Chapter 4
Dean
“All right, pretty girl, let’s see if we can tire ourselves out.”
Cora’s tail wags in response, her entire back half wiggling with the excited movement.
I grab her harness, impressed by how she manages to stand still and step easily into the contraption.
It took me an entire week to figure out how to get the front leading harness on without struggling.
For a puppy, this girl has the patience of a saint.
The second the leash clicks into place, she bounds toward the door where she sits and waits for me.
“Hold on. We can’t forget the essentials,” I tell her, grabbing the Bobcats themed fanny pack off the island and buckling it around my waist. I unzip the front pouch, quickly double-checking that there are plenty of poop bags and training treats inside.
After I’ve added my wallet, keys, and phone, I join Cora by the door.
She stays seated and after a quick praise and scratch behind her ear, we’re leaving for our afternoon walk. As we wait for the elevator, Cora investigates everything her nose can reach, while I think about these past three weeks with her.
I had been expecting a difficult puppy transition period.
Cady had made sure to warn me of all the not-so-pretty sides of raising a dog.
However, Cora has been an absolute dream.
Aside from her first night at my place, where she wouldn’t stop crying in the kennel until I turned on some cartoon show meant for kids in the living room.
Within five minutes, she was out like a light.
She’s only had a couple pee accidents inside, and a pair of old sandals met their doom to her puppy teeth last week.
Other than that, she’s adjusted more beautifully than I had hoped.
The elevator dings its arrival and Cora rushes on. I’d been so nervous that she’d be scared of the elevators and I’d struggle to get her outside to go to the bathroom, but I’m learning that there’s not much that does bother her.
Cora sits beside me just as we come to a stop much too soon to be at the lobby.
I glance up, tightening my hold on the leash just in case whoever wants to go down doesn’t want a puppy greeting them.
When the doors slide open, though, I relax, a smile stretching across my face as I take in the shocked expression of the waiting beauty.
“Goin’ down?” I joke and that seems to snap Arianna into moving. She grins, but it’s not directed at me.
“Oh my God. Finally!” Ari launches herself into the elevator and immediately drops to her knees in front of Cora. “Look at you!”
While she talks to my dog in one of those adorable high-pitched and excited tones, I try not to think about any of the other times Ari has been on her knees in front of me.
The last thing I need is to get a boner right before going on a walk.
“Dean.” She gasps, finally acknowledging me as Cora licks her chin. “She is absolutely perfect.”
I grin, loving the fact that my dog clearly likes her. “She really is. Best decision ever.”
The ding announces our arrival at the lobby and Ari stands, her hand lingering on Cora’s head.
“What brings you to this side of town?” I ask, slapping my hand out to block the doors from closing and nodding for her to get off first.
“Mom sent me to bring leftovers from last night since you guys were away yesterday.” She glances over her shoulder at me as she pushes open the glass door that leads to the street. “Landon has your container.”
“Score. What’d she make last night?” I ask and Ari falls into step beside me. Her mom makes the best food, so there’s no doubt that whatever she sent will be delicious.
I had felt a little guilty missing last night’s dinner, after hearing how disappointed their parents were at my skipping dinner the week prior, but there’s not much I can do when there’s an away game. Plus, in my defense, I wasn’t going to assume they’d be okay with a puppy in their house…
“Her white lasagna and apple pie.”
“Aw, hell yeah.” I fist bump but get distracted by Cora leading me over to the small patch of grass that’s in front of the building. Ari lingers while Cora does her business and my heart skips a beat.
“Taking a walk or do you gear up like this every time you take her out to pee?” Ari’s gaze flicks down to my waist and she smirks. I pat the fanny pack, completely unbothered.
“Only when we’re walking. Makes life so much easier rather than having my pockets weighed down.”
She laughs just as Cora makes her way back to my side and sits. I unzip my pack, grab one of the treats, and give it to her as a reward.
“Where are you heading off to now?” I ask as we continue to stand in front of my building. Ari shrugs, fidgeting with the strap of her small cross-body bag.
“Back home. Dropping the food off was the only thing I had to do today.”
“No work?” I wonder out loud, considering she’s always attached to her laptop or tablet.
She sighs. “I’m trying this thing where I give myself weekends off. It’s really freaking hard. I’ll probably still end up doing something while I watch a movie later tonight.”
“Days off are a struggle for me too,” I say, laughing lightly. If anyone understands how hard it is to simply relax, it’s me. I hold up Cora’s leash. “If you need a distraction, you’re welcome to join us. There’s a dog park two blocks over that she loves.”
Ari chews on her bottom lip for a second, briefly glancing over her shoulder toward her car that’s parked on the street before facing me and nodding.
“Sure, why not? Better to keep busy so I’m not falling back into work.”
There’s no doubt in my mind that I’m grinning like a fool as Ari walks beside me.
The walk to the park is filled with mindless chitchat about her work before we switch to talking about the team.
Briefly, it dawns on me just how easy it is to fall into conversation with Arianna.
She completely understands what I’m saying whether it’s about the game, practice, or anything hockey related.
I know she grew up supporting her brother playing hockey, but the fact that she’s able to hold a real conversation without me having to stop and explain something is refreshing.
Not that I mind educating anyone about my sport when they ask. It’s just nice to be around someone who gets it and who isn’t one of the guys.
“The real question is, what team would you be okay losing to because you know they’re that good?”
I level her with an unamused, playful glare.
“I’m never okay with losing.” I turn my attention to Cora as she runs back to give me the tennis ball she found. “But if I had to pick one…”
“It’d be the Yetis, right?”
Laughing, I chuck the ball and nod. “Yeah. Since they rebranded from the Cougars, they’ve been killing it.”
Ari giggles, beating me at scooping up the ball once more, and throws it for Cora.
“Okay, next question. If you had to play a game in a different position than being goalie, which would you pick?”
“Defensemen,” I say without hesitation.
“That’s not surprising. You’d still be close enough to the net to stop a goal if needed.
” She shakes her head, but the way the sun shines on her face momentarily distracts me.
She bends down just as Cora returns. Instead of dropping the ball to be thrown, the pup plops down, lying on top of Ari’s feet, and pants heavily with the ball still in her mouth.
Arianna squats down, petting Cora, and smiles up at me.
“She’s hands down the best puppy I’ve ever met.”
“Glad it’s not just me. Landon keeps telling me that I’m biased.”
She scoffs, cupping Cora’s face in her hands. “Well, my brother is an idiot.”
“Your words, not mine.” I throw my arms up in defense.
Ari shrugs unapologetically and continues whispering praises to my dog. As Cora rolls onto her back, silently demanding belly rubs, it dawns on me that this past hour with Arianna is the first time we’ve hung out alone and not had sex.
There haven’t been any awkward silences or moments where I wonder if she’s uncomfortable. Being around her now feels right.
And I don’t want it to end.
Shifting my weight from one foot to another, I swallow thickly and will myself to speak.
It’s not normally this difficult for me to talk to a woman.
Granted, any “flirting” that I’ve done in the past two years has been completely half-hearted and done when I knew without a doubt that nothing was gonna happen.
Like last year when I could tell Greyson needed a nudge to make the moves on his girl.
I had no issues telling her she was looking good.
And I wasn’t lying. But it was done to push Grey in the right direction.
Now it’s just me and Ari. The last thing I want to do is something that would mess up whatever this is that we have going on.
That’s why I haven’t told her just how much I love being around her.
How badly I ache to be more than just a sneaky fuck.
I look forward to our stolen moments more than anything and I always crave more.
Having this distance that’s grown over the last few months is killing me.
All I can think about is when I’ll see her again.
However, the fear of telling her any of that and losing her completely is almost paralyzing.
“Do you wanna grab a bite to eat?” I manage to rush out while crossing my fingers behind my back. If she says no, I can play it off like it’s no big deal.
We’re just two friends out walking a dog…nothing more. It’s fine, totally and completely—
“Only if it’s at the Mexican restaurant we passed on the way here. The margaritas they were serving have been on my mind for the last hour. Plus, they had outdoor seating, so we can keep Cora with us.”
All the breath leaves my lungs in a relieved exhale.
“Margaritas are my weakness, Freckles.”
“Is that so?” Ari pushes to her feet, a mischievous smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. “I wonder what four margaritas will make you do.”
A choked laugh escapes at her openly flirting with me, distracting me for a second before I manage to recover.
“Only one way to find out.” I throw in a playful wink for extra measure before bending to hook the leash back onto Cora’s harness.
For the next few hours, Ari and I sit across from each other, nonstop laughing and talking about everything and nothing.
At one point, she practically begs me to let her watch Cora for the next away game and it’s impossible to ignore.
We don’t make it to four drinks, both of us getting so distracted with talking that we forget about our second round of drinks.
Even as I pay the bill, much to Ari’s disapproval for covering the whole thing, I find myself wanting more time with her.
Arianna doesn’t rush anything either, seeming to keep a slower pace than normal as we make the walk back to her car and my apartment.
The conversation doesn’t falter. It flows from one topic to the next, occasionally taking sharp detours when one of us gets distracted by a side story, but it continues easily, nonetheless.
By the time we stop beside Ari’s car, though, an ounce of awkwardness finally settles between us as we both stand in front of each other. When she says good night and drives off, leaving me and Cora to head up to my condo, the familiar ache of longing takes hold.
As we take the elevator up to my floor, I look down at Cora. Her floppy ears stick out in both directions as she pants happily up at me, and I sigh.
“I am so fucked, aren’t I, girl?”