The D-Man

by Stephanie Julian

  And not think about things that didn’t mean a damn thing.

  *****

  “Justin! What the hell are you doing? Let’s go.”

  “Jeez, stop yelling, D. I’m ready.”

  “You s-said that five minutes ago and we haven’t l-left yet. Dude, come on.” Robbie’s voice reached the back of the apartment, where Justin was changing his shirt. “We’re gonna miss the g-game if you don’t g-get your ass in gear.”

  “He wants to make sure he looks good.” Derek’s amusement also reached the back of the apartment and Justin shook his head as he made his way to the front room, still buttoning his flannel shirt over the t-shirt he’d had to change because he’d dripped toothpaste on it. “You know, for the ladies.”

  “Oh yeah? Who—”

  “You say one more word and I will punch you in those perfect teeth.” Justin gave Robbie a look then turned his glare on Derek. “And if you open your mouth one more time...”

  Derek just laughed at him, probably because he knew Justin would never follow through on his threats to hurt his friends.

  If another team’s player went after one of them, that was a different story. Then of course, he’d stick up for them. But just because his friends were sometimes dicks didn’t mean he went around punching them.

  “Looking good, Perry.” Derek made a show of checking him out as Justin walked to the closet to get his coat. Where he thought he’d put it last night.

  Shit. Where—

  He’d dropped it on the chair next to the door. At least he didn’t have to look for it. Robbie was right, if they didn’t leave right now, they were gonna miss the start of the game, even if Vivi lived only a few miles away.

  “All right, idiots. Let’s go. I’m ready. Robbie, grab the beer before we leave.”

  Robbie did as he was told and followed Derek out the door so Justin could lock it behind them then they all headed for the stairs.

  “Where’re we going again?” Robbie asked. “And where’s Will? I thought he was coming too.”

  “He’s picking up Jess.”

  Robbie shook his head. “I don’t know why they just don’t move in together. They’re practically attached at the hip.”

  Justin wondered the same thing but didn’t want to ask because Will was the best roommate he’d ever had and had become a really great friend.

  Justin wasn’t looking forward to the day Will moved out. He was pretty much dreading it.

  “Of course, we all know why Derek hasn’t moved in with Sophie yet.” Robbie snorted. “She’d dump his ass five minutes later because he’d never shut the fuck up.”

  “The only reason you’re still standing, Junior, is because you’re holding the beer and I don’t want you to drop it. Besides, the only thing we’d be doing five minutes after we moved in together is getting naked.”

  While Robbie and Derek shot insults back and forth, Justin just shook his head and headed for his truck in the parking lot. He’d agreed to drive. It’d keep him from doing something stupid, like drinking too much and letting his mouth get away from him.

  All morning, he’d been telling himself not to read too much into her invitation. She’d practically invited the entire team. This wasn’t a date.

  But now would be the perfect time to ask her out.

  And he wanted to ask her out. But he was totally out of practice. For the past six years, he’d dated the same girl. Hell, up until several months ago, he’d thought he was going to marry her.

  But even before she’d broken up with him, he’d known something was missing. He just didn’t know how to approach it with Ashley. She’d always seemed so...

  “Hey, man,” Derek asked. “You know where you’re going?”

  Justin shoved thoughts of Ashley out of his head. “Yeah, I looked at the directions Vivi texted the group.”

  “Just checking.” Derek settled into shotgun while Robbie climbed in the back. “You looked kinda...lost.”

  Justin didn’t answer as he got them on the road. He knew his way around the area pretty well since he’d spent the better part of the last three years in Reading so he knew generally where he was going. He’d never been to Vivi’s house, though, and that kinda made it hard for him to breathe.

  You’re an idiot.

  Yep. Total dweeb. He just hoped she didn’t realize how much of one.

  “Hey, man. You okay?”

  Derek kept his voice low so Robbie couldn’t hear him over Garth Brooks rolling out of the speakers. The guys usually groaned and threw things at him when it was his turn to pick music. But hey, Garth calmed him.

  And he’d be damned if Derek hadn’t picked up on that.

  Justin checked on Robbie in the backseat but the kid was bopping his head along to “Friends in Low Places,” staring out the side window, totally oblivious to anything else.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Yeah, I’m gonna call bullshit on that. You still worked up over Ashley?”

  It would’ve been a good excuse. He’d just say yes and let Derek tell him how he needed to move on. They’d had this conversation before. Several times, actually. Every time Derek told him to nut up. That she wasn’t the one and he needed to find a rebound girl.

  He nodded, keeping his attention on the road, figuring Derek would drop it.

  “Nah, bullshit again, dude. You’re totally hung up on Vivi. Which is good, ’cause it means you’re getting over Ashley. Now, we just need to get you to be able to talk to Vivi without freezing up.”

  Sighing, he shook his head. “I don’t need your help to talk to women.”

  Which was pretty much bullshit. He sucked when it came to talking to the opposite sex. They might as well be from another planet.

  Ashley had been the one to pursue him in high school. He hadn’t had to do much other than nod when she asked him out. The fact that he’d known her most of his life had helped. He’d been lucky enough to play for the local OHL team and had been able to stay at home and go to school with the kids he’d grown up with.

  He’d known Ashley most of his life. He’d been comfortable with her.

  Damn. That sounded pretty...lame.

  “Dude. You’re right. You don’t need help. You need a goddamn miracle.”

  Justin sighed and thought about giving Derek a shot in the jaw but, with his luck, he’d crash.

  “You get off on seeing how far you can push someone before they punch you, don’t you?”

  Derek grinned like a loon. “I’ve got a gift. But you still need help.”

  Justin just shook his head, intent on ignoring one of his best friends. A damn good friend who meant well, but if he didn’t shut up, he’d have another bruise to add to the collection from the game last night. Derek had managed to get into a couple of fights that’d left him with a black eye and bruised ribs.

  “What’re you gonna talk to her about?”

  “Now I gotta have a list of topics? What the hell? What are you? My freaking speech teacher?”

  “Nah, man.” Derek shrugged. “You don’t need a list. Just have a couple of ideas to pull out if the conversation stalls.”

  Justin snorted. “And how the hell would you know this? You never shut up. When the hell would you need to have a list of topics?”

  “I have a gift, dude. But you don’t. You need help.”

  Yeah, he did, but his so-called friend didn’t have to rub that in.

  “So you’re lucky you have me to help you along,” Derek continued without taking a breath. “You can’t just rely on hockey to get you through. And she’s probably not into videogames so I wouldn’t even bring those up. What else do you do? Hell, maybe you are screwed.”

  Now Justin did reach over and punch Derek’s shoulder, careful not to get anywhere near D’s ribs.

  “Shut up, asshole. I don’t know why you’re busting my balls. We’re just going to watch a game.”

  “Uh-huh. Dude, just admit it. You wanna be more than a casual acquaintance with Vivi. And I get it. She�
��s cool. I like her.”

  Yeah, so did Justin. And that was the problem. He hated how tongue-tied he got around her. She was just so...out of his league.

  “And I’m pretty sure she likes you.”

  Justin shot Derek a quick glance, but the guy didn’t look like he was giving him a hard time. Derek actually looked serious. No way would Justin fall for that.

  So he ignored his teammate and Derek let him slide, turning around to talk shit to Robbie. Luckily, they pulled up to Vivi’s house a couple minutes later so Derek never got back around to busting on Justin.

  Derek was still ribbing Robbie when they got to the front door. Justin had just started to laugh at Robbie’s comeback to one of Derek’s asinine jokes and was lifting his hand to knock when the door opened.

  And Vivi stood there, huge smile on her beautiful face, rainbow-colored hair sliding over her shoulder. Her bare shoulder. She’d cut off the neckline of her sweatshirt and it had fallen down her left arm.

  His mouth went dry.

  “Hey, guys. We were beginning to think you weren’t gonna show up but then we figured Derek had to make sure his hair was just right. Come in.”

  She stood back and opened the door wider to let them through, but it wasn’t until Derek gave him a shove that Justin got his feet moving.

  He nodded at Vivi as he passed by, trying not to visibly suck in air because it would smell like her. She smelled like something spicy and sweet, all at the same time. How the hell did she do that?

  Get it together, asshole. She’ll be throwing you out on your ass in a few seconds for being weird.

  Amazingly, he didn’t trip over his own feet as he walked farther into the house.

  “Just throw your coats on the couch in there,” Vivi pointed toward the room to the left of the front door as she moved past him, “then come on back and join the party.”

  To give himself a few more seconds, he took Derek’s and Robbie’s coats and carried them to the room Vivi had pointed to.

  Enough ambient light flowed into the space to make it easy for him to see where he was going, even if there was no lamp.

  He could clearly see the couch piled with other coats and walked over to drop the ones he was carrying. He was about to leave when more light flooded the room from somewhere else.

  As he turned, his gaze snagged on the table in front of the window. No, not a table. A desk with a slanted top. Several large drawings lay on top, and he walked over to look at them.

  Beautiful. Absolutely stunning pieces of art obviously meant to be tattoos. He knew because these looked exactly like the kind of sketches his brother would do before inking them into someone’s skin.

  There were at least twenty in various stages of design. Some were finished. Some were obviously just started. All of them were amazing.

  He was so intent on the pictures he didn’t realize someone was in the room with him.

  “Hey, I wondered if you got lost.”

  He whipped his head around to see Vivi leaning against the doorframe between this room and the next. He couldn’t really see her face because she was backlit so he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Of course, he probably wouldn’t have been able to tell anyway because he pretty much sucked at being able to read women.

  But as she moved closer, he saw a slight smile on her face.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to...” He waved at her drawing table and the artwork. “These are great.”

  She shrugged and shook her head. “Just some stuff I’m working on.” Then she paused for a few seconds, watching him closely. “Have you thought about letting me take a look at your art? I mean, I know it can be really personal but I’d love to see it.”

  Honestly, yeah, he had. But every time he thought about letting her get that close to him and spending that much time with her, he got a hard-on. How the hell would he be able to keep his dick from getting hard and broadcasting how much he wanted her when she was so close to him?

  When he didn’t answer right away, she said, “Sorry. I don’t want to pressure you into doing something you don’t want to do.”

  Moving past him, she grabbed the laptop he hadn’t noticed off the low table in front of the couch and walked toward the entrance into the kitchen, which he could see just behind her.

  She stopped in the open doorway and looked back over her shoulder at him, eyebrows raised. Waiting for him to follow.

  Yeah, sure, he’d follow her. Pretty much anywhere.

  When he started walking, so did she, leading him to the table along the back wall of the kitchen. Sitting at the table, she opened her laptop and clicked a few buttons.

  Then she motioned to the chair next to her and gave him another look. This one he could read clear as the red line on the ice. It said, “Sit if you’re not afraid.”

  He definitely wasn’t afraid of her. At least not physically. She couldn’t weigh more than a hundred ten pounds soaking wet, and the top of her head wouldn’t even brush the underside of his chin.

  Hell, he had no idea why he’d hesitated.

  Bullshit.

  Okay, okay. Maybe he didn’t want to get his heart trampled. And she looked like a girl who could do it.

  Beautiful. Sharp tongue. Quick mind. She could cut you down to size with a few words or make you want to own her body and soul with one look from those blue-green eyes.

  “Justin? You okay?”

  Shit. He pulled out the chair, turned it around, and straddled it, sitting close enough to see the screen but far enough away that their knees didn’t brush against each other.

  Chickenshit much?

  Her fingers flew over the keys as his butt hit the chair, her attention focused on the screen. His attention was all on her. Well, on her fingers, actually. Long and slim and mesmerizing.

  He couldn’t help wondering what they would feel like brushing against his skin. Shit, was it getting hot in here?

  Then his gaze traveled up to her face, her eyes focused on the screen, bottom lip caught between her teeth as she concentrated.

  He wanted to run his thumb against that lip, put his mouth over her lips and kiss her until neither of them could breathe. Not that he’d ever do it without asking first. Jesus, would she say yes? He really wanted her to say yes—

  “So?”

  He didn’t look at the screen right away. She hadn’t turned to look at him so he could study her expression a little more. Of course, he had no idea what she was thinking. But as she continued to stare at her computer, he watched her eyes narrow. As if she didn’t like what she saw.

  So he turned and looked.

  And huffed out a little breath of amazement.

  “Damn, those are amazing. Scroll down. Are there more?”

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her shrug but she scrolled down the page, stopping every so often so he could see the designs.

  And they were amazing. Some of them stunning.

  She had a knack for the 3-D images. Butterflies that appeared to float over the skin and wounds that seemed to open into the body. That’s not to say her other art wasn’t amazing. But some of these were on the level of what his brother was doing, and that was high praise.

  “Vivi...holy crap.”

  She turned to look at him, and he could tell she was trying to figure out if he was being sincere. Like maybe he was complimenting her to get in her pants.

  Hell, he wouldn’t know how to even try.

  But she didn’t know him. Like, at all. Because he never freaking opened his mouth around her. Mostly because he was afraid he’d stick his foot in it and she’d laugh and write him off as a dumbass.

  Which you totally are.

  “Seriously, Viv. These are fantastic.”

  After a second, her lips turned up in the most amazing smile he’d ever seen on her.

  Since the first day he’d met her, if she was in the room, he watched her. Which made him sound like a stalker, which he totally wasn’t. Just hugely crushing on her.

  But he di
d know her smiles because he was totally obsessed with them.

  He’d come to recognize the fake smile she gave to male customers who tried to get her attention. The ones who asked her out and got a quick and brutal “No, but thanks.”

  The genuine smiles she gave the regular customers she liked and her female friends who made her laugh.

  And then there were the smiles she gave the guys she liked. Guys like Derek and Will and Jake, whom she considered friends.

  This wasn’t one of those smiles.

  You’re reading too much into it, man.

  So yeah, maybe he was. But the more she smiled at him, the more he didn’t think he was.

  Then she shrugged and looked back at the computer, though she didn’t lose the smile completely. “Thanks. I’ve always been good at art. It was the one thing I didn’t hate about high school.” Now her smile dimmed and she shook her head. “But it’s not like you can make a living at this. I freelance for some of the tattoo shops around town. I don’t make much but I’d do it free if they’d have me.”

  “Yeah.” He knew exactly what she meant. If he couldn’t play professionally, he’d still be on a beer league where they’d let him play. “So why don’t you do more tattoo design? People pay huge money for work this good. Have you promoted yourself at all?”

  Another shake of her head. “Nah. Too busy waitressing to make real money so I can eat and pay bills. People don’t like to pay for art. A lot of them think it should be free.”

  And he could tell exactly what she thought about that. Like it made her want to stab something.

  “That sucks. But seriously, Vivi, these are really good. Who took the photos? They’re really good too.”

  And again, he wasn’t blowing smoke. Some of these were serious art. At least to his eye.

  “I did. I’m not as good with the camera as I am with a pad and pencil but—”

  “What? Seriously?” He turned to frown at her. “These are amazing.”

  Her smile made another appearance and stayed longer this time. She held his gaze for several long seconds, aa heat burst in his gut like a bomb and he was pretty sure he was about to start sweating. And his dick was stiff as a brick. If she looked down, she’d sure as hell be able to see his hard-on.