Zoe sucked on his finger and he let out a groan. When she bit the tip, he pulled his hand away and pulled her onto his chest.
Absently stroking her hair, he asked, “When can we get married? How long do you need to plan everything?”
“You know how I am. I’m not a fancy person, Vlad. I don’t want a big wedding. I’d be happy with just you, me, Jody and Lacey in the court house. Then we could just throw a kickass party.”
“Are you serious? You might just be the perfect woman.”
Zoe laughed and slapped his chest.
“Seriously though. You don’t want the big wedding? Lots of people? The frilly dress?”
“No. I don’t. It’s just not me, Vlad. What do you want?”
“That’s easy. I want whatever you want. I want you to be happy.”
“Good. Then let’s tie the knot around Christmas time and get er done!” She kissed his chest and stifled a yawn.
“That sounds perfect to me. Now let’s get some sleep. We’ll talk more tomorrow, okay?” Zoe didn’t answer him as she was already half asleep.
Zoe woke up a few hours later and watched Vlad sleep. The pain medication he’d taken was working, and he finally looked relaxed in the luxury of a pain-free sleep. Gently running the tip of a finger over his slightly parted lips, she thought about how they had come together.
She loved him so much it scared her. It was a miracle that she had been able to hold him at bay for so long. Zoe had never truly believed in soul mates outside of movies and literature. Surely there was more than one person in the world who could be someone’s other half. But looking at Vlad lying there, she couldn’t imagine ever loving someone else like she did him. As guilty as it made her feel, she couldn’t help thinking that his injury was her blessing.
It wasn’t quite dawn when Zoe quietly got out of bed and headed into the shower. Using Vlad’s soap and shampoo, borrowing his clothes—that were ten times too big—and just feeling secure in his love, were comforts that Zoe hadn’t enjoyed since before her parents died and her life fell apart. Being in his home with him made her feel like maybe she really could have it all. Maybe she didn’t need to be quite so independent. Maybe it was okay to finally let someone take care of her.
Less than an hour later, Vlad woke up to find Zoe missing. He made his way downstairs and found her wrapped in a blanket on the patio, watching the last of the sunrise.
Vlad stood inside, hand on the door for a full minute, drinking in the sight of her before making himself known. She turned at the sound of the door sliding open and leaned back in the lounge chair, watching him as he joined her on the patio. He walked over to her with a brilliant smile on his lips as he rubbed his arms in the cool morning air. “Good morning.”
Zoe smiled up at him, and his first thought was that the sunrise had nothing on her smile. She spread her legs and opened her blanket, scooting back on her chair. “Come on in here and get warm.”
He sat down and she wrapped her legs around him, pulling the blanket tight over his chest. “How’s your hip feel this morning?”
“It’s okay.”
“Really?”
Vlad sighed. “No, not really. It hurts enough that I’m not hating the idea of having surgery as much today. It’s going to take me a while to get over the fact that my career is over, but this hip seems to be getting worse all the time. I don’t want to live in pain, so I guess the surgery seems more like a blessing than a punishment at the moment.”
“Wow. Sounds like you’ve been doing some hard thinking. That’s good, Vlad.” She kissed the back of his neck. “Try not to worry about what you’re going to do after the surgery. Just worry about healing. The rest will work itself out.”
“I know it will. I’ll make it work. I know Lacey told you about the possibility of my working with the youth league. I think I could be good at that. Some of those kids need role models, and hell, if I didn’t kill Cage, how bad can those kids be?” First, though, he had to get through the surgery.
Zoe went with Vlad to see the surgeon to discuss his procedure. His entire family was in Ukraine, and she was adamant that he didn’t go alone.
Vlad had told his parents he was retiring, but he didn’t go into too much detail as to why. They knew he had hip issues, but not the extent of the disease. He’d eventually have to explain it all to them, but thought it would be best to have more information before doing so.
They were sitting in the waiting room when Vlad started fidgeting—picking up magazines, shuffling his feet, gripping his hands. He was obviously more nervous than he let on. He had come to terms with the fact that his career was over, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t worried about what the surgeon was going to tell him. He reached over and gathered Zoe’s hand in his, resting them on his thigh.
“Thanks for coming with me today.” He rubbed his thumb back and forth over the back of her hand. “It’s nice to have you here. I didn’t really want to do this alone, but, you know, I’m such a tough guy and all.” Vlad flashed a quick smile at her that was clearly laced with fear and uncertainty.
“There’s nowhere else I want to be.” She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. “I’ll hold your hand, take the brunt of your anger over this, or sit silently while you process your thoughts. Whatever you need.”
He didn’t deserve her. Truly, he didn’t. He had been such a prick of late. He knew how great Zoe was, but it was humbling to see this gentler side of her. She was such a tough girl, but wow, when push came to shove, she could provide tenderness and support like no one he’d ever met.
He didn’t have words like she did, so he just leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Thank you.”
“Mr. Beggsiack?” The receptionist cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, Mr. Beg—” She smiled at her own inability to even guess how to say his name. “Vlad?”
Vlad gave her a genuine smile. He knew his name didn’t flow easy. “Good enough, I know it’s a good, strong Ukrainian name, right?”
“I love unique names, but I sure can mangle the pronunciation.” She offered him a smile and pointed toward the door. “The doctor will see you now.”
The interior room they were shown to was decorated with bunnies and ducks on lively yellow wallpaper. “Is this their way of lightening up bad news? That’s not a good sign.”
Zoe was as surprised as he was. It wasn’t the décor one typically saw in a surgeon’s office. A pediatric office, sure, but a surgeon’s who replaced hips?
The doctor came in and shook Vlad’s hand. “Sorry about the room. We’re doing renovations so I’ve been using this children’s room for consultations. So, how are you feeling today, Vladimir?”
“Just Vlad. Vladimir’s my father.” And his father before him, and his father, and so on. “How am I feeling? I’m not sure how to answer that. Are you looking for a pain scale?” He wanted to give the doctor as much information as he could to get the best help.
“Just overall. Tell me what you’re feeling. I saw the game last night. Getting your leg bent back like that couldn’t have been pleasant. How were you treated for it?”
“After I was over the danger of puking from the pain, I sat in a whirlpool for a while. Took some pain meds last night and went to sleep.” Vlad stole a quick look at Zoe remembering the part in between that he wouldn’t dare tell the doctor. Zoe answered with a smile that told him she knew exactly which part he was remembering.
“Good. And how are you feeling today? Is there any relief from the pain?”
“Some. I don’t think I’d want to strap on skates, and I’m still limping a bit, but I can take it. I would say the pain is about a five. I haven’t taken any pain pills today because they make me too loopy. If I don’t need them, I don’t want them.”
“That’s fine. You don’t have to take them right now, but I would like you to take some anti-inflammatory pills when you have pain. They’ll help without simply masking the pain and making you tired. Okay, on with the bad news.”
Shit. How co
uld there be any bad news left? Vlad looked over at Zoe. She wore the same surprised expression that he did. He grabbed her hand once more. “Uh, bad news? I thought I got that already.”
“Well, you got some. I was looking over your most recent MRI, and I believe your damage is worse than Dr. Culp originally thought. I talked to him, and we discussed what I saw. I believe we’re looking at a total hip replacement.”
Vlad already knew that, didn’t he? “Yeah, wasn’t that what I was told?”
“Well, no. We were hoping to graft bone from your lower leg to put it in your hip where the diseased bone is. It would have been a longer recovery, but better in the long run. We were hoping the bone would fuse together, get stronger, and that would be that.”
“Okay, so why is a total hip replacement worse than that, if it has a shorter recovery time?”
“You’re young. Chances are you’ll have to have it done again. And of course the older you are, the slower you’ll heal. It’s not the end of the world; it’s just a bit more than we were hoping you would need.”
Vlad was actually relieved. He thought they were going to tell him he had cancer or something awful like that. “Okay, I can handle that. I’ll still be able to strap my skates on though, right? I mean, I know I won’t play pro again, but there’s this possible job I could have as a coach.”
“Absolutely. You’ll be able to do almost everything you could do before. I don’t think continually going down into a butterfly and snapping back up is something you should do too much of, but you’ll have full range of motion.”
“How long until I can skate again? What’s the recovery time?”
“You’re looking at about six to eight weeks, depending on how fast you heal. Some physical therapy will help too.”
“All right. Let’s get this done.” Vlad wanted it done as soon as possible so that he could figure out exactly what he would be capable of doing.
The day before Vlad’s surgery, Zoe got a surprise phone call on her business line.
“Hello, this is Dr. Millis.”
“Hello, dear. This is Emma Bejsiuk. I’m Vlad’s mother. How are you?”
Zoe was taken aback by the beautiful English accent. She was also surprised that Vlad didn’t tell her his mother would be calling. “Oh. Hi, Mrs. Bejsiuk. I’m fine, thank you. How are you?”
“I’m doing well, thank you for asking. I’m sure you know that I’m calling to talk about my son. First, let me tell you how glad I am that he has you near. He’s insisting that I not come over there for his surgery. He said that you would take care of him, but I would hate for it to be an imposition on you, dear.”
Zoe felt warm and tingly inside simply because Vlad had told his mother she would care for him. That was a pretty big deal in her book. Men always wanted their mothers when they didn’t feel well. No matter how old they were, it seemed they all turned into little babies when they were sick or hurt. “Oh, no. He’s not imposing at all. Mrs. Bejsiuk, I’m really sorry, but I’m going to have to cut our conversation short. I didn’t know you’d be calling, and I have a client due in any minute now.”
“Oh, that’s just fine. I’m sorry I interrupted your work day. Why don’t you tell me a good time to call you back so that we can chat? Would that be okay?”
“Of course. How about if I call you back after I’m done with my client?” Zoe was glad she’d have an opportunity to collect her thoughts before talking to Vlad’s mother at length. Meeting the parents for the first time—or in this case, talking to them—was important, and she was totally caught off guard by the phone call.
“That would be fine. I look forward to it. Goodbye.”
Zoe hung up the phone and immediately picked it up again to call Vlad so that she could yell at him for not telling her that his mother was going to call. Right before the call connected, she heard her client ringing her doorbell. Literally, saved by the bell, Vlad.
After the session, as Zoe was showing her client out, Vlad pulled up to the curb in front of her house. She watched as he stepped out of his car with only a slight grimace. There were ten steps leading to her front door, and she was mildly concerned about his ability to climb them.
Vlad lumbered up the steps with a small amount of difficulty and took her in his arms, kissing her soundly. “Hello, gorgeous.”
Zoe gifted him with a radiant smile as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Hello to you, too. What are you doing here?”
“I had nowhere else I wanted to be. Want to make me dinner?”
She laughed at him, but nodded her head. “Sure. Let’s go see what I have to whip up. You got lucky. I just finished up for the day.” Zoe grabbed his hand and led him inside.
“While I’m cooking, how about you tell me why you didn’t give me a heads up that your mother was going to call me? Oh, speaking of that, I have to call her back! I almost forgot.” Zoe started walking over to the phone, but Vlad grabbed her by the waist, stopping her.
“My mother called you? When? How?”
“You didn’t know? She called my office today. She thanked me for looking after you. I could only talk to her for a couple of minutes, because I had a client coming in.” Zoe had no idea how much Vlad had told his parents about his condition. Apparently they needed to work on their communication skills.
“Huh. Mom is pretty crafty. Although, how hard is it to Google Zoe Millis, sports psychologist? I may have told her you were the love of my life, but I never gave her your number.” Vlad smiled and pulled her against him again. “I talked to them for a while last night and filled them in on everything. My mother kept steering me back to the surgery, but I kept talking about you.” He kissed the tip of her nose and ran his hands down her back to cup her bottom.
“Well, I need to call her back before I make dinner. I told her I would. Did you tell her we’re getting married?” She pushed herself away from Vlad and made a beeline for the phone before his hands got any more aggressive.
“No, not yet. I wasn’t sure if you’d want me to. I didn’t want to get in trouble with you if you wanted to tell them.” Vlad followed her and wrapped her up again, nuzzling her neck. “I’ll tell her when you call her if you want, but you can call her later. I have other plans for you right now.”
Zoe felt a shiver go through her at his seductive tone, but she wouldn’t be distracted. She told his mother that she would call her back and she would. “No, Vlad. I’m calling your mother back. Then I’m making dinner, and then I’ll think about letting you make love to me.” She gave him a saucy smile. “But I have to warn you, I’m feeling pretty frisky.”
“Frisky works for me, woman. Okay, call my mother. I’m going to grab a beer and sit down if you don’t mind.” His hip didn’t care for standing too long these days.
“Sure. Go sit on the deck. Want anything to munch on while you’re waiting for me?”
“Nah. I’ll just take the beer.” Vlad gave her another quick kiss before he left her alone to make her phone call.
Zoe’s talk with Vlad’s mother went well. They agreed that Emma would not fly over for his surgery, but Zoe would call her frequently with updates. Unbeknownst to Vlad, they had also made plans for his parents to visit for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, which was only three weeks away. She decided they could tell both of his parents then that they were getting married.
Zoe wasn’t used to having a big family around. The Bejsiuks were bringing Vlad’s aunt and uncle with them, along with his three young cousins. She hoped Vlad would be okay with her offering her home to his family. His place only had one spare bed. They talked it over during a dinner of chicken stuffed with spinach and goat cheese.
“You invited Aunt Anna and Uncle Ruslan? And Sasha, Julia, and Lena? Are you serious? Do you realize that the triplets are only ten years old? Where am I going to put them all?”
Zoe grabbed his hand to stop him from talking. “Your mom and I already discussed it. I have two spare rooms. I told her that you would be happy to buy another bed to
put in the third bedroom upstairs. I just use it for storage. It can be cleaned out in a matter of hours. No big deal.”
Vlad laughed. “Oh, I see. You’re using my family as an excuse to furnish your house.” He let out a resigned sigh, shaking his head, but with a smile on his face. He would deny her nothing. “So how long are they staying?”
“I thought you’d be happy to see your family. What’s wrong with you?” Zoe punched him in the arm with mock severity.
“I am, It’s just …” The way he held his head down, he looked like a pouting child. “It’s just that we won’t be able to be together. My family will be cock-blocking me! That part kinda sucks.”
“Oh my God. Are you serious? Cock-blocking?” Zoe burst out laughing. “You’re thirty-eight years old. You can’t go a few days without sex, Vlad?”
“It’s not funny. I’m thinking about my surgery. I don’t know how long it’ll take until I can. What if I’m ready the same time my family gets here? You still didn’t tell me how long they’re staying either.”
Zoe folded her hands and placed them on the table in front of her. Softening her voice, she said, “Well, I don’t have their exact itinerary, dear, but we discussed them possibly coming the day before Thanksgiving and leaving the Sunday after. That’s only five days. I think you can make it.”
“Fine, but as soon as they’re gone, I’m keeping you in bed for a week—even if I have to tie you down.”
Zoe gave him a saucy wink. “Tie me down? I can’t wait.”
The day of Vlad’s surgery was dreary and rainy—a rarity in San Diego. He was waiting for Zoe in the lobby of his building when she pulled up to the curb at six AM. He waved to her as he made his way to her car.
“Hey, baby.” He leaned over and gave her a kiss as he got in.
“Hey. Are you nervous?”
“Not really.”
Zoe glanced at him, her disbelief showing on her face. “Not even a little?”
Goalie Interference (NHL Scorpions) Page 9
