“What’s wrong?” I let out a low laugh at his question.
“What’s wrong is that you didn’t tell me what you do for work!Whoyou are!” I don’t know why I’m yelling, or even why I’m mad. I hardly know him so I shouldn’t be upset over the fact that I can’t keep seeing him. His brows scrunch together.
“Oh. Yeah, I guess it didn’t actually cross my mind over the weekend.”
“It…didn’t cross your mind that you’re a professional hockey player?” Exasperated, I turn and pace back toward my door before turning on my heel to pace back to him.
“Well, yeah, we were having such a good weekend and we never once spoke about sports, so I actually didn’t think about it. Which was refreshing.” He watches me as I pace back and forth in the hallway. “Is there something wrong with me playing hockey?”
I stop my pacing and study him. He’s in the suit that he wore while on TV with my dad, except he has the jacket draped over his arm and the white sleeves of his button up rolled up a fewtimes. His hair has a bit of styling gel in it, parting it to the side with a strand falling free above his eyebrow. The stubble on his face is thick and I imagine how perfect it would be if he let it grow out.
Dominik is handsome and tempting.
He is also on my father’s hockey team.
I let loose a heavy sigh. After the beginning of freshman year of college, I had stopped voicing any connection to him and very rarely let anyone know my last name. Yet here I am, fiveyears later, about to tell a man that I hardly know something that I have tried to avoid.
Closing my eyes, I suddenly realize that it’s not the fact as to who my dad is that’s bothering me. It’s the fact that for the first time ever, I’m not pissed at him for it. I’m absolutely crushed by what he does because it means that Dom and I can’t keep seeing each other.
Letting out one more calming breath and opening my eyes, I watch Dom as I answer.
“My last name is Matthews. I just watched my father, Coach James Matthews,announce you as his team’s newest addition.”
Dominik’s face pales, his jaw dropping open, as he processes the new information.
“The problem with you playing hockey is that you just signed a contract with my father as your coach.” He continues to stare at me, so I start rambling and continue my pacing between our doors.
“Who he is and what he does isn’t something I talk about with someone I’ve just met. There’s a lot more to why I don’t that I won’t bore you with, but my reasons for not bringing him up are simply because I didn’t think it was appropriate to bring up daddy issues with a man I’ve just met an—” Dom steps toward me, towering before me and cutting my pacing off as he puts his hands on my shoulders to steady me.
“Take a breath, Sunshine.” Staring into his blue eyes, I do as I’m told, earning a small smile from him.
“There ya go. It’s okay. We literally just met two days ago, shit like this slips through the cracks. I’m sorry that it slipped my mind about how big of a role hockey is in my life. One of the reasons this weekend was so perfect for me was because for the first time in months I wasn’t stressed thinking about a game, training, or the transfer. It was a much-needed weekend of just being me. That was because of you.” One of his hands slips from my shoulder and down to my waist where he wraps an arm around me, pulling me close, while his other hand slides up my neck and cups my cheek.
“I’m sorry this didn’t come up sooner. I was actually going to pop over tonight to see if I could make you dinner and had planned to tell you about my day and the trade being officially announced.” He smiles sadly down at me.
When I decided to confront him in the hallway, I hadn’t thought what it would mean. All I had thought about was that since I’m the Coach’s daughter, we can’t keep seeing each other. Yet I find myself in awe of him as he talks and apologizes. Any time Cam and I had a disagreement he would go off the rails. Only when I finally apologized forpicking a fightwould the week long arguments end.
On the rare occasion I expressed that he upset me, he would end the conversation by telling me that he “had no control over what I was feeling and to get over it.”More than once I had told myself that we were not in a healthy relationship. He was emotionally manipulative and an ass ninety-eight percent of the time. However, it was that two percent of the time that he was kind and attentive that had me staying for as long as I did.
Not wanting to compare this to my relationship with Cam, I suck in a breath and look up at Dom. The moment he realizedthere was a miscommunication, or really lack of communication, he owned it and apologized.
“I’m sorry that I came at you right as you got home. I should have let myself cool down before dumping everything on you like that.” A small chuckle escapes me.
His smile brightens a bit as he holds me closer.
We both chuckle lightly as I let my forehead fall to his chest and hug him back. His hand moves to the back of my head as he holds me to him. Dom and I have only known each other for two days, there was no reason for me to be this upset. We had only hooked-up for the weekend, so we can just nip this in the bud and agree to be friendly neighbors.
Neighbors who have seen each other naked.
Reluctantly, I gently push against his chest and step out of his hold.
“Well… this sucks.”
Dom nods slowly, watching me closely while I fidget with the straps of my dress. At the sound of my phone ringing from my apartment, I remember my dinner plans with my dad. I glance over my shoulder toward the sound of the phone, I talk without turning to look back at him.
“That’s probably my dad letting me know he’s leaving the arena to meet me for dinner.”
He reaches forward, taking my hand and drawing my attention back at him.
