Yes, Jane knew that about him. She’d seen him shove and hook skates and run roughshod in front of his net. But she didn’t think he was talking about hockey.
“When can I get my driver’s license?” Marie broke in and thankfully changed the subject.
Both adults looked at her, then Luc leaned back in his chair and Jane breathed easier. “You’re not old enough.”
“Yes, I am. I’m sixteen.”
“When you’re eighteen.”
“No way, Luc.” She gulped down her milk and placed it on her empty plate. “I want a new Volkswagen Beetle. I can buy it with my own money.”
“You can’t have your money until you’re twenty-one.”
“I’ll get a job.”
He watched her take her plate and utensils and move into the kitchen. “She’s in one of her moods tonight,” he said out of the corner of his mouth.
“She’s mad because you told her her jeans are too tight.”
“They are.”
Jane gathered her napkin in her hand and laid it on the table. “I don’t think she’ll have that problem now. Caroline talked her into buying clothes that fit.”
“It was very nice of you and your friend to give up your Saturday and take my sister shopping,” he said as both of them watched Marie leave the kitchen and move down the hall to her bedroom. “I can’t imagine anything wo
rse.” Luc slid his palm beneath Jane’s and he studied her fingers.
“Caroline did everything.” Her hand appeared small and very white within the warmth of his, and her chest suddenly felt too tight. “I can barely dress myself. I wear a lot of black because I don’t know what colors look good on me.”
“Red.” He turned her hand over and looked at her palm. Slowly, his gaze slid up her wrist and arm, past her shoulder to her mouth once more. He leaned closer, and his voice got a little deeper, hotter. “You look good in red, but I believe we’ve already talked about that little red dress of yours,” he said. His voice chased warm flutters across her flesh to the pit of her stomach.
“The one that hypnotized you into kissing me?”
“I’ve decided it wasn’t the dress. It was the woman in the dress.” His thumb brushed the side of hers. “You have soft girl skin.”
She placed her free hand on her stomach as if she could still the butterflies. “I am a girl.”
“I noticed. Even when I don’t want to notice you. Sitting in the back of the plane or bus or walking into the locker room after a game, ready to take on a bunch of guys twice your size, I’ve always noticed you, Jane.”
Nervous laughter got stuck in her throat. “Probably because I’m the only female traveling with thirty men. I’m kind of hard to miss.”
“Maybe at first.” His gaze took in her hair and face. “I’d look around and see you, and I’d be surprised because you weren’t supposed to be there.” He lowered his gaze to hers. “Now I look for you.”
Even as his words made her heart beat a bit harder, what he said was hard for her to believe. “I thought you didn’t want me traveling with the team.”
He placed her hand back on her napkin. “I didn’t.” He stood and gathered the plates and utensils. “I still don’t.”
Jane grabbed the glasses and followed him into the kitchen. “Why? I told you I’m not interested in a tell-all book.” And she wasn’t. Honey Pie was a fictional column. Erotic fantasy. Her erotic fantasy.
He set everything in the sink, and instead of answering, he took her full glass of milk and drained it. When he lowered the glass again, she repeated her question. “Why don’t you want me traveling with the team?”
His blue eyes stared into hers as he sucked his milk mustache from his top lip, and she had a feeling his answer was very important. To her. Because, though she wished it weren’t happening, and no matter how hard she tried to prevent it, she was falling in love with Luc. The harder she resisted, the more the force of it pulled her under.
“I’m leaving,” Marie said as she reentered the kitchen.
For a few brief moments, Luc continued to look at Jane before dragging his gaze to his sister. “Do you need money?” he asked and set the glass in the sink.
“I have a twenty. That ought to cover it.” Marie shrugged into a snowboarding jacket and pulled her hair from the back collar. “I might spend the night with Hanna. She has to ask her mom, though.”