12. Nick #2
Soft music started from the dock on the other side of the bed and the lights were dim. She crawled into bed first and when I joined her she curled against my side, head resting on my chest. It was comfortable. It was peaceful. “Thanks.”
“How do you feel about your game performance?”
“Good,” I sighed. “I played well, got a few assists and one goal. Couldn’t even tell I was distracted by a curvy blond.”
She laughed. “Is that why you took a few harder than usual hits—were you distracted?”
“No,” I sighed. “But it’s good to know you watched. That fucker Koening likes to play rough whether or not it’s warranted. I got him back good. Did you see that?”
She shrugged. “The highlight reels played them plenty.”
“So it was all work related?”
“Mostly,” she answered coyly. “And maybe the teensiest bit of idle curiosity.” After a long pause, she laughed and snuggled closer, moaning softly when I wrapped an arm around her.
“Good to know. Now why don’t you tell me how work is going for you?” My body relaxed into her plush pillow-top mattress and I closed my eyes as she began to talk.
“Surprisingly good,” she sighed. “I finally feel like I’ve found my rhythm.
Engagement is up and so are ticket sales, which might have something to do with your winning streak and thirst traps.
” Her fingers danced up and down the center of my chest and torso, lighting small but intense fires all over my body.
“It’s not completely terrible being here.
” She sighed heavily before her gaze slammed into mine.
“And I don’t totally hate hockey, but that part is between you and me. ”
I mimicked zipping my lips and locking them tight. My lips curled into a smile. This was nice. It felt right and easy, so normal like we’d been doing it for years instead of weeks. “So you’re saying I’ve converted you into a hockey fan?”
She rolled her eyes. “Nope, I’m saying the Thunderhawks might have forced me to look at it through grown-up eyes.”
“That’s good, Sonya, and not just because I’m a hockey player.” I kissed the top of her head. “Also because I imagine it might improve things with you and Coach Mac.” Why in the hell did I bring him up now, when I was naked with his daughter?
It was just a moment, but Sonya froze before she allowed her body to relax into me as she pressed a kiss to the spot just above my nipple.
“I’m not sure that’s possible. Dad and I are…
we’re fine. Mostly, we’re fine,” she amended with an unamused laugh.
“But we can’t change the past. The childhood I never got. The reason behind it.”
She knew such a different Coach Mac than I did and it was hard to reconcile the two versions. “Do you want to change it?”
She shrugged. “I don’t think it can be changed. Working in a different sport and a different organization showed me something that makes it pretty difficult.”
“What?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
“There are plenty of coaches, most have wives and children, and coach at a higher level than he ever did. But you know what? They made time for their families, tried to give their kids as normal a life as they could in all the chaos. Because they wanted to.”
And the unspoken accusation was that Coach Mac hadn’t wanted to. “Ah, shit, Sonya. I’m sorry, babe.”
“Don’t be. I’m glad for those kids but now you see why it’s not as easy as I like hockey now so Dad and I are cool .” She let out a heavy sigh and sat up, facing me with a serious expression on her face. “Which brings me to something else we need to talk about.”
Tension coiled through my body and dread slithered from my chest before it settled in my gut. “Okay,” I swallowed. “I’m listening.”
“This thing between us, it was supposed to be fun and light. It was supposed to be carefree and it feels a bit more serious than that to me.”
“Me too,” I said automatically, wondering what she was getting at. “But?”
“No buts, I swear. We just need to be careful.”
I swallowed around a thick lump in my throat. “Careful how?”
She hesitated, shaking her head as if she didn’t want to say whatever it was on her mind.
“I don’t want my dad involved in our relationship.
Not because I’m ashamed or anything ridiculous like that, but because he has a way of making things more difficult than they have to be.
Especially when it comes to me and his players.
He’ll overreact and I don’t want you impacted because of me. ”
Silence, stiff and troubled, settled between us for a long moment. I didn’t want to hide Sonya from the world and I didn’t want to be her dirty little secret either, which this was starting to feel like. “You think he’d bench me for dating you?”
“Honestly? I don’t know and that’s the point.
He’s been absent most of my life so he tends to overreact when he gets a chance to play daddy.
” She shook her head. “I don’t want him to make things weird and find a reason to be harder on you, not with the playoffs coming up.
” She was genuinely worried about me and that was the only reason I wasn’t raging out right now.
“I don’t like it, Sonya.”
“I know, me neither. I wasn’t expecting you, Nick, but you’ve been a really great surprise from the first night.” She leaned forward and pressed a kiss over my heart. “Don’t be mad. Please.”
“I’m not,” I promised, sifting her hair between my fingers. “I’m just disappointed. I want to show you off.”
“You mean the girl who wears riding boots to a rodeo?”
I shrugged. “She’s not perfect but she’s hot and sweet and for some reason she seems to like me a whole lot.” And I had no plans to give her up anytime soon. “I don’t like it but if it’s what you need, I’ll do it.”
She shook her head. “This isn’t about me, Nick, I promise you that. I date who I want, when I want. But I don’t want you to face consequences because of me.”
“So you do think this is a real possibility.” My stomach twisted at the thought of that.
“I can’t rule it out, especially since he warned me off his players the day I arrived in town.”
Surprise flashed in my eyes. “That’s why you reacted that way in the locker room. It wasn’t just because I was a hockey player.”
She nodded. “Yeah. I couldn’t stop thinking about the cowboy who’d rocked my world and he turned out to be exactly who he wasn’t supposed to be.”
Those words pleased me in a way I didn’t expect and I cupped one side of her face, bringing her close enough to see the shades of green flecks in her eyes. “I could say the same about you, big city princess. But I want you and I’ll take you any way I can get you.”
Her eyes, her lips, hell her whole damn body softened. “I don’t want to hide you, I just want to protect us and your career.”
“I get it. I don’t like the hiding but I get it. Promise.”
Relief flashed on her face and then she smiled. “I’m glad you came over tonight, Blaze.”
“Me too,” I assured her. “I couldn’t stay away.”
“Good. But you’ll tell me if it gets to be too much?” She shook her head. “I know it’s silly but I can be a lot.”
“You are a lot, Sonya. A lot of woman. A lot of sass. A lot of warm, capable woman and you make me feel a whole lot of things. But I’m still here because I don’t want to be anywhere else.”
“Nick,” she whispered and then her lips were on mine and we were done talking.