Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
ZOMA
I didn’t see Nova anywhere. Did it matter though? The girl knew how to take care of herself. But it would bug me if I didn’t at least put eyes on her. “Hey, Ace, I’m going to see where Nova’s at. I’ll be right back.” Lifting onto my toes, I kissed his cheek.
“I’ll go with you.” He made to follow me.
“No, I’ll be fine. You make sure Myles doesn’t fall down and order us a new set of drinks. Okay?” I patted his large bicep and strolled into the throng of people. Knowing her, she’d found someone and was making out in a corner somewhere.
As I wound my way through the bar, a man in another leopard suit stopped in front of me. “Oh, hey, my twin.” He looked me up and down. “My, you are gorg, aren’t you?”
“Thanks, uh, you too.” He was a good-looking guy, bigger than me but not bigger than Ace, with dark chiseled features.
“Name’s Simon, what’s yours?” He gave me a charming grin and sipped a pink drink from a plastic cup.
“My name’s Zoma.” This felt weird. I was here with Ace. I’d just had a mind-blowing experience with Ace in a restroom, one that almost had me blurting out feelings I wasn’t supposed to be feeling yet. I swayed, looking past him. Where the hell was Nova?
“Zoma, that’s an interesting name. Is it ethnic? What nationality are you?” He stepped closer to me. His bent arm holding the drink brushed my abs.
I didn’t want to be a dick. I should answer his question and go. “It’s not ethnic. It’s a name my mom made up. She’s sort of, uh, creative.” I stepped back. “Anyway?—”
“Can I get you a drink? Us kittens should stay together, don’t you think?” With his gaze dropping to my mouth, he trailed his tongue over his lips.
“No, he’s not getting a drink with you. He’s my kitten.” Ace popped up behind him, swung to me, and tossed an arm around my shoulders, tucking me into his side. “Now, beat it.”
Holy shit. My gaze rose to meet with Ace’s. “Um…”
Simon shot a glare at Ace. “Oh yeah? And you are?”
“His boyfriend.” He widened his stance. “Dude, you don’t want to fuck with me.” He stepped closer to Simon, standing over him, his gaze hard.
“Whatever.” Simon focused on me. “He’s hot, Zoma, but damn, he’s possessive.”
“I like him this way.” With my heart blooming with warmth, I gave Ace a smirk. Yeah, he’d never let anyone or anything get between us. My chest pinched. Except maybe when he took his NHL contract. Fuck.
“Move along.” Ace waved him off and faced me.
With a tsk, Simon stomped off.
“Did you find Nova yet?” He freed me and looked around us.
“No, I haven’t.” I pursed my lips. She hadn’t texted me, had she?
Nova came bounding to us from the dancefloor, pulling a smaller guy in a vampire costume behind her. “Hey, guys.”
“Oh, there you are.” I flicked a glance at the guy, done up as a classic vampire with white makeup on his face and a trickle of blood in the corner of his mouth. “Doing okay?”
“Yeah. I found some dick.” She beamed at me and hauled the guy forward. “Justin, meet my friends Zoma and Ace.”
He greeted us both with handshakes and a smile, showing off his fake fangs.
I leaned into her. “So, you good?” I chuckled. How did this guy feel knowing she was referring to him as dick? I snuck a peek at him, drinking from a plastic beer cup. Probably didn’t care as long as he got a hookup.
“I’m great. We’ve been dancing, and Justin here has some moves.” She smiled at Justin, who flashed her a quick smile.
The guy didn’t say much.
“Okay, I’ll be over at the bar with Ace and his friends. Myles is pretty drunk.” I swiped my hand around until it brushed Ace’s, and he threaded our fingers together.
“Sounds good. I hope Myles doesn’t puke or something. He’s too cute to be puking at the bar.” She giggled, ticking her shoulders.
Rolling my eyes, I said, “You’re not the only one who thinks so.” With my gaze landing on Ace, I said, “Come on, let’s go back.” I side-hugged Nova and left for the bar. As predicted, she was fine.
After a few hours of dancing and making Myles drink enough water to sober up, we all went out for an after-hours meal at a local twenty-four-hour restaurant, and then Ace and I went back to my place.
Ace followed me into my apartment with his overnight bag in his hand.
I strolled into the kitchen and flicked on the lights. “Water?” It was four a.m. already, and I was exhausted. Shit, I still had my lessons in the morning.
“Yes, please.” He set his bag on the floor by the hallway and stepped behind me, winding his arms around my waist and kissing my cheek, then nuzzling into the back of my neck. “I had so much fun with you tonight.” He swayed us both.
“Me too.” I grabbed two waters out of the refrigerator and twisted in his arms. I couldn’t remember a better Halloween. They’d always ended in fights when I’d been with Brody. Usually because I’d catch him hitting on another guy. But not Ace. He’d been too busy making sure no one was hitting on me. “Here.” I handed him the water.
As I twisted off the cap, I gazed deeply into his dark-brown eyes, locks of his bangs falling across his forehead from under his cowboy hat. “Ace, you really know how to make a guy feel special.” I sipped some water.
“You are special, Zoma.” He worried his lower lip. “Even with restroom sex, it was special, you know?”
My heart danced. Had he felt the same way I had? “Yes, I do know. It was like we were the only ones in the?—”
“World. No one else exists when I’m with you.” He cupped my cheek, his gaze darting between my eyes. “I, uh…I wanted to say, um…”
My eyes grew wide. Was he going to say it? He loved me? My mouth fell open. I couldn’t say it back. We shouldn’t be going there, not when he was leaving in May. Patting his chest, I said, “It’s okay, Ace. We should go to bed. I have to get up for lessons in the morning.” With my gut tied in a knot, I swallowed hard and walked away from him. “Come on.” My eyes stung. This hurt. How the hell could I do this to him?
He ambled behind me, his head hanging. “I’ll see you in there. I’ve got to use the bathroom.”
“Yeah, sure.” As my vision blurred, I swiped at my eyes. I had to rein this in somehow. We were getting too serious.
After getting ready for bed, we both slid between my covers and I flicked off the lamp on my nightstand.
Ace pushed on my shoulder. “Turn over. I’m spooning you.”
“Of course.” It was how we’d slept the first time. I rolled to my side, the heat of his body stretched over my backside, and his arm hooked around me.
He breathed me in, snuggling his face into my neck. “I want you to know I brought some things over to stay here since it makes the most sense that I spend the night here when we can be together.” He kissed my nape.
“Yeah?” I tucked my hand under my pillow and stared into the darkness of my room. “Like what?” Was he marking his territory at my place? A smile crept over my mouth. I couldn’t say I didn’t like it. Zoma, how is this line of thinking reining things in? Shit, I was too tired to argue with myself.
“Like an extra toothbrush and some comfortable clothes, so I don’t have to pack a bag every time I come over here.” He tightened his arm around me. “I do enough of that shit when I’m on the road for games.”
“Yeah? Am I supposed to wash your clothes for you?” My smile widened and warmth snuck through my chest. It would remind me of him when he wasn’t here.
“Uh, would you mind?” he asked.
“Absolutely not.” I slid his hand up and kissed his knuckles. Holy hell, I was in trouble here. He made it damn near impossible not to fall in love with him.
The next day, I’d slept in until the last minute, leaving Ace in my bed with a key to my place, and then did lessons with my kids. Between all the emotions of the evening and not getting any sleep, I’d barely been able to concentrate.
After getting home and taking a nap, I set out to study, sitting on my couch with a textbook. My phone buzzed on the coffee table. Was it Ace? My pulse kicked up.
Grabbing the phone, I looked at the screen. It was Nova. With a quick inhale, I answered it, putting the call on speaker. “Hey, girl, what’s up?”
“What’s up? How did things go with Ace yesterday? You two sure looked cuddly and in love last night.” She giggled.
“It was fantastic, but we’re not in love.” I sighed. He’d almost said…something last night. But I’d run like the coward I was.
“But you two were so cute together. I’m telling you, Zoma, the man looks at you like a man in love,” she said.
Should I tell her? Why not. “When we got home last night, he, uh, it felt like he might?—”
Squealing into the phone, she said, “He tried to tell you? Oh my God, what happened exactly?”
“I stopped him.” My chest grew tight. “We had a moment, and I ruined it. I was afraid.” I hung my head. And he’d looked upset.
“Zoma Alfred Martin, what the hell do you have to be afraid of? And don’t talk to me about NHL contracts again.” She harrumphed.
“Don’t ever use my full name. You’re not my mother.” I cringed inside a quick laugh. Alfred was my father’s name, and it always sounded so odd being paired with my first name.
“Whatever. Tell me what Ace has done to make you fear falling in love with him?” she asked. “Besides being a hockey player.”
“Uh, he’s a hockey player.” I picked at the hem of my sweats. I was going to get it for that one.
“Zoma, he’s not Brody, for fuck’s sake. He doesn’t treat you at all like Brody treated you.” She huffed.
“I know, he’s so fucking awesome. This is so hard, Nova.” I clutched my athletic shirt over my chest as an ache crept through it. “I don’t want another broken heart.” But wasn’t I already going to have one? Even if we never said those three words to each other before he moved to some hockey town back east, it was going to hurt like a motherfucker.
“You’re like a broken record. You know that? Are you going to spend the rest of the year here keeping your guard up with him? If you do, you’ll never know what could have been.” She exhaled. “You might push him away. I hope you know that.”
“Yeah.” With a frown, I fisted my hand over my thigh. “Anyway, what happened with you and Justin last night?” I needed to quit talking about this because, of course, she was right.
“Justin? He’s still here.” She lowered her voice to an almost whisper. “He was great in bed. There’s nothing like a bisexual man in the sack.” She snorted softly. “Maybe I’ll keep him there and chain him to?—”
“Oh my God.” I shook my head and chuckled. “Okay, so are you going to see him again?”
“Probably. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow,” she said. “I’ll let you know at practice.”
“Sounds good.” I flicked my gaze at my textbook, resting on the couch cushion next to me. I should get back to it. “I have some studying to do, so I should get off the phone.”
“Yeah, okay.” She sighed. “Talk to you later. Bye.”
“Bye.” I ended the call and set my phone next to the book. Her words floated through my brain: You might push him away. Was I already doing that? Did he sense my fear? It had seemed like a little bit of him had shut down by this morning. Fuck.
Study, Zoma . I planted my book on my lap and opened it. Ace had an away game next weekend, and I’d barely see him for a week. I had a week to think about all this.