Page 47 of Something Like That

Right. Maybe there was a way to bring back the lighthearted mood from earlier. “Well, I hope you’re not taking anything Kyle says to heart. As I said, he’s a fucking idiot.” She bumped him with her shoulder again.

He turned to her with wide eyes. The corner of his mouth twitched. A much more welcome sight than the disappointment and defeat from seconds ago. “I’ve never heard you swear before, let alone say fuck.”

She shrugged and raised her eyebrows, secretly happy it had worked. “I am a woman of many mysteries.”

He snorted. She laughed, her own tension melting away. Happy that some of the joy from earlier was back, she bent over and unlaced her skates. The release of pressure on her feet made her moan.

It was a small sound, barely more than a rumble in her throat, but he obviously heard it, because he wrapped his fingers around the seat of the bench. Keeping her chin tucked to her chest, she smiled.

She pulled off her skates and wiggled her toes. It felt so good, she sighed.

“You keep doing that and…” His voice was all rumbly. She glanced over at him. The heat in his gaze practically incinerated her on the spot. Had anyone ever looked at her like that before?

The answer to that was an unequivocal no.

She licked her suddenly dry lips. His gaze dropped to her mouth. He swallowed hard. The urge to lean over and press her lips to the strong column of his throat overwhelmed her. She swayed forward a bit and then caught herself.

Jeez, could she be any needier?

She pulled back, a sigh of regret trapped in her chest. They were out in public, with the prying eyes of the gossipy parents of her team all watching. The last thing she needed was the rumor mill to start churning. She and Nick had already given them enough to chatter about tonight.

He was already ready to go, so she quickly changed her shoes and packed her skates away in her bag. He stood and grabbed her bag in one hand and her sticks—she’d brought one of her spares for him to use tonight, even though it was too short for him—in the other and headed for the door.

She should protest, the whole she-was-perfectly-capable-argument one she was intimately familiar with. But she didn’t say anything, because, although she’d never admit it to anyone, she liked being looked after. It was a nice change. She’d spent so much of her life being the one to do the looking after.

It had stopped raining, although the air was still thick with moisture. And frigidly cold. She pulled her coat tighter around herself and followed him to her car. He stashed her stuff in the trunk. She climbed in the driver’s side.

The power locks worked this time—thank goodness—and he slid into the passenger seat. Her little Tercel seemed so much smaller when he was inside. He was just so broad and muscley.

Her mind drifted back to him on the ice, his powerful thighs working. She really needed to stop thinking about those muscles, and the way they rippled and bunched when he moved. Or the way his jeans cupped his tight butt to perfection. She knew it was a cliché, but she’d bet anything you could bounce a quarter off of that sucker.

She turned over the key and the engine sputtered to life. Yeah, she was totally going to have to get that checked out one of these days. Not that there was much a mechanic could do. The car was old. She should really think about getting something a little newer. It was just difficult right now, what with opening the business and her student loan payments and the mortgage on the townhouse and making sure she put enough away for Em’s college fund.

The money Nick was paying her was nice, but she couldn’t go crazy. Her plan was to put a chunk on her student loans and hopefully decrease the monthly payment amount. She’d then be able to tuck a touch more away for Em’s future, and sink the rest back into the business.

She pulled out of the parking lot and into traffic. The windows were fogging up again, so she snapped on the defrosters, lost in her own thoughts. She knew what it was like to have to work and go to school. Because she hadn’t been able to work full time and attend classes, she’d had to work two part time jobs while in school. And even then, she could only take classes part time. When she’d factored in the cost of childcare, they’d barely scraped by.

And she was not going back to that again. Ever. That feeling of insecurity, the fear that, at any moment, something would go wrong, and then everything would just fall apart. One wrong move and the whole carefully balanced house of cards would come crashing down.

“You okay?”

His question startled her and she glanced over at him. He was staring at her, but his features were shadowed, so she couldn’t get a read on him. The concern in his voice was very real, though.

She gave him a quick smile. Her grip on the wheel was so tight, her fingers ached. “Yeah, I’m good.” She relaxed her grip, took a deep breath. “Do you want to go grab something to eat? I know it’s a bit late, but—”

“I’m not hungry.” He reached over and brushed the back of his hand along the outside of her thigh. It was like he touched her with a live wire. Every nerve ending in her leg sparked to life. “At least not for food.” His voice was a deep, dirty rasp in the dark.

And, oh, that cheesy line should absolutely not turn her into a puddle of goo. But it did. It really did. At this point, the only thing keeping her upright was the seatbelt.

She opened her mouth to say something, but her mouth was so dry, she couldn’t get any words out. She swallowed and tried again. “Your hotel?”

He hesitated for just a fraction of a second. “Sure.”

Uh oh. “It’s not like… I mean, I would love for you to come back to my place. It’s just that… well, Em is there tonight, and I don’t really think—”

“It’s cool, Alex.” He reached over again and brushed his fingers over her wrist this time. “I understand.” But his tone said differently. There was a thread of hurt buried deep in his words.

She flicked on the blinker at the next intersection and turned onto an unfamiliar residential side street. It was deserted on this cold, blustery night. She pulled to stop just outside the circle of light cast by the streetlamp. There was enough light in the car for her to see, but they wouldn’t be seen by anyone who happened to be looking out their window.