He wished he was the kind of guy who flirted just as easily. But that wasn’t him.
“’Cause you didn’t say no to showing me your ink.”
No, he hadn’t.
Rolling up his sleeve, he showed her the inside of his left arm. It was the first tattoo his brother had done for him and it was still one of Justin’s favorites.
A stylized hockey stick with his number incorporated into the design. So simple and yet so beautiful. It looked like a photograph, it was so detailed.
Vivi lifted her hand and gently ran her fingertips over his skin. Every hair on his body stood on end and his cock twitched in his jeans.
“Wow, it’s beautiful.” Her head cocked to the side. “The detail is amazing.”
Then she looked up at him with raised eyebrows.
“So…how about the rest? Is this all I get tonight?”
Swallowing hard, he forced himself to nod and play a game he rarely played. He attempted to flirt. “Yep. Because I’d have to be naked to show you all of it.”
Her smile widened until her eyes nearly closed. She looked so fucking hot, he had the almost undeniable urge to put his hand around her neck and pull her close to kiss her.
He talked himself out of it. Not because he didn’t think she’d let him do it but because he also knew he could be reading this situation totally wrong and he didn’t want to embarrass himself completely.
“And is there something wrong with nudity?”
She was teasing him, that much he could figure out. And not in a mean way. Still flirting.
“No.” He shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest, mimicking her. Then he sucked in a breath and forced the next words out of his mouth. “But maybe I’d like to buy you dinner first.”
She didn’t look shocked at his half-assed way of asking her out on a date. In fact, her smile got a little softer. He’d never seen her smile like that before. At anyone.
“I could go for that.”
He’d half expected her not to say anything so he was surprised she’d agreed so easily. But he didn’t want to give her time to rethink.
“You free tomorrow or Tuesday? We leave Thursday for a road trip.”
“Tomorrow would be good. I work Tuesday.”
He grinned. “I’ll pick you up around six. That okay?”
“That’s great.”
“Anywhere you don’t want to go?”
He wasn’t sure but he thought her smile got even sweeter.
“I’m more of a diners, drive-ins, and dives kinda girl,” she said. “I’ve got a place in mind, but it’s out in the boonies.”
He’d go anywhere she wanted. Hell, he’d drive to New York City if she wanted to have hot dogs from a street vendor.
“Sounds like you and I have the same taste in restaurants. Is six still good to pick you up?”
“Yep.”
He nodded then forced himself to head for the door. Which meant he had to walk by her.
The urge to stop by her side, frame her face in his hands, and kiss her grabbed hold of him and wouldn’t let go. But he didn’t want to push his luck. He hadn’t done anything to embarrass himself all night.
So he dropped her gaze so she didn’t accidentally read his thoughts and walked to the door, grabbing his coat off the couch on his way by.
Vivi followed along but stopped him at the door with her hand on his arm. “Oh, wait. Let me give you my number.”
Damn, he should’ve thought of that himself. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he opened it then handed it over.
She took it with another one of those smiles he couldn’t decipher. He couldn’t tell if she was amused or what. But the look she gave him when she handed back his phone after punching in her numbers was something completely different.
This look made it hard for him to breathe.
Holy crap. That look made him feel like she wanted to make a meal out of him.
And he’d be more than happy to be the main course.
Kiss her.
He really wanted to. But he had a crappy track record with women. He didn’t want to screw up this relationship before it even got started. So he dropped her gaze, slipped on his coat, and palmed his keys.
“See you tomorrow.”
“I’m looking forward to it.” Her smile got a little wider. “And to seeing more of your…ink.”
Okay, he hadn’t imagined that pause. The heat level in his body ratcheted up another couple of degrees.
A few more seconds of silence passed before he nodded again and grabbed the doorknob to let himself out.
And cursed himself the entire walk to his car for not asking if he could kiss her good night.
Chapter Four
“So, how’d it go last night? What’d I miss? How’s everyone?”
Still sipping her first cup of coffee, Vivi glanced up at her sister, who looked much more awake than Vivi felt.
In fact, her sister looked way too interested in her answer.
Vivi had a feeling she was going to need more coffee for this conversation.
“Everyone’s fine.”
“Good.” A pause. “I miss seeing everyone at the games. Are they playing at home this weekend?”
“No.” She yawned and took another sip of coffee. “They have a game Wednesday.”
“Hmm. Maybe I’ll go to the game. Do you work? We can go together.”
“I work, sorry. You should go, though.”
“Maybe I will. I’ll text Lori, see if she’ll be there.”
Since her sister didn’t need an answer to that question, she didn’t give one.
But apparently, Aly wasn’t finished with this conversation.
“Doing anything tonight?”
And bingo.
But she sure as shit wasn’t going to make this easy on her sister so she ignored, ignored, ignored.
“So, are you gonna be home for dinner?”
And more ignoring. Which was stupid.
“No.”
“You going out?”
“Yep.”
“Anyone I know?”
“Yep.”
Aly huffed out a huge sigh and dumped her cereal bowl in the sink. “You suck, you know that, right?”
Vivi rolled her eyes. “And who the hell told you? He only asked me when he was leaving. How the hell did anyone find out? Did Justin send out a mass text and—”
“No! God, no. Don’t blame this on Justin. You know Derek can’t keep his mouth shut. He texted me last night. Said he was warning me you might have company when I got home. You know how he is. I was gonna blow him off but,” she shrugged, “I was curious. He said you and Justin were talking a lot and that you asked him to stay.”
“I asked him to stay and help me move the furniture.”
Damn it. She should’ve kept her mouth shut because now her sister was staring at her like she knew exactly what had happened.
Which was exactly nothing.
Huffing out a sigh, Vivi shook her head. “Fine. You wanna know what happened? I’ll tell you. He’s got ink and I want to see it. He told me he’d show it to me if I went out with him. So we’re going out tonight. No big deal. Nothing going on. End of story.”
Except it wasn’t the end of the story because there was definitely something going on.
“Okay.” Aly drew out the word to at least five syllables. “That totally makes it sound like there’s nothing going on.”
When Vivi shot her a look, Aly held up her hands in self-defense.
“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I think Justin’s a great guy. I just…didn’t know you’d think so too.”
That sounded like a diss. “What? I can’t like nice guys? I’ve dated nice guys.”
Aly’s eyebrows rose. “Name a single guy you’ve dated more than once in the past two years.”
She opened her mouth to respond. And couldn’t.
“Fuck you.” She fake-smiled. “Have a nice day at work.”
Aly rolled her
eyes, used to Vivi’s sarcasm.
“Viv, I’m not telling you not to date him. I think he’s a great guy. I think you should date him. I just…”
“Just what?”
Aly sighed. “I just want you to be happy.”
“And happy means having a nice guy to take care of me, right?”
Aly turned to put her mug in the dishwasher before answering. “You know that’s not what I mean. If you like him, date him. But if you’re just looking to scratch an itch, maybe he’s not the right guy.”
Vivi didn’t take offense at her sister’s words. She knew exactly what Aly was saying and why. These teammates were friends. Their girlfriends were friends. For a year or so after their parents had moved to Florida, she and Aly had been kind of isolated. They’d each had their own friends, but mainly they’d had each other.
Now their close circle was expanding and, for the first time in her life, she knew she didn’t want to alienate anyone.
“Shit, I should’ve said no.”
Aly responded by smacking her on the back of the head. “Don’t be an idiot. He’s a sweetheart. You could do with some sweet in your life.”
Scraping her hands through her hair and pushing the length behind her back, she groaned. “That’s the problem. I don’t do nice guys. There’s got to be something wrong with him if he’s into me.”
“Stop that. Right now.”
Aly’s sharp tone snagged Vivi’s full attention and she stared at her sister with wide eyes.
“There is nothing wrong with you. I mean, yeah, you can be a pain in the ass but you’re my sister and I get to say that. You’re also funny, creative, and brilliant so don’t give me that undeserving shit.”
Vivi looked up at her sister with a grin. “I love you too.”
“Of course you do.” Aly’s haughty look suited her. “And don’t forget it. And Vivi? Give Justin a chance. He may act shy. But you gotta watch the quiet ones. They usually surprise you.”
*****
“Hey, Justin, we’re gonna go out to dinner later. You in?”
Justin closed his eyes as he undressed after practice. He was tired, his thighs screaming because of the wind sprints, and his arms aching from taking shots.
He wanted to take a hot shower for an hour. Then he wanted to soak in a hot tub for another hour. Then he wanted to eat the contents of his fridge and sleep for a couple hours before he picked up Vivi for their date.
Mostly, though, he just wanted to eat and sleep and spend time with Vivi.
“Not tonight.”
“Oh yeah? Why? You got something better to do?”
Since Derek probably knew exactly what those plans were, Justin didn’t bother to answer, just shot his friend the bird.
Derek snorted. “That’s what I thought. Hey, man, I’m glad to see you finally took my advice and just asked her out.”
Justin tried ignoring him, knowing that probably wouldn’t work. And it didn’t.
“So where’re you taking her?”
“Taking who where?”
Will crashed onto the bench next to Justin, steam still rising from his body as he began to pull off his gear.
“No one and nowhere.”
“Uh-huh.” Will grunted as he tossed his sweater in the bin to be washed. “So you finally asked out Viv. Good. Maybe now you’ll stop moping around.”
Justin sucked in a deep breath and bent down to strip off his socks.
“You finally ask out Viv.” Lad Marchenko nodded from his spot on the opposite bench. “That is good thing. Jake wondered—”
“Jesus Christ, you guys are worse than old women.” Dirk Bennett sat next to Lad and stripped his sweater over his head. “Leave the guy alone. You keep bugging him and he’ll never ask another girl out again. And the poor guy needs to get laid sometime this year.”
As the guys around him laughed and yanked his chain, Justin maintained his silence as he headed for the showers.
No way in hell was he talking about his date. He knew the guys didn’t mean any harm, but he didn’t want to jinx it. He still wasn’t sure she wasn’t going to cancel. But there was no way in hell he’d say that to anyone because that would just make him even more pathetic.
So when Will followed him into the showers, he was prepared for more good-natured busting.
Apparently, the other guys had moved on to another subject and were ragging on Ian for something. Ian might be younger than the rest of the guys but he could give as good as he got. Justin had more important things on his mind.
“You know we’re just messing with you, right? I think it’s great you asked Vivi out. I like her.”
Justin rolled his eyes as he stuck his head under the water. “Thanks, Dad. Glad to know I have your approval.”
Will reached over and smacked Justin on the back of the head. “Hey, you know I’m sensitive about my age. Don’t be a dick.”
Knowing Will was making a joke, Justin didn’t bother to respond.
“But I’m worried about you.”
Justin shot his roommate a frown as he lathered his hair. The length was starting to be a pain in the ass, but he wasn’t getting it cut while he was doing well.
“What are you talking about?”
“You haven’t dated since you and your girlfriend broke up. You never really talked about it so I was never really sure if you were upset or not.”
“You seriously want to talk about my breakup with Ashley?”
Will scrubbed shampoo through his hair. “Sure. If you do.”
Justin shook his head, hiding a grin. “No. I really don’t.”
“Thank God. I don’t want you crying on my shoulder in the shower. That’d be too fucking weird.”
Justin laughed out loud, making a few of the other guys turn and stare. But they all kept their mouths shut and stayed away. Because if Will had singled you out to talk, you didn’t intrude.
The veteran defenseman had become the de facto team leader in the locker room. Before Coach Cary had moved up to the front office, it’d been his job to be the one to make sure the guys had someone to talk to if they needed it.
“I appreciate the thought but if you wanted to talk to me, you could’ve done this at the apartment.”
Will shrugged, letting the water pour over his head to wash out the shampoo. “Yeah, but then no one else would know I talked to you. Maybe they won’t bug you now.”
Okay, that made a little bit of sense. Still…
“Like that’s gonna happen.” Justin snorted. “These dorks are worse gossips than girls.”
“True. But at least they’re not assholes about it. Have a good time tonight.”
Justin couldn’t resist. “I’ll be sure to check in when I get home tonight. Dad.”
“Now you’re just pissing me off.”
*****
Vivi changed her outfit twice.
From jeans and a t-shirt to black pants and a white blouse.
And told herself she was an idiot both times.
Staring at the mirror, she shook her head. “You look like a waiter.”
She’d thought wearing something other than jeans and a t-shirt would be better. She just didn’t know for what.
“Jesus, it’s just a date. Just another guy.”
Except…he wasn’t just another guy.
Justin was a nice guy. Not that the guys she dated weren’t nice. Well, most of them had been nice.
But Justin was in another league of nice. First of all, she wasn’t sure she’d ever heard him swear harder than “damn” or “hell.”
For some of the other guys on the team, swearing was an Olympic sport. Not that they were dicks about it, but an f-bomb was not an unusual occurrence with them.
Not with Justin. First of all, the guy didn’t talk as much as the others. Again, not a bad thing. Just…different. He didn’t talk shit and he didn’t run at the mouth.
Justin was different in a whole lot of ways from other guys she’d dated.
If she were
here, Aly would tell her that was a good thing. Her sister rarely liked the men she dated. Which was why Vivi didn’t bother to introduce her sister to them anymore. Of course, that would also mean she would’ve had to have a date in the past year to have met them. Which she hadn’t.
Hookups did not make a date.
But tonight, she had an actual date with a nice guy.
And she totally didn’t want to look like a waiter.
“Grr.”
Half an hour later, when Justin rang the doorbell at six o’clock exactly, she was back in black jeans but she’d borrowed a flowy purple top from her sister’s closet that matched the purple shade in her hair exactly.
Her wardrobe consisted mostly of black and white. Maybe it was time to take a hint from Aly.
And you’re stalling.
Shoving her feet into low-heeled ankle boots, she headed down the stairs toward the front door. The tall, dark shadow framed in the frosted window of the door made her heart pound a little faster.
It was an unusual feeling.
As she opened the door, her lips curved into a smile that widened when he smiled back.
Damn, the man was adorable. And so damn hot. How those two things made sense together was a mystery, but damn it, they worked for him.
Standing still, he looked taller than usual. Probably because he was standing up straight for a change. She’d noticed how he tended to hunch when he walked. Probably because he was taller than most everyone else. Taller than her by at least half a foot.
She really liked that. Which was weird because for years, she hadn’t because of fucking Jamie. Her asshole ex had never physically hurt her but after they’d broken up, she’d realized how he’d used his size against her in other ways.
She didn’t think this man would ever use his height to intimidate. Which was such a stupid thing to believe considering what he did for a living.
He needed that height to intimidate opponents on the ice.
“Hey.”
“Hey. Wow, you look great.”
Her smile widened as his gaze swept down then back up to meet hers. And when he smiled, her heart pounded against her ribs like it was trying to escape her chest.
“Not that you don’t all the rest of the time but… You’re beautiful, Vivi.”
The D-Man: Redtails Hockey 6 Page 5
