the hell I hate watching her walk away so much. 

And then I do something I never do.

I chase after her.