Animal Attraction (San Francisco Dragons Book 2)

by Kate Willoughby

  “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  “All of a sudden I don’t feel so good. Can we just hang out a couple minutes?”

  “I told you not to eat all those chicken wings.”

  Jade smiled wanly and closed her eyes. Maggie played a couple of games of Candy Crush while the arena emptied out. Up in the press box, she could see the bright lights of the camera crews filming the post-game recap and commentary. She pictured Spencer down in the locker room, where the mood was probably jubilant. The guys would be in various states of undress and the testosterone was probably gusting out the doors like exhaust from a revving muscle car.

  Her phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw it was Spencer.

  “Hey, I got your text,” he said loudly over the noise in the background.

  What text? Maggie wondered.

  “I just need a few more minutes, then I’ll meet you outside the locker room. I’ll send an usher to you. Just sit tight.”

  “Okay. Great,” she said, still puzzled.

  She opened her text app to a conversation she hadn’t started and a text she never sent. Hey, Jade and I would love to see you after the game if you have time!

  “JADE!”

  10

  Jade smiled nervously. “What?”

  “What did you do? Did you steal my phone? ”

  “Calm down. I just started the ball rolling. Someone had to. You certainly weren’t going to.”

  “That’s because I have a boyfriend. Remember Pete? Tall guy? Blond hair?”

  “Annoying know-it-all who doesn’t deserve you? Yes. I remember him, but it’s not even a contest. Spencer Corbett blows Pete out of the water. Pete is annoying and pretentious and isn’t even around half the time.”

  “Neither is Spencer.”

  “Yeah, but Spencer is dreamy. He’s the most dreamy man you or I have ever met and I refuse to let my best friend let this kind of chance pass her by.”

  “While I appreciate your loyalty, he’s just a friend and if you can’t get that through your head, I swear to God, I won’t take you to games anymore. I mean it. Take a good look at the view from these seats because it might be the only time you ever see it.”

  Jade stood up and put her hands on her hips. “Well, you know what? It’ll be worth it if you finally realize how stagnant your relationship with Pete is. Can you honestly tell me he makes you happy? At all?”

  Maggie opened her mouth to reply when she heard her name, turned and saw an usher looking at her questioningly.

  She pointed at Jade. “We’re not done yet.”

  Shrugging, Jade put on some lip gloss as they followed the usher.

  A few minutes later, they were on the ice level in the very guts of the arena. People milled about, others walked with purpose in different directions. The air buzzed with the energy that followed an exciting win. The usher had handed them generic passes on lanyards and Maggie was wondering idly if she could keep it as a souvenir.

  When Spencer came out of the locker room, he was wearing a black suit that fit him so well, it was easy to tell it had been custom-made. His slacks accentuated his strong thighs and made her want to squeeze them to see if they were as hard as they looked. He grinned at her with an adorable lopsided smile.

  “Hey. Thanks for coming. Did you have fun?” He leaned in and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek that made her heart do a giddy cartwheel.

  “Oh my gosh, we had a blast!” Jade said, miraculously, suspiciously healed from her earlier illness.

  “I don’t think we had as much fun as you did,” Maggie said. “Two goals? Two assists? You looked amazing down there.”

  He glanced aside and chuckled. “Thanks. I don’t know what happened tonight. It must be because you were here. You guys are good luck.”

  Jade gave Maggie a pointed “I told you so” look.

  “So, the seats were good, right? Did you have a good view?”

  “We could see everything, Spencer. I still can’t believe I’ll be able to come here and enjoy every home game.”

  “If we go to the playoffs, you’ll be able to see those games too.” He raked a hand through his damp hair. “So, you guys wanna grab a bite to eat…?”

  Maggie said, “It’s a school night” at the same time Jade said, “Sure!”

  “Great. You like Italian?”

  “Sure. Italian’s fine.”

  Spencer turned, only to find Ian and Max standing there, also in suits.

  Spencer stopped short. “Hey, guys.” He seemed to be surprised.

  “Corbie,” Max nodded at him. “Hey, Teach. Good to see you again.”

  “Hi, Max, Ian. This is my friend, Jade.”

  Jade’s eyes were wide. “Oh my God, hi. Hi. I’m Jade.” She said in an aside to Maggie, “You have a nickname?”

  Maggie smiled. “You guys clean up real nice.”

  They grinned.

  “Congratulations on the win,” Jade said. “That was an amazing game. You dominated almost the whole sixty minutes. No offense, but I haven’t seen the team play like that in a long time.”

  “It was all this guy,” Ian said, pointing at Spencer. “He had a four-fucking-point game. He was on fire.”

  Spencer shrugged. “Tonight was an anomaly. I’m not sure I can keep it up.”

  “That’s what she said,” Jade mumbled.

  Maggie gave her a sharp elbow while Max barked out a laugh.

  “Aaanyway,” Spencer said. “We’ll see you later, guys.”

  “Good to meet you,” Jade called as they headed down the corridor.

  Maggie turned to Spencer. “You don’t want to invite them to come along?”

  Spencer shook his head. “Nah. I eat with those goons all the time.”

  As he turned to press the elevator button, Jade mouthed behind his back, He likes you!

  Even though the restaurant was only four minutes away, they took separate cars. Jade spent the entire time gushing over how handsome Max Stone was and how he’d given her the once over. Maggie just let her babble.

  When they entered the restaurant, Spencer approached the hostess station.

  “Table for three,” he said.

  “No, you know what? I think I’m going to pass,” Jade said to Spencer. “I wasn’t feeling all that well before. Can you take Maggie home? Is that okay?”

  Knowing full well Jade was lying through her teeth, Maggie scowled. Her friend obviously had no shame.

  “Of course, I can,” Spencer said. “Not a problem.”

  “Thanks. You’re a pal. See you tomorrow, Mags.”

  The hostess took them to a booth and after they ordered, Maggie apologized.

  “What are you sorry for?” he asked.

  Maggie made a face and decided to fess up. “That whole ‘I feel ill’ thing was an act. Jade’s just trying to get things going between us. I keep telling her you and I are just friends, but…” Maggie shook her head. “Anyway, that’s what I’m sorry for. She’s a busybody.”

  “Don’t worry about it. To tell you the truth, my friends were making a big deal out of the season tickets thing, so believe me. I understand.” He leaned back in his chair. “So tell me what you do when you’re not teaching.”

  “I’m actually going to school to get my master’s in education. It’s the easiest way to get a pay increase without having to get a second job.”

  He chuckled. “If my salary depended on me going back to school, I’d be in big trouble. I was never a very good student. I got in trouble all the time because it was always hard for me to stay still for that long. Too much energy, I guess.”

  “There’s no shame in that,” she said. “Everyone has their calling. Yours is hockey. That’s the trouble with the world these days. Not all jobs worth having require a college education but people act like our high schools are failing if they’re not sending kids to college. All over the country shop classes are being shut down as if there’s something shameful about going into a trade. In fact, there’s a real crisis in
…” She trailed off and winced. “I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry about what?” he asked, an amused smile on his face.

  “I’m sorry for going off on that. Jeez. You must think I’m crazy.”

  “No. I think you’re passionate. And that you care about the future.”

  The warmth in his gaze made her heart beat a little faster and she grabbed a bread stick so she’d have something to focus on instead of his deep-set sky blue eyes.

  When the waitress came to take their order, Maggie just got a cup of minestrone soup. She’d eaten quite a bit at the game and wasn’t that hungry. Spencer asked for lasagna, however.

  After the waitress walked away, she smiled at him. “You must really be a lasagna lover.”

  He cocked his head. “Why do you say that?”

  “The stuff your neighbor brought was a huge pan of lasagna. At least I think it was lasagna. It was green.”

  He grimaced. “Yeah, it was green chile and kale lasagna.”

  “Oh, wow. That sounds…interesting.”

  “Okay, here’s the deal. Stacy thinks of me as a poor bachelor who can’t fend for himself and makes food for me out of the goodness of her heart, but…” He leaned forward and spoke softly. “Between you and me, she’s a horrible cook. The first time she brought me food, maybe a year ago, I told her it was good, to be polite, even though it was one of the most vile things I ever tasted.”

  “What was it? Another casserole?”

  “You know, I don’t remember. I think I buried the memory deep in my subconscious.”

  She tried not to laugh, but it was hard.

  “She is the dog sitter I told you about, and now I can’t get her to stop bringing me stuff. Every time I go on a road trip, I come home to some kind of concoction in my fridge. I usually wait a couple of days and then just leave the clean dish on her doorstep with a thank you note. What makes it worse is, she has a crush on me. I try not to encourage her, but she just doesn’t seem to be able to take a hint, and I don’t have the heart to tell her the truth about her cooking.”

  You’re wrong, Maggie thought, you have a big heart, you handsome hunk of wonderful man, you.

  “She is really great with the dogs, though,” Spencer said. “I never worry about them when I’m on the road.”

  “That’s good.” She finished off her breadstick. “So you had a great game tonight. Honestly. That was the best I’ve seen you play in like forever.”

  He grinned. “Thanks, and agreed.”

  “Don’t take this the wrong way, but what happened?”

  “Who knows? Maybe the Ducks were having an off night.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t think so. You and Stone…you guys were poetry in motion. It was so great to see someone other than Wingate get the puck.”

  He smiled and, after checking for possible eavesdroppers, said in a low voice. “It felt good too. It felt real good.”

  “I hope tonight is the start of a point spree for you. I wish people would realize how many other great players there are on this team. All the media ever talk about is Wingate while guys like you do all the dirty work.”

  “The inconvenient truth of it is, I’m paid a lot of money to do what I’m told, whether I like it or not, even if tonight we sort of rebelled a little.”

  “We?”

  He grimaced. “It was a bit of a mutiny tonight, but don’t tell anyone.”

  “I won’t say a word. I thought it was great though. People really noticed you. They saw what you can do. I wouldn’t be surprised if you got more minutes, next game.”

  “From your lips to Coach’s ears.” He leaned back in his seat.

  While the atmosphere at dinner was relaxed—she’d really had fun—on the drive home, she felt increasingly nervous.

  This was not a date, she told herself. In no way, shape or form, so stop thinking that something might happen.

  But all the self talk in the world couldn’t keep her from imagining what it might be like to kiss Spencer Corbett. He was so unspeakably gorgeous that she couldn’t help but daydream about him parking the car and reaching out to touch her face, just to test the waters. His fingers would be warm. She would press her cheek into his hand just enough to show she was interested. His gaze would soften and he would look at her lips, pulling the seat belt taut as he leaned toward her.

  He might say something like, “Maggie, I know we haven’t known each other very long but I really want to kiss you.”

  And she’d say something brilliantly clever like, “Okay.”

  Their faces would get closer and closer together, their eyes would close and—

  “So, the next exit right?”

  Maggie snapped out of her fantasy and attempted a normal tone of voice, something that wouldn’t expose the fact that she’d been thinking about playing tonsil hockey with the unsuspecting man next to her. “Yes. Make a right at the bottom of the off-ramp.”

  It was a short three minutes from the freeway to her condo.

  “Nice neighborhood,” he said as he parked the car.

  Her overactive brain noted that he actually turned the engine off. Her heart started beating faster. She purposely left her purse on the floor of the car. She didn’t want the evening to end.

  “I like it. So does Kirby. He’s christened every one of these trees.”

  He flicked his headlights off and turned toward her. “I know I’ve said this before, but thank you again for letting Kirby stay with me. You’re a good person, Maggie Hudson.”

  She felt the heat on her cheeks and she had to look away from his gaze.

  She honestly wasn’t sure if she wanted him to reach out and touch her face or not. Daydreaming was one thing. Actually being confronted with Spencer Corbett as a man who wanted to kiss her was a whole other ball game. He was a freaking NHL player that she’d mooned over from afar for years, even objectified as nothing more than someone to fulfill all her dirtiest fantasies. (Yes, her home screen had once been him, shirtless at the beach coming out of the surf, his package not nearly as defined as she’d wished it had been.)

  “You are too. You picked Kirby up on the side of the road and took him in. A lot of people would have driven right—”

  A rap on the passenger window startled them both.

  11

  Spencer frowned. It was almost one o’clock in the fucking morning. Most of the city was asleep. So what was this asshole doing knocking on his car window?

  Maggie glanced at Spencer, looking distraught.

  “You know this guy?” he asked.

  She nodded, grabbing her purse from the foot well. “He’s…my boyfriend.”

  Fuck. He suddenly remembered Maggie stating she had a boyfriend when she showed up at the party that day. His brain seemed to have conveniently forgotten that information.

  “Thanks for dinner and the tickets and everything.”

  “Sure,” he said, as she exited the car. Spencer got out too.

  “Hey, buddy,” he said, keeping his vehicle between them. He didn’t know if this guy had a temper, and things looked pretty suspicious.

  “Hey.” The guy blinked. “Wait a second. Are you…?”

  “Yes,” Maggie said. “It’s Spencer Corbett.”

  “Holy fuck! I’m a big fan, man. So’s Maggie, but you probably know that already. The name’s Pete. Pete Lamont.”

  Spencer walked around to shake the guy’s outstretched hand.

  “Maggie told me all about how you found Kirbs and how she’s letting him stay with you until your dog kicks the bucket.”

  Maggie winced.

  “It’s a known fact that dogs mourn and get depressed, just like people do. In fact, I hope you weren’t giving your dog a lot more attention, especially near the food bowl. Maggie said he wasn’t eating—”

  “It’s a girl.”

  “Because that can cause an eating disorder.”

  Maggie gave Spencer an apologetic smile. ”Pete, come on. It’s late and I’m sure Spencer needs to get s
ome sleep. He was the First Star of the Game tonight.”

  “Everybody loves a star, right?” Pete grinned. “‘You don’t have to be a star, baby, to be in my show,’” he sang. “You know that song? It’s an oldie from the seventies. Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr.”

  “Sorry, man.” Spencer wondered if the guy was lit, because he’d heard whales sing better.

  “Nobody under the age of forty knows that song, Pete.” Maggie was pulling Pete’s arm now. “Thanks for the ride home, Spencer. Talk to you soon.”

  Spencer lifted a hand and watched them walk up the pathway.

  As he got back on the freeway, he tried not to feel like an idiot. Maggie was a smart, sexy woman. Of course she had a boyfriend. A woman that beautiful, that funny, that witty wasn’t going to be long on the market. Hell, she was probably close to being engaged.

  And yet, what was Jade doing then, trying so hard to match them up? What was that about? Surely her best friend knew Singing Pete.

  The next morning, he was getting out of the shower when the doorbell rang. He immediately thought of Maggie, but realized as he was hurriedly pulling on pants that she was probably already in her classroom, teaching.

  “Hello!” a familiar voice called. “It’s Stacy!”

  He got to the first floor just in time to see her close the front door. She was wearing a low-cut pair of jeans and a cropped top and he was dismayed to see a plastic container of food in her hands.

  “Hey, what are you doing here?” he asked.

  “I had some extra shepherd’s pie and thought you might like some.”

  “Wow. Thanks.” He knew better than to pop the top and smell it. “What’s shepherd’s pie?”

  “It’s English comfort food. Vegetables and meat, topped with mashed potatoes.”

  That sounded good to him, but knowing Stacy, she’d done something strange to it. And he was right.