“She can’t stand me, man. It’s not happening.”
Luke gave me a skeptical look. “I see you working on her. Don’t do it.”
He was dead serious — I could hear it in his tone and see it in the tense set of his jaw. I rubbed the unshaven scruff of my cheek, considering. Did I want to push this issue or not? Yeah, I’d been trying to soften Sadie’s attitude toward me, and I wanted to know why it was such a problem for Luke.
“What’s your deal, man?” I said, stopping before we reached the bar. “What do you care if I like Sadie?”
He turned to me and crossed his arms over his chest. “She’s our friend. More than a friend – she’s like a sister to Dell. And she doesn’t have much family. If you guys have a thing, she’ll end up hurt and then she’ll feel awkward around me since we’re teammates.”
“I’m not trying to get her in bed, we’re just friends,” I said, defensiveness creeping into my voice.
Luke glared at me. “I didn’t just meet you. We played together last year, remember? If Sadie asked you to take her home tonight, you’d be all over that shit.”
“Well, yeah, I guess I would.”
“I’ll kick your ass if you go there,” he said, waving a hand toward a group of women at the bar. “You’ve got your pick of fuck buddies. Not Sadie.”
His implication that I was incapable of treating Sadie well grated on my nerves. But I couldn’t blame him. He’d seen me bag lots of meaningless fucks in the couple months we’d played together. Luke stared at me, waiting for my agreement.
“Yeah, sure,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “I won’t go there with her.”
He slapped me on the back. “Sky’s the limit, man. You can have a different woman every night here, easily. You know that. Shit, you’re already living the dream.”
I grinned at him. “Jealous? You’re pretty young to be locked in to one woman for the rest of your life.”
“Fuck no,” he said with a laugh. “I love being married. I honestly do. Speaking of my wife, I want to go eat dinner with her, so I’ll leave you to work your magic.”
He retreated to the table, and my eyes locked on Sadie, who was laughing over something with Dell. She’d pulled back her hair, drawing my attention to her pretty face. She was more than pretty – high cheekbones, wide, perfect smile and big brown eyes with long, dark lashes. Sadie was beautiful, a compliment I’d tossed out to many women without even considering whether I meant it.
Her gaze landed on me and I felt a pull back to the table. I wanted to be in that empty chair next to her, listening to her laugh, and if I was lucky, making her laugh.
But Luke was also looking at me, so I turned and headed for the bar. If he didn’t think I was good enough for Sadie—and who was I kidding, a jock like me probably wasn’t good enough for a smart chick like her—I was going to have to find someone else to scratch this itch she’d started in me. Time to break out my moves, no matter how tired and busted they felt right now.
***
Sadie
I stared at the bright yellow casserole dish in my hands, sighing. I’d never had such a hard time with this. Holidays had been generally suckish for a decade now, but this year was particularly hard.
I’d made the sweet potato casserole recipe I’d found tucked in my Mom’s old cookbook, even baking it in one of her dishes I’d inherited. Remembering my family was supposed to be a good thing, but it still hurt like hell.
Excuses started to formulate in my mind. I could tell Dell I was sick. Or that a work thing had come up. Religiously opposed to Thanksgiving?
“Aunt Sadie!” Kyler threw the door open and gave me a lopsided grin. I’d forgotten even ringing the doorbell while I was lost in my thoughts.
“Hey, kid. Happy turkey day,” I said, smiling back.
Niko appeared beside Kyler, looking edible as always in jeans and a blue and gray flannel shirt. No-shave November meant he had a dark beard that looked like it would feel sinfully good on my thighs.
“Happy Thanksgiving,” he said. “Can I take that?”
He reached for my dish and I handed him the potholder-covered handles. It was good to get rid of it. Now I could focus on Kyler, which always made me happy.
“Whatcha doin’?” I asked him, ruffling his shaggy hair.
“Playing Memory with Grandpa and Luke and Melody. You can play, too.”
He walked me into the large living room of his home, which was full of smiling, laughing people. Ryke, Luke, Melody, Dell’s dad Butch and her mom Clare were there, along with a couple I didn’t know.
“Sadie, this is my mother and father in law, Lynn and Dale,” Ryke said, gesturing at the couple. “This is our friend Sadie.”
I shook their hands and glanced at the open kitchen, where Niko was chopping something at the counter. Dell was leaning against the counter, talking to Kate, who had baby AJ on her hip.
“I’m going to head in and help,” I said.
“Hey, Sade,” Dell said when I walked in, hugging me against her tightly. She knew holidays weren’t my thing.
“Hey. Just the girls hanging out in here?” I quipped with a look at Niko.
“You just don’t want to admit you find it sexy that I can cook,” he said, winking at me. “I get it.”
I found it sexy when he breathed, but I didn’t want him to know that.
“Just because you can chop, that doesn’t mean you can cook,” I said.
“Oh, but I can. You’ll see.”
Dell nodded. “He made almost everything we’re having. He’s been here since six this morning.”
“Hmm,” I said skeptically. “We’ll see how it turns out.”
Niko smiled and waved me in his direction. “Get over here and make yourself useful, Sunshine.”
I washed my hands and took up celery chopping next to him.
“How’s 60 days of frustration going?” he asked. “It’s Day Seven, right?”
I smiled. “It’s great. I’m reading, shopping, watching movies. Just hanging out with myself. I can go to the grocery store without makeup—”
He cut in. “You don’t have to give up sex for that.”
“Yeah, but when you’re single, you’re always wondering if you’ll meet Mr. Right in the Dairy Department. You have to be ready.”
“I’d want you with or without makeup.”
“Well, you have low standards.”
He laughed lightly. “To the contrary, I actually don’t.”
I emptied my cutting board into the big bowl of chopped veggies and grabbed more celery.
“Where’d you learn to cook?” I asked. “Did you seduce an older woman who taught you all her tricks or something?”
“My parents taught me. They own a deli in New York.”
“Ah,” I said, smiling up at him. “So you can make sandwiches.”
His brows arched with amusement. “I do make a kickass sandwich, but that’s not all. I spent my summers in the kitchen growing up. I can make traditional Russian dishes from memory. Borscht, pirozhki, bliny, pashka …”
His Russian accent was seriously hot. I looked up at him, willing him to say more in his native language. Or was it?
“Did you ever live in Russia?” I asked, popping a piece of celery into my mouth. Kate and Dell had wandered into the living room and we were alone in the kitchen now.
“We came here when I was five.”
“That must’ve been exciting.”
His face clouded. “It was hard to think of it that way. We were … very poor. Survival was all we thought about.”
The soft-spoken words from this dark, strapping man surprised me and melted me at the same time. I pictured a little Russian boy with big, dark eyes and sadness welled inside me.
“Just you and your parents?” I asked.
“I have two younger brothers and a younger sister. The youngest one, Alexei, wasn’t born yet. We all came over together. We were lucky because not everyone gets to do that.”
“
And your parents opened their own deli? That’s impressive. They must be hard workers.”
He nodded. “They are. But it’s never been easy. All of us kids worked there until it was time for college. I worry about them sometimes.” He sighed slightly and glanced at me. “What about you? Brothers? Sisters? Where’s your family from?”
I looked down at the cutting board, concentrating on dicing the celery into tiny squares. “From Colorado originally. And no, I don’t have any brothers or sisters. I mean, not anymore. I used to.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, his sincerity making my eyes burn. “Do your folks still live in Colorado?”
I took in a deep breath, releasing it slowly. “My parents and younger brother died in a plane crash ten years ago. It’s just me. And my Aunt Sal, but she lives in Madrid now.”
Niko set his knife down and turned to me. “Sadie. I’m so sorry.” His dark eyes were full of the pity I always got when people found out.
“It’s fine. I’m fine now. It happened a long time ago.”
“Are holidays hard for you?”
My chest tightened. “Uh, I don’t know …”
He leaned down and kissed my forehead, catching me completely by surprise. “You look good in blue. And all other colors, but today you look … you know, extra good.”
I rolled my eyes. “A pity compliment?”
He laughed. “Not at all.”
“Do you want some wine?” I reached for the open bottle and an empty glass on the counter.
Niko grunted his distaste. “I’ll have a sip.”
He looked at my glass and I passed it to him, watching as he raised it to his lips. Sharing a glass with him made me fantasize about sharing other things with him – like my toothbrush. I was like a teenager, excited that his lips were touching where mine had. Seriously pathetic.
“Not bad,” he said, passing it back. “For a pussy drink.”
“I’d think that would make it your drink of choice,” I said, taking a long drink of the wine.
Niko eyed me, his expression intense. “Is your mouth as good at other things as it is at making sharp comments?”
I drank and drank, emptying the glass of wine as his words made my heart pound.
“You’ll never know,” I said lightly.
“That’s a damned shame,” he said, leaning down close to me. “Because I could make that mouth scream words that’d make you blush after.”
My body was buzzing with sexual energy. His words brought heat to my cheeks and forced me to steady my hands as I poured a second glass of wine.
Luke and Ryke came in the kitchen and I looked out the window above the sink, feeling like a kid who’d been caught misbehaving.
“When’s my dinner gonna be ready, bitch?” Luke asked Niko. Niko answered with his middle finger.
“You guys need some help?” Ryke asked.
“Everything’s pretty much done,” Niko said. “Just a couple hours of cooking left.”
Kate and Dell wandered in next, and with the kitchen full of people, Niko and I both ended up in conversations with others. I didn’t talk to him again before we ate, but I felt his eyes on me during dinner.
Everything he’d cooked was seriously incredible. As I sampled his oyster dressing, I pictured him cooking dinner in my kitchen, wearing only jeans. Or maybe not. Maybe just an apron. I could watch from the couch, admiring his naked ass. Then I could wander in and sit on the kitchen counter, where he’d push my knees apart and stand between them, kissing my neck while I untied the apron.
A laugh sounded around the table and I joined in, snapping myself out of my dirty daydream. What kind of perv got turned on during Thanksgiving dinner?
Besides, I reminded myself, this guy didn’t date women – he conquered them. I had too much self-respect to let myself become a notch on any man’s bedpost.
After dinner, Ryke, Luke and Niko cleaned up the kitchen while the women finished our dessert.
“How’d your interview go, Niko?” Luke asked with a knowing grin.
“I knew it was you,” Niko said, shaking his head as he loaded the dishwasher.
“What?” Ryke asked. Niko turned to face him, leaning against the counter and crossing his arms over his chest.
“I was doing my first national TV interview yesterday,” he said. “I was so fucking nervous. Luke hands me my suit coat right before the interview so they could mic me up with it on, and there was a bulge in the pocket. I reach in to see what it is – right in front of the damned reporter – and it’s a tube of lube, but it’s completely empty. Like every drop had been squeezed out of the fucker. And of course it’s a female reporter and I look like a sick bastard in front of her.”
Ryke bumped Luke’s fist and they laughed.
“Get used to it, rookie,” Ryke said to Niko. I didn’t know whether to laugh or feel sorry for him. Then I considered that he was a very hot NHL player, and I laughed.
“Question is,” Niko said, a grin playing on his lips as he turned to Luke, “what’d you do with all that lube?”
“I squeezed it into the sink,” Luke said quickly. All eyes had turned to Dell, whose face was flaming.
“Too late,” Ryke said with a hearty laugh. “I think we all know what you did with it.”
A pang of jealousy hit me. I loved Dell, and I was happy she had a hot, devoted hockey player husband. I just couldn’t help wishing I had a man to run through an entire tube of lube with, too.
But with 53 days of celibacy to go, my chances were slimmer than ever.
Chapter 5
Niko
Lucky’s was packed with a rowdy Friday night crowd when I got there. We’d won our game 3-0, and spirits were high.
“Hey, Verenova!” A tipsy guy with a hockey jersey on opened his arms to me. “Way to go, man!”
I gave the fan a one-armed hug, not even annoyed he’d butchered my name. I’d scored my first NHL goal tonight. It was fucking awesome to do it on my home ice.
“Get this man a drink!” another guy yelled, clapping me on the back. When he turned for the bar, I was floored when I saw my last name on the back of his jersey. I’d seen it on the back of minor league ones, but to see it on an official jersey of Chicago’s NHL team made my eyes burn for a second. I’d made it. Even if I was worried every day about whether I’d be staying, I was here right now. Fucking incredible.
By the time I made it back to the table the guys were at, I’d shook more than a dozen hands, posed for three photos and given several more hugs.
Ryke arched his brows and looked at my nearly empty beer bottle. “Another one?”
“Yeah, thanks,” I said. Tonight I’d let loose and have more than my usual one drink. We only had practice tomorrow, no game, and I wanted to celebrate.
“You buying for your whole team, Captain?” Luke asked Ryke.
“Everyone but you, asshole,” Ryke said with a grin. Our captain had been out for a while with an injury and had decided it was time to retire. Ryke had just become the new captain tonight. He was the obvious choice, but he’d still been surprised by it.
Ryke clapped me on the shoulder before leaving the table. He’d be a hell of a captain. Our team had all the right pieces in place to make the playoffs. Just the thought made my blood pump hard.
“Where’s your woman?” I asked Luke.
“She’s here,” he said, craning his neck to look for her in the crowded bar. “She went to save Sadie from some guy who was hitting on her.”
A stab of jealousy hit me like a punch. This place was full of drunk assholes looking for a lay. The thought of any of them trying to get with Sadie pissed me off so much I couldn’t focus on anything else.
I took off my suit jacket and tossed it over the back of a chair. Unbuttoning my dress shirt, I rolled up the sleeves as I walked, preparing to fight if needed.
Ryke nearly walked into me, carrying a tray of shot glasses.
“Drink up,” he said, holding the tray toward me.
“I’
ll be right there,” I said, scanning all the faces I saw. “Pass ‘em out and I’ll be there in a sec.”
“No,” he said with a single note of laughter. “All for you. Drink ‘em.”
I glanced at the tray of six shots before grabbing the glasses one at a time and downing them. Ryke turned, looking satisfied, leaving me to find Sadie.
There she was. She was shaking her head and laughing, her dark hair swishing behind her. She had a dress on, but her legs were covered with some kind of panty hose and tall boots. That was a damn shame. Or maybe not, since an asshole in a cowboy hat was licking his lips as he looked at her.
Dell was next to Sadie, and she glanced up at me as I approached.
“Is Luke looking for me?” she asked. I nodded and slid in next to Sadie as Dell left.
The cowboy’s eyes flicked over me dismissively.
“Hey, how’s it going? I’m Shawn.” The cowboy’s friend extended a hand my way. Wingman 101: Distract others so your friend can close the deal.
“Do you want to sit down somewhere?” the cowboy asked Sadie, slipping an arm around her and leaving his hand on the small of her back. It was all I could do not to grab his hand and twist it behind his back until he squealed like a pig.
“Oh, I’m with friends,” she said. “But thanks for the drink.”
A flicker of annoyance passed over his face. “Can I get your number?”
“Hell no, you’re not getting her number,” I cut in, turning to Sadie. “We need to talk.”
I took her hand and led her away, winding through the thick crowd and leading her down a hallway and around a corner into a back room that was dark and empty.
“Niko,” she hissed. “What the hell is this?”
“What the hell was that?” I demanded. “That cowboy was planning on riding you tonight. You know that, right?”
She shrugged dismissively. “It wasn’t gonna happen.”
I took a step forward, backing her against the wall. Her eyes widened as she looked up at me.
“I didn’t like it,” I said.
“Well, you can relax,” she said, her tone more self-assured than her expression. “Women like being flirted with, even if we don’t plan to sleep with the guy. It was nothing.”
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