Only One Chance (Only One 2)
Grabbing a pair of white jeans, I slip them on and then choose a peach satin spaghetti strap blouse to go with it. Looking at myself in the mirror, I decide this is casual yet dressy with a pair of high heel gold wedges. Even though I take the time to curl my hair, I’ll never admit that I spend way too much time on myself.
As soon as the doorbell rings, I grab my phone and take a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.”
I walk to the door and open it to find him standing there in blue jeans and a navy blue T-shirt that molds to his body. His hands are tucked in his jean pockets, and his aviator glasses keep me from seeing his eyes. The minute he sees me, his face splits into a huge smile, making me smile. “What, no flowers?” I joke. He comes in, shocking me by putting his hand around my waist, and I wait for him to kiss my lips, but instead, he kisses my cheek.
“God, I missed you, gorgeous,” he says and then looks at me. “You ready to go?”
“I mean, am I dressed okay?” I ask. Suddenly, I’m nervous about this date and worried I’m not dressed appropriately.
“You look gorgeous, no matter what you wear,” he says, grabbing my hand and leading me out to his car. He opens the car door for me, and I get in and watch him walk around the front of the car. When he gets in and starts the car, he looks over at me, and his smile is still all over his face.
“I can’t believe this is actually happening,” he says as he backs out of my driveway.
“So are you going to tell me where you’re taking me?” I look at him. “It’s not like I can jump out of a moving car.”
“I mean, if you say it like that,” he says, laughing, “I’m actually taking you back to my house, and I’m going to cook for you.” My stomach sinks because one, he’s so fucking cute, and then two, he is actually going out of his way to cook for me.
“I can still jump out?” I look over at him and see his smirk, and for the first time in a long time, I laugh wholeheartedly.Chapter 12MillerAs I gaze at her, I swear I wouldn’t be able to frown, even if I wanted to. It’s so good to finally see her. For the past week while I’ve been traveling, I sent her a text each day, even if she didn’t respond. I knew she got them because they showed as read. “I’m going to get on the highway now.” Her hands rest in her lap, and I wonder if she would hold my hand or try to break my fingers if I held out my hand.
“I can still jump out,” she says, trying to hide her smile. When she opened the door, and I saw her, she took my breath away. She is always stunning, but knowing that she spent time to get dressed to go out with me did something. “If I tuck and roll, I might be okay.” I reach out, not even caring, and grab her hand. “You can’t drive a car and yank me back,” she says, but she doesn’t move her hand either. “How was your week?”
“Good,” I say. “I don’t want to jinx it, but …” I loosen my hold on her hand, expecting her to let go, but she doesn’t.
“You guys are meshing well together,” she adds in. “I mean, there are still a couple of things even you can work on.” I laugh and look over at her. “What, you didn’t think I would not tell you what you did wrong?”
“I know how much fun you have with it.” I laugh. “So tell me.”
“Well, number one, you need to hustle back a little faster,” she says, and I know exactly what moment she is talking about. Manning lost the puck in the neutral zone, and by the time I looked back, it was a three on one. “Also, you get a little heated on the ice.”
I laugh now. “Is that so?” I shake my head, and she shrugs.
“But all in all, it was a solid performance by you and the team. Manning, though …” She winks at me. “That man is a beast.”
“He’s married.” My voice comes out harshly, and she raises her eyebrows at me. “I mean, maybe not happily, but still.”
“Relax there, hotcakes. I was talking about him on the ice. Nothing more.” She drops my hand and holds her hands up in surrender. “Besides, he’s not really my type.”
“Really?” I say. Looking over at her, I want to ask her what her type is. But I have to wait because I pull up to my gate and need to enter the code.