Page 23 of The Goalie in Room 1

“Really? You’ll actually look? You’re not just saying that?” I asked. I had to. Had to be sure he wasn’t just saying yes to shut me up.

“Yes. I will look. I won’t promise anything else. Just a look. That’s it.”

Even though he hadn’t said he’d do anything, that yes was still more than anyone else had given me in months. Staring at him, I didn’t know what, or rather how, to respond. I needed to respond. Right? Like that…fuck! What do you say to the man who ogled you, made your dick stand up and take notice, and then agreed to grant your greatest wish? The one you’d carried for months and months.

“Cool,” I said, finally. I sagged further with a relief that made my knees freaking weak. “Cool, cool, cool. Best night ever. Maybe.”

“Maybe?” Dr. Vale asked with a laugh.

My eyes widened. Shit. I’m fucking this up.

The thought filtered through my head, woven around the thought of how gorgeous he was when he laughed. I made this beautiful, intelligent man laugh.

“Yes,” I said. “Maybe. I mean, yeah.”

He laughed again, his gorgeous face shining with a soft smile. “Are you sure?”

My head nodded yes and shook no at the same time. It kind of made me dizzy. “I mean, yeah, of course I’m sure. I got an appointment with the elusive, world-famous surgeon I’ve been chasing down a referral to since the spring.”

“That seems like it would’ve put the night firmly in the best-night-ever column,” Aaron said.

My head jerked toward him. I’d forgotten he was standing there. I stared at Aaron for several minutes, then back at the doctor standing before me, looking like sex on a stick, and words fell out of my mouth. “Well, I also absolutely murdered whatever chance I had of getting railed by the sexy silver fox Daddy who couldn’t take his eyes off me tonight.”

My eyes widened, probably making me look comical or crazy, or a combination of the two. Too late to stuff the words back in my mouth, so I added, “So, yeah, that kind of knocked the night down a peg or two.”

The good doctor’s face above his beard pinked, and I patted myself on the back mentally. Aaron, whom I’d forgotten again, sputtered and coughed.

“Oh fuck no. I’m outta here. I don’t need to know what kinky-ass shit my brother likes getting up to,” Aaron said, spinning on his heel with an I’m-about-to-puke look on his face.

“You are most definitely a brat,” Dr. Vale said, and I grinned, only for it to falter when his tone of voice registered. Resignation, or perhaps disappointment.

I understood the tone as much as I identified with the brat he labeled me. Twenty minutes ago, this man had stared at me as if he wanted to eat me alive. Twenty minutes ago, I would’ve let him. Happily. Enthusiastically. Finding out he was Dr. Thaddeus Vale changed nothing that happened since we laid eyes on each other, but it changed things going forward. I needed to rein myself in and treat the man seriously. If I wanted him to take me seriously, that is.

“So, um…did Aaron invite you, Dr. Vale?”

“Kid, if you can call my brother Aaron, I think you can call me Thad.”

I smirked. “Thad, not Thaddeus?” So much for not flirting with the man.

“Definitely not Thaddeus.”

“Don’t most parents name their kids similarly? Aaron and Thaddeus seem like⁠—”

He laughed but didn’t answer the question. Instead, he asked, “So, Cash Benjamin, huh?”

“Technically, Thad, it’s Caspian Benjamin, but I’ve always just been Cash. Unless I’m on the ice.”

“Oh yeah? What do your boys call you?”

“Money or Benji.”

He nodded. “I did not get that lucky.”

Wait, did he… “You played?” I asked, momentarily shifting my weight onto my right leg to give the good leg a break. Pain shot through the bad leg, setting my teeth on edge. I shifted immediately back to the left. A tired good leg was better than the pain in the right. I’d definitely been on my feet too long today.

He nodded, then glanced around. He walked off, coming back a few moments later with a couple of barstools. He motioned for me to sit.

I dreaded it. My leg hanging would only make the⁠—