She smacks me with a pillow, clearly too wired to formulate a thought.
“I sent you a picture of my hair!”
“I thought you were making out! You never sleep with guys this quickly.”
“Oh, don’t worry…we didn’t sleep.” By now, I’m grinning. “It was ah-mazing.”
She falls back onto the bed. “You’re a goddess. Ryan Pierce. Ryan Pierce.”
“He’s just a normal guy,” I say, remembering our shared laughs, the way he touched my hair, caressed my skin. “And I hate to say it, but…”
“You like him.”
I nod. “A lot.”
“Well, you’re going to that wedding with him, right?”
“As a friend…with benefits.”
“When is it?”
“Just under a month away.”
“You won’t see him until then?” she asks. “How does this whole thing work? I usually don’t date, I just…well, I have one date and that’s it. So what’s the protocol? Does he call you, or do you call him?”
I shrug. “We’re figuring things out. I don’t want to put any pressure on him. I went into this agreement knowing full well it’s not going anywhere.”
“Don’t say agreement, it seems so formal.”
“I sort of demanded sex.”
“Who are you?” Lisa asks, forgetting about the wine glass in her hand as she stares at me. “I’m the one who has irresponsible one-night stands. You’re the responsible one who dates guys for seven years and then takes a break for three.”
“That happened once, in high school, and it was hardly serious. He didn’t even ask me to prom.”
“Yea, because he was a douche.”
I ignore her commentary, hugging the pillow she throws at me. “Last night didn’t feel irresponsible. It felt like the best thing in the world.”
“Ohmygod.”
“What?”
“Are you in love?”
I swallow hard. I’ve been wondering the same thing, but I can’t admit it. It’s too crazy. “I can’t be. It’s too soon. We only met a few weeks ago, and we just had sex for the first time last night.”
“And the second?” She’s fishing now.
“And maybe the third,” I say. “Like I said, awesome.”
“I need to get laid.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “Probably.”
“What happens next?” she asks. “Are you just supposed to stay a free bird while you wait for the wedding?”
My phone rings, interrupting the conversation. I look at the name. Ryan. “One second.”
She peeks at the screen then gives me a conspiratorial wink. “I want to listen. Let me listen, please.”
I roll my eyes, but I answer it in front of her. “Hello?”
“I booked your tickets,” he says. “Confirmation will be in your inbox shortly, sweetheart. I’ll see you in a month, and not a day later.”
“Okay,” I say, my heart thumping at the sound of his deep, rolling voice. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“Nervous?”
“Yes,” I admit.
“Me too,” he says. “I miss you.”
In the background, I hear a woman saying Ryan’s name, louder and louder until finally, I say, “I think someone’s calling you.”
“I told you I’ll be right there,” he says, his voice carrying over a little distance as he speaks away from the phone. “Sorry, I had a meeting with my coach and Jocelyn, and we grabbed some drinks after.”
“I thought she was flying out earlier,” I say, and then realize that sounds as if I’m jealous—which I’m not. I’m definitely not jealous that she’s there, next to him, and I’m not, so I quickly add, “I mean, things must have gone well if she’s sticking around, right?”
“Great!” he says, and his voice is light and excited. “We won’t have the contracts finalized until, well, after you’re here, but it’s looking like I’ll be playing for the Lightning next year.”
“That’s great news,” I say, my heart soaring at the idea of him being in the same city as me. “I’m happy for you.”
Jocelyn calls for him again, and Ryan lowers his voice. “I’m sorry, I’ve gotta go. Jocelyn’s flight is leaving soon, and she asked if I could drop her off.”
“Okay, well, thank you again for the tickets. You didn’t have to buy them.”
“I need you there.” He says the words, but sounds distracted. “Call me tomorrow. Goodnight Peretti.”
“Night.”
Before I can ask in what exact capacity Ryan Pierce could ever need me in his life, he hangs up. It was probably a slip of the tongue, and I try to push the thoughts away.
But the thoughts persist. Maybe Ryan wants me to keep his mother off his back, or he just wants an easy hookup with no strings attached. Maybe he wants company out here until he can make real friends. As much as he made me feel wanted this morning—and last night—I can’t shake the thought that it is all so temporary.
When I work up the courage to look at Lisa, she has a gentle, almost kind look on her face. “You’re falling for him, aren’t you?”
I throw the phone on the bed and fling myself backward into the pillows. “Dammit.”
CHAPTER 35
Ryan
“You’re falling for her, aren’t you?” Jocelyn asks as we cruise toward the airport. “What’s her name?”
“Andi,” I say before I can stop myself. I can’t help it. She’s always on my mind, ever since she left my side. She’s been on my mind for days—even before she wrecked it with fantastic sex.
Then, after, when she didn’t turn all clingy and call me a hundred times on the first day, I was almost ready to propose. Even as I drive to the airport, I can’t help thinking that a girl who can make me laugh, who looks hot as hell in a stupid red polo shirt, who is ten times smarter than me and can nearly make me explode with the touch of her hand—what more could a man ever need?
I’m already hard again, wishing she were next to me.
“You told me you weren’t going to get involved.”
Jocelyn’s clipped, ice-cold tone kills the mood in my fantasies. My boner deflates faster than if I’d jumped into an ice bath.
“I’m not involved.”
“You’re having sex with her.”
“What business is that of yours?” I’m pissed, my hand gripping the wheel tight. If I didn’t respect Jocelyn’s work as an agent so much, I would call her an taxi and tell her to get out. But, my Midwestern upbringing left me with some manners, and unfortunately manners don’t involve kicking a woman out of my car. “Who cares if I’m having sex with her? That doesn’t equal a relationship.”
“Maybe if it was a one-night thing, but you’re calling her. I’m not deaf.” Jocelyn’s pissed too, and this isn’t boding well for our working relationship. “When I asked who that girl was this morning when she was coming out of your house, you said nobody.”
“And I meant that she’s nobody you need to care about.”
“But she’s somebody you care about, which makes me concerned. I can’t tell you the number of hockey players I’ve signed who get distracted by their dick the first year of their career. We all look like assholes, and I don’t plan on letting that happen again.”
“Thanks for your concern,” I spit out. “But I can control my dick.”
“Really? Because it sounds like it’s getting away from you.”
“What the fuck, Jocelyn? Why does it matter?”
She turns toward me, eyes like blue steel. “You promised me you wouldn’t get involved. By default, that means she has to be a one-night stand. No strings attached. I don’t care how many one-night bunnies you feel like banging; I care when there are strings connected to the same girl. If you’re fighting me on it this hard, there are a lot of damn strings hanging loose, Pierce. Tie that shit up.”
I hate that she’s right. I hate that this thing, this agreement, whatever stupid idea I had with Andi, has turned into something more. I hate that it’s already affecting my career, and I haven’t even started the season. More importantly, I hate that I’m falling in love with her.