“I’m sorry,” she said instantly, wrapping her long cardigan around her tighter as she climbed the stairs up to where I stood. “I didn’t mean to take you from practice.”
I shoved my hands in my pockets and tried to mirror her smile, all the while shoving down all the words that wanted to tumble out — likecall on me any day, any time, and I’ll come running, Ari.
I’m still yours.
I never stopped being yours.
“Ah, no biggie. Kozak has it handled down there. Besides, I could use the break,” I said instead.
Ariana nodded, her arms tightly crossed as she glanced at the ice and then back at me. “I was just looking for my husband.”
At this rate, her words were fucking MMA fighters, and I was their punching bag.
My mind, unhelpfully, flashed back to that first day — to the way she’d gone rigid when Nathan kissed her before the press conference. It had been just a fraction of a second, but she’d been far too stiff. I’d clocked it immediately, the way you notice a missed step or a blown coverage, and I hadn’t been able to stop replaying it since.
Every interaction, every glance, every touch between them was dissected in my mind like game film I couldn’t stop studying.
“He wasn’t in his office,” she added when my dumb ass didn’t reply. “And I don’t know this arena well enough yet to guess where else he might be. I thought maybe he was peeking in on practice.”
“Well, he did earlier, so your guess was a good one,” I managed, and then I nodded toward the door of the suite. “Come on. I bet we can find him.”
I opened the door and held it for Ariana, watching her go every step of the way. I couldn’t help how my hand hovered at the small of her back, guiding without contact, though I reverberated with the urge to touch her just to see what she’d do, just to feel her again after all this time.
Thirteen years. That was how long it had been since I’d last seen her.
Eighteen since I’d last held her in my arms.
I cataloged those lost years in her features, in the soft lines at the edges of her eyes and mouth, the way her hair had changed in texture, a few sneaky strands of silver threading in with the gold. It had my chest tight, the way I felt robbed by not being able to witness those changes in real time. But her eyes were still that shocking bright blue, and I knew her smile would be the same, too, if I ever got the chance to see it on full display, and not just a slight curl of her lips.
We walked side by side in silence for a moment, me pointing the way to the elevator that would take us back down to the guts of this place. I had a few ideas where Nathan might be, and more popping into my head as we walked. I’d seen him spending quite a bit of time with our analytics team earlier — which, if I was being honest, had kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I didn’t like the way the intern nodded and looked as pale as snow when Nathan was talking to him, one hand clamped on his shoulder with a politician’s grin in place. I also hadn’t loved how Nathan had insisted on getting to know all the players since he’d joined.
I was aware that didn’t make sense. He was our new general manager. Heshouldget to know the players. But this guy set off all my alarms when he walked into any room I was in. I just didn’t trust him, no matter how friendly he was to me and everyone he met.
It’s because he’s with Ariana and you’re not, my common sense tried to tell me.
But I assured myself it was something more.
“So, what do you think of Tampa so far?” I asked after pushing the button on the elevator to take us down.
Ariana seemed lost in thought, but she blew out a breath before shrugging, her eyes casting up to mine. “It’s hot.”
I chuckled. “Yes, that it is. Wait until you have to suffer through a summer here.”
“I’ve heard the winter is nice, though.”
“It is. January to March is the best. Great time to go to the beach, too, if that’s your thing.”
Ariana folded her hands together and nodded, and I felt supremely stupid.
Was I really talking to this woman about the fucking weather right now?
This was Ariana Ridley, the girl who had me spilling my guts about my parents’ death within hours of spending time with her. This was the girl who’d felt more like my family than anyone else.
Yes, but she’s a stranger now,my brain argued again.
Because you left her.
“It’s night and day to Boston,” I said, not able to help myself. “No fall color changes or blistering winters here in The Sunshine State.”
