Playing for Hearts

by Debra Kayn

  He leaned forward and planted his elbows on his knees. “I need your help.”

  He joked. Her burst of laughter dwindled, until she frowned. This man had everything going for him. Fame, skills, wealth, and not to mention any woman he wanted at his fingertips. Why would he need her help?

  All he had to do was ask people, and anyone would help him. He was famous. He even had a security team he usually took with him when out in public who helped him keep his distance from all the women who ran after him. She’d seen him handle himself just fine when he was around his friends.

  “Come on, Dominic, talk. You’re taking up my vacation time.” She crossed her legs.

  “Has anyone told you that you’re pushy?

  “All the time.” She shrugged. “Why?”

  “It’s very attractive.”

  She snorted. “The answer’s no.”

  “You don’t know what I was going to ask you,” he said.

  “Let’s see … ” She swung her foot back and forth. “You’re going to ask me out. That’s what you do every time you see me, and my answer is still no.”

  He sighed and sat back, staring straight ahead and not looking at her. She studied his profile. His jaw twitched and he ran his hands along the length of his thighs. She gulped. Long, hard, thick thighs a woman could dig her nails into.

  “Hockey season has started and I’d like you to come and stay with me at my place,” he spoke quietly.

  She shook her head in surprise. “So you’re skipping dating and going straight to sex. The answer’s still no. You do nothing for me.”

  God, she was a liar. He could do a lot for her, but thinking about it was different than actually doing it.

  “Please.” He shifted and faced her. “The women are affecting my playing. I have a company who keeps trying to steal my towels. I can’t even sleep at night, because the coach said I have to make them all go away. I don’t know how. You’re the only one who can’t stand me.”

  “Why do you think I can help you or I’d want to help? I don’t even like you because you think everyone wants you.”

  “They do.” His brows lowered and he sighed.

  She shook her head. “That’s why you irritate me.”

  “I have a proposition for you. I want you to pretend to be my girlfriend. Maybe you’ll scare the women away. They’re the source of my problem. They won’t leave me alone. Day and night, they’re finding new ways to get close to me. I need them to go away.” The sincerity written on his face showed her he wasn’t joking around.

  “Get real.”

  He shook his head. “You don’t get it. If I can figure out why you don’t like me, I can use that knowledge to get the cologne company off my back. That will also make the women disappear from my life and leave me in peace, so I can concentrate on playing hockey.”

  “Cologne?”

  “They think my sweat turns women on and want to bottle my … smell.”

  She stared. “That’s disgusting.”

  “You’re telling me. Try having your boxers stolen when you slip into the showers after practice or someone trying to lift your luggage at the airport.” He stood and paced the room. “I can’t stand it anymore.”Her phone rang. She walked over and looked at the screen. Yes!

  Mr. Dogger already needed her. Goodbye, vacation. Hello, Ferriday house. “Hang on a second. I need to take this.”

  She pushed the button. “Hello, Mr. Dogger. How are you?”

  He rattled in her ear in short sentences, his voice rising. She grinned and shimmied around the table. “I’ll be happy to help you. That’ll be double time. I’m on vacation, remember?”

  She disconnected the call and squealed. Halfway to the door, she remembered Dominic and paused. “I’m sorry. I need to go back to work. Good luck with your problem.”

  Dominic hurried over and blocked the door. “I’ll pay you five hundred thousand dollars to spend the next two weeks with me at my home, so I can continue to play hockey.”

  Her head snapped back and she blinked. A half a million dollars?

  “You’re joking.”

  “There’s nothing funny about my life.” He dropped his arms to his sides. “You’re my only hope, or I’m going to give up hockey completely and go back to Russia. At least there, I can live in peace. I’m desperate, Diana.”

  There was no denying he had money, and she knew how much playing hockey meant to him. She bit down on her bottom lip. With that much money, she could quit her job, buy the Ferriday house, and be open for business in no time. Best of all, she’d be debt free and wouldn’t have to take out a loan, which would make her parents proud of her.

  But she’d have to put up with Dominic for two weeks. She’d end up killing him within three days. She ground her teeth together. It would test all her patience, but she would have more than enough money if she survived staying with him with her sanity intact.

  She didn’t have to think twice. The Ferriday house was her dream. “I’ll do it.”

  Chapter Two

  Dominic’s adrenaline kicked into high gear, but he hid his elation over Diana’s willingness to help him. Finally, he would have her to himself and she couldn’t keep running away and turning him down.

  He stood at the top of the employee stairwell, waiting for Diana to come back from kicking the women off the floor of the hotel and informing her boss of her change of plans. He grinned to himself. The first time he caught a glimpse of her at the fundraiser, she’d taken his breath away with her overconfident attitude that made her sexier than hell.

  The first time he saw her she’d stuck her nose in the air and turned her back to him when she caught him staring. The result of someone, a woman, snubbing him shocked him into action. He couldn’t get her out of his head.

  He fumbled over introducing himself, and came right to the point of demanding she go out on a date. It wasn’t until Grayson and his friend Juan informed him you don’t order a woman to go out to dinner that he’d received his first lesson about the opposite sex.

  She started as a challenge to him. A beautiful phenomenon that held the key to his troubles, and gave him hope of changing his life around. The one woman who made him work hard to catch her.

  So he politely asked her to go out with him again. Six times. She went from turning him down with an I-don’t-think-so to rolling her eyes and walking away without a word. Each time she rejected him, her refusals turned him on more.

  Now he was desperate. He wanted her, and he wanted her bad.

  Since meeting her, his life careened out of control and he realized he needed her. She gave him confidence that he could end his nightmare of attracting woman the way brokers bet on hockey games. Without her showing him what he could do to turn off his charm, he’d kiss his career goodbye and end up living back in Russia.

  He loved his homeland, but hockey in America was his life. He lived and breathed time on the ice, competing, and rigid play. The advantages of staying in the United States outweighed going back home and playing in the minor leagues or worse, retiring and becoming a coach.

  He wasn’t ready to call it quits. The lack of excitement would bore him in a month.

  Diana slipped through the doorway, grinning. “All clear. The women are out of the building and walking to the grocery store after I hinted you’d gone out for shaving cream.”

  He bent over and picked up her purse, handed it to her, and motioned for her to lead the way. “Great. My security team is parked behind the hotel to draw the crowds to the back, while one of the guys parked my car in front of the main entrance. Hopefully, we can make a clean break.”

  “Smart. They’ll never think we’re going out in the open. It might buy us more time,” she said.

  Her soft blond curls bounced with each step. The fire in her hazel colored eyes challenged him. He found himself wanting to tease her, just to have her nail him with that killer look she always threw his way.

  He’d tried to stay away and respect her wishes, but during the las
t couple of months, he found himself thinking about her constantly. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

  She had him feeling like a beginner in the dating world. When he’d arrived in the United States, he’d quickly learned it was the home of the free. Women asked him out. Women paid for his dinner. Women slept in his bed. Before he knew how it happened, women consumed his life.

  It was hard for a man to say no, but he’d learned rather fast that saying yes wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Even his friends laughed about his problems. No one took him seriously, but he’d reached his limit. And, now that his coach had given him the ultimatum to lose the women or leave the team, he was desperate. He wanted to be left alone.

  Outside the hotel, Dominic nodded at his security team. He placed his hand low on Diana’s back and refused to let her shrug him away as he ushered her to the rental car. He planned to head straight to the charter plane and get out of Cottage Grove before news hit the airwaves that he was leaving.

  “Wait.” Diana braced herself in the doorway of the car and turned around. “I can’t go for two weeks with only my purse. I need to pack and find someone to water my plants for me.”

  He held out his arms. “I’ll buy you anything you need.”

  “Oh no you won’t.” She smacked him square in the chest with the back of her hand. “Move.”

  He backed away. Damn. He liked the way she bossed him around and got all in his face.

  She marched across the street, holding her hand out in front of her when a car approached. He shook his head in wonder, watching the vehicle slow down and come to a stop. She gave no more attention to the traffic, hopped up on the sidewalk, and disappeared inside a one story blue building.

  The sign above the door read Cottage Grove City Hall. He closed the car door, walked around the front fender, and slipped into the driver’s spot. Grayson’s fiancée and Diana’s best friend, Shauna, worked at the City Hall. He’d wait and if she didn’t come back out in a few minutes, he’d go get her. The longer he stayed in one place, the bigger chance the women would find him.

  He chuckled. The sound in the empty car surprised him. Had it really been that long since he’d heard the sound of his own laughter?

  Movement in the rearview mirror caught his eye. He whipped around in the seat and groaned. He’d run out of time.

  The women walked four abreast and five deep. He’d rather face two pair of blueliners with only three minutes to go in the game than be at the mercy of the gang of women headed his way.

  Thankfully, the shaded windows of the vehicle protected him from the women’s view. Unable to go out and help his security team talk sense into the crowd, he waited. Anger grew and he tapped his fist against the steering wheel. This was ridiculous.

  He opened the car door. A piercing whistle stopped him from climbing out of the vehicle. Diana removed her fingers from her mouth, motioned for him to shut the door, and marched back across the street toward him.

  He closed the door, and watched Diana in fascination. His smile grew broader.

  Long, confident steps showed off the length of her legs. He rubbed a hand over his mouth. Her words were lost in the noise of the cluster surrounding the car, but the passion in her expression and the firmness of her chin hinted at the conversation. His body hardened and he sat straighter. Two weeks with Diana would solve all his problems. Every. Single. One.

  He hadn’t had sex in weeks. Hell, months. Now, suddenly, he wanted Diana Spenner more than he wanted to escape the madness of his life.

  The passenger door opened and Diana slipped inside. He stared. Flushed cheeks, bright eyes, and one wayward curl caught in the corner of her mouth left him speechless.

  She glanced at him, frowning. “What?”

  “Nothing,” he said.

  “Then drive.” She jerked the seatbelt around her and buckled. “Shauna’s going to pack a couple of suitcases for me and have them delivered. I need to text her and let her know where we’re going.”

  “Uh.” He pulled out onto Main Street. “I rent a condominium during the season.”

  “Think bigger, Dominic. I need a city … an address.”

  He’d need blood in his head to think and right now, every ounce of common sense headed south of the border. “Tell her to get the address from Grayson. He’s been to my place.”

  “You don’t even know where you live?” Diana snorted. “This is going to be a long two weeks. I hope you don’t lose me wherever we go. You seem rather one directional at times, Dominic. I don’t understand how you can play hockey. Are you the goalie?”

  He growled. “No. I’m not the goalie.”

  “Well, there’s hope.” She sighed. “I’m probably going to be bored to death and know way more about hockey than I need to know by the time this job is done. Which none of my gained knowledge will help me on my resume.”

  He glanced between her and the road. “You’re not looking forward to spending time with me … alone?”

  “With the amount of money you’re paying me, I’ll deal with whatever comes my way. I’ve had worse jobs.” She gazed behind her out the back window. “What kind of car are the security guys driving?”

  “Black Hummer.”

  “They’re behind us.”

  “Yes.” He pressed his foot down on the accelerator as he left the city limits, trying to keep ahead of the fans and still follow along on the conversation with Diana. “They go everywhere with me.”

  “Maybe you should quit using them. They only draw more attention to you,” she said. “Having the men in black is like holding a neon sign above your head that flashes, ‘I’m important, come bother me.’”

  “Then who will keep the women away from me?” The thought of being out in public by himself horrified him. The women would rip his clothes off.

  “Me. That’s what you’re paying me for.” She pulled out her phone, texted, and then slipped her cell back in her purse.

  “Who are you sending a message to?” he asked.

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but Shauna.”

  He ran his tongue across his upper teeth. “I’m glad you’re staying with me.”

  “Don’t get your hopes up that it’s anything more than a job. I need the money.” She leaned forward, studied the distance, and then suddenly squealed and stomped her feet on the floor of the car.

  “What’s wrong?”

  She pointed over to the left and ahead of them at a large, old house. “See that beautiful home with the large oak tree in the front yard and the picket fence?”

  “Yeah.”

  “When I’m done working for you, I’m going to buy it.” She inhaled and her gaze softened.

  He slowed down, studying the large two-story colonial style house. Half the shutters hung crooked. The white paint peeled on the west side, showing its age. Overgrown weeds surrounded a For Sale sign staked in the yard. He couldn’t see whatever she saw in the rundown place.

  About the only thing it had going for it was location. On the edge of town, it was close enough to take advantage of the quaint community he’d enjoyed while staying here and yet without other houses around, it would provide a quiet atmosphere. He shook his head. A better choice would be to knock the whole thing down and build a nice new home.

  “It’s not livable. Even the fence is falling down and the upper window is broken.” He returned his gaze to the road.

  The thought of her staying in a home that could crumble down around her made him uneasy. What was wrong with her staying at the hotel where there were people around and everything was within walking distance?

  “It’ll be a showpiece when I’m done fixing the house up to its original glory.” She rolled her head along the seat rest and smiled. “Did you know it’s the oldest house in Cottage Grove? It’s practically famous already. It’s been vacant for two years and the town wants to sell the lot it sits on. They figure someone will tear the old place down and build a new home or expand the city limits and a huge land
developer will build a mini mall or something. Not me. I’d never destroy something as cool as the Ferriday House with all the stories that come with it from age. I’m going to keep the history and make new memories for all the people who will visit the area.”

  “Why?”

  “I want to open a bed and breakfast.” She clapped her hands and laughed. “God, that felt good to finally tell someone, even if it’s just you. It makes it real. I am going to own a bed and breakfast. There. My secret is out for the next two weeks. Hey, maybe I’ll even name the honeymoon suite — ” she raised her hands and made air quotes “ — Dominic’s playroom.”

  He jerked his gaze off the road to Diana. “What?”

  Her brows shot higher and her jaw dropped. “That didn’t come out right. Forget I made that suggestion. It just hit me that this is really happening. I can do this, and no one can stop me.”

  He stared at the road. His hands tightened on the steering wheel. Was that some hidden message? Did she fantasize about him? Maybe she thought he was a playboy.

  “Maybe you should think longer about your plans for the future. It’s a huge business decision for a woman.” He entered the highway and set the cruise control.

  “A woman?” She leaned forward and narrowed her gaze. “I’ve dreamed about that house since I was in high school. When I came back to Cottage Grove after college and started working at the hotel, I knew what I really wanted to do is run my own business. I’m good at my job. My success or failures in life has nothing to do with being a female.”

  “Whoa.” He shook his head. “I didn’t say that.”

  “Sure sounded like it.”

  “I, um, apologize.” He grimaced, hoping the advice he received from the guys on the team about always letting women think they were right would work with Diana. The words sat bitter on his tongue. No woman had forced him to take responsibility for his actions as if he was a six-year-old who’d been caught swiping the cookies.

  “Good. Because I’m buying the house and property, and no one is changing my mind.” She leaned back.

  He relaxed, feeling successful at dodging another argument and continued driving, thinking there was more to Diana than he originally thought. Bossy and independent, she was also determined and goal oriented. He liked that.