“English over here,” I reply and roll my eyes at his amazingly hot French words. He finally notices I’m wearing a bathrobe. A big, fluffy, pink bathrobe. “I haven’t decided on what to wear.”
His eyes sweep over my robe and the corners of his irresistible mouth turn up. His left hand reaches between us and toys with the belt. “What’re you wearing under that?”
“A snowsuit,” I chirp back, and the irresistible mouth grows more irresistible as it slips into a smirk.
“Such a smart mouth…” he whispers as he tips his head down closer to my ear. “I have half a mind to pull that robe off and smack your beautiful ass. But unfortunately we have somewhere to be.”
“Okay,” I say, trying to hide my shock. Not shock at his words but shock that the idea of Sebastian smacking my ass created a ripple of desire that skittered up my spine. “Any clues on where we’re going so I know what to put on?”
“Jeans are fine. I have something casual in mind.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back. Make yourself comfortable.” I motion for him to head into the living room and then disappear into the bedroom.
“And bring a sweater for later. It might get cold and we’ll be outside.”
I dig out my favorite jeans and my favorite non-athletic-wear top. It’s a loose, flowy black shirt that falls off both shoulders. I decide to pair it with my over-the-knee black heeled boots. I grab some delicate dangling earrings with black tourmaline stones and a matching necklace and put them on as I glance around the room for my oversize red-and-gray poncho-style cardigan. I pull it off a pile of clothes on the chair in the corner. When I turn around he’s leaning on the doorjamb, eyes glued to me.
I get flustered. “Were you watching me get dressed?”
He nods, and his tongue slips out of his mouth and wets his full lips. Like he’s anticipating how I’ll taste.Because he wants to taste me. Oh my God, this man…“In my defense, I was going to just hang on your couch, but your feline hissed at me.”
I laugh. “Roy doesn’t like hockey players either.”
He pretends to look miffed but that sexy mouth is quirked slightly in a smirk. I slide past him, and he steps into me so our bodies brush at every conceivable angle. It becomes so tight in the doorway that I can’t move. My back is pressed to the frame and my front is pressed to Sebastian. “Aren’t you going to ask me how my day was?”
“Did you get back together with your ex? Or fuck her on the ninth hole or something?” I blurt out completely crassly and totally inappropriately. It’s been on my mind all day. I would be worried about any potential boyfriend spending the day with his ex, but a hockey player? Even worse. Because I honestly don’t know Seb well enough to say one hundred percent that he’s not anything like the hockey players I know and hate. Ifeellike he’s different, but my feelings might be influenced by this insane carnalneedI have for him.
He looks startled by my tactless questions but not guilty. “No, I definitely did not. But I did get a hard cock every time I thought of you. Which was often.”
I feel my cheeks heat at that, and a delicious flutter happens in my stomach. His eyes, so freaking light behind the dark frame of the glasses that they are almost see-through today, sweep over my face, and it makes me feel like he’s inspecting me, which makes me deeply uncomfortable. I’m about to squirm my way free of him when he lifts his hand and cups the side of my face, the rough pad of this thumb sweeping lightly over my nose to my cheekbone.
“Why do you hate your freckles?” he asks, and I’m once again amazed by his astuteness. He notices everything. That’s not typical for any guy I’ve known let alone one that tends to take punches to the head for a living.
“Because they’re freckles.”
“They’re adorable,” he argues back, running his thumb along them again.
“Adorable is for cocker spaniel puppies and toddlers,” I reply and try not to frown.
He ignores my snarky reply and leans down so our foreheads touch. “They’re sexy. They give a softness to your otherwise hard edges,” he tells me bluntly. “Stop trying so hard to cover them with makeup.”
I instantly want to walk back into the bathroom and wipe off my already minimal makeup. But I won’t. I can’t. This man may have some kind of chemical in his body that I’m addicted to, but I’ll be damned if he’s going to run my life. My dad use to tell my mother how to dress and what she should look like, and I am not about to let him do that to me.
“Okay, when you stop taking punches to the face,” I counter as I slide free from the wedge that is Frenchie and the doorjamb. “I’ll stop covering the freckles on my face when you stop adding to the scars on yours.”
I grab my purse off the arm of the couch, giving Roy a quick pet, and march toward the front door. I glance over my shoulder and try not to giggle as I watch Sebastian and Roy eyeball each other. Sebastian looks leery and Roy looks unimpressed. Seb follows me into the hall, and after I lock my door he takes my hand in his, and we start down the hall to the elevator. He bypasses it, though, and moves toward the stairs at the end of the hall. I hesitate. “Elevator is faster.”
“It’s also a piece of shit and I don’t want to get stuck in it,” he replies. “I took it up and I swear it barely made it.”
“It’s rickety but it never fails,” I argue, because I know if we take the stairs we’ll run into Wayne. Wayne is a harmless drunk who manages to scrounge up the rent every month on the studio apartment a few doors down from me, but he often ends up passing out in the stairwell, on his way to and from the laundry room or to get his mail or…just because.
He ignores me and tugs me past the elevator. “Listen, we need to make a quick stop before our date really begins.”
I stare at the back of his head as we make out way down the stairs, him leading the way. “Okay…” My voice is cautious because his tone is contrite, like this place we need to go to is going to suck for both of us.
“Playoffs start tomorrow and our captain is batshit crazy so he’s making a bunch of us go to—”
“Jordan and Jessie’s for chili?” I finish for him as the conversation with Jessie filters back into my head.
