“As a fling, yes,” she shot back, color deepening her already flushed face. “But since this is for—wait, how long will this pretense be for?”
Damn, she wanted everything spelled out while I was playing it by ear. “Probably until the preseason games start.”
“And that is when?”
She really didn’t know anything about hockey, did she?
“Last two weeks in September.” I shrugged, rubbing my abdomen. Of course, training began even earlier, but I refrained from saying so. Her gaze followed my hand on my stomach, and my damn blood plowed south. She chewed her lower lip for a second, still staring at my lower abs, brow creasing, then she said, “About six weeks or so, then?”
How the hell is she not affected while I burned for her? “Yeah.”
“Okay. So yes, that’s how it has to be.” Then she smiled. “We can be…er, frenemies.”
Not if I have anything to say about it!
After seeing my best buds find happiness, I wanted that, too, even with my fucked up past. And for some reason, everything inside me was set on this stubborn girl who sparked a ray of light in me.
“Besides, it’s what your agent wants,” she added, stating loud and clear how it was to be between us. Too bad it didn’t roll with me.
“Since when do you care what my agent thinks?” I planted my hand on my hips.Aaandnaturally, her gaze lowered again. Hell, I just might have to dive into the icy Pacific to cool the fuck down or die of blue balls.
She frowned. “You said—”
“I said we had a shitload of things to discuss, Blue, and that was the first one I wanted to get out of the way because I didn’t want you caught unaware if this cropped up in the future. And with Miles, he’d poke his nose where I don’t want it. The next would have been you and me.”
“Fine, as long you stop calling me Blue!” She crawled off the bed and stalked out.
I pressed a palm downward, trying to ease my erection then I remembered what she said out in the rain before bringing her inside. “What setback, Charli?” I asked her.
She pivoted at the door and frowned at me.
“You mentioned it outside?”
“Ohhh, right.” She sighed, flicking back her wet hair. “Not working on the weeds today means working an additional day—”
“So you’d rather risk getting sick than stay an extra day?” I asked.
“It’s not about that.” She rubbed her palms on her wet shorts. “I have a work deadline. I didn’t get anything done last night.”
“You have a job already?” Dammit, was she going to leave? “Where?”
“It’s with a publishing house. I have to send the rough layout for a story to them in a week.”
Thank fuck she didn’t have to be there physically.
“I thought you worked at a gallery?”
“I did back in Germany, and I had an offer here, too, but…” She lifted a shoulder in a little shrug. “I wanted something different and applied for this. I got the job to illustrate children’s books.” Her brow creased. “Oh, crap, I almost forgot…” She retrieved her cell from her pocket and started swiping and clicking, biting her lip as she read. And I was forgotten.
“What, Charli?” I growled. This girl could sure ramble off into another line of thought without stopping for breath.
“Huh?” Brown eyes lifted to mine. Blinked. “Oh, I need to check for an apartment.”
My gut clenched. I’d be damned first before letting her put more space between us and relegating me to the sidelines as ‘that hockey player,’ or ‘frenemies’ as she referred to us. Not happening.
“I have a suggestion, I mean, since we’re a couple now, and you still owe me for the weeds.”
She cocked a taunting eyebrow. “I’m your girlfriend. I should get a pass.”
