He needed that height to intimidate opponents on the ice.
“Hey.”
“Hey. Wow, you look great.”
Her smile widened as his gaze swept down then back up to meet hers. And when he smiled, her heart pounded against her ribs like it was trying to escape her chest.
“Not that you don’t all the rest of the time but... You’re beautiful, Vivi.”
Coming from another man, that might’ve sounded stupid. Other guys she’d dated would’ve grunted something about her looking nice, if they’d said anything. Most of them would’ve slapped her on the ass as she walked out the door to show their appreciation.
Yes, she’d dated some assholes.
Justin wasn’t an asshole. They hadn’t even gone on their first date and she knew that for a fact.
“Thank you. You clean up pretty well yourself.”
He was wearing a pair of jeans that fit him like a glove, showing off the strong muscles in his thighs, and the dark green Henley he wore magnified the width of his shoulders and chest.
His smile could light up a room. She realized that the other times he’d smiled at her before, he’d only held her gaze for a few seconds before looking away.
She had the almost overwhelming urge to sink her hands into the shaggy length of his gorgeous, golden brown hair and tug him close enough to kiss.
Would he kiss her back?
Honestly, he didn’t seem like the kind of guy to just shove her up against a wall and kiss the hell out of her. Another reason why she was internally shaking her head at herself.
This guy is way too nice for you.
To an outsider, that would sound like she was dissing herself. But honestly, it was true. Ask any of her friends or her family and they’d tell you how Vivi dated a certain kind guy. The kind who weren’t meant for lasting relationships. What could she say? She had a type.
Justin was definitely not her type.
And yet...
When he smiled at her, like he was now, with that hint of a blush on his cheeks, she wanted him to be her type.
So what changed?
She had no idea. And she didn’t really care because, right now, she was going on a first date with a nice guy. Her first real date in months.
“You ready to head out?” He nodded toward his truck, parked at the curb.
“Sure. Let me just get my coat.”
He stepped inside when she turned around to grab her coat off the chair where she’d set it.
And was charmed all over again when he held it for her so she could slip her arms into it.
Oh, this guy had moves.
Or maybe you just dated assholes.
“So where did you decide we’re going?”
He opened the door for her to slip through then walked out and watched while she locked it.
“Have you ever been to Lititz?”
“Is that a restaurant?” Walking her to the car, he opened the passenger door and waited for her to hop in.
“No, it’s a town. But they have a really cool restaurant called Joboy’s. Their beer is amazing and their food is good. If you don’t mind driving a half hour or so.”
His lips curved again. “Not a problem. I like to drive and I like the company. Win-win.”
Her mouth dried and her stomach tightened.
Oh wow. She was in serious trouble.
*****
Vivi’s laughter rang out and Justin’s fingers wrapped tighter around the steering wheel.
Dinner had been too short. And he’d enjoyed every minute. Hopefully, Viv had too. She’d smiled and laughed all night so he kind of figured she had. The woman had an awesome laugh, low and husky, and it made his dick hard and his stomach tighten into a ball.
And when she spoke, his body reacted like she’d put her hands on him. All over him. Like he wanted her to. And she talked. Not too much, and not all about herself. And he didn’t think it was to cover up his silence.
His former girlfriend accused him on never talking to her. Which was bull. When he had something to say, he said it. Apparently, he hadn’t said enough to Ashley.
He didn’t seem to have that problem with Viv. Things just flowed naturally with her. She didn’t expect him to fill every silence, and their conversation wasn’t awkward.
Which was a huge deal because he always seemed to have awkward conversations with women.
“So, Justin. Are you going to take me back to my place and show me your ink or what?”
Vivi was turned in her seat to face him as he drove. They’d almost arrived back at her place and this was the first she’d mentioned his ink. He’d been waiting for her to ask since he’d picked her up. Had been kind of surprised that she hadn’t bugged him about it during dinner.
He’d been thinking about it a lot.
“If that’s what you want, yeah.”
She didn’t say anything else and he slid her a glance to check her expression.
She just continued to stare at him until a few seconds later, she said, “It is what I want. But only if you don’t mind. Is there a reason you don’t want me to? I mean, I’d totally respect your decision either way. For some, their art is personal, kinda sacred, you know?”
“Yeah, I know.” He took a breath and considered his next words carefully. “My brother... He’s really creative. He’s amazing, actually.”
“Did he do your art?”
Justin nodded. “Yeah. Bryan. He’s got a gift. But...”
His amazingly talented brother was also deeply troubled.
Vivi didn’t push him to continue. Ashley would have.
You really need to stop comparing these women.
“His artwork is museum-quality,” he continued. “The kind that gets sold at auction for a shit-ton of money. But Bryan would never sell anything he created to a gallery or a museum. But he’ll give it away to family and friends without blinking.”
“Sounds like a great guy.”
“He is. He’s amazing.” When he wasn’t sunk in a depression so deep he couldn’t get out of bed for days. “And the art he makes for people’s bodies is just as stunning. But Bryan always says when he does art for someone else, it becomes theirs. It’s no longer his so he doesn’t have a say in what they do with it.”
“Is that why you don’t want to show me your ink?”
He shook his head as he slid her another glance. “No. It’s just...I don’t show it off. It’s just stuff that means something to me.”
“Hey, I will totally understand if you don’t want to show a total stranger your body. Seriously, I’m not trying to make you do something you don’t want to do.”
He saw her shake her head out of the corner of his eye.
“I didn’t mean to make you uncomforta—”
“You don’t make me uncomfortable, Viv. At least, not like that.”
A few seconds of silence before she spoke again and he knew she’d understood exactly what he was saying.
“How do I make you uncomfortable?”
Moment of truth. Don’t blow it.
“You make me want to lose myself in you.”
She fell silent again and this time he couldn’t tell if he’d shocked her or turned her off. Either way, he wanted to take the words back as soon as they’d left his mouth. They seemed so...stupid.
He really wasn’t good at this male-female stuff. Never had been. His parents were quiet, soft-spoken, and genuinely nice people. They didn’t swear, they didn’t yell. They always led with a smile and, unless you really pissed them off, they never got angry. Only his brother Bryan managed to make them lose their shit.
Most everyone who knew Justin and his parents said he was a chip off the block. He accepted that for the compliment it was.
And while that attitude worked for him on the ice, it didn’t work so well with women.
His former girlfriend had loved him but she’d still gotten angry with him when he wouldn’t argue with her. About anything. She’d accused him of not caring enough
to get angry. Which was probably true about some things.
Vivi was passionate about everything, which he really liked about her. He’d loved listening to her talk tonight. Yeah, he’d tried to hold up his end of the conversation but honestly, he could’ve listened to her talk all night and been happy.
He couldn’t understand what she—
“I think that might be the most amazing thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
Her voice had a low, hushed quality that knotted his gut even tighter.
He stole another glance and found her staring at him with wide eyes.
“Is that good or bad?”
“That’s very, very good.”
He smiled. “Glad to hear it.”
“If you come in when we get back to the house,” her voice had a low rasp to it, “I’ll tell you more good things.”
Still grinning when they pulled up to her house a few minutes later, he got out of the truck and got to the other side before she could open her door. He opened it for her and held out a hand to help her out. His truck was higher than a normal car, and shorter people needed a hand getting in and out.
Really, though, he just wanted an excuse to hold her hand.
She took his and let him help her down. But she didn’t release him right away. Instead, she kept hold of his hand as they walked to the door.
“Aly’s probably already in bed. You want a beer?”
Her smile was flirty and hot and, if he was different, he might have leaned in and tried to kiss her. But that wasn’t him. He was a firm believer that anticipation made things better.
So he didn’t.
“Sure, thanks. We’ve got practice tomorrow but it’s not past my bedtime yet.”
She released his hand to open the door and he stuck it in his jeans pocket so he couldn’t reach to take her hand back. Even though he wanted to.
“I know you guys have a pretty strict training schedule during the season. I know Will does. I guess you’ve got to be pretty dedicated to get ahead.”
He followed her through the door and waited for her to close it behind him before he answered.
“If you’re not dedicated, what’s the point?”
She nodded as she stared up at him, her lips curved in a way that made him want to bite them.
That was another thing about Viv. She made him want to do things to her he’d never done with anyone else. He wasn’t a virgin, but he didn’t have the same track record as most of his friends. He’d had sex with three girls in his life. The last was the girl he thought he was going to marry.
Since he’d broken up with Ashley, the only girl he’d even thought about having sex with was Viv. And he thought about it a lot.
He was also a realist. He knew he wasn’t Vivi’s type. Not by a long shot. He’d been shocked as hell when she’d agreed to go out with him.
And now she stood in front of him, staring at him like she wanted him to kiss her.
He wanted to. It’d be so easy to lean down, put his mouth over hers, and kiss her until neither of them could breathe.
“Dedication is a good thing,” she finally said. “I wish I had more.”
She turned with a wry smile and headed for the kitchen.
Justin frowned as he followed her. “Why do you say that?”
She didn’t answer as she opened the refrigerator and pulled out two beer bottles. After she handed one to him, she opened hers and took a sip before she spoke again.
“Because maybe I’d know what I want to do with my life.” She shrugged as she took another sip. “Look at you. You’ve made it to this level in your career by skill and determination. That’s amazing. A lot of people don’t get this far. But you did.”
He heard something in her voice that didn’t jive with the confident woman he believed her to be.
“Hockey’s the only thing I know. I’ve played since I was five. If I hadn’t been able to play professionally, maybe I would’ve gone to college. My grades were good enough, but I knew if I went pro, I’d be earning money instead of spending it. Most of my pay gets banked so if I want to go to college after, I can. If I don’t make it up in a few years, I still have options. And I don’t have a huge student loan waiting to be paid off. I can save enough now to pay for college later. Or not. Maybe I’ll just find something I like to do and do that.”
“You sound like you’ve got it all figured out. That’s amazing.”
“Not really. I have no idea what I’d go to college for. I wasn’t really into anything other than hockey in school.”
“If your passion’s hockey, why would you need to worry about anything else?”
Smiling, he nodded. “I like the way you think.”
Her smile brightened. “Glad to hear it. So...since you think I’m so smart...have you given my offer any more thought?”
He took another sip, stalling for time to consider his answer, but she continued before he could.
“I’m not trying to push you to do something you don’t want to do. If you don’t, just tell me. I’ll be totally fine with whatever you decide. I’d just...love to photograph your art.”
He’d given her request a lot of thought and he’d pretty much decided he’d let her do whatever she wanted because she was seriously into it. Vivi wasn’t some puck bunny trying to flatter him to get into his pants. She seemed honestly interested. Maybe more interested in his art than in him.
Which was bullshit. She’d seemed totally into their conversation at dinner. She’d held up most of the conversation because he wasn’t much of a talker.
But he could listen to her for hours. She could recite a roster and he’d get hard.
Finally, he nodded, knowing he never would’ve turned her down. She wanted the shirt off his back? He’d give it to her.
Her smile broadened until her eyes were only glints of turquoise.
“Really? That’s so awesome! Thank you.”
He shrugged, took another sip of beer, and hoped like hell she didn’t see his hard-on pressing against his jeans.
“Sure. So, ah, when do you want to, ah, do this?”
Her smile turned up the heat and he had to swallow hard.
“Well, I’d love to get you to strip right now but I’m thinking that might be pushing it. And I don’t have my equipment set up. I need do some lighting tests and figure out where to do them—Why are you grinning at me like that?”
“Because I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone as interested in my ink as you are.”
Her smile softened a little, got kind of shy. Or maybe he was seeing something that wasn’t there, because Vivi wasn’t shy.
“It’s just something I’ve always been into. My dad has some ink but he’s old school. When I started getting mine...” She shrugged. “I mean, he didn’t tell me not to. He just kind of made it seem like girls weren’t supposed to have tattoos, you know? Like guys wouldn’t like it if I did.”
“I do think people can have too much ink. If it’s not thought out right, you know?”
“Absolutely. Some people just keep covering their skin with no thought to aesthetics and then it’s just a mess. I always have a plan before I get more. It’s why I don’t have a lot. It has to be perfect and fit in the spot it’s going.”
“You and my brother would get along like you’ve known each other all your lives.”
Setting her beer on the counter, she leaned back against the edge and put her hands behind her.
“What’s he like?”
He had to think about what to say for a few seconds. People who didn’t know Bryan the way he did thought he was the life of any party. Except he wasn’t always. And when he wasn’t, their parents had to lock up the knives and the alcohol and any prescription drugs in the house.
His family didn’t talk about it with anyone. That was how his family handled the situation. No questions. No explanations. No worrying their grandparents. No pitying looks from aunts and uncles. No awkward silences from friends.
Hell, his parents b
arely discussed the situation with him. And when they did talk about it, it was short and to the point. Then they didn’t discuss it again until Bryan had another “incident.”
“He’s so freaking creative, it’s almost scary. He can work on a project for days and he forgets to eat and shower and, you know, be human. Then he comes out of his studio and he’s on a high for a couple of weeks. Until he finds something else to obsess over.”
Justin watched Vivi’s expression as he spoke, saw her realize where he was going with this.
“Does he still live at home with your parents?”
It wasn’t the question he thought she was going to ask and it threw him off for a second. “Yeah. I’m not sure... I don’t know that he’d want to live on his own.”
Which was better than saying he didn’t think Bryan would ever be able to live on his own.
“That’s gotta be tough on him and your parents.”
“I’ve never heard my parents complain. Not once. At least not to me.”
“I’m pretty sure my parents couldn’t wait to get me out of the house. Only problem was, they had to move to Florida to get away.”
Her laughter held no trace of anger or sadness. She seemed genuinely amused.
“You and Aly seem to get along well.”
“Absolutely. I mean, sure, we get on each other’s nerves.” Her lips curved again. “But we know each other so well. She knows if I’m working not to open the door five times an hour and tell me I need to eat. She also knows that I’m a grown woman and I can take care of myself. And that when I rag her about having a stick up her ass, she knows I mean it with love.”
Damn, he really wanted to kiss her. Watching her talk made him want to more than he wanted to score the winning goal in a championship game.
He also knew he could totally fuck it up if he pressed for more.
Not that he didn’t want more. He did. He wanted a hell of a lot more.
He really sucked at dating.
“So, Justin. Are you going to show me your ink? Or have you talked yourself out of it? And is there anything I can do to help you make the right decision?”
Damn, that smile of hers... Seriously, he wanted to grab her and drag her against him and kiss her. He’d ask first, of course, because he couldn’t not ask. But if she said yes...
The D-Man Page 6
