by G. K. Brady
“Shh! Because she got me something.”
“Seriously, Dave? Jewelry? If you and Nicky are truly over, you are sending the wrong message. Just get her a poinsettia and be done with it already.”
“She likes jewelry, I’m here, and it’s inexpensive. Why would she get the wrong idea?”
Sonoma mimed throttling him. “I give up.” When she turned away to look at other glittery things under glass, he sidled away and ended up by a different display case that happened to feature diamond rings. Dainty, feminine repeated in his head, and a number of choices leapt out at him. He pictured them on Ellie’s slender ring finger, except Ellie didn’t wear rings. Did she not like them, or was that her being unfussy? Assuming Will had given her a ring, what size rock had he bought? What size was the right size? Some of his teammates, like Quinn, had gone way overboard, but he couldn’t imagine Ellie wanting something huge and flashy. Which made him smile inside. Then his mind wandered to what it would be like to propose and the novel ways some of his buddies had popped the question. He’d never considered doing it before, not that he was considering it now. Nonetheless, what would it take to outdo them? Who would his best man be? Ellie would make a beautiful bride … white dress, red cowboy boots. Maybe the bachelor party could be in Las Vegas … except he didn’t like Vegas. A guys’ golfing weekend in Scottsdale instead? Something relaxing, tame. What kind of house would he, Ellie, and Casper live in? Would she want a bachelorette party with hot stripper dudes, and how could he stop that train if she did? No ripped naked guys are putting the moves on my—
He practically jumped when Sonoma touched his sleeve. She gave him a coy smile. “Hmm. Engagement rings? For Nicky or Ellie?”
Shit! Where the hell had his mind gone, and had Sonoma read his projection into the Land of Domestic Bliss? He blew out the breath he’d locked in his lungs. “Haha.” Turning her around, he marched them both toward the saleslady, who held up a small bag for him.
After leaving the jewelry store and his hallucinations behind, they passed a few ladies’ clothing shops, and he came to a grinding halt in front of a window that displayed a shimmering pale blue robe with lace sleeves. Recalling Ellie’s tattered wrap, he tapped Sonoma’s arm. “Ellie could use a new robe. Think she’d like that?” He lifted his chin at the window display.
“Is that for her or for you?”
His eyes lingered on the robe, and he grinned. “Yes.”
“Not to rain on your Santa parade, but you just dropped three grand on a necklace and earrings, and now you’re looking at a La Perla robe that easily costs fifteen hundred. And if you step into that store, they’ll get you salivating over some wispy little nothing to match, and before you know it you’ll have dropped another three grand.”
“Too much?” He continued eyeballing the robe, picturing Ellie in it. And out of it. Wearing the necklace and earrings.
“Let me ask you something first. Are you thinking seriously long-term? Do you plan on getting engaged anytime soon?”
He swiveled his head toward his cousin and scoffed a little too loudly. “Of course not.”
She hooked her arm through his and tugged. “Then trust me and step away from the pretty lingerie, or you’ll be sending two women the wrong message.”
“Seems to me giving Ellie lingerie sends the right message.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“No, dummy. I’m talking about the spend. Blowing six grand signals way more than ‘just friends.’ Besides, you might make her feel bad because, honestly, how could she ever reciprocate?”
“But I don’t want anything from her.” And I like buying her stuff. She’d been so cute about the dress and boots, and he just wanted to make her smile like she had the night of the square dance. Buying for her was fun, not the chore it had been with past girlfriends who had practically inspected his offerings with a jeweler’s magnifying lens.
His mind segued to how he’d always thought Ellie was pretty, but she just seemed to grow more beautiful every time he laid eyes on her. Whether she was in her work clothes or relaxing clothes or dress-up clothes, it didn’t matter. That same inner glow, that same smile that lit everything around her was always there. Same pretty blue eyes and strawberry-blond waves. Same laugh that did something to him deep inside.
“That may be, but just like you felt obligated to get Nicole a gift, Ellie will feel obligated to get you one. And she’ll want to match you dollar-for-dollar, but no way can she do that. See where I’m going with this?” Sonoma raised an eyebrow for emphasis, and he sighed in defeat. “C’mon,” she laughed. “You owe me a dinner at La Merise.”
After they’d been seated and their wine had been poured, they looked over their menus in silence. Wonder if Ellie would like this place? It’s quiet, romantic. What would she order? His eyes skimmed the choices as he tried to guess, completely forgetting he needed to select dishes for himself.
When their orders were placed, he raised his glass. “Thanks for your help, Nome.”
“Anytime.”
“God, I hope she likes what I got her.”
Sonoma smirked.
He frowned in reply. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Nothing. Just enjoying seeing this squishy side of you that seems to come out whenever you’re around Ellie, or talking about Ellie, or thinking about Ellie. I haven’t seen it before. Not even with Nicole.”
“Don’t read too much into it,” he grumbled.
“No?”
A server deposited a basket of bread, and Dave slathered a piece in butter. “It’s not serious. We’re just … spending time together.”
Sonoma scrutinized him over her wineglass. “She’s a keeper, Dave. You’re smart enough to know this.”
“Maybe.” He shrugged it off. “What happens if I get traded, Nome?”
“So what? A trade doesn’t mean you have to cut everyone you know out of your life, does it? You gonna stop talking to me ’cause you’re in a new city?”
“Of course not.”
“My point exactly.” Sonoma gave him a saccharine smile. “So what’s the problem?”
“It won’t last.” He stuffed another bite of bread in his mouth. Despite the butter, it tasted like dust.
Sonoma speared a piece of lettuce and pointed her fork at him. “A bit defeatist, aren’t you? You planning on sabotage?”
He speared his own greens. “She can do better than a broken-down hockey player with a shit ton of baggage.” Damian Douchebag flashed in his head, he of sleek manners and buffed nails. Dave recoiled inside.
“What baggage, specifically?”
“A team that doesn’t want me, a not-so-great track record, a history of doping, for starters.” Bobby’s latest text popped into Dave’s head. I’ve got something that’ll fix that hand right up. No lie, the texts were getting harder to ignore.
“So yes, you are planning on sabotaging the relationship. And who says you’re broken down? You’re selling yourself short, Cuz. Just ask the Mandys of the world,” Sonoma snorted.
No thanks. “Things still good between you and Finn?”
Sonoma’s face broke out in a girlish grin. “Yeah, they’re great.”
“I’m happy for you, Nome. He seems like a decent dude.” Finn wasn’t Dave’s first choice for her, but he couldn’t argue with how the guy took care of his cousin or how happy she was.
“Despite his ‘baggage,’” she air-quoted.
“What kind of ‘baggage’?” he air-quoted back. Ellie had hinted at Finn’s checkered past, but she’d been tight-lipped whenever Dave had pressed.
“Suffice it to say I’m smart enough to see past it and realize he’s a rare one … just like Ellie’s the rare one, and you need to figure out a way to hang on to her, even if you have to face-off against yourself to do it.”
He shook his head. “I have no business getting in deep, especially when there’s a chance I’ll get shipped off somewhere.” He cringed a little at his own deceptiveness. He still hadn’t told Sonoma about the trade he
had asked for.
Sonoma looked him over thoughtfully, her expression telling him she knew he was holding something back. “The whole time you and Nicky were together there was a ‘chance’ you’d get shipped off, but that didn’t stop you. Know what I think?”
“No, but you’re going to tell me.”
“Damn straight. Someone has to. I think you’re already so gone for Ellie that it scares the shit out of you, and you’re throwing up one excuse after another so you don’t get too close. Your man logic is telling you if you’re not close, you can’t get burned. But I’ve seen how you look at her, how you act around her. You’re different than you’ve ever been with anyone else—more relaxed, more you. And when she looks at you, I don’t see dollar signs in her eyes. I see something meaningful.”
Despite the warning bells constantly clanging in his head, Sonoma’s words warmed him, and he uttered one telling word. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. And the sooner you admit how deep you’re in already, the better.”
Better for whom?
Minutes before Nicole arrived on Christmas Eve, Dave hustled home from Ellie’s, where he’d spent the night after his game. He was bagging up some foodie items to take to Ellie’s when Nicky’s knock sounded. In true Nicole fashion, she just let herself in through the door from the garage and walked upstairs, trilling his name. He should have closed the garage door, damn it. Or kept the door between the house and garage locked.
“Right here, Nick.” He lifted his eyes and tried not to let his astonishment show. She was decked out in skin-tight black leather pants, stilettos, and a gray sweater with a neckline that plunged to where it crisscrossed at her waist. One tug of that dangerous neckline and the goods would be completely exposed. Holy shit!
Her makeup was flawless, her lips done up in shimmering gloss that accentuated their poutiness, and her hair was a perfect arrangement of tousled white-blond curls. Before he could get his mouth working, she was in front of him, her spicy perfume overpowering him. With those sky-high heels, she was nearly eye-to-eye. “Merry Christmas,” she breathed and laid a parted-lip kiss on his mouth.
Wiping gloss from his lips, he took a step back and smacked into the counter. “Aren’t you a little cold?” he blurted, keeping his eyes trained on her face. Go, me!
Scanning him from his sweater to his boots, she smirked. “Aren’t you a little warm?” She thrust a package at him that was as done up as she was.
He took a few more steps back until he was anchored to one side of the kitchen island. “I’ve got something for you too.” The Oster Jewelers bag sat on the bottom step leading to his bedroom, and he snatched it, extracted a small wrapped box, and placed the bag back on the step.
She strutted over and glanced inside the bag with a huff. “Hmm. Guess I’m not the only one you went to Oster’s for.”
Ignoring the comment, he handed her the gift and began tearing the paper off the one she’d given him, anxious to get through this gift exchange ordeal.
She squealed and launched herself against him. “Oh, Dave, I love it!” Then her lips were on his cheek, his neck, leaving sticky gloss on his skin. He caught her as she lunged for his mouth and set her apart from him.
She slid the bracelet on and cooed, “Oh, you knew exactly what I wanted!”
Huh? His Yoda voice echoed Sonoma, grunting about the stupidity of giving Nicky a gift in the first place. She hugged his arm to her chest as he tried to free a flat box marked “Brunello Cucinelli” from its wrapping.
“Do you like it?” she pressed.
“I don’t know. You need to let go so I can open it.”
With another huff, she released him but stayed inside his personal bubble, hooking an arm around his shoulders. From layers of tissue, he pulled out a soft cream-colored beanie.
“It’s cashmere,” she gushed. “It cost six hundred dollars.”
Way to pull a crushing guilt blanket over him. “Thank you.”
She raked her nails through his hair. “Put it on!” He created distance between them and pulled on the hat, and she closed that gap and straightened the beanie with a triumphant “There!” Then she rubbed her hands up and down his arms. “Ooh, I miss these muscles.”
What the hell? He peeled her hands away. “Nicky, I’ve got somewhere else to be and a few things to do before I get there, so …”
Her face fell, and she blinked rapidly. Her brown eyes glossed over. “I thought we might spend the day together.”
He began scouring his memory banks to figure out how the hell she’d gotten that idea into her head. “I don’t recall us planning to do that.”
“Well, we didn’t exactly, but I hoped … Isaac’s with his dad, and I’m all alone.”
“You have Benny,” he tossed out.
“I brought him with me. I thought we’d all cozy up on the couch together like we used to.” Her eyes shimmered with fresh tears.
“What? Where is he?”
“In the car.”
For fuck’s sake! “It’s cold out there. I’ll walk you down so I can say hi to him.”
“Well, actually, I was hoping to leave him here with you since I’m taking off day after tomorrow.”
WTF? His annoyance was approaching detonation. “Nick, what’s going on?”
And the dam burst. While tears spilled down her cheeks, she hiccupped and spluttered through her speech. “I miss you, Dave. I want us to be together.”
The irritation that had been rising inside him went into a free fall. “Nick,” he said softly, “that ship sailed a long time ago. And you’re the one that launched it.”
“I made a terrible mistake. It can’t be too late.” She closed the distance between them, wound her arms around his neck, and leaned in to kiss him, pressing her bra-less breasts to his chest. “Tell me you don’t miss this.”
Before she could kiss him, he grasped her arms and broke free of her grip. I don’t miss this. But he couldn’t bring himself to tell her, not with her crying and looking so pathetic. “Nicky, don’t do this.”
His phone rang on the counter, giving him a much-needed breather. “Get Benny. I need to take this.”
Something hard flickered in her eyes, and she grabbed her coat. He looked at the caller ID and picked up, moving farther out of earshot. “Hey.”
“Merry Almost Christmas,” came Ellie’s cheery voice. “Again.”
Nicky’s heels clicked on the stairs, and he let out a gust of air. “Merry Almost Christmas to you too, again.” He grinned inside, remembering the “Almost Christmas present” she’d given him that morning in bed.
“If you haven’t gone to the store yet, could you grab a string of lights?”
“You mean you don’t have boxes and boxes lying around?”
“Not since someone destroyed them a few months ago,” she laughed. “Seriously, I just tested my only string, and it’s dead.” She’d bought a little tree the day before that she wanted help trimming.
“Sure.” Downstairs, the door opened and a collar jingled. He needed to end the call.
“Oh, and I thought of something else for breakfast tomorrow,” Ellie said.
“Uh, maybe text that to me so I don’t forget?”
“It’s just two things.”
Benny lurched up the steps, followed by a crown of platinum hair. Shit!
“Text is best. That it?” Benny was beside him now, dancing and panting, and Dave reached down to scratch his head and calm him down.
“Is that jingling I hear?”
Nicky stood a few feet away, her mouth opening to say something, and he panicked. “Santa on TV. See you soon.” He clicked off with Ellie’s confused-sounding “Okay” in his ear.
Nicky removed her coat and crossed her arms in a way that pushed her tits to the spilling point.
“What are you doing?” His alarms began raising again.
“You told me to get Benny so he didn’t freeze while I hang with you.” She looked crestfallen again, and a pang of guilt hit him.
>
At least she wasn’t crying anymore. “Nick, I said I need to go. You can’t hang with me.”
Her arms banded a little tighter, accentuating the swell of her breasts, and she dropped her voice to a husky low. “I could stay here until you get back.” Her sweater slid off her shoulder. “Get naked and wait for you in bed—”
“No! Jesus, Nick, I’m trying to be nice here, but you’re not getting the message.” Which is not just a pass, but a hard pass. “I’m leaving in five minutes—I’ll take Benny—and I’m not spending the night here tonight. Or tomorrow night.” Frustration surged once more and manifested itself in a ticking jaw muscle.
She yanked the sweater back up and jerked her coat on. “Oh, I get it. You don’t have to paint me a picture.” She paused to glare at the Oster’s bag. “You have to deliver the rest of the jewelry.” The breathiness was gone, replaced by icy sarcasm. “Did you get her something nicer than what you got me? I sure hope so if you expect to fuck her because this cheap piece of shit”—she held up her wrist, exposing the bracelet—“might get you a blow job, but she won’t—”
“Okay. You just made this a hell of a lot easier. Get the fuck out.”
“Or what, Dave? You gonna throw me out?”
“I’ve never laid a hand on you, so why would I start now?” he gritted out.
She tapped her chin dramatically. “Hmm. Oh, I know. Because you’re back doing drugs, and you’ve lost your mind again?”
I was never “doing drugs,” and I never lost control! Not that way. But he didn’t bother arguing with her. Lost cause. Instead, he made a pushing motion with his hands. “Do us both a favor. Cut the drama and go.” Benny whined at his feet. Nicole’s expression, her entire demeanor, grated. Her mouth was a thin, hard line, her eyes small and unspectacular, her hair stiff and brassy. Jesus, was I really so blind before? Nicky’s first priority will only ever be Nicky.
She stormed off, and the slam of the downstairs door had him dropping his shoulders a few inches. He glanced down at the dog. “Christ, Ben. At least I have a choice about putting up with that bullshit. But hey, let’s forget her and get our Christmas on. I have a real treat for you because you’re gonna love Ellie and Casper.” Just like I do.
