Icing (Aces Hockey #1)(90)

“Her mom showed up yesterday morning.”

“Really? From Los Angeles?”

“Yeah. I overheard them talking and her mom was all excited. ‘You did it, Amber!’ ” He mimicked her high tone of voice. “She saw that blog post and came rushing to Chicago to meet the rich sap her daughter managed to snag.”

“Oh, that is such bullshit.”

“I heard her, Lovey. The sad part is, I bought Amber a new car on Friday. Fuck me. I dropped some coin on Melissa, but never as much as a fucking BMW. I am such an idiot.”

Lovey reached over and cuffed the side of his head. “Yeah, you are.”

“Ow!” He jerked away and glared at her. “Go away. This is humiliating enough.”

“Did she like the car?” Amusement curved her lips.

“No. She drove it here and left it in visitor parking. Gave the keys to the doorman.”

“Ha-ha-ha.” Lovey grinned. “I could’ve predicted that. I bet she was super pissed.”

He shrugged.

“Oh, for the love of cheese. Go talk to her. Apologize.”

“Apologize? Me? For what? I bought her a car!”

“You know how much she hates the fact that you’re a pro athlete and have money. Get your head out of your ass, Dunc. She was annoyed when you rented her a car.”

He frowned. Yeah, yeah, this was true, but maybe it had all been an act.

“She didn’t want to go out with you at all, in the beginning,” Lovey continued. “Because you were a pro hockey player. Of course, now knowing who her father is, it makes even more sense. I’m sure a pro athlete was the last kind of guy she ever wanted to hook up with. After what he did…God.”

I don’t want to like you…but I do. Her words floated back through his mind.

“You can’t seriously think she was using you for your money. I mean, I know you’re kind of distrustful of women because of Melissa and those other chicks, whoever they were.” She waved a hand. “But Amber’s not like that.”

Duncan remained silent. Distrusting? Really? Was he?

In the face of his sister’s blunt words and utter faith in Amber, he started to feel like maybe he’d screwed up even worse than he’d thought.





Chapter 24


Marc emerged from his bedroom. “Okay, ready to go.”

Lovey rose from the couch. “I’m trying to convince Duncan to come with us.”

“What? He’s not coming?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll come.” Duncan tossed his magazine aside and rolled himself off the couch. He rubbed his jaw. “Maybe I should shave.”

“Cheese whiz, I’m starving. Let’s go.” Lovey grabbed Marc’s arm and tugged him toward the closet. “You look fine,” she said to Duncan. “Scruff is good.”

“Who’s driving?” he asked. Maybe they should take the sweet little Beamer he’d bought. No. That was for Amber. Somehow he’d convince her to take it.

“I’ll drive,” Duper said. They all grabbed jackets and hit the elevator.

Duper and Lovey talked all the way there, but sitting in the backseat, Duncan wasn’t listening.

If Amber’d been after his money, she would’ve kept the car. She’d always been annoyed with him when he spent money on her or did things for her. And what had her mom meant by “all their problems”? Sure, he assumed money problems. Apparently Deke Johnson had declared bankruptcy right around the time he and Amber’s mom had divorced, which yeah, probably meant a big lifestyle change for Amber and her mom. Not that he knew anything about their life, but he assumed a three-time Super Bowl champ receiver in the NFL had made good money. Deke had also done a lot of endorsements for some huge companies back in his day.

Did they have to pay off his debts? That would really suck. Nah, that couldn’t be.

Suddenly he found himself burning up with a need to know…and to help. He wanted to take care of all her problems.

Fuck. She wasn’t using him. He’d believed the worst of her because of his own stupid insecurities. And because of that, he’d hurt her.

He leaned his head back and banged it against the headrest—once, twice, three times.

Lovey looked over her shoulder. “You okay back there?”

“Great.”

They walked into the Sin Bin, the lighting dim, the music loud. There were a few empty tables.

“There’s Stoykers and Pilker.” Duper headed toward the table where they sat.

Duncan followed, searching the room for Amber, but he didn’t see her. Then a female voice behind him said, “Hi, Duncan.”

He stopped and turned to see Melissa.

Christ. Just what he needed. “Hey, Melissa.”