Empty Net

by Toni Aleo

  Would it be totally creepy if I was standing behind you, watching you lay on the beach?

  Tate laughed as he typed back quickly to Audrey, she was so funny. It wasn’t creepy at all, and he wished like hell she was, but he knew she wouldn’t be. She had work, and Aiden stuff. She was busy, too busy to come and hang out with him.

  A little.

  Shit, then don’t turn around….

  Tate sat up quickly, turning around to see Audrey standing with her phone by her side while waving awkwardly at him. She stood with big black glasses on her face and a bright yellow sun hat on her head. She had a short yellow skirt on, with a black and white see-through top covering a black tank top. She even wore a pair of impractical black spiked heels, but it didn’t matter.

  Because she was there.

  “Holy shit,” he muttered before getting up, and closing the distance between them. Ignoring the awkwardness, he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. His grin grew when she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him just as tight. He pulled back slightly to see her bright face, but not to let her go, “What are you doing here?”

  She shrugged her shoulders, “I was bored, so I decided to play hooky in Miami. I happened to be walking down this beach when I saw you lying there.”

  Tate chuckled, “Liar.”

  “Ah, so you caught me. You’re not creeped out are you?” She asked with a worried expression.

  “Creeped out? No, not at all. I’m really glad to see you. ”

  Her face brightened as she moved out of his arms. “Good, so whatcha doing?”

  “Sitting, thinking.”

  “Sounds, like fun,” she said before walking towards the ocean, “Man, it’s beautiful out here.”

  “It really is,” he agreed following close to her, “how long can you stay?”

  “Just a couple days, I gotta be back Friday night for Aiden’s game.”

  Tate nodded, so he had two days with her. It wasn’t near enough but it would hold him over until he got home on Saturday. He watched as she sat down, crossing her legs before sliding her heels off and dumping the sand out of them. He chuckled as he sat down beside her, stretching his long legs out in front of him.

  “So from what the owner told me today, you’ve been killing in goal lately,” she said looking over at him with a bright smile.

  Tate laughed before pinning her with a lusty grin, “I would love to ask more about what she said about me, but what I really would like to know is how I came into the conversation.”

  For once he wasn’t worried about what the owner thought, he was more worried about what Audrey thought. When Audrey’s cheeks reddened, he knew that she had brought him up. “Talking about me, I see?”

  “Oh hush, I was just trying to tell you Elli is really happy with you.”

  Tate nodded, his eyes never leaving her face as he said, “Good, thanks for checking on me.” When she glanced up at him, he winked before pressing his tongue against his teeth. Audrey smiled before shaking her head and looking out towards the ocean.

  “Anyways,” she said causing him to chuckle, “I ran into Phillip in the lobby, he’s the one who directed me to you. In parting, he said that y’all are hitting the hotel club.”

  “We are. The club is having a Salsa night. Erik and Phillip are looking forward to the Latin women, apparently.”

  Audrey giggled, “I bet you are too. Maybe I’ll stay in. I don’t want to rain on your Latin parade.”

  Tate shook his head, “Actually, I’m not and you won’t. I want you there.”

  Audrey eyed him before grinning happily at him. “Oh, alright, if you insist,” she joked before digging her toes in the sand.

  They sat for a long time, talking about her trip and the ride to the hotel. They fell back into their rhythm as if they hadn’t been apart for almost a week. She was animated as always, and seemed really happy to be there. He couldn’t help but wonder why she came. Was this her way of trying to move things forward? Did she want to move things forward?

  Shit!

  “Okay,” he said, cutting off her story about the bellboy who told her she was a sexy piece of southern ass. Not only was it pissing him off, but he had to know or he was going to drive himself mad.

  “Whoa, was I boring you?” she asked, and he could tell he offended her.

  “No, not at all, but big question,” he said looking up at her. He hated that she was hiding her eyes, so reaching out; he slowly took the glasses from her face. When her wide gorgeous, caramel eyes, locked with his eyes, he flashed her a shy grin.

  “Well hurry because I am trying to tell you how I got a bellboy fired and that we might need to watch our backs for the Latin Mob.”

  Tate gave her a look and then they both burst out laughing. Holding his gut as he leaned against the sand, she let out her own little snort before covering her mouth and laughing harder.

  Man, they were crazy.

  “God, Audrey, you are such a dork sometimes,” he laughed.

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

  Still laughing, Tate shook his head. When they both had calmed down, Tate looked over at her, and she smiled. “What did you want to question me about?”

  Tate swallowed loudly, “What brought you here, Audrey? And don’t say it’s ‘cause you were bored.”

  Audrey looked away and shook her head, “I asked myself that same questions when I was standing behind you.”

  “What answer did you come up with?” he asked, still only looking at her. Women of all sizes walked by them in tiny bikinis but the only girl he had eyes for was Audrey and she was fully clothed. In his opinion, she was the hottest thing on that beach. Watching her profile, he watched as she bit down hard on her lip before looking over at him.

  “I wanted to do something that would make me happy.”

  Tate smiled, “So I make you happy.”

  Audrey smiled, “Cocky ass.”

  Tate chuckled as she rolled her eyes, looking back out into the ocean. Tate looked out towards the ocean too, still confused but glad that she was finally doing something that made her happy.

  “I’ve been thinking a lot about the cupcakery and what you said,” she said, still not looking at him. He nodded as he waited for her to go on. When she didn’t, he glanced over at her to ask what she had been thinking about, but she whispered, “Question.”

  Her eyes were on her fingers that were running along her green sparkly toes. “Yeah?”

  “Have you ever wanted something so much and felt like it was within reach but you couldn’t grasp it?”

  When she looked up, he nodded, “Yup.”

  “What did you do?”

  Tate thought for a moment, and then said, “I continue to be there.”

  Audrey looked up confused. “What do you mean?”

  “It’s pretty simple, Audrey. I’m here, and I hope that one day, you’ll look me in the eyes and decide that you are done with this charade of being friends and that I can be your man. I want you to see that I can be there to help with your dreams. That I’m not some punk kid out to get some from you. I’m a decent guy, Audrey. If you would let me, I could be your guy,” he said all in one breath. He had been waiting for forever to say that, and it felt great to finally say it.

  Audrey’s eyes went wide before she looked back down at her toes. He waited for her to say something and when she didn’t, he let out a long breath. She was the most frustrating woman in the world but for some reason, he kept coming back. He knew the reason, but damn it, couldn’t she make it a little easier on him?

  “I don’t want to lead you on, Tate, I am still trying to figure things out,” she whispered. He almost didn’t hear her over the roar of the waves.

  “You are not leading me on, Audrey; you have no issue in reminding me that we are only friends. That you don’t want the things I want.”

  She looked up at him, quickly shaking her head, “That’s not true. I do want those things, Tate, it’s just difficult and I am scar
ed of rejection.”

  “Audrey, I would never reject you,” he said facing her. He took her hands in his, “Never, just give me a chance to prove that to you.”

  “Tate, you say that without all the facts. You don’t know me.”

  “I know you, and I like you, what other facts could there be?” he asked confused, “you confuse the hell out of me, you know that?”

  “I know, and I need to explain but I just don’t know how without sounding like a psycho.”

  “Audrey, just say it. I would never judge you, I care about you,” he said. They sat staring into each other’s eyes, her mouth moving but words not leaving her lips as they shared a long heated look. He wanted nothing more than to close the gap by pressing his wanting lips to hers, but then his phone rang and he knew the moment was gone.

  Looking away, Audrey said, “Answer your phone, Tate.”

  Fuck!

  Glancing down at his phone, he saw that it was Erik, “What dude?” he answered rudely.

  “Well shit, bad timing?”

  “Something like that.”

  “My bad,” Erik laughed and Tate knew he didn’t care at all that he had irrupted anything. “We still on for tonight.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay, well come on, let’s get ready. I know there is some hot mamacita who wants my body, let’s go! Vamanos!”

  “I’m pretty sure it’s against the law for a Russian to speak Spanish. That was horrible,” Tate said dryly with a roll of his eyes.

  “Shut up, and come on,” Erik said, and then hung up.

  “Are they ready?” Audrey asked, without looking at him.

  “Yeah, lets go,” he said standing up. He helped her up and when she tried to walk away, he stopped her by her wrist, bringing her close so he could whisper, “This conversation isn’t over.”

  Audrey looked up, her sad eyes meeting his. He hated that look, he wanted her to be happy and a part of him was second guessing his harshness, but she needed to know how he felt.

  She nodded, and said, “I know it isn’t, it probably never will be.”

  Tate ran his thumb up and down her wrist, his other hand coming up to cup her chin. He wanted to kiss her so badly, but he knew that it wouldn’t go the way he wanted. So instead, he took a deep breath, brushed his knuckles along her blushing cheeks and said, “It will be when you let it be.”

  ~*~

  Tate leaned against the wall outside of Audrey’s door. He didn’t know if he should knock or just wait, so he went with the latter, deciding to give her more time. When they had parted ways earlier, she seemed like she was regretting coming down to Miami. It was the last thing Tate wanted, so he decided that instead of talking about anything serious, they would just enjoy the couple days they had with each other. He would let whatever was happening between them run its course.

  Fixing the collar of his crisp white shirt, he couldn’t help but doubt himself. Did he mess up earlier on the beach? What if she came out with her bags packed, ready to go home? Banging his head against the wall, he pulled his phone out and was about to play a game, when Audrey’s door opened, and Tate’s tongue, promptly fell out of his mouth at the sight of her.

  Audrey was hot. Super hot.

  She wore a fitted, one shoulder black sparkly dress. It came to mid-thigh, maybe higher showing her sexy tan legs. Her hair was down in a mass of curls, her makeup was the most drastic he had ever seen it, and he couldn’t help but take notice to the extra high teal sparkly heels she wore.

  He was supposed to be friends with her?

  Running her hands down her thighs, she smiled up at him, “Hey.”

  Swallowing loudly, Tate croaked out, “Hey.”

  “Is this okay? It’s all I got, well no, I take that back, I have a skirt, but I thought this was salsa-ish.”

  Tate was nodding before she got the whole sentence out of her mouth. He was convinced there was no room in his slacks because that dress was way more than okay. “Audrey, yeah, you look hot.”

  A shy smile crossed her lips as she rocked her hips back and forth, “Thanks, you’re lookin’ pretty smoking too.”

  He smiled confidently as she said, “You ready?”

  “Yup,” he said.

  He was only a little embarrassed about his outburst about hot she was. He liked that she had gotten so dressed up for him and he couldn’t shake the feeling that this was a date.

  Their first date.

  With a grin, Tate placed his hand on the small of her back, leading her to the elevator and then down to the club. When they entered, Tate spotted Phillip and Erik at a corner table. Taking Audrey’s hand in his, he guided them through the crowd of dancers, and patrons who were lingering around tables, having a good time. Phillip put his hands up at the sight of Tate and Erik grinned as Tate made his way towards them. Like Tate, both men were dressed to impress in slacks and dress shirts. Both on the mission to bring home a special lady, Tate didn’t have to worry about that.

  He already had his.

  Tate brought Audrey beside him, before pulling out a chair for her. “Guys,” he yelled over the pulsating music, “you remember Audrey, right?”

  “I think we’ve met,” Phillip said, his eyes gazing over Audrey’s body as he took her hand in hers.

  “Yes we have,” Audrey said with a grin.

  “How are you,” Erik asked with a lazy grin on his face, as his eyes made the same trip that Phillip’s had.

  All of a sudden, Tate wanted to smash his two best friend’s faces into the nearest hard surface.

  “I’m good thanks,” she answered, she glanced back at Tate and asked, “What’s your poison Oooodder?”

  Tate smiled. He loved the way she drew out his name. Answering her, he said, “Anything, really.”

  “Are we going big tonight boys?” Phillip asked.

  “Sure why not?” Erik said with a shrug.

  “Don’t y’all have a game tomorrow?” Audrey asked.

  “Yup, but our curfew is 1am. It’s only eight, we are good,” Phillip informed her.

  Audrey nodded as a bright grin went across her face, “Well y’all are the professionals, so I trust y’all to know when to stop.”

  All three guys nodded, and Audrey grinned as she got up, heading for the bar. Tate watched her every move as she leaned against the bar, her curves delectable. When a guy came up to her, Tate was about to go over and stake his claim, but Phillip stopped him.

  “So when did Audrey get hot?”

  Tate cut him a look, “She always has been.”

  “Yeah, but she is really hot tonight. My hands are itching to touch her thighs,” he said his eyes glued to what Tate believed was Audrey’s ass.

  “Back off, Phillip,” Erik warned.

  Phillip looked up and then over at Tate, “No way, you with her?”

  Before Tate could say anything Audrey came back to the table, a bottle of Patron in one hand and four shot glasses in the other. “Are y’all sure you can handle my kind of party?”

  Phillip laughed, while Erik nodded, “Pour them up, baby girl,” he said.

  Four shots later…

  Audrey pointed at Erik, her eyes a little glazed as she said, “I don’t think I like you.”

  Erik laughed before pointing to himself, “Me? What did I do?”

  Audrey let out a girly burp that was rewarded by a high five from Phillip before she said, “My best friend likes you, but you don’t like her!”

  Tate laughed, “Man, Piper is going to kill you, Audrey.”

  Audrey glanced over at him, and then back at Erik, “Probably.”

  “Piper? My brother’s sister-in-law?”

  “That’s the one! She is beautiful, gorgeous, and would rock your world!” Audrey proclaimed and all Tate could do was shake his head. Even in his buzzed state, he knew Piper was going to flip.

  Erik looked shocked as he shook his head, “I don’t even look at her like that. She’s family.”

  “You look at Reese like that and
she’s a bitch!”

  Tate continued to shake his head while Philip laughed, “Shit, she called that one.”

  Erik smacked Phillip’s arm before pinning Audrey with a look, “Reece is a Goddess of sexiness, Piper is just small. Beautiful, but little.”

  “She is amazing! And you are just intimidated by her awesomeness.”

  Erik laughed, “Is that right?”

  “Yup!” Audrey said and she crossed her arms across her chest as she pouted. Tate glanced over at Erik and saw that he was looking off to the side. It was obvious he was thinking about what Audrey said. Shaking his head, Tate chuckled before leaning against her to pour another shot.

  He then leaned in close and whispered in her ear, “Bottom’s up, baby.”

  Three more shots later…

  “I wanna salsa,” Audrey proclaimed. They had all been watching the dancers on the floor while nursing their respective beers. Tate was feeling great, and Audrey was getting hotter by the second. Audrey looked over at him, her face bright with excitement, “Dance with me, Tate.”

  “No way,” Tate laughed, taking a long swig of his beer. There was no way; he was going out there in front of the guys.

  “I’ll dance with you Audrey,” Phillip said from Tate’s other side.

  “Ooo! Yay!” Audrey gushed, bouncing and ready to go, but before Phillip could even take a step, Tate stopped him with a fist full of his shirt in his hand.

  “No, you won’t,” he said sternly.

  Phillip looked down at Tate’s fist full of his shirt, and then up at Tate’s face before he said, “Audrey, I’m sorry honey, but if I dance with you, I might get laid out here by this Swedish giant.”

  “Ooooodder,” Audrey whined, “If you won’t let him dance with me, then you’ve got to.”

  Tate let out a long breath, and then laid his beer down. “Alright, let’s go.”

  Taking her hand in his, he led her out onto the floor just as the song changed. Spinning her out, and then back into his arms, she looked up at him surprised.

  “Been holding out on me?”

  Tate smiled, “Maybe.”

  Tate began to move, holding her hips in his hands as her hands rested on his biceps while they moved around the floor. His body was humming in awareness of her; his hands were almost shaking against her skin.