“Do you work out every day?” one student called.
“I take one day a week off,” I answered, pulling my knee toward my chest.
“Wow.”
“It’s kind of my job,” I said. “But even if it wasn’t, I’d work out because I like to be healthy and feel good.”
When we were done, a bunch of the kids crowded around to get autographs. They’d brought in all kinds of things for me to sign—posters, cards, T-shirts. None of them had jerseys.
One boy was hanging around on the periphery. It looked like he didn’t have anything for me to autograph although he watched avidly. I grabbed my gym bag and pulled out one of the pucks I’d stashed in there, which I’d already signed, and walked over to him. “Here you go, my man. Official Chicago Aces puck.”
His eyes lit up as he took it from me, almost hesitantly. “For real?”
“Yeah. You worked hard today.” I clapped on a skinny shoulder and smiled.
Things wrapped up after that, and with almost everyone else gone, I found myself walking out with Olivia.
“That was fantastic,” she said. “You were great. You sure made Rashan’s day with that puck.” She smiled at me, her eyes warm. “That was so nice of you.”
“I want to come back.”
“Really?” She stopped on the sidewalk outside the school, and we faced each other.
“Yeah. It was fun.”
“Okay. I’m sure we can arrange that.”
“Let’s get dinner.”
“Oh.” Her eyes flickered away from me. “I can’t.”
Disappointment shifted in my chest. I’d been looking forward to seeing her again all week. “Okay. Another night? I’m still off for a couple of days.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why not?” I frowned.
She played with her hair, bit her lip, and looked away from me. What was going on?
“It was fun going out a couple of times, but I’m not looking to get into anything more.”
I stared at her. That was bullshit. I could tell by the way she said it. Annoyance scraped at my nerves. “I just asked you to have dinner, not to elope.”
One corner of her mouth lifted briefly, and she played with her hair again. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“What’s going on? We had fun. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing. I just…I recently, um, ended a relationship, and I’m not ready to jump back into anything.”
A jumble of thoughts tangled in my head. She’d just ended a relationship? What the fuck did that mean? She’d never said anything about this on either of our dates. Why the hell not? If she wasn’t ready to move on, why did she even go out with me? Was she still in love with the douchenozzle? And who was he? I wanted to kick his ass.
What came out of my mouth was, “You seemed pretty ‘ready’ last weekend when we were making out in my car.”
Her cheeks went pink, and I felt only a little remorse for being crude. I liked to win and sometimes that meant not playing fair. Off the ice. On the ice, I did try to play by the rules. Mostly. I mean, who hasn’t slashed someone when the refs aren’t looking? Not to hurt. Just to send a message.
Anyhoo.
I hoisted an eyebrow and leveled her with a steady look.
She blinked rapidly a few times, then met my eyes. My dick stirred because I felt it…the attraction. And it was mutual.
“I can’t. I’m sorry.” She turned and started hiking toward the parking lot.
I could easily catch her. But I didn’t chase after women. Women chased after me. I was kind of confused, to be honest. I didn’t know what to do.
No way I was losing a goddamn bet.
I started after her. “Olivia. Wait.”
She stopped but didn’t turn, her shoulders tense.
I jogged up to her and turned in front of her. I made my voice gentle. “What’s going on?”
Her lips tightened. “I’m sure you’re not used to being turned down.”
“No, I’m not. And I want to know why.”
“Oh, for God’s sake. Fine. I went out with you because I wanted to ask you to work with Move On Chicago.”
I gaped at her. “What?”
“I’m sorry.” She rubbed her forehead and looked away. “It was just business.”
“That’s horse crap.”
Her eyes popped open wide and swung back to me.
“That wasn’t just business. We had fun.” I lowered my voice and dipped my head closer. “I made your panties wet.”
“Asshole,” she mumbled, her cheeks going pink.
Again, I wasn’t playing fair. “You’re as attracted to me as I am to you. Admit it.”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, then gave me a weirdly shy look up from under her eyelashes. “You really want to go out with me again?”
“Fuck yeah.” I frowned. “Why would I ask you if I didn’t?” It occurred to me at that moment, that this was true. The last thing I was thinking about was the bet. “Look at you. Beautiful. Smart. Funny. Okay, a little klutzy, but cute. You’re running an amazing organization that’s helping kids and making the world a better place. I just play hockey.”
Her face softened and her bottom lip quivered. She looked torn…as if she wanted to believe me but wasn’t quite convinced.
“Plus you have incredible legs.” I moved an inch closer. “Which I’d love to feel wrapped around me.”
She closed her eyes briefly. “You just want sex.”
“Not gonna lie. I do. But it’s not just sex. Right now…I just want to have dinner with you.”
She tipped her head back and inhaled a long slow breath. “God. You’re really something, you know?”
“I know.” I smirked.
Her lips tipped up into a smile. “I’m not dressed to go out for dinner.” She glanced down at her T-shirt and leggings.
“Actually, neither am I.” Sweatpants were comfortable but not really attire for fine dining. “I know where we can go.”
She sighed. “Okay.”
I gave her the address of Dimple’s Diner, which my teammate Duncan Armstrong had introduced me to. It was his favorite place for burgers, and he was an expert on burgers.
I got there first and waited outside on the sidewalk for her, an unusual knot in my gut. I’d never been stood up, so I don’t know why I was worried that she wasn’t going to show. But no, there she was, striding along the sidewalk, her hair blowing back from her face. I let out a sigh of relief and smiled. “Hey.”
I set my hand on the small of her back and opened the door for her. Inside, we were shown to a booth and we settled in. It was a casual place, so nobody cared how we were dressed.
“You have to try a milkshake,” I told Olivia as we looked at the menu.
“If I have a milkshake, that’s all I’m having.”
“What?”
“Okay, a vanilla milkshake and a salad.”
“All right.” I ordered the pulled pork on a bun with apple slaw and a chocolate milkshake. The waitress took the menus, and I linked my fingers together on the table in front of me. “Tell me about this relationship you just got out of.”
She dropped her gaze to the table. “Ugh. It’s not really fun to talk about it.”
“Are you still in love with him?”
“No. He destroyed any feelings I had for him.”
“Fuck. Who is he? I’m gonna waste him.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t bother. He’s not worth it.”
“What happened?”
“He was using me to get to my father.”
“Huh?”
“My family owns Lockwood Industries.”
I gave her wh
at must have been a blank look.
“My great-grandfather was Fred Lockwood. He founded the company in the 1940s, when it was just an oil refining company. Now it’s a multinational corporation run by my dad. My brother and sister work there too. The subsidiarity companies produce all kinds of things…chemicals, fertilizers, pulp, and paper. My brother will probably take over the petroleum business, and my sister works in commodities trading.”
“Jesus.”
She smiled. “Yeah.”
“You didn’t want to go into the family business?”
“I could have. It’s such a big corporation, I’m sure I could have found something that interested me. But growing up, it always felt like a competition between my sister and my brother and me, in just about everything, and I never felt like I was good enough. If I’d gone into the business, I think it just would have been another way for me to not live up to my family’s expectations.”
I remembered her telling me about her family on our first date, at Play. I nodded. “So the asswipe you were dating…he wanted to work for your dad?”
“Yep. And he got what he wanted. My dad loves Jason. He’s smart and ambitious, a little ruthless. He still works there.” She pursed her lips. “I discovered he was having an affair with his admin assistant. It started when he got the job.”
“Dickhead.”
Her lips twitched. “I broke up with him over it. I assumed my dad would be pissed and would fire him. But he didn’t.”
“Christ.”
“Jason’s good at his job. It was a business decision for my dad to keep him. My feelings didn’t really come into it.” She lifted one shoulder.
Her tone was edged with bitterness, and I didn’t blame her. “You were engaged?”
“Yeah.”
“How long ago did this happen?”
“About eight months ago.”
Huh.
Our dinners arrived. I eyed Olivia’s skimpy salad. This place had good food, but their specialties were big burgers and sandwiches. The iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber didn’t look that appealing, but she dug in.
“Anyway.” Olivia ate her salad. “That wasn’t the first time that happened to me. I was almost engaged once before, until I realized he was using me for my money. I also had a few bad experiences in high school.” She stabbed a piece of tomato with her fork.
The intensity in her voice and the droop of her lips made my heart clench. “I’m sorry.”
“Thanks. But I’m fine. You know all those sayings…what doesn’t kill us…gives us a lot of unhealthy coping mechanisms and a dark sense of humor.”
I shouted a laugh, my head going back. “Jesus.” I met her eyes, and she was smiling. I knew the way the saying was supposed to go, and in her case I believed it was true. She was strong, even with the vulnerabilities she’d just admitted to. And that in itself was pretty strong. “You’re amazing, Olivia.”
Her smile deepened. “Thank you.”
She made me laugh like nobody I’d met. It was always fun with her, even if we were puking or I was lying flat on my back on a restaurant floor. That was really weird, but whatever, I was just going with it.
“Any man who screwed you over for money isn’t a man,” I said. “He’s a douchetastic fucknugget who licks ass.”
She choked on a laugh. “Okay.”
“So…you were using me, huh?”
Her eyes dropped with a guilty flush in her cheeks. “Um, sort of.”
“Sort of?”
“Well.” She met my eyes. “That’s what I told myself at first. But you were right. I am attracted to you.” She gave me a wry smile. “Not that your ego needs any stroking.”
Satisfaction expanded my chest.
“But I’m really not looking to get into another relationship,” she added.
Huh. But that was fine, because neither was I. “Fair enough.”
I started asking questions about her programs, about how they got volunteers like Kaseem and Melissa, how many schools they worked with and how schools signed up. She amazed me even more, passion for her mission lighting up her eyes as she talked. “Unfortunately, we just lost out on a big grant.” She wrinkled her nose. “But we’re working on more funding sources.”
“What can I do to help?”
She tipped her head and regarded me warmly. “You already are. I hope that having someone with your high profile is going to get us more attention and ultimately more donations and grants.”
“High profile. Yeah, that’s me.” I was being cocky because I wasn’t nearly the highest profile player on the team. But I guess some people knew me, and if that helped Olivia, that was fantastic.
“It’s a good thing you weren’t traded.”
“Yeah. I was happy about that. We lost one guy, he was actually my linemate. It’s gonna take a while to get things clicking with the new guy, but we’re working on it.”
“How old were you when you started playing hockey?”
“I was five.”
“That’s pretty young.”
“Yeah, but my dad played hockey, remember? So of course they put me on the ice when I was really young. But they made me play a lot of sports; they didn’t push me into hockey.”
“You’re probably good at every sport.”
“Eh. Not so much. Hockey was easiest for me.”
When we’d finished dinner, we walked out into the darkness. It was still early. I didn’t want to leave Olivia. After hearing about her sucktacular experiences with other men, I was both pissed off on her behalf and fucked-up confused, because she was awesome and I now had a whole new level of attraction to her…but knowing what she’d been through, I felt a need to be…I don’t know…gentle with her.
“I’ll walk you to your car,” I murmured, taking her hand.
We strolled down the sidewalk, past another restaurant and a couple of shops that were closed.
“This is my car.” She stopped beside a sweet red Audi coupe. “Thank you for dinner.”
“Thanks for coming.” I eased closer and set my hands on her waist, over her jacket. I touched my nose to hers. “Today was fun.”
“Yeah.”
“How about Friday night?”
“Um…what?”
“Friday. We leave Wednesday for St. Louis, but I’ll be back Friday, and we have a night off.”
“Okaaaaay….”
“I’ll make you dinner at my place.” I rubbed my nose alongside hers and breathed in the scent of her skin. Fuck, it made me horny as hell.
I felt her melting. I pulled her closer, so we were touching.
“Okay,” she said on a sigh.
“Shave your legs.”
She collapsed against me in a fit of giggles, and I wrapped my arms around her in a hug, smiling hugely.
“Okay.”
I drew back and brushed a kiss over her mouth, then let her go.
She fumbled with her key fob and unlocked her door, then slid into the car. I shoved my hands into my jacket pockets and watched her start her car, then pull out with a wave.
Inside I was a mess of conflicted feelings.
I wasn’t using her.
I was using her.
Shit. This didn’t sit right with me anymore.
It wasn’t that I was falling for her. That wasn’t going to happen. Relationships were not for me. Okay, I was attracted to her. Protective of her. Admiring of her. Hot for her.
So I was going home to rub one out, which I’d probably do a few times a day until I saw her again on Friday
But seriously, she was a nice person.
She’d also been used in the past. Unlike the fuckfaces who’d used her, I didn’t need money or a fucking job. It wasn’t the same.
But still…it wasn’t fair to string her along for two months just so I could win a bet.
She’d been honest with me. I had to tell her.
Chapter 10
Olivia
Julia, our communications manager, had been working hard on the campaign involving Cam. We were all excited about it and optimistic about the results. We’d updated the website with pictures of him and were doing a bunch of ads in local media. Our annual fundraising dinner was in mid-May, and we were hoping Cam would be able to come. That was totally dependent on his playoff schedule, which wouldn’t be known until closer to then, so we couldn’t guarantee that. We were including him in our promotional materials though, Julia selecting images to use and working on various ads and promotions.
There was also the St. Patrick’s Day run coming up in March, which I’d be participating in along with lots of kids from the various schools we worked with. This was a chance for them to be involved in a community run and see the results of their training. It would be great if Cam could come to that too.
Thursday night at the gym, I turned the TV channel to the hockey game to watch the Aces play in St. Louis while I ran on the treadmill. I watched hockey from time to time and I enjoyed it, but I’d never been a super fan, and I had to admit this was mostly curiosity about Cam. I wanted to see him play.
The game was fast moving, and I followed with fascination, watching the Aces score three goals in a row. Wow. I found myself throwing my arms up into the air when they scored, feet pounding the treadmill, cheering them on, then realized I was getting strange looks from the other gym patrons. Cam assisted on one of the goals, and I grinned as I ran.
He’d been talking about the playoffs, and if this game was any indication they seemed like they were a pretty good team. It had been a lot of years since the Aces had last won the Stanley Cup, and it would be awesome.
I was seeing him again tomorrow night. Dinner at his place.
I knew I shouldn’t. I’d tried to resist him, but damn, he made it impossible, looking into my eyes and smiling that sexy smirk, telling me I was amazing and offering to beat up my ex-fiancé.
Game On Page 9
