Reed (Cold Fury Hockey 10)

"I didn't take you as a bargain shopper," I say as I rub my thumb on the condensation of my pint glass. I should switch to water or I'm going to have a massive headache tomorrow.

"I'm not," he clarifies. "But it's easier to schedule an Uber on their app than to call for a cab."

"Huh. Learn something new every day."

Reed chuckles and turns his head to look across the restaurant. We ended up going to an Irish publike restaurant, and the Smithwick's went down way too fast. Reed motions to a waitress and she comes over.

"Would ye two like another?" she asks in a lilting Irish accent.

Reed shakes his head and leans to the side slightly to pull his wallet out. "Just the check."

The waitress turns away and I open my purse and reach for my wallet, but I'm stopped when Reed says, "Put that away, Josie."

"I'll pay for my share," I tell him.

"I've got this. My treat."

"Why?" I ask somewhat belligerently. If I were out with any of my girlfriends, we'd pay for our own meals.

"Because I'm super rich and I want to," he says smoothly.

"Fine," I grumble as I shove my wallet back into my purse. "But next time, I'm buying."

"Suit yourself," he says with a shrug of his shoulders, completely dispelling any thoughts I might have that this was a date. Which is fine by me. I've had a blast today with my new buddy, Reed Olson.

"So, what's next on the agenda?" I ask Reed after he schedules an Uber on his phone app, pays the bill, and we slide out of the long booth.

"We get you home," Reed says as his hand sweeps out for me to precede him from the restaurant. "You can relax the evening with a jigsaw puzzle or something."

I start walking past a row of booths and into the pub area, which we have to traverse to get to the exit door. "What are you going to do?"

"Got plans tonight," he says with such finality that I feel like he's telling me it's none of my business. But I've never been one to heed warnings like that.

"Which Barbie is it this time?" I ask over my shoulder as I wind my way through patrons standing around in the bar area.

Reed chuckles and tugs on my hair from behind. "I'm going out with some buddies of mine tonight. No Barbies."

I smile to myself and start to look back at him to make some type of smart-ass comment that falters when someone runs into me. It knocks me backward into Reed, whose hands immediately go to my hips to hold me steady. Still, my entire backside is pressed to his front side for a brief and flush-inducing moment.

"Hey, asshole...how about apologizing?" Reed growls at someone. I look up to see a big, beefy guy standing there looking at Reed blankly.

He's looking blankly because he's not comprehending he did anything wrong, and I'm going to guess that's because he's drunk.

I turn around to face Reed, tilting my head to look up at him. He's staring fiercely over my head at the guy with what looks like a need to do bodily harm.

"It's okay, Reed," I say as I place a hand on his chest. "I'm fine."

For a brief moment, Reed doesn't acknowledge me, but continues to glare at the man who knocked into me. I have no clue what he's doing, as I'm afraid to look away from Reed.

Finally, his face tilts and he brings his eyes to mine. He studies me for a moment before giving a curt nod. I sigh with relief as Reed grabs my hand and leads me around the guy, muttering to him, "Watch where you're going next time, dude."

To my relief, the guy says nothing and I'm guessing either he was thoroughly put in his place or maybe he recognized Reed and was starstruck, but we manage to make it out to the parking lot unscathed.

"You sure you're okay?" Reed asks as we walk toward a small white sedan I assume is our Uber driver. He hasn't let go of my hand yet and it feels both right and slightly awkward.

"I'm totally fine," I reassure him, and wait for him to drop his hold on me.

He doesn't, though, until we reach the back door and he opens it for me. I slide in and he steps in after me. After he closes the door, I look to him to find that his brows are drawn inward as if he's still angry. Reed rattles off his address to the driver and we pull away from the restaurant.

"What's the sour look for, Olson?" I say teasingly, hoping to draw him out of his funk.

That's all it takes. His face relaxes bit and he turns his head to smile at me. "I just hate drunk assholes that don't watch what they're doing. Besides, he was openly leering at you as you were walking toward him. Pretty sure he knocked into you on purpose."

That makes me blink in surprise, both that someone was leering at me and that Reed would take offense to it. Surely that's not what it was.

"I'm sure he wasn't leering at me," I say dismissively but lightly so he knows this really isn't a big deal.

"He was totally checking you out inappropriately," Reed says adamantly, and I'm warmed clear to my toes when he adds, "You got the whole Hot Doctor Barbie thing going on today."

Still, I refuse to read anything into this, so I downplay it. "I look nothing like a doctor right now."

"Yeah, but I know you're a doctor," he says suggestively with a waggle of his eyebrows. "And you got the hot thing for sure going on."

"I'm not hot--"

"You're totally hot and you know it," he smirks. "Just like you think I'm hot. Nothing wrong with two hot friends hanging out, right?"

"Right," I say with a firm nod of my head. "Want me to protect you from any Barbie dolls that come on to you?"

"Hmmm," he says as he looks upward pensively. When he looks back to me, eyes are sparkling with mischief, he says, "You better let me check them out first before you make any command decisions to run them off."

I reward him with an elbow to his ribs and take great satisfaction when he grunts from the hit.

We end up chatting on the way home. He tells me he's going to a Durham Bulls game with two of his teammates, Marek Fabritis and Holt Craig. I pretend to act dumb and ask him about the guys, but I know a little bit about them. I may have read up on the Cold Fury since meeting Reed and I recognize their names. I figure if I'm going to be neighbors with Reed, I could be a more dedicated fan I suppose. Besides, I do nothing but work and sleep, so this expands my horizons.

When the Uber driver pulls up in front of Reed's town home, I can't even offer to pay since it's done through the app on Reed's phone.

We get out and Reed actually walks me up to my door. As I'm pulling my keys out, he casually says, "Be ready to go tomorrow at 8 P.M."

My head snaps up. "Excuse me?"

"Tomorrow, 8 P.M. I'm taking you to a Cold Fury party. Every member of the team gets to spend a day with the Stanley Cup, and tomorrow there's going to be a huge party at our captain Alex Crossman's house."

"Are you telling me or asking me?" I stare at him reproachfully.

He merely chucks me under my chin and laughs. "You're adorable. Be ready at eight to have some fun."

And before I can accept, because it sounds fun, or decline, because that's just rude to assume I d

on't already have plans tomorrow, he bounds down my porch steps, cuts right, and runs right up his. He shoots me a wink before stepping inside, while I just stare dumbly at him.

Chapter 5

Reed

"I can't believe you seriously did that to me," I mutter out of the side of my mouth to Josie. It's the first time tonight I've been alone with her.

She laughs mischievously and looks up at me. She's sipping from a bottle of water, as she's on call tonight, and she waves it at me. "You all but dared me to set you up on a date, Reed."

This was true, and I'm regretting it now.

"Yeah, well...what I imagined a Doctor Barbie to be and what you imagined are two different things."

Josie laughs again, and in this moment, I realize she intentionally set me up with the dullest person she could find. Granted, the woman is a knockout and has the tall, busty, and blond thing going on, but past that...I almost fell asleep talking to her tonight.

I was really proud of myself for strong-arming Josie into coming to Alex and Sutton's party. This entire summer is going to be party after party as the Cup circulates its way through the organization, every person getting a day with it to do what they want. Tradition demands you throw a hell of a party, and I knew Josie would have a good time.

I knew I'd have a good time, but it would be even better with Josie there, because I've found out these past seven days since the pool that she is a hell of a lot of fun. Conversation with her is like a never-ending merry-go-round and she makes me laugh a lot. I also like looking at her, an added bonus.

What I did not count on was when I showed up at her door to pick her up she had someone there with her. She invited me in and then promptly introduced me to her fellow ER doctor Kathy Krantz. Not going to lie, but that first visual impression was good. She was smokin' hot. But the minute I heard her voice--all flat and monotone--I knew I was in for a bad evening.

I was able to shoot a glare at Josie when Kathy went to the restroom before we left. She just shrugged and said, "What? When I told you I didn't want to impose on this team event, you told me that it was open invitation and you were allowed to bring whoever you wanted. So I thought it would be the perfect time to set you up with someone who had a bit more going on upstairs."

And Kathy is smart, no doubt. But she's like that teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off who speaks in that nasally, monotone, drawling voice, "Bueller, Bueller, Bueller."