On the Fly (13 page)

“
Good night, Mr. Sutter,” I
somehow croaked out.

He laughed. “It’s Jim!”

I turned off my computer and reached
into the bottom drawer of my desk for my purse. By the time I did
that, Brenden was standing beside me.

“
Ready to go?” He was still
smiling. It was the sort of smile you’d expect to see on the red
carpet for the Oscars, some glamorous godlike actor decked out in a
crazy-expensive designer tuxedo and posing for the cameras. But the
only one around to see his smile was me. There were no cameras
here. No paparazzi.

My pulse had turned to a series of
flutters trickling through my veins, erratic and charged and
thoroughly distracting.

I really wished he were scowling at
me. His scowls made it easier for me to remind myself I shouldn’t
trust him. His smiles made me uncomfortable, but in a decisively
unacceptable, needy way.

“
Yes, I’m ready,” I forced
myself to say, trying not to let my frustrations with myself show.
I pushed my chair back and stood, pulling my purse strap over my
shoulder. But before I could stand up, he inched behind my desk and
picked me up.

It was dangerous, allowing myself to
enjoy the sensation, but I couldn’t seem to stop it from taking
over me. He had one arm tucked under my knees and the other beneath
my back, and he held me so close that I could smell the musk of his
cologne and the light, minty scent on his breath.

He felt so sturdy and strong like
that, and it made me want to trust him. I allowed myself to drape
one arm around his shoulders, not because I needed it for support
but because it felt nice.

“
How was your first day?”
he asked. He started walking, holding me in a way that felt like we
belonged just like this.

“
Exhausting.” I immediately
wished I could take my answer back, but I couldn’t put my finger on
exactly why. It just seemed weird to be telling him the truth. I
ought to tell him something like,
It was
fine
, and nothing more—the kinds of answers
Maddie’s counselor encouraged her to give me when she didn’t want
to talk. I needed to create some distance between us because he was
getting too close for my comfort.

He turned the corner and made his way
down the stairs, drawing me closer in a protective manner.
“Tomorrow will be better.”

I wasn’t so sure about that, but I
didn’t argue with him. That would only lead me to telling him more
truths about my day, about my life. I wanted to keep some things to
myself. Most things, actually.

He went out the door into the parking
garage, never missing a step. “Dana and Zee—my sister and my best
friend—they invited me and Babs over for dinner tonight. A couple
of the other guys will be there too, with their families. I thought
maybe you would want to come.”

Obviously, he wasn’t going to give up
on getting me to go out with him. Going to dinner with him, even if
I could bring my kids and there would be other people around, other
kids…it just felt too close to a date.

I didn’t want to lead him on or give
him hope that there could ever be something between us. “I don’t
think that’s a good—”

“
You’ve had a long day,” he
interrupted. “You already said you were exhausted. This will mean
you won’t have to cook or clean up or anything like that. You can
just relax.”

I didn’t think it would be possible
for me to relax with my kids surrounded by so many strangers. “But
it’s a school night.”

“
We won’t be out late. If
Maddie and Tuck have homework, they can bring it with
them.”

It was becoming abundantly clear that
he’d already spent some time thinking through what my objections
would be and formulating rebuttals for them. “I don’t know if I
want to spend so much time with you,” I finally said, once again
being far more honest with him than I’d intended to be.

He stopped beside his SUV and clicked
the button on his remote to unlock the doors. When he opened the
passenger door and set me down on the seat, his hand lingered
against my hip like it had yesterday morning before we left for
breakfast. His hands were big and as strong as the rest of him,
making me feel inconsequential in comparison.

His eyes met mine, as intense as ever,
like when he was glaring at me. But this wasn’t a glare. This was a
look that made me question whether any of those glares I thought he
had given me before had truly been glares, or if they were more
like this sexy, needy, studious sort of look.

“
I
do
know that I want to spend more
time with you. Come to dinner.”

It might have been because the
flutters running through my veins had intensified. Or maybe it was
because I couldn’t seem to catch a solid breath. Whatever the
reason, I whispered, “Okay.”

He leaned down, his lips meeting mine
for just the briefest of moments that brought my heartbeat to a
standstill. They were soft, unlike everything else about him, and
they brushed over mine in an excruciating tease of more. All too
soon, he pulled away and shut the door.

I melted into my seat.

Relatively little
time
passed before I was sitting at Eric
Zellinger’s dining room table with two knockout brunettes—Laura
Weber and Sara Thomas—and a leggy blonde—Brenden’s sister, Dana
Campbell. I felt as out of place as possible.

How had I let Brenden talk me into
coming here with him? I didn’t belong with these women. I had no
business spending time with the guys on the hockey team. I ought to
be at home with my kids, making sure they ate their vegetables and
brushed their teeth and went to bed on time.

Instead, they were playing with Jamie
and David and Laura Weber’s much-older kids, and I was left to feel
unbearably uncomfortable about the entire situation. All the while,
I could feel Brenden’s eyes on me, too. Constant. Heated. Like he
wanted to kiss me again.

The scary thing was… I wanted him to
kiss me again, too. But I couldn’t afford to think like that. All
of this would be a heck of a lot easier if he’d just back off and
leave me and my kids to our solitude.

Laura reached for the bottle of red
wine in the middle of the table and refilled her glass. She held
the bottle up with a questioning expression, and Dana instantly
covered her glass with her hand in a protective manner. All three
of them laughed, and Sara held her glass out for more. Laura poured
and then looked to me.

I shook my head.

Laura narrowed her eyes, studying me,
but she set the bottle down again. “So…we have Dana fairly well
settled with Zee now, even if he hasn’t officially asked her to
marry him yet. It looks like Soupy’s made his choice.”

She waggled her eyebrows at me. Oh
God. Once I put two and two together, I realized she meant that he
and I were a couple.

“
No, we’re not—”

“
Now we just need to find a
man for Sara,” she said over me before I could fully contradict
her. “Any of the new guys on the team this season catch your
eye?”

“
Oh, no, you don’t.” Sara
took a drink from her glass, laughing as she did. “Not
again.”

“
Why not? Jensen’s hot.”
Laura didn’t even attempt to hide her wily smile. “Maybe a little
on the young side for you, but age isn’t everything. Or there’s
Vladimir Burkov and his sexy Russian accent.”

Dana leaned her chin on her
hand, one elbow propped on the table. “If Jensen’s too young, then
Burkov is
way
too
young. What is he—twenty-one?”

“
It doesn’t matter how old
they are,” Sara said. “Daddy would
kill
me if I even thought about
dating one of his players.”

Her father was the team’s coach,
Scotty Thomas. I’d met him briefly today. He had been in a hurry to
talk to Jim, right in the midst of everything going on with the
trade. All that had registered with me was that Scotty Thomas
didn’t look like the sort of man whose bad side I’d want to be on
for any reason. If he wouldn’t like his daughter dating one of his
players, it was probably best if she steered clear—both for her own
sake and that of whatever player she might choose. I gave a little
sound of agreement, but I still didn’t feel like I had any business
saying anything.

“
See?” Sara said as she
nodded in my direction. “Rachel agrees with me.”

“
What your father doesn’t
know won’t hurt you,” Laura said.

Dana nearly snorted in laughter. “Is
that what you tell Katie?”

Katie was Laura’s oldest daughter. Or
maybe the youngest. I couldn’t keep it all straight after the day
I’d had.

Laura sipped from her glass again. “I
haven’t yet, but that’s a good idea. It might save her a lot of
frustration. Dave’s determined to keep her under lock and key until
she’s forty or so.”

The other two raised their brows,
almost simultaneously.

“
What?” Laura said.
“Fathers are entirely too overprotective of their daughters.” She
met my eyes, raised her chin a bit. “Am I right, Rachel, or am I
right?”

She couldn’t be more wrong. I gave a
little smile, but I knew it wasn’t at all convincing.

A victorious expression took over her
features, making her even more beautiful than she already was.
“Clearly, she agrees with me.”

“
Clearly,” Sara put in,
“you’ve had too much wine.”

“
There’s no such thing as
too much wine.”

“
You know I’ll never be
able to agree with you on that one,” Dana said on a laugh. “But…”
Her voice turned mischievous, and she sent a wicked grin in Sara’s
direction. “What about Nicky Ericsson?”

“
No goaltender quirks for
me, thanks,” Sara quipped.

All of this combined to make me very,
very thankful that they thought I was involved with Brenden. The
last thing I wanted was a group of women trying to set me up with
some hockey player. Good thing she’d cut me off before I could
really deny what she’d assumed.

The kids were getting a little too
loud in the living room, so I turned to shush the two that belonged
to me. I barely turned around in time.

One of Laura’s kids—the boy—was
tickling Tuck. Tuck’s giggles were uncontrollable; he was having
the time of his life.

But that wasn’t what made my heart
stop, what had me getting up from the table and rushing into the
living room where the kids were.

Tuck was fine.

It was Maddie that had me panicked
because Jamie was reaching for her like he was going to do the
exact same thing to my little girl.

Maddie wouldn’t giggle. She wouldn’t
enjoy it. She would just retreat further into her shell, and I’d
lose her more completely and more permanently than I already
had.

I snatched her up off the floor before
Jamie could touch her. “All right,” I said, trying to sound a lot
calmer and more collected than I really was. “How about y’all play
something a little less rambunctious?”

Maddie’s eyes caught onto mine.
Scared? Or maybe just sad. It was hard to be sure anymore. She
nodded her head like a wise, little old lady. “Yes, Mommy.” I
barely heard her voice over the furious pumping of my
heartbeat.

“
Yeah, good idea,” Jamie
said. He smiled at me like he didn’t realize he’d done anything
wrong. And really, how should he know he’d done something wrong? Or
at least was about to. He couldn’t have. “Zee’s got some board
games over here,” he said. “I bet I can find something we can all
play.”

Without another glance at me, he
headed to a cabinet in the corner of the room.

“
I’d better help,” the
oldest girl, Katie, said. She stood up and winced, but the pained
look on her face faded so soon I thought I’d imagined it. I wasn’t
imagining the bags under her eyes, though. She smiled at me and
Maddie. “There’s no telling what Babs will come back with,
otherwise.”

When they were both gone, I set Maddie
back on the floor. “Is everything okay?” I asked quietly, so no one
else would hear. “You’re not scared? No one touched
you?”

She gave me a sage look. “I’m fine,
Mommy.” That would have to do for now. Later, when we were alone,
I’d try to get her to talk. Not in front of all these strangers,
though.

I sat down in a recliner near where
all the kids were gathered, hoping to slow the frantic pace of my
pulse.