Roman (Cold Fury Hockey 7)

"So I'm the first woman who's stayed here?" she asks casually as she pours juice.

"Yup." I coat the pan with cooking spray and turn on the burner. "I'm what you would consider a very casual dater, and frankly...never been with a woman long enough to trust her with my home address, you know what I mean?"

"Not really," she says. "You hardly know anything about me."

"I know enough," I tell her firmly, and I don't elaborate, because I already told her all about my newfound penchant for girls who play ukuleles in coffeehouses.

"That's sweet," she says before taking a long slug of her orange juice. "But why no friends or family visiting?"

I glance at her as I turn from the oven to the island, grab the bowl of eggs, then turn back to the heated pan. "My parents are in Prague. They're both really busy and don't travel much outside of the Czech Republic."

"Not even to visit their son?" she says.

And it doesn't bother me that she's asking me these things, but I also don't want to get into a deep discussion about my lack of a traditionally cozy and loving family. So I merely tell her, "I'm just not that close with them. Honestly, not that close to anyone really. Playing hockey is such a transient existence. I've been living away from home since I was a teenager, and I've been traded among teams a few times. It's hard to develop relationships when you're constantly on the move."

She's quiet a moment as I pour the eggs into the pan, and while they cook, I turn the bacon.

"I don't buy that part about not being able to develop relationships," she says, and I look back to her to find her staring at me intently. "I mean, look at us. You invited me to your house after having spent probably less than a full day total in each other's presence. You can move quickly when you want if you find something you're interested in."

"Now that is true," I say with a smile, because that's a definitely something I agree with.

"Thus," she says as I start to scramble the eggs, "I don't think you've ever really wanted to let people in or develop relationships. If you're not all that close to your parents, I'm guessing you just learned early on how to be by yourself."

"Something like that," I agree with a shrug. She's pretty much on the mark, but like I said, I don't want to get into any deep discussion about my family. There's not much to talk about, and I'm sure she'd find that very sad, especially since I know family to be very important to her.

I change the subject as I finish scrambling the eggs and turn the heat off for both pans. "So, our game is going on as scheduled tonight. I'm going to have to head to the arena around 4 P.M. or so and I've got some options for you."

"Lay them on me," she says easily, letting me know that she's not upset over my evasiveness about my lonesome ways.

"Well, you can just stay here at my house and relax," I say. "Your power won't be on until this evening, and I bet even later than that, as they never get these things done in the time frame they promise. With that many power outages, it could take awhile, so stay here...relax and be warm."

"That's a good option," she agrees as I grab two plates from the cupboard. "What's the second?"

I put the plates down by the stove, layer one with some paper towels, and start to transfer the bacon to drain. "You could come to the game and watch it. You'd have to ride in with me this afternoon, and you can hang out in the friends-and-family lounge until the game starts."

Looking over my shoulder, I note that Lexi gives me a slightly pained look. "That sounds awesome, Roman, but I really can't afford a ticket right now. I had to have some work done on my car last month and I'm still paying that off. So I'm thinking the first option will work, if you don't mind me staying here that is."

Setting the fork down beside the plate of bacon, I cross over to the island, round it, and come to stand beside Lexi as she sits on the barstool. Reaching out, I take a lock of hair that's sticking out from that mess on top of her head and tug at it gently. "I should have been more clear. Every Cold Fury member gets two season tickets, and you obviously know I don't have any friends to even justify having a coffeepot in my house, so you can imagine that I've got two tickets sitting there that are all lonely and begging to be used. You can even invite a friend or something to the game if you want. I can leave the other ticket at will call."

"A friend or something," she muses with a cute grin. "There's this guy at work I've actually got a crush on. Maybe I could invite him to come."

My eyelids drop as I narrow my gaze on her in a fierce glare that might be diminished somewhat by the amusement in my eyes. "You're fucking kidding me, right?"

"I can tell by that look on your face you know I'm kidding," she says with a mischievous smile, then places a finger right in the middle of my chest. She rests the tip there lightly, but it's like I feel the weight of her entire body, and a surge of adrenaline spikes through me. I've wanted to kiss Lexi from basically the first day I saw her in the Cold Fury offices, but never more than I want to right now.

But I don't, and instead lean my face down nearer to hers and ask her in a low voice, "So which option do you want?"

"Hmmmmm." She taps her finger against my chest and hums low in her throat, and even that has a sexy, raspy quality. "I think I'll take option number two. I've been dying to see a game since I found out Brian was my father."

"It will be our second date," I point out, feeling the rhythmic tap against my breastbone that's almost hypnotizing.

"I might let you kiss me at the end of it," she says with her eyes sparkling.

"Or you might give me more?" I push at her teasingly...but not really teasing. I so fucking want more.

"I might," she says coyly.

My hand comes up, wraps around hers at my chest, and I give it a squeeze. "We'll see," I say noncommittally. "I might be too tired after the game."

"We'll see," she says playfully, and I know there's no way in hell I'll ever be tired enough to say no to her if she wants a kiss or something more. But again, I find that I like not knowing which way this will go. For some reason, I feel the uncertainty of our actions is only heightening my attraction to her.

"You should probably stay here again tonight," I tell her. Of course I'll take her home if she wants, but I'm going to try my damnedest to get her back here and we'll see what happens.

Squeezing her hand again, I release it and turn away from her. I head back to the stove and start to pile scrambled eggs onto the other plate.

"I've got to work tomorrow," Lexi says to my back. "Georgia agreed with me we should stay closed today because of the roads, but it will be good enough tomorrow to open up."

"I'll get you there

in time," I tell her assuredly. I don't have any plans tomorrow other than a few hours in the gym and a short speed-skate practice.

"Then I'll stay the night," she says, and I smile down at the last scoop of eggs I transfer from the pan.

Chapter 12

Lexi

My phone chimes and a partial text notification is visible at the top of my phone screen. I tap on it, which takes me out of Facebook and right to the message.

It's from Georgia and it makes me smile. Just got home. Power is on, which is a good thing. It's colder than a witch's tit outside.

My fingers fly over the screen. Welcome back. Missed you.

Want to do dinner? she asks.

Can't. On a date. I respond.

With who?!?!?!

I laugh to myself over her effusive use of punctuation to denote her surprise, but before I can even send a response, my phone rings. I stand up from my perch on a plush black leather couch in the family room of the arena where Roman dropped me off about an hour ago. He had secured me a pass for the room as well as my ticket, and left me here with promises he'd stop in to see me before going up on the ice. He introduced me to one of the assistant coaches' wives who was there when we arrived. Roman told me it doesn't get used all that often, as most of the team's family members come to the arena separately and closer to the start of the game. But it is a nice place for those who might ride with one of the players to hang out before the game.

Since then a few more people have come into the lounge area, none of whom I'd talked to, as I'd been surfing on my phone. I walk to the doorway that leads out into the hall for a small measure of privacy and answer Georgia's call.

"Did you have a good trip?" I ask her as soon as I answer.

"Oh, to hell with that," she huffs impatiently. "You most certainly don't want to hear all about my boring weekend with my college peeps, as we were in bed most nights by 9 P.M. and none of us can handle our liquor anymore. Now who are you on a date with?"

"Roman," I say in a low voice as I lean against a concrete block wall painted white. The hallway I'm standing in is long but curved, matching the shape of the oval arena. We're on the basement level and I'm surprised I actually have decent coverage.