Jaci Burton - Melting the Ice

“You practicing your scowl for the game tonight?”

His gaze shot up and he glared at Trick. “What?”

“Hey, that’s an even better one. You should try that one on Vancouver tonight.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Trick shut the door to his locker. “Man, you’re grumpy. You need to get laid.”

“Fuck you, Trick.”

Trick just laughed. “That mood has got to do with a woman. A certain pretty brunette I met at the bar a couple weeks ago?”

“I don’t want to talk about Carolina.”

“So it is her.” Trick took a seat on the bench next to Drew. “Did she dump you?”

“No, she didn’t dump me. Well, maybe. I don’t really know.”

“You don’t know? What the hell, man? Has it been that long since you’ve been given the boot by a woman you can’t tell when you’ve been dumped?”

“Actually, I’ve never been dumped.”

Trick let out a snort. “Every guy has been kicked to the curb at least once. You either didn’t recognize it or didn’t care. And now you have, and you do care, so you don’t know what the hell to do. Like now, with the hot brunette.”

“Her name is Carolina.”

“That’s right. Carolina. So Carolina dumped you.”

Maybe she had. He’d never been with a woman he liked enough to care whether she wanted to see him again or not. He searched his memory to try and remember if any of the women he’d dated in the past had ever given him any signals about not wanting to see him again.

Maybe there had been a few in his past, and he just hadn’t read the signals. Nothing like being self-aware.

But with Carolina, he had no idea. He dragged his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know, Trick. With the road trip, I haven’t had a chance to talk to her. But she does want to see me. She left me a voice mail.”

“That’s a good sign then, right?”

“It’s about the modeling thing for her fashion line.”

“Oh.” Trick slapped him on the back. “Start there. If you like her, it at least puts you in front of her.”

“I guess. I don’t know. Women are a lot of work.”

Trick stood and grinned. “But so much fun to play with.”

CAROLINA FINISHED UP SOME PAPERWORK AND LOOKED at her phone, answering a few text messages and emails.

She cleared several off her phone, leaving the one she’d gotten from Drew three days ago.

Out-of-town games. Back on Friday. Will call you.

Terse. Noncommittal. And decidedly not warm or friendly.

Then again, she hadn’t exactly told him she’d missed him in her voice mail, or that she’d had a great time that night they’d spent together. Her voice mail had been cool and professional. So what had she expected in return?

She set her phone aside and went back to her paperwork, wrinkling her nose at the prospect. Design was fun. It fired her blood and fueled her excitement. The accounting and paperwork and everything else that went into starting up her business? Not so much fun. She had accountants and lawyers to handle the finances and legalities, but she was the CEO of Carolina Designs, and as such, it was up to her to go over every detail, including the drudge work she didn’t enjoy.

After two hours of poring over numbers, she was satisfied they were on track.

Her phone buzzed.

Drew.

She picked it up and pushed the button.

“Hi, Drew.”

“Hey, yourself. How’s it going?”

“Busy. How about you?”

“Finally back in town.”

“Away games?”

“So, you haven’t been watching?”

“I’m sorry. I’ve been a little distracted lately. How did it go?”

“Buzz me up and I’ll tell you.”

“You’re downstairs?”

“Yeah.”

She rolled her eyes and headed to the door. “What if I hadn’t been here?” She pressed the buzzer.

“Then I’d have gone out to dinner alone. Hanging up now.”

And now he expected her to just drop everything and go to dinner with him? That was ballsy. And more than a little annoying.

She opened the door and waited for him to show up, which he did a minute later, looking gorgeous as always in relaxed jeans and a navy blue peacoat. He even wore a scarf. Damn, but the man was infuriating, attractive as hell and even worse, he dressed well.

Other than his arrogant attitude, she had nothing to pick apart.

He stepped in and looked around, zeroing in on her coffee table. “Paperwork explosion?”

“Something like that. Would you like to take your coat off?”

“No. I’m starving. I thought maybe you’d want to get dinner.”

“I’m kind of busy. And it’s eight thirty.”

His lips curved. “You’re always busy. So you ate already?”

“I did. Hours ago.”

“That’s fine. I’ll just go grab something.”

“No. Don’t leave. I can fix you something.” He was here and she didn’t want him to leave. She wanted to get him in her clothes and back out of her apartment again.

He cocked a brow. “You cook?”

“I cook.”

“Great.” He took off his coat and hung it up, then followed her into the kitchen.

“What would you like?”

“I don’t know. How about some eggs?”

She wrinkled her nose. “I hate eggs. I don’t even keep them in the house.”

“That’s like . . . un-American, Carolina. Everyone likes eggs.”

“No, everyone doesn’t. I don’t.”

“Fine. What do you have?”

“How about some chicken? I made it for dinner and have some left.”

“That’ll work.”

She took out the chicken and rice she’d baked earlier and warmed it in the microwave.

“Something to drink?”

“Water would be fine.”

He made his way into the kitchen and came up beside her as she prepped the plate.

“This looks good. Thanks for fixing it for me.”

“It’s no trouble.”

She sat at the table with him while he ate. Or, rather, while he wolfed down the meal in what seemed like less than five minutes.

“Hungry?” she asked.

He laid down his fork and wiped his mouth with the napkin. “Starving. It was a long flight and they don’t feed you shit on the plane.” He took the plate to the sink, rinsed it and put it in the dishwasher. “Thank you again for this. I feel human again.”

“You’re welcome.”

He downed the glass of water and refilled it, then came back to sit next to her at the table.

“How was your road trip?”

“Long. Painful. We lost three games. It sucked.”

“I’m sorry.”

He shrugged. “It’s over. We’ll regroup. And we have several home games now. That’ll help.”

“Will it?”

“Yeah. The home crowd always motivates us to do better.”

“I hope so.”

“You should come to a game or two.”

She leaned back in the chair. “And you think that would help you win?”

“I know it would.”

She laughed. “I doubt that, but I’ll see what I can do.”

“Bring Stella. I’m sure she’d like to see a game.”

“That’s probably true, but she’s busy getting ready for a show. I’ll check with her and see if she’s available.”

He looked around her apartment. “How’s the work going?”

“Good. I’ve gotten a lot done, which was why I called you. I’d like you to try on a few things.”

“Okay.” He pushed back the chair and stood. “Where do you want me?”

She tilted her head back and looked at him. Ridiculously, her first thought in response to that question was, in her bed.

She shook that off and stood. “We need to head over to my work studio. That’s where all the clothes are.”

“All right.”

They put on their coats and headed downstairs to hail a taxi. It was a brisk night, cloudy and overcast, with the threat of freezing rain forecast. Carolina was cold and the taxi’s heater wasn’t exactly in working order. She shivered.

“You cold?” Drew asked.

“A little.”

“Come over here.” He pulled her over and put his arm around her.

She wanted to resist, wanted to keep that line of distance and professionalism between them, but who was she kidding? She was freezing, and Drew’s body was warm. She snuggled in closer.

“Better?” he asked, putting his other arm around the front of her.

“Much. Thank you.”

As soon as the chill wore off, they arrived at the building.

Damn. She dug into her purse to pay the driver, but Drew had already taken out his wallet.

“Please let me pay. I’m asking you to do this for me.”

He gave her a look. “Are we going to have this conversation again?”

The driver gave them an exasperated stare, as if he wanted them out of his cab so he could go grab his next fare.

“Apparently not.”

“Good. Then let’s go.”

She shook her head and dug for her keys to enter the building, then led Drew onto the elevator to the tenth floor where her studio was located.

She flipped on the lights.

“Wow,” Drew said as he made his way inside. “You have a lot of space here.”

“I need it for all the work we do.” She slipped off her coat and wandered the room, turning on lights and heading toward the racks of clothes.

She studied him, then the clothing, already deciding the more formal wear was out. Suits just didn’t, well, suit his physique. She went to the rack and started pulling clothes.

“This one. Definitely this. I want to see you in these pants and this shirt.” She started throwing clothes on the table, then stopped and stared at him. “Don’t just stand there. Strip.”

“I love when a woman talks dirty.”

She rolled her eyes and went back to the rack. When she turned around, Drew was pulling off his shirt. Her gaze may have lingered a bit on his abs while his shirt covered his head.