"First date was fine-a lot of catching up. Second date, he made it clear he wanted to get back together."
"And what did you want?"
"I wasn't sure at the time," she says in a murmur. "I really just wanted to try to be friends first and I was honest with him about it. Painfully so."
"Have you gotten any clarity on the matter since then?"
“I believe so,” she says, and I can just imagine the quirk of her lips by the teasing tone in her voice. “Seems some hot hockey player has my attention now.”
“Yeah? That’s ironic, because I’m sort of lusting after this hot drug counselor I met.”
“Sounds like a match made in heaven,” she quips.
“I’m thinking it could be,” I agree, my mind turning dark with blistering hot images of what I would do to Sutton when we got around to trying to re-create heaven.
“Seriously, though,” I continue on. “Is this guy still in the picture? Are you still interested in him?” I hold my breath for her answer because this guy could be a major threat. He has history with Sutton.
I have two weeks.
“It doesn’t matter,” Sutton says quickly. “I called him the other night and told him that I didn’t ever see us making it past friends and if he was harboring hope for something more, I needed to let him know that it was probably a waste of time. I told him that I didn’t want him trying to prove me wrong. I told him…”
She drifts off, almost embarrassed to say what I think she’s getting ready to say.
“Told him what?” I urge.
“That I was seeing someone else. That I was very interested in someone else.”
“And just so I’m clear on the matter, you are talking about me, right?”
She laughs merrily into the phone, causing my smile to flare bright again. “Yes, I was talking about you.”
“Can I see you after the game Saturday afternoon?” I ask her, completely changing the subject.
“What did you have in mind?” she asks, her voice slightly husky and I know she’s thinking of something slightly indecent.
“Well, I was thinking of taking you and your family out to dinner after the game. Then maybe we could do something…together.”
“Like what, together?” she presses.
“Hmm. I do have something specific in mind.”
“Define specific,” she says, her voice light and breathy.
“I think it might involve me putting my hands all over you,” I murmur, and I love the intake of her breath that is loud enough that I can hear it through our phone connection.
She clears her throat. “Anything more specific than that?”
A low laugh bubbles up in my throat. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”
“I can’t wait,” she sighs with a bit of frustration that has my man card elevating from gold to platinum status.
We talk for a bit more, a little of this and a little of that. We find we have a mutual love of B-rated horror movies and fried dill pickles. We are widely divergent in our musical tastes— she’s all hearts and sweet pop and I’m heavy metal and grunge. It is an easy agreement we make that whoever’s car we are driving in gets to pick the music. Which implies that we will be riding in each other’s cars in the future, and probably on more than one occasion.
I’m not exactly sure what is happening here, but I suppose an outsider would say I’m developing a relationship with someone.
My first.
Sadly, my only, and I hope I don’t screw it up.
Chapter 14
Sutton
“You seriously want to take the boys out with us?” I ask Alex for what I think may be the third time.
“It’s a little too late to change my mind,” he says, looking in the rearview mirror of his Suburban to check on Glenn and his two friends in the backseat. “I’ve already invited them. I’m pretty sure they’d riot if I canceled.”
Looking over my left shoulder, I can’t help but grin at Glenn and his two neighborhood buddies, Mickey and Tyrone. Glenn is sitting in the middle, wearing the Cold Fury jersey that Alex gave him. They are all three looking at the game programs they got when we arrived at the arena earlier this afternoon to watch Alex play. Alex had given me four tickets and the original idea had been to bring Glenn, Mom and Jim-Dad. However, my parents backed out the minute they realized Glenn would be happier bringing two of his friends, a move that was sure to earn him cool points and bump up his street cred—especially since the tickets were given to him by Alex Crossman himself. Alex suggested that the boys and I take a cab to the game and he would shuttle us around after, an offer I was all too happy to take him up on—and Glenn and his buddies weren’t complaining either.