I go on and on.
But I finally run out of things to say, which is okay since Baden has stopped engaging in the conversation.
I stop talking, allowing an uncomfortable amount of time in pure silence to unfold, hoping he’ll engage on his own.
And then, to my surprise, he does.
“You’ve talked about everything but hockey,” he accuses with a pointed look. “Training camp started this week. And not one word about it.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask bluntly. “Because there’s plenty to tell.”
Baden’s gaze goes back out the window, and it almost seems as if his body shrinks in on itself. He answers me with one simple word. “No.”
Christ, I want to reach out and hug the guy, but I think he still has enough upper-arm strength left that he would probably deck me. At a loss over what to say now, I decide it’s time to make my exit, but there’s a knock at his door.
Baden answers, “Come in.”
I expect to see a medical professional walk in—perhaps an aide to see if he wants to move back to his bed. Maybe a therapist coming to take him for rehab. Even a visiting Vengeance member.
Instead, a young woman, quite pretty with curly blonde hair that trails down her back, enters. She’s carrying a plant.
She steps in hesitantly, looks at me first with an uncertain smile before her eyes drag slowly over to Baden.
I glance at Baden, whose eyes have flared slightly with recognition.
“Do you remember me?” the woman asks.
I can see by Baden’s expression he does, but he doesn’t say a word.
She takes another step into the room. It’s obvious she’s really nervous. The plant she’s holding shakes slightly. “I’m the woman you saved from those men attacking me.”
Holy shit.
My eyes practically bug out of my head. I’ve never asked Baden the details of what happened. The police had provided Dominik Carlson with the details, and he had relayed them to the team. But I never bothered to put a face to the woman who would have inspired such heroism from Baden.
“I’ve been wanting to come visit you for a while now,” she admits in a quiet voice. “I had to work up a lot of nerve to do this.”
Baden still hasn’t said one word, and it’s painfully awkward.
But what I do know is that I do not need to be a part of this reunion. So I push out of my chair, glancing down at Baden. “I’ll see you sometime next week, okay?”
I get nothing from him as he continues to stare at the blonde.
I give her a polite nod of my head, then move past her to exit the room. When I glance over my shoulder, I see Baden and the woman continuing to stare at each other silently.
I slowly back out of the room and pull the door shut behind me, wondering with extreme curiosity what that conversation is going to be like.CHAPTER 14Mollie“So how do we play this?” Kane asks as he brings the rental car we’d picked up at the airport to the curb before my parents’ house. We drove with the windows down, and the salty ocean scent in the air affected me deeply.
In all my travels, nothing has spoken to me like the California coast.
I let out a long exhale, unaware I’d just taken in a deep breath of that delicious briny smell.
Shrugging, I say, “Act like we normally do.”
“Normally as in ‘your best friend is coming to visit your parents,’ or normally as in how we’ve been acting the past week?” he prods.
My eyebrows rise, and I smirk. “Oh, you mean how we’ve barely been able to keep our hands off each other for the past week?”
“We have had a lot of sex,” he admits, chest all puffed out with pride.
“I’ve had more sex this past week with you than I’ve had in the past decade.”
That only makes his chest stick out more, his eyes lighting with interest. “Really? Do tell.”
I slap his arm. “I’m not making your head any bigger.”
“You already make a certain head quite big enough on frequent occasions,” he replies, waggling his eyebrows. But then his face turns somber as he suggests, “Let’s act like a couple from the start. Might as well get that part out of the way. Besides, it will make them ridiculously happy and soften the blow for when you tell them about what happened with Matthew.”
“Okay, that sounds like a plan,” I say with a firm nod.
After we exit the vehicle, I wait for Kane to round the front to come to my side. I hold my hand out, palm up. It’s an invitation of solidarity in our new romantic relationship.
Smiling, he takes my hand. We head up the small walkway that connects to the sidewalk but make it no more than three steps before my parents fling open the front door to welcome us, bright and happy smiles plastered to their faces.