Chapter 4
Georgia
“Hi.” I stepped up when it was my turn at the ticket booth. “I’m picking up two tickets for the game tonight.”
“Your name and ID, please?”
I slid my license to the other side. “Georgia Delaney.”
He held up a finger. “You’re Yearwood’s guest. Hang on a second. He left a bag for you, too.”
I looked over at Maggie and shrugged.
She grinned. “I hope it’s snacks. I’m hungry. Twizzlers would be nice.”
I chuckled. “We’re early. We can get something inside.”
A minute later the guy in the booth came back. He slid two tickets across the counter and then a logoed Wolverines bag. Since there was a line behind me, I stepped away before opening it. “Thank you.”
Inside, there was an envelope on top, so I opened it and slid out a piece of thick cardstock. The handwriting was neat and very slanty.
Wear my name on your back tonight. It might be the only chance I get.
X
Max
P.S. There’s a Wolverines shirt in here for your friend. Unless you brought a date. If that’s the case, fuck ’em. He’s not getting shit.
I laughed and handed Maggie the card.
She read it and grinned. “I like him already. He’s hot, wants to put you in his seat with his name on your back, and has gifts for your friend. If you don’t wind up going out with this guy, I’m warning you, I’ll be giving him my number.”
I shook my head with a smile. “Come on, let’s go change and get you some snacks before the game starts.”
We arrived at our seats carrying two hot dogs, ginormous sodas, and a large pack of Twizzlers. The same woman was sitting in the adjoining seat as last time.
“Hi, Jenna.”
“Hey, Georgia. I heard you might be here tonight.”
I settled into my seat with a furrowed brow. “You heard?”
“My husband asked Max if anyone was using his seats. My mother-in-law was thinking about coming. Max said his tickets were being used by his new green-eyed lucky charm. I had a feeling he meant you. By the way, thank you for being here. You saved me three hours with my horrible mother-in-law.”
I laughed and pointed to Maggie. “This is my friend Maggie. Maggie, this is Jenna. She’s married to one of the players.”
“Great to meet you.” Maggie leaned over me. “So, do you know Max pretty well?”
“Well enough that I’ve seen his ass more than once.” Jenna smiled. “We have a summer home out east, and it has an outdoor shower. Max loves it, and I can’t get him to keep his bathing suit on when he uses it.”
“Nice.” Maggie smiled. “Can I ask you a question about him?”
Jenna shrugged. “Sure.”
“Would you let your little sister date him?”
“I don’t have one. But I did try to set him up with my best friend, if that answers your question. She’s a model and was very into him. They met at a party at my house, and at the end of the night she asked him if he wanted to go somewhere and hang out more. He declined, saying he had to get up early the next morning. He definitely could have had a good time and then ditched her. But instead, he kept things friendly. When I asked him the next day what he thought about her, he said she was really cool, but he wasn’t into her that way and didn’t want to take advantage. Not too many single guys would have done that seeing as Lana has been in the Victoria’s Secret catalog.”
Maggie aimed a gloating smile my way. “Good to know. Thank you.”
The game started, and Maggie and I really got into it. Having someone to cheer with made all the difference. We stood when Max’s team scored, booed when the visiting team did, and during intermission, Jenna brought us to some secret wives’ suite where we had cocktails and everyone was super friendly. At one point during the third period, Max scored. When the camera zoomed in on his smiling face, I could’ve sworn he looked right at me and winked, which made the crowd go crazy. I was certain every other woman in the arena thought it was for her, too.
During the last period, the usher who had showed us to our seats came by. He handed me another envelope and two lanyards. I recognized the all-access pass from the one Jenna had let me borrow last time. The women on both sides of me grinned as I slipped the card out of the envelope.
In case you want to return my little friend in person, rather than leaving him with security.
I hope to see you.
X
Max
• • •
“Can you tell me how we got here?” I shook my head and spoke to Maggie as I stared across the bar.
“Well, we put one foot in front of the other and walked about two blocks from the Garden after the game ended.” She lifted her chin toward where Max was talking to the bartender while waiting for our drinks. “I honestly don’t remember much after that gorgeous beast of a man flashed those dimples and asked us to come out with him.”
I sighed. “I know the feeling. One minute I was waiting outside the locker room, swearing I was returning his lucky charm and saying thank you and goodbye, and the next I was sitting here. I think the dimples are hypnotic or something.”
Max returned to our booth with two glasses of wine and a bottle of water. He slid into the seat across from us and looked back and forth between Maggie and me.
“Why does it feel like the two of you sitting on one side is more dangerous than skating on an eighth-of-an-inch blade toward a three-hundred-pound defender with no teeth?”
Maggie grinned. “The man knows how to read a room.”
“I wish I was better at reading your friend.” His eyes shifted to meet mine a moment. “Tell me how to get your friend to go out with me.”
She wagged her pointer. “Not so fast. I need to make sure you’re right for her. I have a few questions first.”
Max smiled. “I can see why you two are good friends already.” He lifted his arms to rest along the back of the booth. “Ask away, Maggie.”
“Dogs or cats?”
“Dogs. I have two.”
“What kind?”
“A mutt and a Pomeranian”
I laughed. “You have a
Pomeranian
?”
Max nodded. “It wasn’t by choice. My brother bought it for his kids for Christmas last year. His one daughter couldn’t stop sneezing, and the other two couldn’t stop crying after he told them they had to give the dog away. The younger one suckered me into taking it so they can still see it sometimes.”
“How’d she sucker you?”
Max grinned. “She smiled at me.”
We both laughed. “What are the dogs’ names?” Maggie asked.
“Fred and Four. I adopted Fred from the pound. My nieces named the Pomeranian. I always called the girls Thing One, Thing Two, and Thing Three, so my brother started calling the dog Thing Four while they were trying to think of a name for it. It stuck, but I shortened it.”
“What do the dogs do when you’re on the road?”
“I have someone who comes and stays in my guest room. They take care of my apartment and my boys. It’s actually two sisters who do it as a business. I give them my road schedule in advance, and they work it out between themselves for the season. They’re dog lovers. It’s great because the dogs get to stay in their own home, so it doesn’t upset them too much when I leave for a few days. One of the sisters sells homemade organic dog treats, and she uses my kitchen when she stays, so they sample every batch. Sometimes I think they’re pissed when I come back.”
“Do you have any pictures of them?” Maggie leaned in. “If you do, it’s bonus points. Assholes don’t usually have pictures of their dogs on their phones.”
Max dug his cell from his pocket. “I think there are a few videos of them snoring, too. They’re bed hogs, and one snores louder than the other.”
Maggie pointed to me. “Oh, so like Georgia.”
“I
do not
snore.”
Maggie deadpanned to Max. “She snores.
Loud.
”
I laughed. “Just shut up and let’s see the dogs.”
Max punched in a code on his phone and slid it across the table.
Maggie picked it up and blinked a few times. “You’re just going to hand me your phone and let me look through your pictures?”
Max shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”
“I don’t know. Every man I’ve ever met hovers nearby, ready to snatch the phone out of your hands when a woman so much as looks at one photo.”
He laughed. “I don’t have anything on there to hide.”
Maggie started to swipe through the photos.
Max pointed. “There’s a folder called dogs somewhere. My oldest niece made it. There’re more pictures than you could ever want to see in it. My nieces make me text them photos. I made the mistake of deleting them once, and the little one cried. Now I keep them all.”
I leaned over Maggie’s shoulder as she opened the folder and started to swipe through. Most of the photos were just the dogs, but Max was in a few, too. I noticed her swipe lingered when we came to one of a shirtless Max wearing a backwards baseball hat. The man had an eight-pack carved into golden skin. She caught my eye and smirked.
“Do you have Georgia’s number in here?” Maggie asked.
“I do.”
She hit a few buttons, and my phone vibrated inside my purse. She winked. “I thought you might like to use that one for his contact photo. Just in case you forget what he looks like.”
When we were done looking through pictures of the dogs, Maggie slid the phone to the other side of the table. “Back to my questions. I think you were trying to distract me by showing those adorable photos.”
“You’re the one who brought up dogs,” Max said.
“Still.” Maggie shrugged. “Okay, next question. What’s the longest you’ve ever let food sit on the floor before you picked it up and ate it?”
Max raised a brow. “Are we talking sober or drunk?”
“Either.”
He hung his head. “I ate an Oreo that was on the floor for about five minutes. Actually, I wound up eating it out of the sink. It was the last one, and my brother and I were fighting over it. I’d scooped it off the floor and almost had it to my mouth when he knocked it from my hand and sent it flying across the room. It landed in a pot full of greasy water my mother had been soaking from dinner. It was probably floating in there for thirty seconds or so while we wrestled over who could get to it first.”
Maggie wrinkled her nose. “That’s kinda gross. But I won’t hold it against you since you were a kid.”
Max grinned. “It was six months ago. We were at my brother’s for dinner.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“You’re lucky you got extra points for taking in your nieces’ Pomeranian and adopting from the pound,” Maggie said. “Because that just lost you one. Gross.”
Max waved her on. “Hit me with another one. I can win this. I know I can.”
“Alright.” Maggie stared off for a few seconds while drumming her fingers against the table. She then raised her pointer in the air, and I all but pictured a giant light bulb in a cartoon bubble above her head. “I got one. Food you eat frequently.”
“Easy. Cheerios.”
“Really? That’s weird. Not bread, or chicken, or even pasta or rice.
Cheerios
?”
“Yep. I freaking love ’em.”
Maggie shrugged. “If you say so. What about your favorite book?”
“Probably
The Boys of Winter
.”
“I don’t know it.”
“It’s about the nineteen-eighty Olympic hockey team.”
Maggie’s nose wrinkled, and she pointed to me. “Sounds as boring as the crap she reads. A few years ago I caught her re-reading
The Great Gatsby
. Who reads F. Scott Fitzgerald unless it’s assigned to you in high school? And even then, you skim and read the CliffsNotes version.” She shook her head. “Okay, next question. This one’s double or nothing, so you better answer it right. Do you or do you not have any plans to live in London anytime soon?”
Max flashed a dimple and looked at me. “Definitely not. I’m no dumbass.”
“Good answer.” Maggie grinned. “What’s something you like but are embarrassed to admit?”
Max hung his head again. “I sometimes watch
Jersey Shore
reruns.”
“Interesting. Would you rather hang out with Snooki or JWoww?”
“Snooki. No contest.”
Maggie took a deep breath and shook her head. “I was afraid of this.”
“What? Was JWoww the right answer?”
“No…not at all. You’re perfect for her. That’s why she won’t go out with you.”
“What do I need to do? Forget to hold the door and check out other women while she’s talking?”
“I’m not sure that will do it.”
“Umm...” I looked back and forth between Max and Maggie and pointed to myself. “You know I’m sitting right here, right?”
Maggie winked at me. She then proceeded to pick up her wine and chug the entire thing in one impressive gulp. She slapped the empty glass down on the table with a large
aahh
before abruptly standing.
“It’s been lovely, boys and girls.”
My face wrinkled. “Where are you going?”
“My job is done here. I think I’m going to pop over to Aaron’s lawyer’s for a booty call. All the testosterone in that arena got me in the mood.” She leaned down and kissed my cheek. “You two have a fun evening.” She wiggled her fingers at Max. “Take good care of my girl, Pretty Boy.”
Without another word, she turned and strutted for the door. I blinked a few times. “Well, that was…interesting.”
“Who’s Aaron?”
“Her almost ex-husband.”
Max’s brows shot up. “She’s booty calling
his
lawyer, not her own?”
“Yep.” I shook my head. “There’s an old saying—Never go to bed angry; stay awake and plot revenge. Maggie rewrote it as, Never go to bed angry; stay awake and have revenge sex.”
Max laughed. “I like her. She seems like a no-bullshit type of person.”
“She is.”
“Plus…” He reached across the table and weaved his fingers with mine. “She got you to come here.”
“That she did. Though I feel like I was duped. The only reason she pushed for us to come out was because she planned to duck out like she just did. I don’t know how I didn’t see that all along.”
“Thank you for coming to the game tonight.” He squeezed my fingers and looked down at my shirt. “I really like you in my jersey.”
My stomach did that fluttery thing it did every time we were alone. The man was just too damn sexy for his own good. Who the hell looked that good at eleven o’clock at night after playing multiple hours of intense sports? Why couldn’t he have some bruises and oozing things on his face to be at least
somewhat
hideous?
I stared down at our joined hands. “I liked wearing it. But…I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to see each other. You seem like a really nice guy, but things between Gabriel and me… I just don’t know where they’ll end up.”
“But you’re fine going on Tinder for a hookup or meeting a guy you knew wasn’t someone you’d be into…”
“Those just seemed less complicated, for some reason.”
Max looked back and forth between my eyes. “What if I told you I was moving at the end of the summer?”
An unexpected pang of disappointment squeezed my heart. “Is that true?”
He nodded. “It’s not public yet. My contract here is up. My agent hasn’t worked out all the details, but as of this morning, it looks like I’ll be going to the Blades, out in California. I’ll have better postseason playoff potential with them.”
“Oh wow. So when would you go?”
“Training camp won’t start until the first week in September. But I’d probably want to be settled in by the beginning of August, at the latest.”
Max watched me intently as I absorbed what that meant. It was almost the end of April, so he’d only be around for a little over three months. I bit down on my bottom lip. “I don’t know…”
“Enjoy the summer with me. I’m not looking for anything serious, and I can tell we’ll have fun. But we’ll also have an expiration date, which will keep things less—as you said—complicated.”
It was a seriously tempting offer. I did want to date. At first it might’ve been only because Gabriel was seeing other people. But the more I’ve thought about it, the more I realized maybe I needed some life perspective, too. A year ago I’d had my entire life planned out. Maybe I needed to
stop
planning and analyzing and just live a little, play things by ear? Though that sounded great, it also made my palms sweat.
“Can I…think about it?”
Max smiled. “Of course. That’s a hell of a lot better answer than no.”
After that, we stayed at the bar talking for a few hours. Then Max hailed a cab, and we both got in. My apartment was on the way up to his, so he told the driver to drop me first. When we reached my building, he pulled out his billfold and offered cash over the seat to the driver.
“Give me a few minutes so I can walk her up.”
The driver took a look at the bill and nodded. “No problem, boss.”
Max and I walked side by side to the door to my building.
“I’m on the road the next four days—games in Seattle then Philadelphia. My schedule kind of blows until the season ends. But that’s soon. And I’m having some people over next Saturday, if you’d be up for it. No pressure…but it is my birthday.”
“Really?”
Max nodded. “You can bring Maggie or someone, if you want. That way you won’t feel like it’s a date, if you haven’t decided on us yet.”
“That’s very nice of you.”
He opened my apartment building door and walked me to the elevator.
“Thank you for drinks and the ride home,” I told him.
After I pressed the up button, Max reached out and took my hand. He stared down at our joined hands for a long while before his eyes worked their way up. They stopped at my mouth, and he shook his head. “This is the second time I’m leaving you, and each time it gets harder not to kiss you goodbye.” His eyes met mine. The intensity radiating from them took my breath away. “I want to kiss you so fucking bad.”
I couldn’t say anything, though it seemed like he was waiting for a response. My brain was too busy sending electric currents racing through my body.
Our eyes stayed locked as Max took a pensive step forward.
Through my peripheral vision, I saw the elevator doors slide open. It was right next to us, so we both clearly heard it, too. Yet our gazes remained steady. Max took another step toward me.
I think I might’ve stopped breathing at that point.
Then he took another step, and our feet were toe to toe. Slowly, Max reached out and lifted one finger to my mouth. He traced my bottom lip from one side to the other, then his finger slid down over my chin, over the length of my throat, and stopped at the hollow of my neck. He spoke directly to the spot as he traced a circle. “I’m not even going to ask to kiss you. Because I won’t be able to control myself if you let me.” He shook his head. “I want to leave marks.”
Oh my.
Max swallowed. Watching his Adam’s apple work made me feel woozy. But it was nothing compared to how the way he was looking at me made me feel. Or maybe the lightheadedness came from the fact that I still hadn’t remembered to breathe.
My mouth grew dry, and my tongue peeked out to run wetness along my lips. Max’s eyes followed, and he groaned. Somewhere in the distance, I heard a bell ding, but the meaning didn’t register until Max held out his hand to stop the elevator doors from closing. He tilted his head toward the open car.
“You better go,” he growled. “I’m not ruining my chance before I’m even given one. But I hope you’ll give my summer proposal some thought.”
“I will.” I had to force myself to step into the empty elevator car. “Goodnight, Max.”
“Sweet dreams, sweetheart.” He grinned. “I know I’ll be having them.”