“What happened?”
“Do you know someone whose name starts with a G?”
He seemed flustered. “Yeah. My ex, Giada. What happened?”
“Someone was talking to her on the phone. Reassured her that it couldn’t be serious with us. I thought you hadn’t been in a relationship for a while?” If it was new enough for her to ask questions, did I even want to be involved with him?
“Years. It’s been completely over for years. You were listening to Olivia, Giada’s best friend, who is married to Grant. She’s been fueling Giada’s flames for the last three years, and if I could exclude her from my life, I would.”
I nodded and scanned the room and found Grant standing with a tall blonde. “She specifically mentioned that I called you Jonathan.”
“That’s probably driving her nuts. But Giada is the reason I don’t trust women. She didn’t want me; she wanted my status and money. It took me way too long to figure that out.”
“Do you trust me?” Why did I want his trust more than I wanted my next breath?
“I do.”
I sighed heavily with relief. “I trust you, too,” I said.
He swallowed and pulled me back to watch the game. “I’m not one to tell a woman not to have a drink if she wants one. But I have plans for you later. I’ll feel a hell of a lot better if I know you’re not saying yes because of wine or alcohol.”
I leaned in, brushed my lips on his neck, felt his pulse race, and whispered in his ear. “The answer is yes, and I haven’t had a drop to drink. But please, explain what’s behind your reservations about mixing sex with alcohol?”
“When someone only wants to have sex with you whenthey’ve been drinking, it makes you hate kissing someone with alcohol on their breath.”
I watched him carefully as he confessed this. She may not have hurt him the way Tucker hurt me, but his relationship with Giada had left scars.
“I have an IUD.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s damn near 100% effective for birth control. I also have a clean bill of health and haven’t had a partner since I tested. And since I think this matters to you, I don’t want someone I need to trap so I can keep them.”
“I haven’t wanted to be with a woman in a while. There are plenty of ways to be intimate that don’t involve intercourse?—”
“We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“You interrupted. I want to. You’ve got me breaking all of my rules, and I don’t fucking care about them anymore. Shit, you got here, and I can’t even tell you what’s happening on the ice.”
“It’s a shutout. The Bears are getting crushed.” I winked.
“You’ve driven me to distraction. Not only have I been replaying our morning, I’ve been picturing taking you in every fucking room I’m in. Fuck, I even threatened to end our new shortstop if he so much as looked at you.”
“You what?” My heart hit my ribcage with a thud. I hated thinking about my past intersecting with my present in any way, but the imagery of Jonathan’s fist destroying Tucker’s face made me downright giddy.
“I threatened the fucker. You know,a touch her and die moment. If he so much as looks at you, he’s fucking gone, baby.”
“You threatened him?”
“Yeah.”
I moved on him fast and hard, grabbing his face in my hands and kissing him. His mouth opened, and his tongue met mine with a fury I hadn’t felt from him before. We both forgot our audience and only pulled away when a throat cleared. Several pairs of eyes stared at us; my face flamed.
“What are the odds of the Bears turning this around?” His voice was thick with arousal.
“I’d say zero.”
“Let’s go home.”
