by Daphne Slade
It takes me a moment to realize how what I’ve said could be interpreted. I exhale a few laughs of my own. “Yeah, we should at least wait for the second date for that.”
She playfully slaps my chest and laughs some more. Just watching her like this— for once without an irritated twist of the lips, or snappy retort to my smart-assed comment, or surreptitious look of disapproval at whatever date I have accompanying me (oh how telling that was in retrospect), I feel something warm build in my chest.
Grace doesn’t know it yet, but one day she will be carrying my babies.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Grace
“Mushroom and sausage. A man of taste,” I say before taking another bite of the pizza Noah has ordered.
I’m back in my bra and panties again. Noah wouldn’t allow me to put on anything else. Expensive underwear and cheap pizza. There’s something sexy about it.
I’m leaning back against the headboard and Noah is lying on his side in his underwear—I informed him that the same rules applied to him—looking like Superman with that physique, dark hair, and blue eyes.
And he’s all mine.
Finally.
My cheeks burn a little as I recall him forcing me to admit that I’ve always wanted him like this. Of course, I have, ever since that first day of class. Maybe he wasn’t the only one making bad wine out of sour grapes.
I detour away from that path. The last thing I want to do is think about Matt. I still haven’t even turned my phone back on.
Instead, I think about the look on Noah’s face when I hinted that he might be suggesting getting me pregnant. Once again my body shivers with delight at the prospect. Which is ridiculous. Technically, we haven’t even had our first date. Marriage and babies are just a little bit further down the timeline.
My mind wanders to medical school, and then residency and I frown a little.
“What’s that look about?” Noah asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I smile as I watch him take another huge bite and chew. He’s so sexy when he chews. Hell, he’d be sexy doing anything.
“I was just thinking about med school next year.”
He stops mid-chew. “Well, there’s one way to come down off a high. I think my ego just suffered a nice roundhouse kick there.”
I smile and reach out to kick him lightly with one foot. “Now you know how it feels. Serves you right after that act you pulled at the bar.” I give him a suspicious look. “Did you know Heidi was going to be working there?”
He doesn’t even bother hiding his grin. “No, that was just a fortunate coincidence. Though, I do have to confess that most of the girls who work there have a habit of flirting with me.”
I smile and kick my bare foot out at him again as I take a bite. “Shameless,” I say around a full mouth.
“Never bet against a grade-A athlete, Grace. The one thing we all have in common is going the extra mile,” his gaze penetrates mine. “Doing whatever it takes to succeed, no matter what.”
I swallow, the pizza going down thickly. “So…was all this stuff about me getting back together with Matt just an act? Was this your end game?”
“Yes.” I’m beginning to realize how direct Noah is, those blue eyes steady as he transmits the same answer. “So what’s this about medical school you were talking about?”
I’ve momentarily forgotten and have to shake his expression out of my head before I can recall what I was originally fretting over.
“I was just thinking about the future. I’ll hopefully be at Harvard med school next year. I know Matt is planning the same. I don’t know if he got in but if he did, it’s going to be a bit awkward when—”
“Wait, what?” Noah says, pulling his slice away to give me an incredulous look. “Matt? Harvard Medical School?”
“Yeah,” I say giving him a bemused smile. “That’s his plan.”
“First of all, Matt wants the NHL as much as I do. It’ll be a struggle, but that’s all he ever talks about. Second, I seriously doubt he has the grades for med school, period, let alone Harvard.”
“What?” I set my pizza down in the box and stare at Noah. “How do you know?”
“Have you ever actually seen his grades?”
“Well…no, but—” I stare ahead, thinking about all the times we studied together. He was so prone to taking breaks, wandering off to another room to watch TV or something. I just figured he had better retention than I did. As far as grades, I never pried because I didn’t want to be that kind of girlfriend. I assumed we were on the same track in life. In fact, Matt went out of his way to make it seem like we were on the same track in life.
“I know for a fact he was close to academic probation for a while there,” Noah says.
“What?” Now, I’m more than incredulous. How the hell did I not know about this?
I scoot to the side of the bed and sit there for a moment, shaking my head in disbelief, realizing just how little I knew about my own damn boyfriend.
Ex-boyfriend.
“Grace?” Noah prods behind me. “You okay?”
For some reason that sets me off and I shoot up from the bed to pace.
“That son of a bitch! Just how long was he planning on keeping this from me? Who does that? Spends three years pretending to be on the same track, the same career path, and for what? Just so I wouldn’t dump him? We even filled out applications together! I mean, how sociopathic is that? And all the while he never even planned on going to medical school?”
I know why I’m mad, and it isn’t just because of Matt’s lies. If I’m being perfectly honest, it’s the realization that he gave up on something that he wasn’t interested in—even if he didn’t bother revealing that fact to me. Meanwhile, I’m still pushing through with medical school as my end game, though I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it anymore.
But I don’t give up. I’m an Arlington dammit!
I’m pacing even more fervently now. All while Noah continues to lie on his side with a slightly amused look on his face.
I stop and rest my fists on my hips. “Please don’t tell me you find all of this funny.”
“I’m just enjoying the way you look walking in nothing but that,” he trails a circle in the air toward my bra and panties.
I frown, but it lasts about two seconds before laughter escapes. “Noah! You should be as pissed off as me. Or at least empathetic.”
“Alright,” he says sitting up and sliding to rest back against the headboard. “Come over here.”
I twist my lips, hiding a smile as I slink into the bed next to him, pushing the pizza box out of the way. Noah curls his arm around me and pulls me into his side. I shiver at how amazing it feels.
“The fact that he hid all of this from you is just further proof you belong with me.”
I pull away to smile at him. “Bold, I’ll give you that.”
“Do you deny it?”
“Not at all,” I say, for once being as honest as him. “But I want to know more about you. Something to replace the Noah I hated once upon a time.”
“Tell me what you want to know. I’m an open book. Starting with my grades? So-so, in all fairness. I probably run a B+ average. But the NHL is my end game and I’m 99% certain that’s where I’ll end up.”
“Really?” I ask in surprise. I hadn’t ever considered I might be dating a future professional athlete.
I wonder what my family would think about that.
Scratch that, I know exactly what they’d think. My parents would hate it. Thus, my sisters would get their kicks smugly reveling in it. It smacks of anti-intellectualism. None of them even watch professional sports, let alone college. With Matt, the only positive thing they had to say about it was that it got him a scholarship to a good school.
But someone making a career of it?
Surprisingly, I feel a thrilling rush of desire for Noah surge through me at the idea. It’s so…rebellious. And sexy. For him to be that good?
As usual, the
stoic Arlington practicality comes right in to dim it a bit. I hate that it has so much influence over me, like an electronic leash zapping me every time I get the slightest itch to break loose from that path of so-called perfection.
“Do you know which team you want to play for?”
“Ideally Chicago since it’s only about an hour away from Milwaukee where my family lives. Minnesota would be my second choice. I just want to be close to my parents and sisters, especially after this summer.”
“What happened this summer?”
“I found out when I went back home. My mom had breast cancer. Pretty far along as it turns out. They seem to have nuked it, but it makes you appreciate family that much more. I want to live somewhere where they could come to visit often and go to games. I kinda like my family,” he says with a laugh.
The joking way he said it tells me that he more than likes them.
I wonder what that must be like. It isn’t that I don’t love my family. It’s unconditional, that much is true. I just don’t really like spending time with them if I’m being honest. Frankly, it’s stressful even thinking about it, and exhausting when I’m actually around them.
“So, Chicago or Minnesota,” I repeat, brow raised.
As though reading my mind, Noah smiles. “I know, a bit of a drive from Harvard.”
I feel my cheeks color. “I wasn’t actually thinking that far ahead, of course,” I lie.
“I was.”
Now, my heart has stopped enough to prevent the blood from rushing to my face. The way his eyes look, staring at me so intently without any hesitation whatsoever. I can’t remember the last time anyone, even my parents, looked at me with such uncompromising acceptance, and in this case, longing.
“Have you been thinking about me this way for so long? Why haven’t you at least tried to make a move before now?”
He laughs. “You hated my guts! Frankly, the only time you didn’t completely ignore me was when you were angry or annoyed with me at something.”
Now the blood rushes, fueled by a heart that beats with anger and resentment. “Matt, he just—”
“I know.”
I give Noah a begrudging smile. It fades as my eyes narrow. “Also, you certainly weren’t hurting for attention. Every time I saw you, you were with a new girl.”
The corner of his mouth hitches into a half-smirk. “Because I knew you hated it. The looks of contempt you shot my way… In retrospect, I should have noticed the obvious signs of jealousy, but—”
“What?” I say with a laugh. “I wasn’t jealous, I was just—”
“Right,” he teases.
“Okay fine, maybe a bit jealous, despite how much I couldn’t stand you.” I snuggle in closer to him. “But since you’re being frank, I will be as well. Yes, I did think about you in a hate sex sort of way.”
“What?” He exclaims, his body shaking with laughter. “I knew it!”
“Okay, okay,” I laugh, pinching him. “No need to rub it in.”
“Well, I guess I have Matt to thank for something at least.”
“You know what? Let’s just forget about Matt and all that mess. I don’t want to think about him anymore,” I say, smiling up at him.
“Fine by me,” he says with a grin.
It fades so suddenly, I pull back with concern. “What is it?”
His eyes pierce me, the blue darkening as whatever thought has invaded his mind is casting a pretty gray cloud.
“Before we start anything, there’s something I have to confess.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Noah
“What is it?” Grace repeats. She moves away to rest on her knees facing me. I can tell by her expression, I’ve caused a mild panic. Perhaps that’s for the best.
“I want complete transparency, so I think it’s only fair to tell you where I’m coming from…and what I may have inadvertently done.”
“Okay,” she says, looking even more wary.
“First, I think I know why Matt wanted this break.”
“You do?”
I nod. “It was up at Evan’s lake house. We were sitting outside drinking a few beers and he was moaning and groaning about the fact that he was stuck in a monogamous relationship.”
I feel out Grace’s reaction to that. I’m pleased to see it’s nothing more than a slight tensing of her jaw. I suppose we both realize that the more we learn about the guy, the more right this feels between us.
“I was sick of it, mostly because I thought he was a complete idiot for not appreciating what he had.”
She smiles at this, any hint of anger disappearing.
“I told him he should just dump you if he was unhappy.”
Grace tilts her head to the side to consider me with a smile. I’m kind of surprised, I expected at least another small surge of anger. Maybe she is totally over the guy.
“Was that so you could make your move?”
“It may have crossed my mind,” I say with a grin. “I should have figured an asshole like that would try to have his cake and eat it too. Hence this idiotic ‘break’ on his part.”
She laughs. “Was that it? You were worried about that? I mean, it worked out for both of us, no?”
“Yeah,” I say, nodding. My eyes roll up to hers. “One more thing, for the sake of transparency.”
“Okay,” she says, still with a smile.
“That night I found you handcuffed to Matt’s bed?”
Her face goes slightly pink, which I find amusing considering what we’ve just done. “Yes?”
“Matt sort of dared me to make my move with you. I think he thought I’d crash and burn considering your feelings about me.”
“So, this was a bet?” she asks, her eyes shifting to the side to consider that.
“You could say that—at least as far as he was concerned. For me, I’ve always—”
“Stop,” she says gently. “I know how you feel about me Noah. Though, I do love hearing it again. Don’t ever feel like you have to explain yourself or apologize for going after what you want. If you hadn’t been so persistent my stubborn ass might never have caved.”
I stare at her, now fully appreciating what I’ve missed these past three years. “Come here.”
She smiles and curls back into my side again and chuckles. “So that was it? That’s what you were worried about?”
I sigh as I stare ahead. “No, that’s just a bit of background. The problem is, I don’t think he took the dare all that seriously. He probably didn’t count on either of us finding out what he was up to from the beginning, basically pitting us against each other.”
“Okay?” She brings her head around to face me. A crooked smile appears on her face as she wonders where I’m going with this.
“The problem is, something like that, a bet? It’s not something I could easily walk my way back from, not once the ball was rolling. In retrospect, it was stupid to play along and egg him on that way. I thought I was finally convincing him to leave you, but all I was doing was backing myself into a corner.”
“Noah,” Grace says, shaking her head in confusion. “Where are you going with this? I already said I don’t care about the bet.”
“It’s not you I’m worried about.”
That seems to give her pause. “Who then? Matt? Screw him.”
“It’s—”
“The team,” she finishes for me, finally realizing what I was getting at. “You’ve basically won a bet against one of your own teammates.”
“I’ve essentially stolen his girlfriend.”
“But you haven’t!” she exclaims, suddenly filled with anger again. “He’s the one who threw me away! He’s the one who’s been playing the field under the premise that we were on a break!”
“I know,” I say calmly.
“Surely they see that? Can’t you explain it to them?”
“It doesn’t matter, Grace,” I continue, just as patiently. “No matter how despicable he’s acted, I’m still team captain. I have to
set an example. Most of them will get it and understand. Others will always be bros before…”
A wry smile comes to her lips. “Yeah, I know how that one goes.”
I hitch the side of my mouth up with sympathy. “Either way, none of that will matter since the team comes before anything else. I’m not the only NHL hopeful. Matt could have been screwing half the university while you two were still together. If my being with you messes up his game, it screws all of us. And you and I both know Matt. He doesn’t like to lose.”
Those huge eyes really do look like Bambi now as she stares back at me. It begins to dawn on her, and I can see it dim the light in those eyes.
“So…we have to end this?”
“No.” She flinches at the ferocity of my answer. “No way am I giving up on this now.”
A brief smile of joy flashes across her mouth before it fades back into a slight frown. “So, what then?”
“We just have to keep it secret.”
“Right,” she says softly, looking at me with disappointment.
“I know, doesn’t seem fair does it?”
She gives me a humorless smile. “I guess sacrifice is the name of the game no matter what.”
“Well, we don’t have to give up everything,” I say, pulling her in closer. She laughs as she falls back into my side. “In fact, I think it would be kind of fun thinking of ways to have a secret tryst.”
“I don’t want to cause problems with your team, Noah. Or your chances at the NHL.”
“Let me worry about that.”
She pulls away to stare at me. “You’d risk it for me?”
“I risked three years for you. This is nothing compared to that. The question is, are you willing?”
Her lips twist. “If you knew how I felt about you that first day, before…”
“Yeah, yeah, but continue. I like where this is going,” I say with a grin.
“Well, I thought you were the sexiest guy I’d ever seen.”
“Sexiest?” I wouldn’t have expected that one from Grace, who always seemed so prim.
