“Stolly?”
I turned at my name, then winced.
Brenda…Bridget…Brittany?stood a couple of feet away, eyes wide, a panther’s grin on her lips.She was tall, lithe, and bottle-blond with a banging body.
“Hey,” I said weakly.
“You never got my number.Back when we were together.”
That had been at the start of the season, about a month before I sat down at the table with Millie.
“Yeah, well, we had fun…”
She edged in closer, so that her cute, strappy sandals were on the toes of my sneakers.“I rocked your world—and you rocked mine.”She bit her lip.
“It was fun,” I said, stepping backward and bumping into Cruz, who made a sound like a startled bear.“But, ah, I met someone.”
Brittany?blinked.“You met someone.That’s why you didn’t call me?”
“Well, I didn’t have your number, but yeah.”Focus, dumbass.“We’re, ah, together—exclusive.”
She tipped her head forward so all that long, blond hair streamed over her perky tits.“You’re telling me you’re in a relationship?”She giggled.“Please.”
I straightened.“Why is that funny?”
“Because your eyes were roving even while your hands were on me.”
I wasn’t that bad, was I?
“Food’s done,” Cruz said.“Let’s go.”
“Good luck with your life,” I said with a halfhearted wave.
“Good luck having an actual relationship,” she shot back.
I heaved a sigh as I climbed back into the truck.“Don’t start,” I snapped at Cruz.I grabbed my drink, shoved the straw in, and took a long pull.I shuddered.Unsweetened iced tea.Damn Cruz and his religious zeal for nutrition.
“I didn’t say anything,” he said as he started the engine.“She’s pretty.”
“She wanted to fuck a hockey player.I obliged.”
Cruz said nothing.
“And I regret it,” I said into the deepening silence.
He looked over.“I know.”
Much as I wanted to yell at him, I couldn’t.Cruz hadn’t gone through the puck-bunny stage.Cruz had been a responsible adult from the time he was in diapers; I was sure of that.The man seemed to ooze dependability.He’d told me his dad had died when he was really young; he’d been a truck driver and didn’t make it home from a haul.Cruz’s older brother, Raymond, had been a K-9 handler for the Army.When Raymond died, Cruz’s family spent years trying to get his dog, Zeus, home with them.
Cruz didn’t talk about Raymond much, but we all knew he’d managed to track Zeus down, get him discharged, and bring him home.The two of them had been inseparable until Zeus died, right around the time Cruz started playing in the NHL.
I wasn’t supposed to know that Cruz had bought his mother’s house outright and gotten her and his sisters new cars, paid for their college.Cruz didn’t like to make a big deal about supporting the women in his family, but they were damn lucky to have him.
Hell, I’d become like his little brother, using Cruz’s sense of duty to get me through my workouts and the season.
I am a dad.That was so much more responsibility than dealing with adults.I needed to buck up, get my shit together.Be more Cruz than Cruz.
“I’m thinking it’s time to buy a house near the rest of the guys,” Cruz said.“I want a dog or three.”He shrugged his heavy shoulders.“Plan to reunite more.”
