“No,” Reid said as he turned his head so he could look out the front window.
The word wasn’t meant to answer Sarah’s question. Reid wasn’t sure it was even directed at the woman sitting next to him. He’d figured something out about himself as he sat through fifteen minutes of Sarah being treated more like an object than a person. He didn’t want to be the kind of guy who treated women like that.
Some of his teammates, Nico included, had no problem bringing a different girl home every night and having a good time with them. Reid couldn’t do that, even if there was a part of his body that really wanted to.
“What do you mean, no?”
Sarah’s voice was hesitant, which it had every right to be. For all she knew, Reid could’ve decided he was going to go back in and sign the contract. Over his dead body was he going to endorse a product that Ted brought to the world. When he’d started talking about knowing the sex parts of Sarah’s books by heart, Reid only saw the color red.
“I mean that we aren’t going to rush off and have sex. And before you get into the self-doubting that I’ve seen from you, it has nothing to do with me not wanting you. I’ve already made it clear that I do. It was less than an hour ago that you were wondering whether your vagina could turn inside out from all the sex you were having with your ex.”
Sarah interrupted before Reid could finish his thought. “Obviously, you wouldn’t want to have sex with someone who’s worried about that.” Her tone was sardonic.
“That’s not what I’m getting at.” Reid looked back at Sarah. “I’m not like those guys in there or your ex. I know you aren’t asking for my opinion, but that scum is using your need to feel wanted after he screwed you over to try to win you back, and he doesn’t deserve the chance. I don’t know the whole story, but I know that much.”
If Reid and Sarah ever found themselves naked in a room together, it would only be after Reid had some assurances that Sarah wasn’t just using him to verify her feelings for the ex and he wasn’t a rebound for her. At least that was what his brain was pushing for. His dick seemed to think he was crazy for not taking her up on the offer.
“I’m in total agreement. He doesn’t deserve me, but he says he loves me and wants to get married. What if he’s my shot at having a husband and kids? I put on a good show tonight, but I’m not good at meeting people and letting them into my life. I think you’ve seen the proof of that both times we’ve seen each other. The very first words out of my mouth were asking whether you were gay.”
“Did he or did he not sleep with someone else while you were together?”
It sounded like there may have been some clarification as far as what had happened, and Reid wasn’t sure how the fact that he cheated had been made right. At least Reid hoped there was some kind of explanation that led to her forgiving the idiot enough for a sex marathon.
“He did. He said it was a last hurrah kind of thing, but they did it in our bedroom.”
“And that’s okay with you?”
“No, it’s not. I told you earlier during my rant that I don’t think I want to be with him. I just can’t seem to help myself when we’re alone.”
Reid put the key in the ignition and started the car. He hadn’t been sure what to do next, but her words gave him an idea.
“Don’t take me home yet, okay? I’m afraid he’ll be there and I need a little time away from him.”
Sarah’s hand hadn’t left his arm and she squeezed it as she spoke. The desperation in her voice wasn’t needed. Reid was well aware that the ex would probably be lurking around her apartment, and he had no plans of dropping her off for the jerk to manipulate.
“I’m going to take you where I go when I need to clear my head. I’m not sure if it will help, but I think you need to find a hobby and maybe it will give you some ideas.”
Reid pulled the car out of the parking lot before Sarah agreed to his plan. Reaching up to where her hand touched his arm, he grabbed her hand and folded his fingers between hers. He wasn’t willing to jump into bed with her, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t lay the groundwork to some sort of relationship.
“Some would say my writing is a hobby.”
“If they were right about you being a best-seller, I think it’s a little more than a hobby. I hate to ask, but since I know you’re famous, I’m curious what the ex does. Is he hanging around because of the money your books make?”
Sarah scoffed and leaned her head over to rest it on Reid’s shoulder. The familiarity was something he was still getting used to, but being around her somehow seemed right, even knowing that her mind was at times a million miles away. He’d felt whatever it was coming from her when he’d watched her across the room at the club, and he still wanted to figure out why she seemed to call to him.
“I wouldn’t call me famous just because the current Mrs. Murphy recognized me. It seriously has been the only time I’ve been recognized. As far as Aaron goes, he’s not using me for my money. He’d been paying for our apartment before I moved in and I was the one who insisted I pay my share. We never combined bank accounts, but he made sure I knew healthy checks were deposited into his account bi-weekly.”
“I will say from minor experience that recognition is overrated. I don’t have any immediate plans of settling down, but I’ve always worried someone will find out how much money I make and try to get her nails into me.”
Reid figured eventually he’d do the marriage and kid thing that Sarah had mentioned, but he felt like he had plenty of time to try to find the right person. That meant he also had plenty of time to try to avoid all the wrong people.
“How old are you? I figured you were about my age, but I’ve been thinking about settling down thing for a while.”
“That probably has to do with the fact you’ve basically been settled down more than it does your age. I’m twenty-four, so it’s not like I’m fresh out of high school, but I’ve never had a serious relationship.”
“Well, I’m a year older and I can tell you that you’re not missing out on much if my experience is any proof.”
Sarah’s words had a bite to them. She was bitter about the experience she referenced, and yet she seemed to be caught up in it. With how the ex answered the phone when he’d called, Reid wondered if him even remotely being in the picture was part of the problem with the ex trying to get back together.
When they’d first met, the ex seemed like a memory that didn’t have a shot. If Sarah thought he did, she wouldn’t have been looking for a groomsman. Knowing that, Reid wanted to help her out with her problem, if for no other reason because his line of thinking led him to believe he caused it.
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m hoping I find a woman who makes my life make sense. I’ve just focused on my career instead of finding her.”
“And how long do you think you’re going to keep doing that?”
The question was asked softly, just above a whisper. Sarah’s face was turned so she was looking out her window. Reid would’ve liked to see what her emerald eyes had hidden in them when she asked the question. From what he’d witnessed, they seemed to tell a story her words didn’t always get to.
“I guess that depends on whether or not we can keep you away from Aaron. That’s his name, right? I keep just calling him the ex in my mind.”
Sarah straightened up, taking her head off Reid’s shoulder. The loss caused a chill to snake up his arm. She left their hands intertwined, but scooted to the far side of her seat so she could turn and look at him.
“Yeah, that’s his name, but I like the idea of calling him the ex. How am I supposed to stay away from him? I’ve always thought I was my own woman and could make my own decisions, but there’s something about him that’s knocking down all of my usual defenses. You’ve heard at least some of my horror stories. We can’t keep our hands off each other.”
Reid grimaced. He’d done his best not to picture what had to have happened for the couple to get together fifteen times in such a short amount of time. Having heard Nico talk about his stamina, he didn’t doubt it was possible. He just didn’t want to think about someone else touching Sarah.
“Obviously, that’s a huge problem, but you’re not living at his place anymore and I assume your door has a lock.”
Reid pulled into the parking lot at the arena. He’d never brought someone with him to let off steam on the ice, but he figured if anyone needed a distraction, it was Sarah. The heels she wore were going to make things interesting, but not impossible.
“Where are we?”
Sarah tabled the conversation about how to stay away from the ex as she turned to look around her surroundings. The parking lot was across the street kitty-corner from the arena, so she couldn’t get a good look at it from her seat.
“Where I go when I need to think. I actually came here after our speed date. Nico found me and had a good laugh about my indecision about calling you that night.”
Reid left out the part about his friend saying he’d never seen Reid look at a woman the way he did Sarah. He feared Nico and Sarah meeting under circumstances other than the speed dating. Nico knew too many secrets and he didn’t have an on-off switch.
“Was he for or against you calling? I seem to remember he didn’t have a great opinion of me.”
Getting out of the car, Reid contemplated the answer as he walked around to help Sarah out. It’d be smart of him to put her against Nico from the start so he could explain away any of the wild stories the other man made up about him, but Reid was too honest for that.
He opened the door and helped Sarah out. Not only did they have the issue of the heels on ice to worry about, but the skin-tight dress was more than likely going to be just a little chilly. Once Sarah was out, Reid took off his suit jacket and draped it over her shoulders. He was somewhat impervious to the cold that hung around the night air, so Sarah was better off using it.
“Thanks,” she whispered as she adjusted it to put her arms in the sleeves.
The jacket was basically a dress on her, totally dwarfing her small body. Reid liked the idea of the light floral scent that seemed to follow her around being imprinted on the jacket.
“No problem. If I would’ve planned this out better, I would’ve made sure you were dressed a little more appropriate, but we’ll see if we can make due. As far as Nico goes, he’s sort of mentor slash mother hen and since I’ve made it clear over the years that I don’t want to get distracted from my game, he was just waiting for me to tell him a little distraction might be okay.”
The pair had started walking towards the intersection. Reid tried to pretend there wasn’t a banner with his image hanging from the side of the arena announcing the next game. It always freaked him out to see himself a hundred feet tall, but the front office seemed to think he sold tickets.
“And since you’re taking me to what I assume is where you play, does that mean your distraction restriction has been lifted?”
They hadn’t discussed whether she knew anything about hockey or had been to a game, so Reid hadn’t been sure if she’d connect the dots. He was happy that she had, and that the assume part of it meant she probably hadn’t been there for a game before.
“I’d say it’s temporarily up in the air. I’m hoping I can compete with the ex, but if I can’t, I’m pretty sure I’m going to lock that restriction down tight.”
“That’s you, right?” she asked as they finished crossing to the side of the street with the arena.
The giant sign said his name, but as far as he knew, Sarah didn’t know his last name, so there could have been another Reid on the team. With his helmet on and maybe a little manipulation with some photo software, it was possible that it was hard to tell it was really him.
“That would be me. I’ve been with the team full-time three years now and evidently it’s my turn to be the poster guy.”
“And you don’t sound happy about it. What I was going to point out is that if you’re popular enough that they’re pinning you on the building, I’m surprised you’ve been able to keep the distractions to a minimum. You’ve got to have a huge fan base of screaming women.”
The arena was locked because there was nothing going on and it was after hours, which meant they had to go around it to a back door that all the players had and access card to get in. The anticipation of sharing something personal like being out on the ice without anyone around made Reid’s hands sweat. Since their hands had reconnected after Sarah got the jacket adjusted, Reid was sure she could feel how nervous he was. There was a good chance she’d think it was stupid to stand around and blast pucks at an empty net, but he hoped it would at least spur an idea of things she could do to let her emotions out that didn’t involve sleeping with the ex.
If she hadn’t told him that she didn’t want to see Aaron anymore, he wouldn’t have bothered. Sarah seemed to be in a tough spot, even if it was her own making for letting the guy back into her life. If Reid had a chance at seeing where an honest to god relationship could go with her, they had to find something she could do short of going into witness protection as far from Aaron as she could get to deal with the pent-up emotions.
“I am well aware that a fan base exists, but I do everything in my power to steer clear of them. I have to smile and act friendly at the games, but I don’t lead anyone on.”
“And that’s not what’s going on here? You honestly think that if I can shake my issues, you’d be willing to pursue something with me? I’ve already demonstrated how completely nuts I can be.”
Reid decided not to speak and let the clacking sounds of her heels on the cement be the only noise around them as they got closer to the door they were going in. It wasn’t particularly late, but the arena wasn’t in the center of the city and it was chilly out, so there weren’t really any other people out walking around it.
Taking his wallet out of his pocket with his free hand, Reid scanned it across the dark gray reader and waited for the light to turn green. He opened the door and held it so Sarah could walk inside. The bright light that hit them was a bit much, but his eyes adjusted quickly as he led them down the hall to the locker room.
“You’ve also made it clear that if I play my cards right, I’ll be very satisfied with what happens when we finally get naked. Look, for right now, let’s just get to know each other and take things a day at a time.”
Sarah squeezed his hand and leaned her head on his shoulder. He was about eight inches taller than her so her head landed in the perfect spot. It should’ve been awkward, but all Reid felt with her close by was happiness. That emotion was what had Reid wanting to see where things could go.
“I make no promises about how satisfied you’ll be. I’m far from a supermodel under these clothes. A little makeup and a bra sturdy enough to push the girls up and I can sometimes pass as decent looking, but take the clothes away and you’ll probably hope the lights are off.”
Reid knocked his head against hers as he opened the locker room and pulled her inside. She hesitated when she got a look at where they were, gripping his hand tighter.
“Are you sure it’s okay if I go in there?”
They were already passed the threshold, so the question came a little late. Reid flipped a switch on the wall to light the room up.
“I prefer it now than right after a game when the guys are running around basically naked. I’ve never brought anyone in, but there’s no one around to tell me not to.”
After pulling the still reluctant Sarah along and grabbing a couple of sticks, they made it out to the ice. Reid had never had a good comparison for the smell that filled his nose when he walked out to the ice, but it felt like coming home each and every time he did it. It was the only place he could really focus.
Sarah pulled on his hand again just before he stepped onto the ice. He leaned the sticks against the boards and looked back at her.
“I can’t go out there in these shoes. We’re lucky I didn’t trip and fall on solid ground. I’ve walked on a thin sheet of ice when it’s snowed before. That is a death trap waiting to happen.”
She pointed out to the cold surface in front of them to reiterate where the death trap was located. Reid follower her finger and tried to look at the ice from her point of view. It didn’t work.
Reid laughed and pulled Sarah into his body and then picked her up before she could figure out what was happening. A startled gasp escaped her as she hurried to wrap her legs around his body and dig her nails into his back. The move thankfully landed those legs high on his waist, instead of where he still couldn’t convince his penis to take a chill pill.
With or without skates, Reid’s footing was fine on ice so he stepped out and made his way over to the blue line closest to them. He didn’t have a stick or puck, but he figured getting Sarah in position was half the battle.
“I promise you that I’ll be glued by your side. I happen to have impeccable hand and eye coordination, so I’ll catch you long before there’s a chance your butt hits the ice.”
The idea of letting Sarah slide down his body to get her footing lasted only a second before he lifted her bottom out away from him and coaxed her into putting her legs down. His hands rested on her hips for a second as he looked down into her terrified green eyes.
He knew it was a mistake before he did it, but the closeness made the pull between them too hard to fight against. Leaning his head down, he nudged her head to the side with his nose as he locked his lips on hers. The moan echoing from inside of her sent a need to pick her back up through Reid’s core.
Reid didn’t dare play around with putting tongues in the mix, even after he felt Sarah’s dart out to touch his lips. There wasn’t such a thing as a chaste kiss when it came to her, but he kept things as simple as he could. That meant about ten seconds was all their lips could stay in contact.
Kissing her cheek quickly, Reid made sure she was standing under her own power and then ran back to the bench to grab some pucks and the sticks. Sarah looked a little dazed as he made his way to her. He felt the same way, but he tried his best not to show it.
“Just so you know,” Sarah started in a bit of a pissy tone, “eight or so feet away is not standing right next to me to make sure I don’t fall.”
Her hands floated up to her hips and her stance matched the tone. If it wasn’t for the smile on her face, Reid would’ve worried that she was mad.
“Well, if you would’ve walked out on your own, I wouldn’t have had to rely on drastic measures.”
Reid stopped about three feet away from Sarah and handed her a stick before dropping the pucks on the ice. He moved one of the pucks on the ice to get a feel for it. The pucks were just some spares lying around and weren’t frozen, so they didn’t glide as easy across the ice as the pucks did during a game.
After he showed off a little with his puck handling skills, he pulled the stick back and slapped it against the puck, thankfully shooting it right at his target. If he would’ve missed, it would’ve been embarrassing. Reid rolled his shoulders and felt himself slipping into his happy place.
“Holy crap. How fast do you think that puck was moving?”
Sarah smartly didn’t come closer to Reid as he wound up and fired off another shot. He smiled and looked over to her when he saw it too made its target.
“Probably seventy miles an hour, maybe up over eighty. I’ve hit ninety-five, but I usually have to skate into it to get that high.”
“Can I try?”
The words were music to Reid’s ears. He stepped a couple steps closer to her and held out his hand to help her walk towards the pucks. She wobbled, but kept her feet.
“Here,” Reid said as he turned her around so her back was too him and helped her get the stick in her hands at least partially right. It was too long for her use, but they were going to make due. “Push it around a little and when it feels right, pull back and shoot.”
Success didn’t happen right away. The first time Sarah totally missed the puck, and when she finally got the stick on it, it only moved about halfway between them and the net. It took her six tries, but when a puck finally made it into the net, she immediately started jumping up and down. Reid could feel the excitement of the situation and wanted to jump too, but he knew where the jumping would lead.
He hurried to make good on his promise as soon as he saw her right foot miss its connection with the ice and fly up. Before Sarah lost total balance, he had his arms wrapped around her.
The near fall didn’t take the smile from her face. She wrapped her arms around Reid and squeezed tight as she nuzzled his chest.
“Do you mind getting all the pucks so I can try again?” she asked with one last tight squeeze.
Reid kissed the top of her head and made sure she was balanced before fetching the pucks. After all the fuss about the dinner, he was happy it had been a bust. There was nowhere he’d rather be.