“Yeah, you are,” he dismisses my statement. “And bring the bread, not the muffins, okay?”
“Seriously, Avery, I have a date. I can’t make it.”
“You have to make it,” he argues back, and his voice is firm. “It’s a tradition.”
“Do it without me.” I know this answer isn’t acceptable to him, but there is no way I’m fucking up my date with Shayne because he believes in magic. “We have to do it without Larue since he got traded.”
“I have no control over that,” Avery replies tersely, his voice dripping in that hard, bullheaded quality it gets when he’s frustrated because he’s not getting what he wants. In his defense, no one has ever really said no to him, so it’s not like he knows how to deal with it. “And that’s fucking with the mojo enough, Deveau. I’m not going to let your dick ruin our odds completely.”
“My dick is not going to cost us the Cup, Avs.” Stephanie has no idea what we’re talking about because she can only hear my side of the conversation, but when I say that, she bursts out laughing, covering her mouth to keep her chilled mocha from coming out all over my kitchen. “But thanks for giving it so much power.”
“Sebastian. I need you to come.” The tone of his voice is morphing from frustrated to desperate. “It’ll set the course for us. I know you don’t get it, but it will. Just fucking show up. Bring her if you want, but come. Don’t fucking screw me.”
“I won’t screw you.” I sigh because I know I have no choice. Avery has more power than any other captain in the league. When he butted heads with the coach the first year he started, they fired the coach. There have been rookies sent back down to the minors because he didn’t like them, and he’s had people traded who didn’t get along with him. He runs the damn league, even though I’m not completely sure he knows that. But I do. So I’ll go to the stupid chili night, at least for a few minutes, to quell his anxiety and keep him from blaming me for our playoff fate if it’s disastrous.
“What time does it start?”
He heaves a loud sigh of relief, not even caring how fucking insane he comes across. “Seven. See you then, and bring your sister. She was there two years ago.”
“Yeah.” He hangs up and then I add, “See you then, Captain Crazy-pants.”
Stephanie is still laughing but she’s managed not to bring her drink through her nose, which I thought she might. “What the hell was that about?”
“I have to go to Jordan’s to eat chili and so do you because my captain is certifiable.” I scrub a hand over my face, which reminds me I have to shave for the last time tonight. Injuries, playoff beards, superstitious rituals: fuck, this is the absolute worst time to try and woo a woman who hates hockey.
Stephanie must see the worry on my face because she pats my shoulder. “Well, she’ll either sink or swim.”
“She can’t sink,” I murmur back. “I really like her, Steph.”
“What can I do to help?”
“Make cornbread.”
Stephanie looks confused but shrugs and immediately starts rummaging through my pantry for ingredients. I sigh. Damn it. This has disaster written all over it.
Chapter 31
Shayne
He knocks on my door early. It’s only six thirty, and it makes me jump and smudge the attempt I’m making at eyeliner. Holy shit, why is he early? I quickly wipe the smudge and survey my face. I did an okay job, I guess. I mean I don’t look nearly as glamorous as Audrey on any given day, but I look better than I normally do every day at the gym so…winning?
I realized after Trey dropped me off that I had nothing to do or think about but this impending “date.” And by think, I mean obsess. Relentlessly. Where were we going? What should I wear? A dress? Jeans? Is this a real date or just food before we have sex again? And how do you go on a first date with someone you’ve already seen naked? Dates are for getting to know someone, figuring out what you have in common. It’s going to be weird asking him what his favorite food is when I already know he’s circumcised. And finding out about his childhood when I already know what his O face looks like. Fuck, we’re doing this all backward, and I’m all about order.
I swing open my front door and he’s standing there looking like something a bunch of horny female scientists cooked up in a laboratory. He’s wearing a thin white Henley hugging his perfectly sculpted torso and shoulders. The buttons in the front are open, showing his smooth, tan skin and the edge of a bite mark I left on him last night. Oops. A pair of perfectly faded jeans hang off his delicious hips, his hair is tousled and brushed forward over his forehead, and his face is clean-shaven, not a hint of a shadow. Those piercing blue eyes are framed by those sexy dark glasses again.
“Glasses again?”
He smiles seductively. “I wanted to give off a porn vibe tonight, even if it’s accountant porn.”
I laugh and move so he can walk into my apartment. “I’ll never live that down.”
“No, you won’t.” He leans close and kisses my cheek, lingering for a long moment, and fuck, it makes my insides quiver. In my ear he whispers, “I’m hoping the glasses aren’t the only porn-like thing that happens tonight.”
As I turn pink, he reaches behind me and twists the dead bolt on my front door. I scowl. “Scared of my ’hood?”
“Hell, yes,” he replies without hesitation. “Did you notice you didn’t have to buzz me in? Because some sketchy-looking guy was walking out and just held the door for me. No questions asked. Just ‘Hey, come on in, potential rapist or burglar or murderer.’”
I laugh and he frowns. “Ma belle, I’m serious.C’est dangereux.”
