“We, uh, we could eat in the dining room.” Justin motioned to the room with his head. The area was nothing more than an extension of the kitchen’s open floor plan, and there was nothing in it to really make it stand out. In fact, the only thing in there was a chrome glass-topped table flanked by six chairs draped in black fabric, precisely arranged over a large geometrical area rug.
Val glanced over at the modern table then lowered herself onto the stool. “This is cozier.”
Justin glanced over at the table then took a seat across from Val. He couldn’t argue with her—the kitchen was cozier. Hell, he usually ate in the living room, generally right in front of the television.
Because he had such an exciting life.
Had. Past tense. That was changing now, thanks to the woman across from him. He just hoped to hell it kept going that way, that he didn’t fuck this up, too.
No, he wasn’t thinking like that anymore. It was time to put the past behind him, to move forward. He took a few bites, savoring the rich flavors, then put his fork down and cleared his throat. Val looked over at him, curiosity in her wide eyes. Justin tried to smile but could only manage half of one as he reached over and placed his hand over hers.
“I, uh, I just wanted to say thanks.”
“For dinner? Don’t be silly—”
“No. I mean, yes, but that’s not what I meant.” Justin ran a finger along the back of her hand, not quite able to meet her eyes. “I meant for everything else. For the last few weeks. For just…being you.”
“Oh.” There was something in her voice, something Justin couldn’t quite understand, so he glanced up. Val was staring down at her plate, absently twirling her fork in the pasta. She finally looked over at him and shrugged. “I didn’t really do anything.”
“Yes, you did. I don’t think—” He stopped and cleared his throat. “I think the last few weeks would have turned out a lot differently if not for you. So thank you.”
Was it his imagination, or did Val suddenly look a little uncomfortable? She shifted on the stool, not quite meeting his eyes. Then she eased her hand from his and grabbed her napkin, making a show of wiping her mouth before taking a sip of water.
She finally looked over at him, a bright smile on her face. “Not a big deal. You don’t have to thank me. Seriously. You should eat before it gets cold.”
Maybe Val was the type of person who was uncomfortable with compliments. He hoped to hell that was the case, hoped he hadn’t just made a fool of himself. But all he’d done was thank her, surely that wasn’t enough to make her uncomfortable.
Justin almost asked her what was wrong, if he had said something he shouldn’t have. But Val was concentrating on her food, not even looking at him anymore, and he decided against it.
Maybe he was just reading too much into things. That had to be it.
They ate the rest of their dinner in relative silence, making nothing more than casual small talk. Val tried helping with the cleanup but he was adamant against it, telling her to just get comfortable in the living room. He watched her move to the sofa, breathing a sigh of relief when she chose to sit there instead of the leather chair, where there would be no room for him.
Clean up took less than five minutes. One of the blessings of take-out containers and dishwashers. Justin refilled both water glasses then moved to the living room, taking a seat next to Val. Not too close. He didn’t want her to feel crowded, not when he still thought that maybe he’d said something wrong earlier.
But she smiled up at him and moved closer when he sat down, curling her legs under her and resting her head on his shoulder. He draped his arm behind her, his fingers lightly caressing her neck.
She snuggled a little closer, her hand resting in the center of his chest. “This is nice.”
She had no idea. But Justin was afraid to say too much, so he just dropped a kiss on the top of her head and tightened his arm around her a little more.
“Did you want to watch a movie or anything?”
“If you want. Or we could just sit here and snuggle.”
“Snuggle is good.” Yeah, snuggle was better than good. The discomfort that had been eating at him since he opened his mouth earlier faded away. Maybe he had just been reading too much into things. If Val wanted to snuggle, that had to mean everything was fine, right?
“I can still get tickets to tomorrow’s game if you want me to.”
Val shook her head, a few strands of her hair tickling his chin. He felt her small laugh instead of really hearing it, her breath warm through the thin cotton of his worn-out t-shirt. “No. I told you, the last time I went to one of the early games, the Banners got swept in the first round. I can go to game five, nothing sooner than that.”
Justin wanted to argue with her, try to convince her to go. But he wasn’t going to discount superstitions, especially not at playoff time. As much as he wanted to have her there, watching him play in person, he’d have to settle for knowing she was watching on television.
“Then you’ll be at Game Five?”
“Mm-hm.” She snuggled a little closer, her other arm sliding behind his back. Her touch was warm, steady. Reassuring. Justin smiled and slid his hand along her arm, amazed at the dewy softness of her skin. So much softer than his. Pale and delicate.
Soft breathing reached his ears, the deep breathing of someone asleep. He stopped rubbing Val’s arm and looked down, trying to see her face where it rested against his chest. Her eyes were closed, her long lashes nothing more than crescents against the pale skin of her cheeks.
Val was asleep with just a hint of a smile teasing her lush red lips.
Justin watched her for a few minutes. Long minutes, where he was content to study the slow rise and fall of her chest and the delicate features of her face, relaxed in sleep.
He smiled and pressed a kiss to her temple, smiling wider when she made a sleepy little moan of contentment and snuggled even closer. Then he grabbed the remote from the side table and turned on the television, nudging the volume down to low so he wouldn’t disturb her.
No, this wasn’t exactly the way he had planned for the night to go. But having Val curled against him, so trusting in sleep, wasn’t something he’d trade for anything.
Chapter Thirteen
The knock startled Val and she jumped, almost knocking the glass of tea off the edge of her desk. She grabbed it in time to keep it from toppling then reached for her mouse and closed out the streaming audio feed she had been listening to.
“Yeah, it’s open.”
Alyssa pushed open the door, a frown on her face as she fixed Val with a concerned look. Maybe concerned wasn’t right. It was more a mixture of disbelief and worry.
“Why are you in here?”
“Um, because it’s my office and I have work to do?”
Alyssa’s frown deepened. She closed the door and walked to the chair, dropping into it with a small sigh before bending over and stretching. She sighed again, this one mixed with a groan, then straightened in the chair and pulled off the toque and tossed it on the desk.
“I thought you’d be watching the game.”
Val glanced over at the computer then back at Alyssa, wondering if she looked as guilty as she felt. “Yeah. But there’s all this paperwork and the invoices and I wanted to get payroll ready and everything first.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” It wasn’t a complete lie. She really did want to get ahead of everything. Alyssa didn’t need to know she had been sidetracked by listening to the game online. If Alyssa knew that, she’d want to know why she was listening to it instead of watching it outside. Val didn’t want her friend asking, because she honestly had no idea how to answer.
“Okay, out with it.”
“Out with what?”
Alyssa motioned in Val’s direction with her hand, waving it around. “With whatever is going on. Since when would you rather be in here doing paperwork instead of out there watching the game?”
“Since the bus
iness has to take priority?”
“Val, this is me you’re talking to. I know you better than that. You’re not going to convince me you have to catch up on anything because knowing you, you’re already three steps ahead of everything. So out with it. What’s going on?”
Val wanted to contradict her, to tell Alyssa that she really was doing work. But Alyssa was her best friend, knew her probably better than she knew herself. Alyssa wouldn’t buy it, no matter how convincing Val tried to be.
She finally rolled her eyes and pulled off the reading glasses, then leaned her arms on the desk with a sigh. “Okay, fine. I’m not out there watching it because I’m back here listening to it.”
“Why?”
“Uh, why not?”
“Why wouldn’t you be out there watching it instead?”
“Because I—” Val snapped her mouth closed, not sure how to answer. She fidgeted with the glasses in her hand, turning them over and over before tapping the edge of the frames on the desk.
Tap, tap, tap. Pause. Tap, tap, tap.
Alyssa leaned across the desk and grabbed the glasses from her hand. “You’re going to break them.”
“I have another pair.” She did. In fact, she had three more pairs because she was constantly misplacing them—or breaking them.
“That’s not the point, Val. And you’re trying to change the subject.” Alyssa leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms in front of her, the material of her chef’s coat bunching beneath her. “Out with it.”
Val shrugged. “It’s nothing. Honest.”
“Is something going on with you and Justin?”
That was the obvious conclusion, so Val couldn’t fault Alyssa for coming up with it. But that wasn’t it. Not exactly. At least, not how Alyssa obviously thought. The problem was, Val wasn’t sure what was going on, only that she had this slightly unsettled feeling niggling the back of her mind since the last time she’d seen Justin. That had been last week, the night before the first game of the playoffs.
No, she didn’t expect to see him during playoffs. She knew better, knew how crazy the schedule was, knew how much the players needed to focus on nothing but the game right now. And they did talk, at least for a few minutes each day. There was no logical reason for the weird niggling feeling she was getting.
Except she was worried that maybe she knew what the feeling was from, and she was afraid to admit it, to give voice to it. If she did that, then she’d really have to think about it. Val didn’t feel like doing that right now.
“Earth to Val.”
Something moved past Val’s eyes, something fast and blurry. Val blinked and jerked back, blinked again then shot Alyssa a dirty look and pushed her hand away from her face. “Stop it. I heard you the first time.”
“Just checking, since all you’re doing is sitting there staring off into space.”
“I’m not staring. I’m thinking.”
“About Justin?”
“No. Yes. Maybe. Yeah, I guess.”
Alyssa shook her head and laughed, her smile wide and bright. “Let me guess. You’re in love with him?”
Val shook her head. “No, of course not. We’ve only been dating for a little more than a month. It’s too soon for that.” And it was. It didn’t matter that just hearing Alyssa say the words out loud made her pulse kick up a notch and made her stomach all fluttery. Val had a more level head than that, knew it was too soon for any kind of serious emotion like that. Love? Yeah, not likely. And certainly not this soon.
“Trust me, it’s not love.”
Alyssa’s smile faded just the smallest bit. She pushed her blonde hair behind her ear and tilted her head to the side, studying Val. “If you say so. And if it’s not that, then what is it?”
“I’m not sure. I mean, I don’t even know how to explain it. I’m probably just reading too much into things.”
“Like what?”
Val shrugged then closed her eyes, Justin’s words clear in her mind. The last few weeks would have turned out differently if not for you. And then he thanked her. She wasn’t sure why, but the words unsettled her for some reason. She didn’t want his gratitude. She wanted…well, she wasn’t sure what she wanted, but she knew it definitely wasn’t his gratitude.
“I don’t know. I just—” Val swallowed and looked away, worried Alyssa might see too much in her gaze. “I don’t want him seeing me because he thinks he owes me or anything, you know?”
“Owes you?” Alyssa leaned forward, frowning. “Why would you even think that?”
“I don’t know. Like I said, I’m probably just reading into things.”
“What things?”
“Alyssa, I don’t know, okay? Can we just drop this whole thing?” Val pushed away from the desk with the intention of just leaving the office. She’d go out to the bar and watch the game, and then maybe Alyssa would stop asking questions she didn’t want to answer. Except Alyssa had other ideas, because she leaned across the desk even more and grabbed her wrist.
“Like you dropped it when I first started dating Randy?”
Val rolled her eyes and tried to yank her wrist free. “Oh please. This so isn’t the same thing and you know it.”
“Not exactly but close enough. Spill it. What’s going on? Why would you think Justin thinks he owes you?”
“Because of something he said last week when I was at his place, okay? There. Are you happy now?” Val finally pulled her wrist free and leaned back in the chair, folding her arms in front of her.
“No. What did he say?”
“Alyssa, this is ridiculous—”
“What did he say?”
“You’re a pain in my ass.”
“Justin said you were a pain in his ass?”
“No! You are a pain in my ass.”
Alyssa laughed but didn’t give up, something Val blamed on her brother’s influence. “We can do this all night, you know.”
Val rolled her eyes again. Alyssa was right, they could. But then they’d both miss the game and Val didn’t want that to happen, even if she didn’t feel like watching it in a crowded bar.
“Fine. I was at his place, and he thanked me for being with him. He said things would have probably turned out different if not for me.” Said out loud, it sounded so much worse. No, not really worse. It sounded lame, like it was nothing.
Maybe Val really was reading too much into things. Especially if the confusion on Alyssa’s face meant anything.
“I don’t get it.”
Val made a little noise, something between a groan and a sigh, and pushed away from the desk. “I told you it was nothing.”
“Val, it isn’t nothing if it’s worrying you. So what about that has you worried?”
“Nothing. Everything.” Val grabbed the sweaty glass of tea, now a little warm and watered down, and took a sip. She stared into the glass, watching the liquid swirl in circles as she twirled the glass in her hand. Then she took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. “He hasn’t been drinking since we started dating. I think he thinks I’m the reason, and I think he thinks he owes me for that. It’s just, I don’t know. Weird, you know?”
Silence greeted her admission, which only made her feel like an idiot for saying anything. Val drained the glass then finally looked over at Alyssa, only to see her friend watching her with a thoughtful expression on her face.
“Stupid, right? I told you it was nothing—”
“It’s not stupid, Val, not if it has you upset.”
“I’m not upset.”
Alyssa waved her denial away. “Worried then. You said he hasn’t been drinking at all? Nothing?”
“Nope, not a drop.”
“So that’s a good thing then.”
“Yes, of course it is. But it’s not like he’s an alcoholic, Alyssa. And he didn’t stop because of me. He stopped because Coach LeBlanc benched him and threatened to send him back to the minors if he didn’t straighten up.”
“Can he do that?”
“I have no idea. Justin seemed pretty sure he could find a way to make it happen. And if he couldn’t, he could have made him a permanent scratch. The point is, Justin got his act together because of the coach’s threat, not because of me.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes, I’m sure. We started dating after he was scratched that first night, remember? I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
Alyssa shrugged then pushed herself to her feet with a groan and a stretch. “Maybe he thinks you do. Either way, I think you’re worrying too much. Justin likes you, you like him, and you’re a cute couple. Just have fun with it.”
Alyssa gave her what was supposed to be a reassuring smile then looked down at the front of her coat, brushed at a few stains, and started unbuttoning it. Val couldn’t stop the small burst of laughter when she saw the t-shirt Alyssa was wearing under it. It was a gray athletic shirt, emblazoned with Property of the Baltimore Banners in bold black letters on the front.
“Don’t even tell me you’re laughing at my shirt. You can’t be.”
Val shook her head but didn’t stop smiling. She reached down and grabbed the hem of her sweater and pulled it over her head, revealing an identical t-shirt.
“Nothing like a little team spirit, right?”
“Exactly.” Alyssa grabbed Val’s arm and moved toward the door. “Let’s go watch the game. Maybe they can finish this tonight and have a few extra days before the next round.”
Val nodded, knowing it would be great if they could win with a sweep. But she didn’t say anything, afraid to jinx it. And she made sure to rap on the doorframe three times before closing the office door behind her.
Chapter Fourteen
The mood in the locker room was confident, jubilant. Cautious. Loud conversations, jokes and jibes bounced off the concrete walls and acoustic tiles, creating a din that Justin didn’t really notice.
He was in his own zone, preparing for the game that would be starting in thirty minutes. Sitting up straight, eyes closed, hands resting palm-down on his thighs. Deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Deep and easy. Over and over. One last deep breath then he opened his eyes, his gaze slowly moving around the locker room. That was another ritual—just sitting back, letting his mind clear as he watched everyone else.
Delay of Game (The Baltimore Banners Book 6) Page 11
