Slap Shot(17)

“If not you could always go in naked.”

I drained the last drop of my wine and stood. “You know that is never going to happen.”

He stacked the plates and wisely said nothing.



I stripped in the wooden-paneled changing room and picked out a black bikini. It wasn’t too skimpy and the halter-style top was flattering. It fit fine. After folding my clothes I headed back out. Rick was nowhere to be seen.

Padding barefoot to the pool, I dipped my foot in. The water was lukewarm and my pink-painted toenails shimmered in the pool lights. I took the steps and let the coolness envelop my body, pushed off and swam breaststroke to the waterfall. Reaching the rolling water, I stood beneath it, tipped my head back and let the coolness soak through the thick strands of my hair. The feeling was heavenly. Refreshing and rejuvenating.

Pushing off to swim back to the steps, I spotted Rick standing at the edge of the pool. He wore navy swim-shorts and had his hands on his hips. I tried to look unaffected by the sight of his gorgeous body looming against a backlit palm. Tall and wide, his muscles bulged and his dark body hair led a beautiful trail from his sternum to his navel, thickening as it disappeared below his waistband. He had a string of purple-yellow bruises down his right-hand side, a hazard of his job I guessed.

“Is it good?” he asked as I got nearer.

“Lovely.” Okay so I’d had sex with the guy, but it hadn’t been a slow mating, it wasn’t as if I’d had chance to truly savor, truly appreciate a body that was as near to goddamn perfection as was humanly possible.

He dropped into the water, ducked right under then came up shaking his head, flipping his dark hair upward and sideways out of his face.

“The swimsuit fits then.”

“Yes, great, thanks.” I turned and swam back to the waterfall.

With several fast strokes he overtook me and popped up in the hard flow, letting it bounce off his shoulders and face as he raked his hands over his head.

I stared at the water gushing over his body, at the way it streamed down his tendons, sluiced over golden skin and caught in the wisps of black hair under his arms.

“Ah, that’s better,” he said, stepping toward me, the water at his waist.

“I thought you said nothing strenuous.”

“That wasn’t strenuous.” He stopped in front of me and my feet hit the floor to avoid my nose bumping into his bricked abdomen. “You want to see strenuous?” he asked, his eyes glinting wickedly.

I dropped backward, floated on my back and kicked away from him. “No, I wouldn’t want you to get a cramp.”

“Babe, that damn bikini is already giving me a cramp.”

I glanced down at myself and saw that my breasts, though still safely housed in the top, had breaching the surface of the water and the two round mounds of flesh jiggled as my body moved. Quickly I flipped onto my front and made for the steps. “I’m going in the spa, but just for a few minutes,” I said, and in my head added that soon I would go home. Bad Dana could not be trusted around a three-quarters-naked Rick. No way.

The spa was hot and bubbly and I settled down against a powerful jet, letting it soothe the tension from my lower back.

“I don’t get enough use out of this,” Rick said, climbing in next to me, stretching his arms out sideways and dropping his head back. “It’s bliss.”

“Mmm,” I agreed, closing my eyes and allowing a delicious state of relaxation to surround me. I was in control, everything was all right.

“I’ve been offered an interesting project,” he said.

I opened my eyes and turned to him. “What?”

“My agent rang me earlier. Channel Eight has approached him about a TV show next spring.”

“A TV show, what about?”

“It sounds like it could be a winner. They’re planning a talent show looking for the next hockey stars, sort of like American Idol but on ice. They want me to get involved, judge, train, that sort of thing.”

I sat a little straighter. “Do you think you’d have time for all that, what with games and practice?”

He shrugged. “I’m not getting any younger, Dana. I’m thirty-six, my NHL days will soon be over. I’ll have to retire and let the youngsters have their glory.”

“But surely you can just retire altogether and have an easy life. It’s not like you need the cash.”

He frowned. “I’d go insane if I just sat around here all day. I need something to get my teeth into.” He pushed his wet hair back over his head, one tendril fell down over his right temple and a drip hung from the end. “I was kind of thinking of working with kids, teens anyway, setting up some kind of hockey training scheme that’s available to all, not just the ones who can afford it. Get kids skating, get them active, maybe even find some stars of the future and mentor their first steps.”