Feeling a twinge of jealousy, she blurted without thinking, “So how many girls have gotten the grand tour?” She regretted it immediately and Ben frowned.
“Ally,” he wheeled her around to face him and took both her hands in his. “I haven’t been in that many relationships. It’s not like I sleep around like Dom. I don’t bring just any random girl into my house.”
“I’m sorry.” She lowered her eyes to the plush carpet. “I got overwhelmed.” She stepped back from him and spun around looking up at the vaulted ceiling. “It’s just that you’re…famous. And I’m a nobody who lives with her grandma in a Cracker Jack box.”
“I have a good agent.”
She scoffed and his eyes softened.
“Look at me.” He took her hands in his and squeezed them. “You’re not a nobody.”
In fact, you’re becoming everything to me.
His heart ached. How could he convince her that she was good enough? Hell, if anything she was too good for him.
“I’m still getting to know you and I can already see you’re kindness and devotion to the people in your life. You are special and not some conquest to me. I’m not like that. I leave that stuff to Dom,” he added and she laughed. “Okay?” His brown eyes pleaded with her to understand his virtue.
“Okay. Thank you.”
“Now, let’s go. No more stalling, I want you to meet the guys.”
He slipped on a pair of shoes, gathered his wallet and keys, led her into the garage and locked the door behind them.
“So, you think I’m famous?” He teased her as he walked around to the driver‘s side of the car, reveling in the sound of her laughter.
The foothills loomed in the horizon as they drove across town to Cody’s house. Ben turned left passed the “Models Open” sign and drove into the August Vista Estates. New homes were being built by the dozen in the neighborhood.
As Ben had reassured Ally during the car ride, the Lambert’s were just your average ‘normal’ family. The only difference was the mansion that they lived in. Their house was so spectacular compared to Ben’s that it made his house on the hill look like a studio apartment.
Cody’s wife Laina, who answered the door, was seven months pregnant. She was petite and pretty with delicate features and blonde hair that fell to her shoulders.
“Benny!” Laina exclaimed and pulled him in for an awkward hug around her stomach. “I’m glad you came. This must be Ally!” Laina hugged Ally like they had known each other for years and Ally could see herself becoming fast friends with her.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
“Oh, Ally. We are thrilled to meet you. Come in, you two.” To Ally’s amazement, they were ushered into a home at least three times the size of Ben’s. “Please excuse the mess, Ally. Between the boys and my growing watermelon here,” she patted her stomach, “the place is a disaster twenty-four-seven. It used to bother me, but I’ve learned to accept that this is how it’s going to be for a while. Come on you two, Cody’s out back.”
Cody and Laina had four year old twins Ian and Liam who were running wild through the house. The little boys were carbon copies of each other and miniature versions of their father. They wore matching red jerseys with Cody’s number on them. Not standing still long enough to say hello, they raced off in the direction of the playroom. To their delight, everyone on the team called them the tornado twins. They had no problem living up to the name.
Laina led Ben and Ally through the mayhem and out to the backyard. They found Cody standing at the barbeque on the patio by the pool. Cody looked up from the grill and squinted in the sunlight. “So glad you could come, Benny!” Cody slapped Ben on the back.
“Thanks for inviting us, Cody. Hey, this is my girlfriend, Ally. Ally, this is Cody, also known as CoLa.”
Cody flashed a toothy grin at Ally. “Welcome to casa de Lambert.”
“Thank you. You’re house is…,” Ally searched for the right adjective, “…amazing.”
Next, Ben introduced Ally to Alexandre Sebastien, who everyone knew as Sebby, the team’s goaltender. He had boyish good looks and wore his blonde hair spiked up with gel. “Ah-lo Ahlly,” Sebby said, winking at Ben. “Vee are glod to be meeting you.” Sebby was from Moscow and spoke with a thick Russian accent. He had played hockey in Russia before coming to the states to joining the Razors.
“Hi Sebby. Nice to meet you, too.”
Meeting the guys turned out to not be so scary. There were only a few people at the barbeque and it wasn‘t as overwhelming as Ally had prepared herself for in her head. It was amazing how a woman could mentally blow everything out of proportion.
“Hi, you two,” Laina returned from inside the house and handed beers to them. The five of them chatted easily as Cody worked the barbeque. He expertly flipped the steaks and bragged about his grilling skills.
A few minutes later, J.D. Mason arrived.
“J.D., looking good, buddy.” Ben shook hands with the tall defenseman.
“Yeah, Darla made me wear my teeth tonight,” J.D. said.
“We appreciate that.” Cody said, unable to keep a straight face.
“I thought you look deeferent,” Sebby said.
“The boys are wierded out by the human jack-o-lantern.” Laina told Ally with a laugh.
“So, where is Darla?” Cody asked, taking a swig of his beer. “I thought both of you were coming tonight.”
“She’s visiting her mom in Portland. But, I heard there was going to be food here,” J.D. sniffed the aroma of BBQ in the air, “so I had no problem showing up without her.”
Last to arrive was the infamous Dom Devereaux. He was arrogant as usual but nobody seemed to mind because, as everyone already knew, the world revolved around him and him alone.
When Ben was busy talking to the guys, Ally slipped away and made her way back into the house. She spotted Laina in the dining room setting the table, so she went over to help out.
“Need a hand?” Ally asked.
“Thank you, Ally.” Laina smiled warmly. “It’s too bad Darla isn’t here. I think you’d like her. She’s an absolute sweetheart.”
Ally grabbed a stack of napkins and began placing them next to each plate on the table. “Do J.D. and Darla have kids?” Ally asked.
“No. Not yet. I’m sure they will eventually. They’ve only been married for about a year.”
“Oh,” Ally nodded.
“And Sebby only dates supermodels. He’s your typical bachelor like Dom. I take it you’ve probably already heard all about Dom.”
“Oh, yes,” Ally rolled her eyes. “He’s a character all right.” Ally kept Izzy’s quote-unquote relationship with Dom to herself. She didn’t want Laina to think she and her friends were groupies or something.
“That’s a nice way of putting it.”
“You have a beautiful home.” Ally looked around at their spacious kitchen. “And family,” she added.
Laina set silverware on top of the napkins. “Thank you,” she smiled and glanced outside at the men and back at Ally. “We are so glad to finally meet you.”
“Oh,” Ally waved her off, “I’m sure you’ve met tons of Ben’s girlfriends,” she said, laughing off the thought of Ben with someone else.
Laina set down a fork and looked up at Ally. “You’re the first girl that Ben’s ever brought over.”
“I am?” Ally began nervously twiddling with her hair.
“And we’ve known him for what…going on five years now.”
“Really,” Ally said in awe.
“Like I said, it’s nice to finally meet you. Ben must really like you.” Laina moved into the kitchen, took fish sticks out of the oven and tossed them on two plates for the twins. “I‘m so glad he brought you over.”
Why hadn’t Ally believed Ben until now? She just knew that Ben must have had girlfriends by the masses. I mean, after all, he was a professional athlete with money, a hot car, a nice house. Not to mention the fact that he was gorgeous. With money, a hot
car and a nice house. Ally had just assumed that women were throwing themselves at him. Maybe they were, but he had chosen not to act on it.
Ally’s thoughts were interrupted by Cody coming in with a platter of steak. Ben. J.D., Sebby and Dom followed close on his heels. When meat was involved, the guys didn’t dare let it out of their sights.
“Dinner is served!” Cody proudly announced before kissing Laina on the cheek. He wrangled up the twins and everyone sat down at the table.
Just as everyone started to dig in, Dom excused himself to take a call on his cell phone. He came back a moment later to announce he was leaving.
“But we’re just about to eat.” Cody sounded disappointed.
“Sorry. I can eat with you guys any ole time, but Natasha’s only in town a couple times a year.”
Sebby muttered the words ‘booty call’ under his breath. It was a term he had quickly picked up after being around his American teammates. Dom heard him and smirked in Sebby’s direction.
After Dom left, dinner continued on without him and was surprisingly comfortable for Ally. The food was delicious and everyone made her feel right at home. Gradually, she began to relax. The casualness of eating steak with a bunch of Ben’s friends appealed to her. Everyone was super nice and made her laugh with their jokes and funny stories.
Ally dug into her juicy steak with fervor and was mid-chew when she looked up to find Sebby staring at her with a bewildered look on his face. She stopped chewing and furrowed her brow.
Uh-oh, what did I do wrong? Great, there must be something stuck in my teeth.
Ally covered her mouth.
Ben looked up from his food and also noticed Sebby staring across the table at Ally.
“What’s going on?” Ben asked Sebby.
Ally dabbed her napkin at her lips to make sure there wasn’t something on her face. It wasn’t like she was shoveling in the food. After all, she was trying to make a good impression and not be forever known as ‘that weird girl Ben brought over once‘.
Suddenly, the rest of the conversation stopped around the table and everyone focused on Sebby, then Ally and back to Sebby again.
“That eez friggin’ sveet!” Sebby finally spoke. “She eating steak!” he exclaimed like it was the greatest thing he had ever seen in his life. Or that he had discovered plutonium.
Ally’s face reddened and she swallowed her food in a self conscious gulp. All eyes looked at her in confusion and back to Sebby again.
“I kin not beeleeve theez. I never seen girl, ya know, eat before. I mean, ven ve go out zay order salad and water and seet there and pick at it like it poison or something. Beeg deeference.”
Everyone broke out into laughter and relief washed over Ally.
When the table finally settled down, the obligatory questions began. “Ally, where do you work? Do you live here in Red Valley?”
Ben smiled to himself at the way Ally answered his friends’ barrage of questions with grace. She was quite charming when she forgot how nervous she was.
“So, how did you two meet?” Laina asked.
“We ran into each other after practice,” Ben answered with a broad smile. “Literally.”
Ally blushed. “It was an accident,” she said in her own defense.
“Ally doesn’t let anyone stand in her way. Even me.”
“Hey!” She playfully hit his arm.
After dinner, the evening started to wind down. J.D. had to pick up Darla at the airport in the morning so he took off early. Sebby left shortly after J.D. because he wanted to make an appearance at the ‘discothèque‘. After the guys left, Cody, Laina, Ben and Ally went back out to the patio with their drinks and mingled near the pool.
As it began to get dark, accent lights turned on all around the backyard. Cody had just had a waterfall installed over the pool and was telling stories about his contractor nightmare.
The four of them were standing by the pool admiring the landscape when the tornado twins came running up to them. Ally backed up out of their path as to not get trampled when she felt herself falling backwards. Instinctively, she felt for something to hold on to and it just so happened that she grabbed onto Ben’s arm and they both fell back into the pool with a giant splash.
When they surfaced, she took a gulp of air and turned to look over at Ben. He was soaking wet, his hair hanging down dripping water into his eyes. She looked at him and they both burst into laughter.
Laina came rushing to the side of the pool with concern. “Oh, no, are you guys okay?!” she shrieked.
“Yeah,” Ben said with a smile. “Cody didn’t say it was a pool party or I would have brought my Speedo.”
Ben took Ally’s hand and helped her to the steps of the pool. Ally was mortified because her clothes were clinging to her in a soaking wet mess. Here she was trying to make a good impression with his friends and now she felt like she was in some candid camera wet tee shirt competition.
“Holy Moley! I’m so sorry!” Cody hurried over to help Ally out of the pool.
Amused by the sight of adults in the pool with their clothes on, the tornado twins stopped in their tracks, pointed and started laughing. Cody shot them a warning look and they took off running full speed into the house, screaming the entire way.
Laina threw up her hands. “That’s it! I’m hiring a nanny for when this one comes.” She rubbed her pregnant stomach.
“There are plenty of towels in the pool house, Ben. You guys can dry off in there,” Cody said.
“I’ll send Cody out with a change of clothes,” Laina told them, then turned to yell at Cody, “Can you help me round up the rugrats for bed? That’s enough trouble for one night.”
“Sure,” Cody told his wife. And then to Ben and Ally, “I’m so sorry about this, you guys.”
“It’s okay,” Ally reassured him. “It was my fault.” She wrung the water out of her hair.
“I’ll be back with some clothes,” Cody said before going into the house with Laina waddling behind him.
The pool house turned out to be even larger than Gram’s house. There was a comfortable sitting area with shelves of colorful beach towels and robes. Pool toys and inner tubes were littered on the floor.
Ben took a giant fluffy towel from the shelf and wrapped it around Ally. He looked down at her and brushed a clump of sopping wet hair away from her face.
“I’m sorry I pulled you--” she started to say.
He lowered his lips to hers, stopping her words. His kiss caught her off guard, but she liked the feel of his mouth on hers. His lips were cool and wet and she kissed him back. He tasted like beer and chlorine. She clung to him and could feel his muscles move beneath his wet shirt. At his probing, she opened her lips and let his tongue explore her mouth. A chill went up her spine and she shivered. Goose bumps appeared on her wet skin. Then he lifted his head and broke their kiss to speak.
“You’re cold.” He began rubbing his hands up and down the length of her arms and instantly she felt his warmth.
Reality came rushing back to her and she remembered where she was. She was in a pool house kissing the star hockey player Benjamin Price.
And it felt amazing.
She felt his eyes on her and her cheeks flushed. “I must look like a wet rat,” she laughed nervously, her self consciousness kicking in.
“I think you’re beautiful.”
“Knock, knock!” Cody yelled from outside. Ben opened the door for him. “Here are some sweats for you to change into and a bag for your wet clothes.” He looked at them with a worried expression. “Once again, Benny, Ally, I’m really sorry about this.”
“It’s fine Cody. Now stop apologizing and leave us alone so we can change.”
Ben took the pile of clothes from Cody and closed the door behind him. They were alone again. He set the clothes down on a nearby table and turned back to face Ally. She was standing across from him sopping wet. He had the urge to lick up every droplet of water from her body.
“We should get you o
ut of these wet clothes,” he said.
Ally’s eyes widened in surprise. She was terrified Cody or Laina would walk in on them or, God forbid, the kids. But Ben didn’t mind if they had an audience just as long as he was kissing her and feeling her body against his. He clicked the door locked and looked back at her with a raised eyebrow.
Ben unwrapped her towel and let it fall to the floor. Her nipples hardened and poked through the thin fabric of her wrinkled top. Feeling his eyes on her, Ally took a pair of sweatpants from the pile and quickly changed out of her sopping shorts. Unable to be as stealth with her top, she boldly unbuttoned the front of her blouse and let it slip from her body along with her self-consciousness. Ben sucked in his breath at the sight of her voluptuous breasts peeking over her lacy bra. He watched her creamy skin rise and fall with her breathing.
It was all he could do not to take her right there in the Lambert’s pool house, but instead, somehow, someway, he remained a perfect gentleman. Unable to restrain himself any longer, he handed her a red, oversized sweatshirt and helped her into it. The words Red Valley Razors were emblazoned across the front in bold, black letters. They laughed at its bulkiness, breaking the silence. Ally hadn’t planned on letting him see her in sweats until…um, never.
Then, Ben changed out of his pants and into the sweats as fast as his limbs would allow. Next came his shirt. When he slipped his shirt over his head, Ally held back the impulse to run her hands over his chiseled torso.
There would be time for that later.
Instead, she ran her eyes over his chest and down to his obliques. She wasn’t expecting one…two…three…six pack abs. Athletes should definitely be required to play without jerseys, she decided.
Ben was in the best shape of his life and Ally was speechless. As an athlete, she knew he was in top physical form, but nothing had prepared her for this.
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