Dropping Gloves (16 page)

They all looked up when I came in.

“Babs thinks he needs my wife more than I do,” Burnzie said.

“Shut the fuck up,” Connor said. Then he cackled, and Jonny glared at Sara.

“What?” she said. She pointed at Burnzie. “He’s the one who said it.”

“This time,” Jonny mumbled.

“He needs to stop saying it so much,” Brie said, patting a hand over her belly.

Burnzie threw his hands up. “I’m working on it. I have time.” He picked up an ice bag from the counter and held it to his hand before sitting next to his wife. Not a good sign.

Jonny was about to open his mouth when Sara said, “I’m working on it, too.”

“He’s three years old,” Jonny muttered. “I think you should have figured it out by now that he’s going to repeat everything you say.”

“Obviously, since that’s how I learned it all,” Sara said. “I spent my whole damn life surrounded by hockey players who think fuck can be used as every part of speech.”

“Fuck fuck fuck,” Connor chanted.

Brie shook her head, trying to stifle a laugh. She nodded in my direction. “You wanted to see me about something?”

I took a seat in an armchair. The smallest dog jumped into my lap almost as soon as I was down—possibly because I was as far away from the toddler as possible. Calling her the smallest wasn’t really saying much. She was still way too big to be a lapdog, making me appreciate more than ever before how tiny Blackbeard was, even if he did have some wicked claws. She licked my face, and I petted her out of instinct. Then Brie’s fluffy white cat jumped up on the back of my chair, purring.

“Right,” I said, overwhelmed by the menagerie I’d walked into and how fast my world had changed today. “I need a favor.”

The furniture I’d
ordered was all in position. I’d brought my suitcases from Mom and Dad’s house with me when Mom drove me over so I could meet the delivery guys. After that, I went to the grocery store and stocked up, so now my fridge and pantry were fairly well sorted out. After I’d returned from that, Mom came over with a few odds and ends—lamps, framed family photos, some vases and fresh flowers. She hung around for a while, letting me show her around. We talked about the colors I wanted to put on the walls, what kinds of artwork I was thinking about putting up, and who to call if I had various problems that sometimes come up for homeowners. But then she left, claiming she had a women’s league meeting even though we both knew that was a lie. I was pretty sure it was just that she was trying hard not to butt in too far, trying to give me some space.

But now she was gone, and it was just me and this empty house, and I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. Dr. Oliver had scheduled my first radiation session for Monday, so I had a few days to figure things out before it all started.

In LA, I rented a condo, but I was almost never there. I was on set, or out with Zanna and some of my other friends from the show, or doing something with whomever I was dating at the time. My place was just a place to store my things. It wasn’t really somewhere I did anything other than sleep. Hell, I barely had more in my kitchen than coffee and cereal since eating at home was something I only did in extremely rare circumstances.

Now I had a house of my very own, and no job, and no friends who were home in the middle of the day. I had a boyfriend, but he had a life that kept him busy a lot of the time. I couldn’t count on Jamie to keep me from boredom at all hours of the day, so I was going to have to figure out a way to occupy myself a lot of the time.

I flipped through a few channels on the TV, but nothing really caught my attention, so I turned it off. I dug my phone out of my pocket and checked my email. There was another long one from Derek, griping about how the
perfect
audition for me had just come up—the kind of gritty role he’d been grooming me for by having me hang out with guys like Beau—but he’d had to tell them I was no longer his client. That was exactly the sort of thing I didn’t need to see at the moment, so I shut it down, tossed the phone on the coffee table, and headed into my office space.

I hadn’t bought any furniture for this room yet. I was still trying to get a feel for it and settle on exactly how I wanted to use it. The idea of a writing and recording studio was still very appealing, but I needed to figure out what sort of equipment I’d need before I did anything else. The late afternoon sun was pouring in through the windows looking out over my backyard, casting everything in warm light that spoke to my soul.

I lay down on the floor in the middle of the room, soaking it in and making plans. The wall of windows would be perfect for a desk on one side and some sort of cushy chair on the other. I’d need to build in some soundproofing. Not that it was loud around here, but I didn’t want to be in the middle of recording something and have a car horn blare in the background. I could do a wall of built-in shelving on one side, and the other could have all my recording equipment. Once I decided on what I would need, at least.

My eyes were getting droopy from lying there for so long with the sun shining on me. If I didn’t get up and move around, I’d end up falling asleep down here on the floor, and I would definitely regret that. The view out that window was fantastic, though, so I pulled on a sweater against the chill and made my way into the backyard to my swing. I don’t know how long I was there—long enough that the sun was starting to set behind the mountains and the only thing keeping me awake was the back-and-forth motion—but then Jamie’s voice startled me out of my ruminations.

“There you are.”

I swung my head around and found him smiling at me across the fence. Blackbeard was perched on his shoulder, nibbling his earlobe.

“Here I am,” I replied.

“I rang your bell and tried calling your phone when you didn’t answer. Thought maybe you’d changed your mind about dinner with me and Razor.”

“Not a chance. Just forgot my phone inside when I came out here.”

“Mind if I come around?” he asked.

I shook my head.

With Blackbeard in position, Jamie went through his gate and then mine. He took a seat next to me on the bench, and the kitten jumped from his shoulder to mine before coming down to settle on my lap. Not to take a nap, though. His little sniffer was working overtime. I couldn’t blame him. All these sights and smells must be new for him.

There was a lot new for me, too, like the way Jamie casually put his arm across my shoulders and drew me closer to him. The way he treated me was so different from any of the other guys I’d dated. With them, every touch was possessive and done for an audience to see or to send a message of sorts. With Jamie, every touch was gentle and meant for only the two of us. I could get used to his kind of touches.

We sat there for a while, telling each other about our days and chitchatting. It was easy to imagine doing this every single day, coming home to one another and sharing the ups and downs, however large or small, we’d experienced since the last time we’d seen each other.

Before long, Blackbeard was antsy to move. I set him down on the ground, and he raced around the yard, leaping at invisible enemies and wrestling a blade of grass.

“It’s not fair, leaving him to play all by himself,” I said.

“You think I need another kitten? A playmate for him?”

I laughed and shook my head. “I was thinking maybe we should get down there, too.”

I should have moved the second the words left my mouth, but I didn’t, and then it was too late. Jamie picked me up and dragged me to the ground, rolling us over until I was on top of him. My breasts pillowed between us. My lips were only inches from his, close enough I could smell his cinnamon breath mints.

“Like this?” he asked, breathless and laughing.

I answered him by bracing my knees on either side of his waist, resting my arms on the ground beside his head, and kissing him with every ounce of love I possessed. His lips were spicy and sweet when my tongue traced the seam. He opened, inviting me in, and his hands settled on the small of my back. Tender. Tentative. I could feel how much he wanted to be with me—his erection came to life in about 0.28 seconds—but he was still so cautious about caressing me. It was as if he was worried my father would walk up at any moment.

I kissed the line of his jaw, moving down to his neck. “Touch me, Jamie. I want to feel your hands on me.”

He lifted one hand, sliding it up to my head. He threaded his fingers through my hair, drawing it down to his face. “Did I ever tell you how much I dream about touching your hair?” He sniffed a few strands, letting them fall in waves against his skin. “It’s so soft. Like silk.”

With all the things he could choose to touch, he chose my hair. I didn’t know what to make of that.

But then he rolled us over until he was on top. A layer of leaves blanketed the ground beneath me, and he had me pinned below him, his weight supported by his arms. I drew my knees up, holding him between my thighs. Breathless, heart pounding, I waited for his next move.

And waited.

He stayed like that, gazing down at me in awe, as if he was memorizing every detail. The colored light of the setting sun outlined his face above me, a wash of pastels painting the sky. Finally, he lowered his head, placing a kiss on the bit of exposed skin on my chest.

I sucked in a breath, squeezing my eyes closed in anticipation of his next move.

His phone rang in his pocket, and he raised himself away from me again.

“Don’t answer it,” I said. I wasn’t ready for this to end.

“It’s Razor.”

I pouted. We’d been getting so close to a moment I’d been dreaming about for years, and now he was going to pass it up for his buddy. “Can’t you tell him you’re busy? I’m sure he’d understand.”

But Jamie was already getting up and taking the phone out. I supposed that answered my question.

Blackbeard loped over and replaced him, curling up right over the spot where Jamie had just kissed me. It was sweet, but he was a poor replacement.

“Hey,” Jamie said into the phone. “No, I haven’t forgotten. I was just picking up Katie first.” He fell silent for a minute. “Just working on doing what you told me to, asshole. We’ll be there in ten minutes.”

He hung up the phone and reached down to help me stand.

“What did he tell you to do?” I asked, brushing the leaves from my butt.

Jamie blushed, and his dimples popped out. He didn’t answer me, though. He just took my hand and tugged me in for another kiss, the kind of kiss that made my toes curl. “Come on,” he said when he broke it off. “Let’s drop Blackbeard off at home and go pick up Razor.”

He might have tried to deflect my question, but I went along with him. For now. I was almost positive I knew someone who would answer it for me, and we were on our way to see him.

When Katie and
I got to the Thunderbirds’ hotel, we walked hand in hand into the building. It was unreal how easily we’d fallen into doing what felt natural—talking about our days, holding hands, playing around with each other. I could get used to this really fast.

Razor was waiting for us in the lobby, along with Hunter and Zee. As soon as she saw them, Katie raced across the foyer and kissed Zee on the cheek. That was just Katie. She’d known Zee longer than she’d known me, and all the guys who’d been part of the Storm over the years had become like older brothers to her. Well, all except me, but I was glad she didn’t think of me that way. She did the same with Hunter and was moving on to Razor by the time I got there.

He was apparently anticipating it, and he swept her up off her feet and planted a kiss on
her
cheek before she could kiss him. By the time he set her down again, she was trying to catch her breath from laughing so hard.

I held out a hand for Zee’s.

He shook it but with his eyes narrowed at me. “Everything all right?” he asked.

“Everything’s fine.” I had no doubt his curiosity came down to the leaked reports of the locker room incident after the last game. Not that he wanted dirt on us or anything like that. He had been part of that locker room a long time, and he still had a lot of friends there. Most likely, he just wanted to offer up some advice or something else of that nature. I wasn’t going to involve him, though. I meant what I’d told Razor. Those things needed to stay in the room, and no matter how long Zee had been part of it, he wasn’t now.

He had always been the kind of guy who would respect that sort of decision, and sure enough, he let it go. He pulled an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Katie. “Dana sent me with these to show you.”

She raised her brows in question but opened the envelope to find three photos, one of each of Zee and Dana’s two kids, and a sonogram. “Again? You’re having another baby?”

“Another boy. He’ll be here in May.” Zee didn’t even attempt to hide his pride.

We spent a few more minutes catching up with Zee while Razor cracked jokes here and there. Hunter didn’t really say much. He just sulked a lot, occasionally interjecting something slightly more coherent than a grunt. I wasn’t sure what was going on with him other than maybe feeling like his talents were being wasted on a team he didn’t want to play for—he’d made that much clear over the summer when he’d found out he’d been claimed in the expansion draft—but he didn’t seem inclined to talk about it.

“Do you guys want to come to dinner with us?” Katie asked when we were getting ready to leave.

Zee shook his head. “Soupy and Rachel insisted on a family dinner for me tonight.” That didn’t surprise me since Dana was Soupy’s younger sister and Zee had been his best friend since they were kids. “Rachel’s picking me up on her way home.”

“And Hunter’s going to a meeting of the goalie guild,” Razor put in cheerfully, ignoring the glares coming from Hunter’s corner. “Nicky, Bobby, and Jacks are planning to spend time with his hostile ass, for some reason, so we might as well go.”

Katie handed the photos and sonogram back to Zee, and we headed out to my car.

I got on the highway, heading toward the Old Town-Chinatown District. “What’s under Hunter’s skin?” I asked Razor.

“You mean besides his wife?”

I did a double take as I exited the highway. “He’s married?” The last I knew, Hunter hadn’t even been dating anyone.

“Yep. Miss Oklahoma or something. They’re fucking disgusting together, nonstop PDA and shit, but he’s surly all the time now. Well, surlier than normal. You’d think that if they’re all over each other like that, he’d be getting laid all the time. And you’d think that getting laid all the time would improve his disposition. I don’t see that one lasting, but what can you expect when a guy marries a piece of ass he’s only known for five seconds?” He looked over his shoulder at Katie, in the backseat. “Sorry. Language.”

“It’s fine,” she said. “I can promise you, I’ve heard worse.”

That wasn’t the point, but I decided not to say anything about that. I was just glad Razor had corrected himself this time before I’d had to. Maybe he wasn’t always going to be a complete asshole. I scanned the side roads, searching for a place to park. “So he met this girl and married her? Just like that?” I finally found a spot not too far from the Davis Street Tavern and took it before someone else could come along and snag it out from under me.

“As far as I could tell. And he’s been a fucking bear to deal with ever since. Well, more so than normal.”

I took Katie’s hand as we crossed the street to the restaurant. When we got to the front door, she surprised me by stretching up on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek. I was almost positive I was blushing, but I didn’t give a shit. Not only that, but I wasn’t satisfied with a kiss on the cheek. That might be good enough for Zee, Hunter, and Razor, but I wanted more. I drew her in for a real kiss.

“Fucking surrounded by it everywhere I go,” Razor muttered when I let her go. “You two should get a room.”

The hostess seated us in a booth almost immediately. I slid onto the bench next to Katie, and the hostess passed around menus. Once she left, Katie set her menu down in front of her and focused in on Razor.

“So, what is this advice you gave Jamie?” she asked.

“Nothing,” I said, shooting daggers in his direction in case he thought it would be a good idea to give her a solid answer.

“Advice?” He quirked up a brow and cocked his head to the side, eyeing me. I shook my head. He chuckled and turned back to Katie. “Oh,
that
advice. I just suggested Babs listen to the words of one of the greatest thinkers of our time.”

“And who’s that?”

“No o—”

“Beyoncé,” he said, cutting me off. “You know. The part in ‘Single Ladies’ about what he should do if he likes it.”

“Put a ring—” Katie stopped short as soon as she understood, her cheeks turning almost as pink as mine. She picked up her menu again and hid her face behind it, but there was no hiding how embarrassed she was from me. “I see.”

We’d barely decided we were dating again, so it was way too fucking soon to start talking about getting married, no matter how much I might want that to be the end result.

The waitress dropped off glasses of water and took our orders, scratching things down on a notepad before collecting the menus.

“And I think we all know he likes it,” Razor added as soon as she walked away.

I kicked him under the table.

“What? It’s not like it’s a secret.” He shifted down the bench so he was across from Katie instead of me, not that it would do him any good. I could still kick him if he deserved it, and chances were high that he would. He caught Katie’s eye and winked. “Maybe once he’s getting laid on a regular basis, he won’t be so tetchy. But then again, he might end up like Hunter and be more unbearable than ever.”

I was already pulling back my foot to deliver another solid kick when Katie smiled and said, “I guess there’s only one way to test your theory.” Her eyes flickered over to me for a fraction of a second before fluttering away, but there wasn’t a chance in hell I could have missed the invitation in that glance.

I froze.

The waitress returned with a bottle of wine and a basket of bread, and Razor caught my eye during the exchange. The corners of his lips twisted up in a shit-eating grin.

Holy hell.

We ended up
spending hours hanging out with Razor before taking him back to the hotel, but Katie didn’t seem to mind. Actually, with the way she talked and laughed with him, the two of them ganging up together to tease me, I was pretty sure she had enjoyed it immensely. So had I. Today was the first time I’d spent quality time with Katie since she’d come back to Portland that had been free from either her tears or us talking about cancer. I just hoped we were going to be able to keep it up without him around, because he definitely would
not
be around for this next part.

We had barely left the hotel’s parking lot when Katie turned in her seat and asked me, point blank, “Do you have condoms back at your house?”

I nearly lost control of my car in shock. “No. Why?” Then I mentally berated myself for coming across as an idiot.

“We should stop at the drugstore and get some,” she said, ignoring the most senseless question to have ever crossed my lips.

“Are you— I mean, aren’t we… Don’t you think we’re rushing into things?”

“We don’t have to use them tonight if you think it’s better to wait,” she said, as calm and collected as ever. “I think we should have some on hand, though. For when we are ready. There’s nothing worse than being in the middle of things and having to stop to go to the store because no one has a condom on hand.”

“Nothing worse,” I repeated, hating myself for it. But I couldn’t stop myself. There were things I needed to know, and Katie had been the one to broach the subject to begin with. She’d opened the door. I might as well go through it. “So you’ve had that happen? You’ve been about to have sex with some guy and had to stop so you could go buy condoms?”

There wasn’t any way to hide the jealousy in my tone. No way to mask the fact that it hurt me that she’d been with someone else. If she had stayed in Portland, I was sure we would have been together by now, and God knew the girls I’d dated since her had done their best to get me in their beds. I wasn’t even entirely sure why I hadn’t slept with them other than it hadn’t felt right. I’d wanted them plenty bad enough, at least from a purely physical standpoint. My body had responded. My heart just refused to catch up. With Katie, my body was there, and my heart was fully in it. The only problem was my head kept telling me I needed to slow everything down.

We were coming to an intersection, and the light turned yellow, so I braked and stopped. Then I turned so I could really see her when she answered me.

“Yes,” she said. “I stopped him because we didn’t have condoms, and I went to the store to get some.”

“He didn’t go? Why didn’t he go with you?” Or better yet, instead of her.

She shrugged and looked down at her lap, where she was toying with the bottom of the zipper on her jacket repeatedly. “He was mad I made him stop over something like that. He said I should have thought to be sure we had condoms before things ever got as far as they did. So I went and got them, and I brought them back. And we had sex.”

“Which one was this?” I asked, trying to keep my anger in check. I wasn’t just mad at the asswipe who’d treated her like that; I was mad at Katie for letting him, for not standing up for herself and refusing to let anyone act that way toward her.

“Does it matter who it was?”

The light turned green, so I adjusted my hands on the wheel and eased onto the gas, chewing on my frustration. “I don’t know,” I finally said. “You tell me. Does it matter who he was?”

Katie spun her head and stared out at the city as we passed it by. “It was Beau. With Jesse, his drugs were more important to him than I was, but he at least bothered to…to take care of me when we were in bed. The other guys I dated, it never got serious enough for me to sleep with them.”

“But Beau acted like the ass he is when you were alone together,” I finished for her.