“Jett,” Emory says softly, and it’s the gentleness of her tone that has my head snapping up to look at her. “Thank you for saying that. Being a parent is all about second-guessing yourself.”
She’s being very serious, and I’m greatly touched that I touched her. But it also freaks me out just a bit, because it’s a lot of responsibility to have that power over someone.
I play it off, giving a nonchalant wave of my hand. “Hey… I’m just trying to butter you up to get back in your pants soon.”
Emory laughs and her eyes turn mischievous. “We could lock my office door and go at it real quick?”
And now I’m overly interested in where this conversation is going. “Really?” I ask, a mixture of shock and hopefulness.
Emory rolls her eyes at me. “No, not really. Dominik might have given his blessing on our inter-organizational relationship, but we are not having sex in my office.”
I press my lips into a smug smirk. “Maybe not now, but one day I’ll have you on that desk.”
“In your dreams,” she chortles.
We go back to eating. I’m clearly not getting a little office sex before the game, but it’s all good. I let her bounce ideas off me on how the visitation would work. Emory has all the power right now, so it’s whatever she wants.
“I’ll talk to Felicity tonight,” she says, pushing her bowl away even though she’s only eaten about half of it. “I’m sorry… I’m not going to be able to meet you tonight after the game,” she says with an apologetic wince.
They were tentative plans we’d made as I was leaving her house last night. I invited her to come hang with us at Erik’s house after the game. It’s a special night since Baden is coming to the game with his best friend, Wes Hollyfield, who played for the Pittsburgh Titans. They started their professional hockey careers together with the Buffalo Wolves before they were both traded to other teams. They’ve remained best friends and Wes has come to Phoenix several times to visit Baden through his recovery. Erik offered up his house for the team to get together and hang with Baden outside of a hospital setting, while also giving him some time to hang with Wes before the Titan’s team plane departs the following morning.
“It’s more important you handle this with Felicity,” I assure her, knowing there will be plenty of other opportunities to hang together.
As a couple.
In front of the team.
Because if she had come to Erik’s tonight as we had tentatively planned, it would have been as a couple.
We’d have made the statement tonight that we are together, although some of my linemates suspect as much.
“Is it too forward of me,” Emory says, and I jerk out of my thoughts to look at her. Her expression is playful, and dare I say, a little naughty. “To ask if we can set up a night I can come stay at your place? It’s been far too long.”
“It’s been four days,” I point out.
Actually, four days, six hours, and roughly thirty minutes but who’s counting.
“Tomorrow night?” I offer. “Since we don’t have a game, we could cook dinner at my place?”
Emory smiles, but it doesn’t fully reach her eyes. “It depends on when I have Shane over to see Felicity. If it’s tomorrow night—”
“Of course,” I interject. “That’s more important.”
This exasperates Emory and she shakes her head. “No, I’ll still come over tomorrow night, but if Shane comes over, it might be a late dinner. I’ll come as soon as he leaves and Felicity goes to bed.”
“Then it’s a date,” I say, dipping my fork back into my bowl. I intend to eat the rest of my lunch as my stomach is far bigger than Emory’s.
“It’s a date,” she agrees, leaning back in her chair and watching me.
Her eyes on me aren’t intrusive in the slightest.
CHAPTER 17
Jett
It’s been too long since we’ve hung out like this.
Just the players.
With half the guys on the team having significant others, meaning they are more prone to go home to their women, it’s often just us single dudes. While The Sneaky Saguaro is the “unofficial” team hangout, it’s really where the non-committed guys go to celebrate and hook up.
Which makes this get-together at Erik’s house all the more special, because most of the guys are here. I don’t think anyone really wanted to pass up an opportunity to hang out with Baden outside of the rehab hospital.
Not that he is going to be in it much longer. He is getting released next week and is moving into a handicap-accessible condo downtown, about four blocks from me. While he’s still making significant progress in learning how to walk again, his main mode of mobility is still the wheelchair.
The evening is starting to get late and while we don’t have a game tomorrow, we do have an early practice. I wish I could see Emory tonight, but she’s been in bed and asleep for a few hours already. Tonight is the night she had her talk with Felicity about her father coming back around. She had sent me a text after—which I didn’t read at the time as I was actually on the ice playing against the Titans—that she had the talk and it went fine and she’d tell me more about it tomorrow.