AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Erika winked playfully. “I like to give your life meaning.”
He snorted. “I have a very full life, thank you very much. Think about it, Erik. We’ve both got it made. Great apartments, friends, dream jobs. What the hell else could we want?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. You don’t wonder sometimes if something is missing?”
He could tell it was a serious question, but he wasn’t sure how to answer it. The truth was, he didn’t think anything was missing, but something about her tone told him she did. “What could be missing?”
Erika fell silent long enough that he didn’t think she was going to answer. “I don’t know.”
She did know, but she wasn’t saying. So he said what she wasn’t. “You mean a relationship, don’t you?”
She shrugged one shoulder, then nodded. “Yeah. I guess I do. Sometimes, I feel…lonely.”
Her confession took Blake by surprise because he would have thought Erika was as happy with her life as he was with his. “Really?”
“You don’t ever feel that way?”
He shook his head. “Not at all. I mean, I’m always surrounded by people—fans, friends, teammates. When the hell would I get lonely?”
She sighed, then shrugged off the conversation. “True.”
“Besides, I thought you were putting romance on the back burner until your residency was over.”
“I’m in the last year, and Hopkins has already hired me to continue on. For the first time in a decade, I feel settled. But you’re right. I am happy. I’m not sure why I’m in a funk, but it’ll pass. Sorry I brought it up.” She changed the subject before he could press her for more. “No game tonight?”
He let her get away with dropping the relationship talk. It wasn’t like he could offer her any advice, anyway. He avoided relationships like the plague and, unlike her, he didn’t feel the pull to seek more than what he already had. “Just an afternoon practice.”
“Guess that means no Mindy.”
Blake grinned. “You know the rule. Sex is my reward for scoring a goal and winning a game.”
“Thought you didn’t believe in denying yourself?”
Blake reached out and ruffled her damp hair. “You’re batting a thousand today on the smart-ass scale.”
Erika ducked out of his reach. “What if the team wins, but you don’t score?”
“No sex, because I didn’t do my part.”
“What if you score a goal, but the team loses?”
“No sex, because I obviously didn’t score enough goals.”
She tilted her head. “You’re weird.”
He laughed. “Nope. I just like to feel like I’ve earned my reward.”
“Mindy,” she said, crinkling her nose, making it clear she didn’t consider that much of a reward.
“Or Paulette or Lara.”
She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I don’t see them as often as I do Mindy.”
Blake considered that, and he knew why. Mindy knew his rules for victory sex, and she appeared to have him on speed dial whenever the parameters were met. He’d had a text from her asking if he wanted to “meet” before he’d even made it back to the locker room after the game last night.
Next time, he’d ignore her texts and give Paulette or Lara a call. Regularly sleeping with Mindy had obviously given the woman the wrong idea.
“What can I say? Mindy’s an enthusiastic fan who knows how to celebrate in style,” he joked, wiggling his eyebrows.
