He shrugs. “What can I say? I’m full of surprises.”
“You really are. Honestly, I didn’t even expect your apartment to look this nice.”
“What were you expecting? Lego pieces all over the floor?”
“More like posters of half-naked women and empty condom wrappers.”
He grabs his chest as if his heart is breaking. “You’ve gotta give me more credit than that!”
“I mean, I do now,” I say as I look around at the minimalist decor and immaculately clean kitchen. “But I at least expected an Xbox.”
“Ask and you shall receive.” He opens a cabinet under the television to reveal his gaming station. “Do you play?”
“They have one in the student lounge. I play sometimes. It depends on what games you’ve got.”
“I’ll show you my collection and maybe we can battle after dinner.”
“Sure. But I warn you, I won’t make it easy on you.”
He laughs. “I didn’t expect you to talk such a big game.”
“I don’t just talk it.”
He raises his eyebrows. “Oh, okay. I see how it is. How about I start preparing dinner so that I can make you eat your words.”
There’s something sexy about a guy who isn’t afraid to be competitive. My A-type personality is constantly looking for competition, but men often avoid me. Whether it’s because they don’t want to offend a woman, I don’t know. But Logan’s competitiveness is refreshing.
“Do you like lasagna? I know it’s a bit crazy for someone who only eats granola bars.”
I laugh. “You mean you’re not serving me bland protein shakes the entire time I’m here?”
“I want to see if you can handle some spice.” He gives me a devious glance.
“Oh, I can handle some spice.”
“Good.” He smirks. “Come join me in the kitchen. You can be my sous-chef.”
“Okay, but only if I don’t have to wear one of those weird chef hats.”
“I make no promises.” He gives me a handsome smile. He doesn’t even have to put effort in. He just has to look at me and I melt.
“I’ll put my stuff away and then I’ll come join you.” I grab my suitcase.
“Oh, by the way” he says, catching my attention. “Next time you catch me showering, just leave the door open a bit. I don’t like it getting too steamy in there.”
Oh god.
“Right. Sorry.”
My skin instantly feels hot as I squeeze my eyes shut and turn away, rushing into Logan’s room. As I close the door behind me, I collapse in embarrassment onto his bed.
LOGAN
“It’s been great so far. She’s usually at school, I’m at practice. But we had enough timme to spend one night talking about everything. Get this, we both have the same dream to travel to the Grand Canyon.”
Marcus and I are walking down the arena hallway to the locker room before that night’s game.
“So?” Marcus asks. “What’s the problem?”
“She’s driving me crazy.”
“If it’s driving you crazy, ask her to leave.”
“No,” I say a little too forcefully. “I mean, she’s driving me crazy in a good way. The way she laughs. And she smells amazing”
“Then tell her that.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
I pause. “What if she doesn’t like me?”
“Dude, she wouldn’t be staying with you if she didn’t like you.”
“I told you, her dorm building flooded.”
Marcus watches me with raised eyebrows. “Seriously? You don’t think she could afford the fancy hotel with all that contract money?”
“Shh.” I look around.
“Just tell her how you feel. It’s a hell of a lot better than moping around like this.”
I shake my head. “I can’t do that.”
“Well, get your damn head in order because we have an important game tonight. If we win, we could gain a four-point swing. Our chances of going to the playoffs will be a lot easier.”
“I know.” I shake my head, trying to shake the thoughts of Riley away.
Six guys from the Cleveland Crushers appear down the hallway.
“If we lose tonight, they qualify for the playoffs,” I say.
From across the hall, I see a familiar face. Harrison Cooper is in his favorite blue suit as he walks with the rest of the team toward the visiting team’s locker room.
“Hey, isn’t this the first time you’re playing against the Crushers since you got kicked off the team?” Marcus asks.
“Yeah,” I mumble.
“Will you be okay?”
“Of course.” I look at Marcus. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You’ve got a bunch of relationship drama right now, dude.”
I force out a laugh. “Let me fix some of it right now.”
With Riley’s words on my mind, I walk over to Coop.
“Hey,” I say, grabbing his attention. Coop stares at me with a hardened face. His stern green eyes bring back memories of all the fights we had as teenagers, fights that were always solved with a cup of hot cocoa (a special Cooper family recipe). I stick out my hand, expecting a gentlemanly handshake. “I just want to say good luck tonight.”
Coop looks down at my hand and pulls away. I stand in shock for a moment before turning back to Marcus.
“Still mad, I guess,” he says.
“Yeah,” I say absently as I watch Coop pull away with the rest of the team. This would need more than a cup of special hot cocoa.
“Don’t feel too bad.” Marcus pats me on the back and pulls me into our locker room. “Get back at him on the ice. No fighting though.”
I smirk. “I can do that.”
An hour later, we’re standing at center ice facing Coop as we prepare to battle for the puck.
Coop and I facing off against each other has been huge news all week. The whole hockey world is watching this game tonight. I can practically hear everyone in the stadium holding their breath.
The referee drops the puck and without hesitation I snatch it away from Coop, passing it to Edgar on my right. We skate around the others and set up formation in the opposing end. Edgar passes it to me, I pass it back to him. The crowd gets loud. Edgar shoots! He misses. The goalie passes the puck to Coop who skates it up the ice, evading every player along the way. I push myself to keep up with him but he’s always been the faster skater. He’s in the zone. He winds up to take a shot. The puck is alone on the ice for a split second. Reaching my stick out, I pull it away from him.
Yes!
The crowd cheers louder.
Just as I’m about to skate to the other end, Coop steals the puck back from me and, in one sweeping motion, he scores. The other team is celebrating before I even get a chance to process what just happened.
“What the—”
Marcus pats me on the back. “Tough break, bud. He’s just too fast.”
“I guess so,” I mumble to myself. Skating back to the bench, I sit on the end closest to the other team.
Coop fist-bumps everyone on his bench before hopping over the boards and sitting a few feet away from me.
“Hey,” I shout over the boards, grabbing his attention.
He looks over at me.
“Good goal. You’ve still got those fast hands.”
Hesitantly, he smiles. “Thanks.”
I shift my attention back onto the ice. When the whistle blows to pause the play, I look up into the stands where the family and friends sit. I see Riley's blond head sitting on the end of the row. Even from the ice, I can tell she's touching her necklace, her good luck charm.
“Don’t worry, buddy. We’ve got this,” Marcus says. He squeezes my shoulder.
“I’m not worried,” I say as I smile. My eyes are still on Riley. “I’m not worried at all.”
RILEY
During the intermission, I’m standing near the concession stand getting a bag of popcorn w
ith Shelly. A nearby horn signals that the game will be back on soon. As we make our way back to our seats, Shelly stops.
“Oh no,” she says. “Look who it is.”
A woman with jet black hair is sitting in the empty seat next to mine.
“Who is that?” I ask.
“That’s Catherine,” Shelly says.
The name stirs my heart as I recognize it immediately. Catherine is Harrison Cooper’s girlfriend. She was the woman that came between him and Logan. She was the reason for their fight. She was Logan’s ex.
Popcorn in hand, we squeeze into our row and find our seats which are being saved by our coats and bags.
As I sit down and slip my change into my bag, I sit back with my popcorn. Catherine clips me with her elbow as she leans on the armrest between us, making herself comfortable.
I try to ignore her and focus on the game which just started. I look for number thirteen.
“So.” Catherine looks at me. She’s close enough that I can feel her breath, which smells like lipstick. “You’re Logan’s friend?”
“We’re dating,” I say casually as I keep my eyes on the game.
She looks me up and down. “You?” She lets out a laugh. “No one dates Logan Drake. He’s not a dater.”
“What do you mean?” I finally pull my gaze to look into her green eyes which are made all the more vibrant by her dark raven hair. I wish I could say she was unattractive, but her beauty is striking.
Catherine shrugs dismissively. “He’s just not a dater, that’s all.”
“Well, that’s clearly not true because I’m dating him.”
“Have you seen his place?” She asks as if she’s a lawyer.
Is she on to me? Is she trying to trap me in a lie?
I sit up. “Not only have I seen his place, but I’ve also slept in his bed.”
Her smile disappears. “No, you haven’t. Logan Drake does not let women sleep in his bed. At least, he didn’t let me...”
I smirk. “Where do you think I slept last night?”
She looks me up and down again while her nostrils flare. Leaning in, she asks, “How much are you making off of him?”
My blood freezes. Does she know? The last thing I need right now is for someone to spill the beans about us.
“One nude photo can make you a millionaire,” she says under her breath.
Oh. So that’s what she means. She wants me to blackmail him.
In the distance, a horn blares. The crowd erupts into cheers, but I’m locked in my seat staring at Catherine.
“How could you do this to someone?” I ask. “How can you live with yourself?”
She rolls her eyes. “These guys don’t care about us. You’re a fool to think they do.”
“Logan and I are happy,” I say. Deep down, I mean it.
She stares at me, seeming furious that Logan Drake could possibly have a relationship with me—the nerdy girl who lost her virginity to the campus clown.
She flips her hair. “Whatever. You don’t get to judge me.” She gets out of her seat and squeezes past everyone down the row until she disappears.
“What was her problem?” I ask.
“Ignore her,” Shelly says. “She’s a vulture.”
I sit back in my seat and focus on the game, hoping to forget everything that just happened. But Catherine’s words burrow deep. She’s right. Logan is using me. But I’m not lying when I say I care about him.
I watch number thirteen as he speeds down the ice, putting the puck into the net. The crowd roars. Everyone is looking at him. Logan turns and looks up at me. He points in my direction as the arena rumbles around us.
***
The game ends with a come-from-behind win for the Cleveland Crushers. After a quick visit to the university to submit a project before the midnight deadline, I make my way back to Logan’s place. As I make my way up to his apartment, I worry about how I’ll find him. Will he be angry? Sulking? Depressed?
Whatever he’s feeling, I can understand why. His former team, the Cleveland Crushers, made it into the playoffs. And his best friend Coop is still dating the woman who used blackmail to completely disrupt his career.
I prepare to comfort him, to be understanding and give him space if he needs it. But when I enter his apartment, I’m surprised to find him happily chopping tomatoes at the kitchen counter.
“Hey, pretty lady.” He looks up at me and smiles. “You hungry?”
A delicious aroma is drifting out of the kitchen.
“There’s a casserole in the oven and the timer is set to go off in fifteen minutes.”
“Midnight casserole?”
“What can I say? I’m famished.”
“You’re in a good mood.”
“I can’t let that game get to me.” He scrapes the chopped tomatoes into a bowl and starts cutting a red pepper. “We can still get enough points to qualify in the upcoming games. Which, by the way, I’m leaving tonight after dinner. Coach wants us there early so we can practice tomorrow morning.’
“But the Crushers,” I say. “Your old team advanced to the playoffs.”
“You know, it’s weird,” he says. “I thought this would be a bit more soul-crushing. But the truth is, I’m happy for Coop.”
“You are?”
“Yeah. He played a good game. It was a good competition. And that’s all we ever really wanted from each other.”
“Oh, well color me impressed, Mr. Drake.”
He smiles. “Besides…you gave me good advice about being the first one to reach out.”
“You reached out to him?”
He puts the paring knife down and leans on the counter.
“I tried to. He’s still mad but I felt good doing it. At least I tried, you know? So, thanks for that.”
I smile. “You’re welcome.”
He keeps his gaze on me.
“What?”
“You were touching your necklace today.”
My hand shoots up to my Aunt Mary’s rose pendant. “I wanted you guys to have good luck.”
He grins. “You do care about me.”
“Of course, I do.” I look into those dark eyes of his.
I could kiss him right now.
“You know…” His gaze lingers on me. “It’s been really nice having you here.”
“I’ve enjoyed being here…and it’s too bad that I’ll be leaving tomorrow.”
“You are?” He furrows his brow.
“Yeah, well…the res building was cleared today so they’re letting people back in tomorrow.” I internally chastise myself for sharing all this information. I could have milked this scenario for a little bit longer.
“Oh. Okay.” He looks back down at his cooking.
“You look sad,” I say.
He smirks. “Not sad. I’m just wondering who I’m going to play Xbox with.”
I smile. “You really want to get your ass kicked again?”
“Well, I’m getting better!”
I chuckle as I lean on the counter, unintentionally getting closer to him.
“I’m going to miss staying here. It was fun hanging out with you.”
As he looks up at me with that seductive gaze, his dark hair falls into his eyes. “I’m going to miss you too.”
Oh boy.
He’s so close that I can smell his spicy, earthy scent. I inhale so deeply that I make myself a bit dizzy.
An overwhelming feeling comes over me. Throwing caution to the wind, I lean in and press my lips against his.
My body tenses for a moment but when I feel him kiss me back, I allow myself to relax and melt into him.
He runs his hand through my hair as he deepens the kiss. His lips are even plumper, more delicious than I remember. And, even though we’ve done this before, this feels different. This feels natural, organic. This feels like something more.
My hands move up his chest as he presses his body against mine. His hands slither around my waist. My knees threaten to buckle beneath me but I ma
nage to remain stable.
I move my hands over his shoulders, his neck, up into his hair. I touch him the way I’ve wanted to touch him this whole time.
The world seems to disappear and time slows down completely as we lose ourselves in each other, releasing several weeks of tension like a dam releasing a river. Kissing him with intention, I respond to his pace.
I let out an involuntary moan as I come up for air.
Logan kisses my cheek, my neck. In an effort to breathe in his addictive aroma, I inhale… but I smell something burning instead.
“It’s hot,” I manage to say.
“Yes,” he breathes.
“No, I mean. It’s burning. The food is burning!” As much as I don’t want this make-out session to end, I pull away from Logan and grab the oven mitts.
The alarm goes off.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
“Oh shit!” Logan grabs a pan and starts fanning the alarm.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
I pull the oven door open, allowing a dark plume of smoke to billow out.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
I pull the crisp casserole out of the oven as Logan opens the windows.
“That’s what I get for trying to make a nice meal!” Logan rushes over to survey the damage.
“Only part of it is burned. We can eat the rest!”
He laughs. “If you want to. I’ll have the frozen pizza that’s in the freezer.”
“I think we’ll be okay.” I look up at him. His piercing dark eyes don’t waver.
We stare at each other in silence.
“We kissed,” I say, finally.
“Yes, we did,” he says confidently.
My body feels like it’s buzzing from head to toe. I barely have a chance to process what this all means when Logan leans in to kiss me again. His hands find their place on my waist. My body is pulsing with excitement. I’ve never felt this wild before.
A kiss. A kiss with no ulterior motives.
It almost feels unreal.
Just as we’re about to get back into the rhythm of things, the doorbell rings.
Logan exhales heavily.
“That’s my ride to the airport.”
“You have to leave already?”
“Coach’s orders.” He sighs and leans his forehead against mine. “I just want to stay here and keep kissing you.” He holds me tight against him.
Logan Page 11
