“I’ll invite a few of the guys too,” I tell her, absolutely trying to ignore the surge of joy that swept through me when she accepted my offer.
“Nanette will love that,” Brooke says dryly. “When she found out I was moving here, all she could talk about was how hot hockey players were.”
A thought suddenly strikes me, and I can tell by the look on Brooke’s face the same exact thought strikes her as well. “We’re going to have to tell your friend about our little charade.”
Brooke nods. “Shit. She absolutely would be privy to the fact that you and I were most certainly not dating in New York for a few months before we moved here.”
“Is she a good enough friend to you that she’ll keep the secret?” I ask her with a small amount of legitimate worry. I can tell that Brooke doesn’t have a strong connection with this woman.
“I’m sure she would,” she says, but she doesn’t sound overly confident. “Once I explain things to her, I’m sure it will be fine. Besides, she’ll probably be heading back to New York pretty quickly.”
“All right,” I mutter.
“All right,” Brooke echoes.
We stare at each other awkwardly in the glow of the porch light at 1:30 in the morning. Not a single person around to observe whether I leave without a backward glance or I kiss the fuck out of her.
A good night kiss is absolutely not necessary to give credence to our story, since no one is here to witness it.
When my mouth comes down on hers, my arms wrapping around her, I realize it must be necessary to me. And I know I am in a world of shit because of it.* * *—
I turn the key in the lock as quietly as possible, noting that Dax’s vehicle is in his side of the two-car garage. We decided to rent a house after taking a quick weekend trip to Phoenix once we signed our new contracts. We had been living in a small apartment in lower Manhattan, which was not much for a whole lot of money. In Phoenix, the cost of living was drastically different and we opted for an actual house rather than an apartment. It’s almost like we were growing up and we even made this decision knowing that we would have to do yardwork.
I push the door open slowly and immediately see Dax lying on the couch watching TV. All the lights are off, but he’s bathed in a blue glow and I can see his eyes come to me with surprise. “I thought you’d stay at Brooke’s.”
“I don’t have to spend every night with her,” I say defensively, and that gets a chuckle out of Dax.
“Dude, you and Brooke looked like you were not living a lie the last few days.”
“Really?” I ask him with sincere curiosity, my pique receding fairly quickly. I have no clue how well we’re pulling this off and I know he’ll be honest.
Dax sits up and mutes the TV. I slouch down on the opposite end of the couch from him, throw my arm over the back.
“There’s something real between the two of you,” Dax says with such surety in his voice I almost have to believe it.
Never one to hold out secrets from my best friend, I admit to him, “I like her, man. She’s smart and sexy and funny…”
“So make it real with her,” Dax suggests.
“We’ve known each other an entire week,” I tell him dryly. “I said I like her, not that I want to go steady with her.”
“There’s nothing wrong if you do,” Dax says with a meaningful look. “But I don’t think they call it going steady nowadays.”
I give him a roll of my eyes and decide to drop the subject. I’ve been thinking about this so much it’s making my head hurt. Instead I fill him in on Brooke’s friend coming in to visit. “She’s going to go to the game tonight with Brooke and I thought maybe we could all go out after.”
“Is she hot?” Dax asks with a suspicious expression.
“No clue,” I tell him.
Dax shakes his head before he says, “Well, you better invite some of the guys, because I am not going to be a blind date with a woman I have no clue what she looks like.”
That gets me and I let out a deep laugh from way down low in my belly. I’d like to say that’s typical of Dax, but fuck, it would be typical of me too. “I had planned on inviting Legend and Eric. I thought maybe I’d ask Tacker too.”
Dax shakes his head, not in denial but more in a sad, resigned way. “Tacker won’t come.”
Yeah…he probably won’t.
Still, I know I bailed on him on this road trip staying in Brooke’s room both nights, but I want to make some type of effort to get to know him a little better. While he gives more than 100 percent of himself to this team, the guy shouldn’t have to go through life carrying such heavy burdens.