The Final Score

by Jaci Burton

  She wound her arm around his neck. "Sacrilege."

  He grinned, then kissed her. And when she turned and pressed against him, and he felt her body surrender to him, it was all he'd wanted, all he needed. He swept his hand down her back, soaking in the softness of her, breathing in the sweetness of her scent.

  When he pulled away, she gave him a confused look. "You stopped."

  "Yeah. I don't want you to think I'm in this just for the sex. Because we do have a friendship, Mia, and that's important to me, too. I want to fuck you. But I want to date you, too."

  She sighed. "That's such a lovely thing to say."

  He laughed. "Is it?"

  "It is." She laid her palm on his chest. "I want to fuck you, too. And date you. And be your friend. And have wine and beer with you and do everything with you."

  "Everything, huh?" He smoothed his hand over her dress. "Did I mention you look hot as fuck in this?"

  "You didn't mention that. But thank you."

  "Look. I get that you're angsty over this change in our relationship. You're worried for nothing, Mia. I can't imagine not being friends with you. And the sex is good. Really good. Right?" As he spoke, he ran his hand along her thigh, then slid it up her back. She responded by leaning into him, so he knew damn well she was affected by his touch. He needed her to at least acknowledge that.

  She inhaled a deep breath, and let it out. "Right."

  It had taken everything he had to stop kissing her, but he wanted her to understand there was a lot more to them than just being fuck buddies. He knew the friendship part was important, and he could take things slowly. Even if slowly meant he'd go home with his dick hard tonight.

  He slid her gently off his lap.

  "You're really okay with this?" she asked.

  "No sex. Just hanging out with you tonight? I'm always okay with it."

  He picked up her remote and turned on the television, then watched TV with her for an hour or so before leaving. He never wanted her to think he was with her only for the sex, though after all these years she should already know that. When she started yawning, he got up, said good night and left her with a kiss on her forehead.

  "See you later," he said.

  "I'll see you, Nathan." He saw the regret on her face, and for some reason that made him feel better.

  SIXTEEN

  MIA HAD MISSED NATHAN OVER THE LAST WEEK, BUT she'd had work to keep her busy, along with planning Nathan's surprise birthday party, so she hadn't had much time to dwell on it, which was a good thing.

  And okay, maybe she was dodging him because she didn't want to do or say anything that would spoil his surprise party. Running her business was always a great excuse for her limited time, and Nathan was awesome about understanding when she had to put her job first.

  Nathan was pretty awesome in general.

  She'd met with Tara and Amelia earlier in the week. Tara had secured a venue for the party. Amelia had planned the menu and taken care of hiring cooks to assist her. It was up to Mia to wrangle the guest list and to get Nathan there without him becoming suspicious.

  For that part she'd brought in Nathan's friend Jamal. If everything went according to plan, Nathan wouldn't have a clue what was going on until he stepped through the doors.

  They'd arranged to have dinner with Jamal and Wendy. He wouldn't suspect a thing.

  She was grateful the event was on a Saturday so she didn't have to go into the office. She'd wanted the entire day to help Tara, though when she arrived at the venue, Tara and her event crew had everything well in hand. The tables and chairs had been organized to create a dance floor and plenty of areas for people to stand or sit and chat. Tara had secured a deejay for the evening and his area had already been set up. Mia helped with the decorations and then she called Amelia, who was preparing the food for the evening. Amelia was happily on schedule and confident the menu would be perfect. When Mia hung up, she pulled out her planner, so she and Tara could review Mia's checklist one last time to make sure they'd covered everything.

  "Are you nervous?" Tara asked.

  Mia shook her head. "No. It's all under control. I'm more excited than anything. I want this to be a great party for Nathan."

  Tara laid her hand over Mia's. "It will be. Don't worry."

  She fielded several calls from people who were attending to confirm the time or give directions to the venue. The number of Sabers team members who had said they were attending, including coaches and staff, surprised her. She just hoped they could pull off the surprise aspect. The more people who knew about the party, the bigger chance someone would spill to Nathan. Though he hadn't said anything to her yet and they'd had several phone conversations, so it was likely he didn't know.

  Perfect.

  On her way back home, Nathan called her.

  "Hey, what's up?" she asked.

  "Nothing. I was just wondering what you were doing?"

  "Oh. Uh. Heading to the gym for a workout. How about you?"

  "Did that this morning. Just chillin' now. Thought I'd come over and hang out with you. Maybe when you get back from the gym."

  She had a million things to do before the party tonight. "Sorry. I need to stop by work and handle some paperwork, and then I have some errands to run. So I can't."

  "No problem. I'll see you for dinner, okay?"

  "Sure. Oh, and, Nathan?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Happy birthday."

  He laughed. "Thanks. See you later."

  She hung up, realizing her pulse was racing. She'd tried to act nonchalant. Hopefully she'd pulled it off. She supposed she'd find out when she saw Nathan later. In the meantime, she was going to hit the gym and work off some of this nervous energy so she wasn't a total stress ball tonight.

  She wanted this to be Nathan's best birthday party ever.

  SEVENTEEN

  NATHAN KNOCKED ON MIA'S DOOR, HEARD HER MUMBLE or holler something that sounded something like the door was open, so he tried the knob. It turned, so he walked in.

  "Mia?"

  "I'm upstairs finishing up. I'll be down in a sec. Shit. Stupid dress."

  His lips curved. "Need some help?"

  "No. Yes. Come up here."

  He went upstairs and into her bedroom, where Mia stood in front of her full-length mirror making a face at herself.

  "What's wrong?"

  She whirled around to glare at him.

  "I got this dress and I don't know how they expect single women to dress themselves when the damn zipper goes from Africa to Canada. Would you mind?"

  He made a twirl motion with his finger, so she pivoted. He couldn't help but notice her bare skin or the damn sexy flimsy-as-fuck underwear she had on.

  "You did that on purpose," he said as he drew the zipper up.

  She gave him a look over her shoulder. "Did what on purpose?"

  "Wore that underwear."

  She sat on the bed and slid into her shoes. "No idea what you're talking about. It's not like I planned on having a pain-in-the-ass zipper, Nathan. What I planned on was to be ready when you got here. You look amazing, by the way."

  He looked down at himself. Mia had told him to dress nice, no casual clothes. "Nice" to him was black slacks and a matching black button-down shirt. "Thanks."

  Mia stood, and holy shit, that dress formed to her body like a second skin. It was a dark silver that shimmered in the light. And she wore damn-high-as-heaven shoes that made her legs look a mile long.

  "You're really trying to kill me, aren't you?"

  She frowned. "What?"

  He walked over to her and pressed a kiss to her cheek, then whispered in her ear, "What I mean is, you look hot as hell in that dress and those shoes."

  She leaned back and smiled at him. "Oh. Thank you. I'm finally ready, and thank you for the assist."

  "Anytime. You'll of course let me know if you need help getting out of the dress."

  She laughed, then pressed her palms to his chest and brushed a soft and oh-too-short kiss acro
ss his lips. "You, of course, would be the first to know. And happy birthday again."

  He sucked in a breath, really wishing they were staying in tonight. They could order in, and when they were finished eating he could take that dress off of her.

  Mia started out of the bedroom and toward the stairs, though, so he supposed that wasn't going to happen.

  Dammit. He'd thought about her all week long. She'd been busy. He understood work was her first priority, so he hadn't pushed to see her. And he'd had his own shit to do with workouts and agent and PR meetings.

  But now he was more than ready to spend his birthday with Mia.

  They headed down the stairs. "So where is this place we're going to dinner?"

  Mia grabbed her clutch and a sweater. "It's a trendy new bistro. I thought we'd give it a try. Jamal and Wendy are meeting us there, right?"

  Nathan nodded and pulled the door open for her. "Yeah. I texted him that I was picking you up, and he said they were heading out the door so they should already be at the place when we get there."

  "Perfect."

  The drive took about twenty minutes. Nathan noticed Mia's face was buried in her phone. "Got a hot guy you're texting with?"

  Her head shot up and she shoved her phone in her purse. "What? No, of course not. It was . . . uh . . . Monique, about some work stuff. Sorry."

  He frowned and studied the road ahead of him. Mia was always forthcoming about who she was texting with. He knew all her friends, and he didn't believe for one damn second that she'd been texting with Monique. Or that it was work shit.

  Which meant it was some guy. And he didn't like the tightening in his gut in reaction.

  They hadn't laid down ground rules about their relationship. They weren't exclusive, and now she was texting with some asshole, no doubt about meeting up with him later as soon as her obligation to have dinner with Nathan on his birthday was over.

  "You know, you don't have to have dinner with me tonight just because it's my birthday."

  She looked over at him. "What? I want to have dinner with you."

  "Do you? Because it's obvious you'd rather be somewhere else."

  "Nathan, what are you talking about?"

  He motioned with his head toward her purse. "You. Texting. With some guy."

  She laughed. "I was not texting with some guy. I told you it was Monique."

  "Uh-huh."

  She reached over and smoothed her hand over his thigh, which did not help his disposition in the least.

  "Trust me when I tell you there is no place I'd rather be right now than with you."

  "Okay."

  He still felt unsettled, and more than a little pissed off. Which he had no right to be. Mia was free to see whomever the hell she wanted to see and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.

  Which only unsettled him more.

  Her phone buzzed and she gave him a quick worried glance, pulled the phone out of her bag and looked at it.

  "Sorry. It's work stuff."

  Yeah. Work stuff. Sure it was.

  She typed a quick answer and with a guilty look at him, slid the phone back in her bag.

  Shit.

  Maybe he needed to start dating around again, and he wouldn't feel like this. The only problem with that was the only woman he wanted to see was Mia.

  "It's this exit," Mia said.

  He nodded and took the exit, then followed her instructions to the location.

  "This looks like a warehouse," Nathan said, but there were a ton of cars parked there.

  "I think the restaurant is in the back," Mia said.

  He shrugged, his mind on Mia, her phone and her legs. So, whatever. They'd eat and then she could go out on her date.

  They parked and walked to the restaurant. He held the door for her and she slipped inside.

  Damn it was dark in here. How were they supposed to even read the damn menu?

  The lights flipped on and Nathan blinked as a bunch of voices shouted "Surprise!" in unison.

  It took him a few seconds to register what was going on, but then he saw his mom and dad, and Jamal and Wendy, and . . . holy shit, was that Uncle Gavin and Liz? And his grandparents?

  He looked over at Mia, who leaned against him and laid her hand on his chest.

  "Smile, Nathan. It's your birthday."

  She grinned at him, then stepped away. After that, he was surrounded by his friends. Teammates. His family.

  His mom cupped his face. "Happy birthday, Nathan. Are you surprised?"

  He hugged his mom. "Stunned is more like it. I thought you had left two days ago."

  She laughed. "That's what we wanted you to think."

  His dad gave him a clap on the back, and then Gavin and Liz greeted him.

  "Look at you, all grown-up," Liz said. "It makes me feel old. And I am not old."

  "No, you aren't," Gavin said, squeezing Nathan's arm and putting the other around Liz.

  "I'm really happy to see you both. Did you bring Genevieve?" Nathan asked.

  Liz nodded. "Yes. She's with Sam and the nanny at your parents' house. And very anxious for a visit from you."

  "I'll definitely make time to come to the house to play with her."

  He looked over to see his grandparents were there, which made him tear up.

  "I can't believe you're here," he said to his grandmother.

  "We wouldn't miss it," she said. "And Jimmy loves San Francisco, so we're making a trip out of it."

  "Happy birthday, kid," his grandfather said, and folded him into a big hug.

  Nathan could barely breathe. And when he spotted his Aunt Jenna and her husband, Tyler, he realized what a hell of a party someone--he looked for Mia but didn't see her--had put together.

  He hugged Jenna. "How are you?"

  "I'm fine." Jenna rubbed her belly. "Baby's fine. We're so happy to see you."

  "Yeah, we figured we'd better get out here to this party before you become famous," Tyler said.

  Nathan laughed. "Here I thought you were the superstar. Or so you keep telling me."

  Tyler shot him a grin. "Well, you know, hockey off-season, so I'll let you take the ball and run with it for now."

  There were so many people to talk to, to thank for coming. He chatted up his Sabers teammates, some of his college friends who'd made the trip--Christ, he couldn't believe some of the people who'd come.

  It was at least an hour before he found Mia, sitting at a table talking to Monique, Jamal and Wendy. He pulled her from her chair and hugged her.

  "You did this."

  She shrugged. "Your mom and me and Amelia, who made the food we're about to eat. And I was texting your mom in the car, not some guy. Though I appreciate the slice of jealousy I saw."

  He'd downed a couple of beers while he was chatting with everyone, so he was a lot more relaxed now. "Me? Jealous? Don't know what you're talking about."

  She gave him a knowing smile. "Sure. Anyway, isn't it great? So many people showed up. I guess for some reason people like you, though I have no idea why."

  He wanted to kiss her so badly he could already taste her on his lips. But considering there were about a hundred and fifty people watching them at the moment, he had to rein it in. So instead, he kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you. Seriously, thank you. This is a really amazing birthday."

  She splayed her hands on his chest and gave him a look that told him she wished that kiss had been on her lips, too. "You're welcome, Nathan. I hope it's everything you could imagine, and more."

  He leaned in and whispered to her, "You have no idea what I'm imagining right now."

  She turned her face to his. "Oh, I think I do."

  His mother came over. "Nathan, your grandfather wants to talk to you."

  Mia smiled at him. "We'll chat later."

  He walked away with his mom, but gave Mia a lingering look.

  Yeah, they'd definitely chat later.

  EIGHTEEN

  THE PARTY WAS IN FULL SWING AND GOING GREAT. MIA had had
a few moments of panic in the car on the way over. She'd known Nathan was pissed at her about the texting, but she just had to sit back and let that play out until they got to the venue.

  The look on his face when he walked in the door had made it all worth it. He'd been truly shocked, and she couldn't have been happier.

  She'd made it a point to meet his family. Fortunately, Tara had taken her around and introduced her to his grandparents. Jimmy and Kathleen Riley were lovely people and she could see where Mick got his sense of humor as well as his loving warmth from. She'd met Jenna and Tyler and was excited to talk to them about their upcoming baby, who was due in December. They also talked hockey.

  Mia really loved hockey. It was too bad none of her brothers had been born with the hockey gene. So she'd spent some time talking with Tyler about his successful season with the St. Louis Ice, and some of the other players on the team.

  When he discovered she had started up a sports management company, he insisted she give him her card. Then Liz Riley came over. She knew Liz because a couple of her new clients were represented by her. She was a formidable and very savvy sports agent and Mia really liked working with her.

  "Are you interested in Mia's company managing you?" Liz asked.

  "Thinking about it."

  "We should totally talk about it," Liz said. "As much growth as you're having both as a player and a brand, it's something you should consider."

  Mia vibrated with excitement, but she knew this wasn't the time or place.

  "I don't want to talk shop at a party when you should be enjoying yourself," Mia said. "You have my card, and Liz knows my number. Please give me a call or send me an e-mail whenever it's convenient for you and we'll set up a meeting."

  Tyler nodded. "I'll do that."

  She made her way through the crowd, checking to ensure everyone had a drink and was having a good time. Tara's staff was handling everything perfectly, and there were plenty of bar stations set up to serve the guests.

  She went into the kitchen to see Amelia supervising the crew she'd hired.

  "It smells amazing in here."

  Amelia nodded and smiled. "I hope everyone loves what we've cooked up tonight."

  "I'm certain they will."

  Soon, dinner was served--buffet style to make it easy on everyone.

  There were salads, along with crab cakes and beef tenderloin, and various amazing side dishes. Mia's stomach rumbled as she breathed in all the delicious smells. She helped Tara and her crew wrangle everyone to the various stations so they could fill up their plates and start eating.