Jonah (Chicago Blaze 7)

I smile from my seat on the bench in the locker room. “You might need to have a talk with him.”

“Are you making fun of me?”

“No, babe. You’re absolutely right. That guy’s a prick and the ref missed the call. But I’m okay. It happens in hockey.”

“I don’t know how you’re so cool about it. I was screaming at the TV while I watched it.”

Damn, I like this woman. A lot. She’s got absolutely no chill on so many things, and it surprises me how attracted I am to her fierceness and loyalty. I don’t have a doubt in my mind she’d kick Tony Sawyer’s ass for the cheap shot he took on me during our game tonight in Austin.

“Knox will take care of him,” I assure Rey. “Since it happened at the very end of the game, he couldn’t do it tonight, but trust me, Sawyer will pay for that shot on me.”

Knox is just a few feet away from me in the locker room, dressing after his shower, and he calls out, “I got it, Renee! I’ll make him bleed, don’t worry.”

Rey laughs into the phone and says, “I like him.”

“Hey now, what about the guy who sent you that amazing dinner tonight?”

Knox’s wife Reese is a chef, and I asked her for a rec on a chef who could make Rey some classic Cuban comfort food. I paid the guy a bundle to fix dinner for two and deliver it to her place tonight for her and her roommate.

“Oh, Jonah,” she says seriously. “You don’t even know. That was the best dinner I’ve ever had in my life. I’m not even kidding. I teared up when I tasted that congri. And the flan! I wanted to finish it so bad but I saved the last couple bites for tomorrow.”

I warm with pride as she gushes. “I’m glad you liked it.”

“I loved it. And Kai did, too. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I wish you could’ve been here to eat it, too.”

“Hey, West! We’ve gotta go!” Anton calls out across the locker room.

Fuck. Media bullshit.

“We’ll just have to order it again sometime,” I tell Rey. “Hey babe, I gotta go.”

“Okay. So I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yep. I’ll text you when my flight gets in.”

I end the call and stand up, putting the phone in my pants pocket. When I cross the room and reach Anton, he grins and says, “Checking in with the warden?”

“Yep.”

“I really like her, dude. So does Mia.”

“So do I,” I say, trying not to sound surprised by it.

I’m supposed to like her, as far as the world is concerned. But I was looking forward to calling her just now from the locker room, because I wanted to hear her voice after my game. I knew she was planning to watch it, and even though we lost, I was thinking about her while I played.

When we talked last night, she told me her roommate was assaulted, and she sounded like she was ready to commit murder over it. I sent the food tonight because I wanted her to know I care. I wished I could be there with her in person, but my travel schedule is a bitch.

I’m not looking for a serious relationship. But this thing with Rey has turned into more than just our original fake relationship for me. I figure we might as well both enjoy what we have while we can, although guilt still comes on at unexpected times. As long as I don’t fall in love with her, I can keep telling myself it’s not the same as what Lily and I had.

“You guys done the deed yet?” Anton asks as we take a back hallway to get to the media room quickly.

“Not yet,” I say, wondering how he knew what I was thinking just now.

“Huh.”

“What?” I ask.

“Oh, nothing.”

“No, I know you, and that ‘huh’ had a tone.”

He grins slightly. “I was just thinking…wondering, I guess, if it’s because you’re not ready.”

“Nope.”

I’ve never discussed my sex life—or lack thereof—with Anton, but not because I don’t trust him. I just didn’t care to tell anyone about the couple women I’ve slept with since Lily died because neither of them meant anything to me.

“I haven’t gotten laid in almost a week,” Anton says in a grouchy tone. “The girls have both been sick and Mia isn’t sleeping much.”

I give him a wry grin. “The horror.”

“I’m used to getting it all the time, man. Pretty much every night I’m home.”

“Then be grateful and make use of your hand, dude. Or help your wife with the kids, maybe?”

“I do, asshole. It’s just that I want sex no matter how much sleep I’m running on, and Mia’s not like that.”

Sex. It’s been so damn long since I’ve had anything other than a drunken roll in the sheets. Every time I miss waking up with Lily curled against me, her bare leg draped over mine, I tell myself that’s gone forever. That I’ll never again have that intimacy with a woman.