Seduced by the Game (17 page)

They had sat for about a
half-hour, Hannah playing games on her phone while Scott dutifully closed his
eyes, when Hannah’s phone started ringing.

It was Tammi. “I’m gonna
take this into the bedroom where I can hear her better.”

He nodded absently and she
wondered how bad his head really was.

Hannah lowered herself to
the bed, feeling a little strange since Scott wasn’t there. “What’s up?”

“What’s up with you is the
question of the day. Darren told me about Scott getting hurt and I knew you
went to the game, but hadn’t heard anything from you. Darren said not to
disturb you in case you were with him, but I was getting worried. How is he?”

“He was lucky. He has a
mild concussion. I have him lying on the couch watching a movie.”

“So you stayed the night
with him? Darren said he thought you would. Of course you did. You were
probably worried sick.”

“Yeah, I didn’t want to
leave him here alone with his injury in case something bad happened
unexpectedly and he had no one here to take him to the ER.” She didn’t mention
that she’d already spent the night when they’d first met. Her sister was on a
need-to-know basis with this situation.

“Sounds like you care an
awful lot.”

“Of course I care. I like
him.”

“You don’t have to sound
so defensive. This is me, you know.”

“I know. Sorry. I’m a
little sensitive at the moment. You got a couple minutes to talk?”

“Sure. That’s why I
called. Thought you might need a sympathetic ear. After all, I’ve been there,
done that. Got the T-shirt.”

Ignoring her sister’s lame
attempt at a joke, Hannah took a deep breath and began. “I don’t know what to
do. I like Scott. In fact, I like him
a lot
, but then there’s the hockey
thing. I know you and Darren have had to move around a lot, and it’s pretty
cool you guys are finally close enough for me to be able to see you, but for
years you weren’t. I also know you’ve dealt with things like injuries, trade
rumors, God only knows what else. I’m totally freaked out about this
concussion. How do you handle all this hockey stuff?”

“I don’t know. I just do.
There’s a great support system on the teams with the wives and families when
you have to leave or are moving in. Plus the teams themselves step in with help
finding a new place and handling logistics and stuff. They make it as easy as
they can.”

“That part sounds good,
anyway. But I have a career where I’m doing very well. It’s not like I’m a
teacher or a nurse or something so I can get a job if he was traded. Jobs like
mine don’t grow on trees, you know.”

“Whoa. You’re talking
moving around with him and taking care of his life already. Just how far has
this thing gone between you guys? You didn’t meet him that long ago.”

“I know. And it’s not like
we’re talking marriage or anything. It seems totally ridiculous to even have
any of this on my radar screen, but I just want to be sure I could handle all
that being a part of his life would entail before we go any further. If I
really don’t think I can, I need to get out now, before I get in any deeper. I
could really be hurt here. Him too, really. I don’t want to hurt him by
backpedaling later on.”

“I dunno. It sounds like
you fell hard and fast for this guy already. Are you in love with him?”

“No. Not yet, anyway, but
I don’t think it would be hard. He’s a sweetheart, you know.”

Tami laughed. “Don’t let
his buddies on the team hear you say stuff like that.”

With a smile and a lighter
conscience, Hannah lay down on the comforter. “Yeah, I wouldn’t want to ruin
his macho reputation. Heaven forbid.”

Tammi spoke once more, her
voice sounding more serious. “I’ve been thinking while we’ve been talking. I
think it comes down to the fact that, if you love a guy, you’ll do everything
you have to in order to be with him. You put up with a lot because not putting
up with it means you can’t be with him, and if he’s your life, you can’t not be
with him.”

“I’m not sure that helps
my situation right now, but I’ll keep it in mind. If I can figure out what you
just said.”

“Let things develop at
their natural pace, and it’ll become clear eventually if you love him enough to
deal with being a hockey wife.”

“When I’ll figure it out,
I have no idea. But you’re right. Putting the cart before the horse and all
that. You know me, though. I’m a planner. I don’t like things just happening
without my knowing how to handle them. This has gone lightning fast with Scott.
Maybe I need to step back a little and let things be for a while.”

“If you think you can.”
Tammi sounded doubtful, and Hannah didn’t blame her.

“Unfortunately, Scott
makes it hard to keep my distance with his sexy self and my inclination to give
him anything he wants when he looks at me with those incredible eyes.”

“Geez. TMI.”

She laughed and said, “You
don’t know the half of it.”

“I think on that note,
I’ll hang up before I gag.”

“Don’t you dare pretend
you and Darren don’t burn up the sheets. I’ve seen you two at work in public. I
can only imagine what it’s like at home. Yuck.”

Tammi laughed back. “Bye.
Call me if you need to.”

Hannah walked back into
the living room and found Scott fast asleep on the couch. His soft brown hair
was falling across his forehead, and he looked peaceful and angelic, not at all
the tough hockey player he was. Her heart melted and she knew it was going to
be tough to keep this man out of her heart.

Chapter Five

When Scott woke, Hannah
wasn’t there, but there was a note was on the coffee table. Rolling slowly, he
reached out and snagged it.

Scott,

You were sleeping so
soundly that I didn’t want to wake you. I’m at home. Get some rest. I’ll call
you tomorrow to see how you’re feeling.

Hannah

He tossed the note back
toward the table, but it fell short and drifted to the floor. Raising his head
enough to see the clock in the entertainment center, he groaned. It was
midafternoon. Scott wasn’t sure what time he’d fallen asleep, but he could see
why Hannah had left, since it appeared he’d slept four or five hours.

Not wanting to bother
Hannah too much, he hadn’t mentioned he was supposed to be woken up frequently.
During the night he’d set the phone to vibrate every few hours and when it did
he had heard it, made sure he was still feeling okay, and then gone back to
sleep. Hannah hadn’t seemed to notice the noise, or if she did, she hadn’t said
anything.

Now, this afternoon, he
was probably still supposed to be sleeping in short increments, but man, a long
nap felt good.

Life of the party, that’s
me.

Scott sat up gingerly. His
headache was down to a dull roar, and the dizziness seemed better too. Then his
stomach rumbled, and he remembered he had no food since he had been scheduled
for a long road trip soon. Picking up his phone to find the number of one of
his favorite restaurants, he noticed Hannah must’ve put it on vibrate before
she’d left since he had a couple of voice mails and texts. There was a message
from the team doctor, one from the captain, plus texts from various buddies
around the league who’d seen or heard about the hit.

He returned the texts and
the call to the doctor while he waited for his food, but the doorbell rang as
Scott began to dial the captain’s number. Placing his phone on the kitchen
counter, he then went to the door.

The deliveryman had a look
of pity, and Scott sighed to himself.

“Saw the hit last night.
Vicious.”

“Yes, well…”
What the
hell am I supposed to say now? What do people expect me to say?

“Anyway, hope you enjoy
the food and get better soon, man. We need you down the line.”

“I’ll do my best to get
healthy. I doubt I’ll be out long.”

“That’s good to hear.
Later.”

Scott shut the door.
Taking the bag over to the counter, he set it down and then went to the
cabinets for a plate. After dumping the contents of the containers on it, he
took his meal to the living room. The movie had long since stopped, so he
picked up the remote and idly flipped through channels until he found a hockey
game before digging in to the food. Luckily he wasn’t nauseous anymore, and the
pork tenderloin and green beans from the mom and pop restaurant he’d discovered
a few years ago and now frequented regularly tasted ridiculously good. He’d
considering ordering Kung Pao chicken from the Chinese takeout place just
around the corner, but knew it was a bad idea to stray from his in-season diet.

Once he’d eaten he thought
about calling Hannah, but Scott felt like a bit of an ass for falling asleep
earlier. He was sure if he mentioned it, Hannah would tell him he was being
silly, but that was only because she was so nice.

He was still debating when
a text came through. It was Hannah. Scott smiled.

Hey-didn’t want to disturb
you. Hope you had a good nap and are feeling better. Talk to you this week.

With that silly grin still
plastered on his face, he thumbed out a response.

I do feel better, but it
sucks I slept so long you left. I’m sorry about that. Yes, we’ll talk soon.
Very soon.

Scott considered adding an
emoticon, but wasn’t sure if that made him seem unmanly, so he left it off and
hit Send.

With his belly full, he
was starting to feel sleepy again, but fought it. While he was aware he’d need
to rest to get rid of his concussion symptoms, Scott didn’t want to spend all
his time asleep. If he did, he feared he’d be in trouble when they cleared him
to play. Despite his efforts, though, Scott fell asleep again and woke close to
midnight. Sighing, he turned off the TV and trudged into his bedroom, stopping
only long enough to take off his sweats and put his phone on the charger.

A couple of days later,
Scott had seen the doctor and was feeling a ton better. Hannah was checking in
via text mostly and had mentioned how busy she was with some work project, so
Scott didn’t ask if he could see her. In the back of his mind, he feared she
was putting him off, though. Was there really a work project or had she made
that up? And how to actually find out? Show up at her place unannounced like
some lunatic and demand to know if she still liked him?

Not in a million years am
I letting myself do that. He might as well hand her his balls on a silver
platter.

The team doctors
considered keeping him out until the guys returned from the road trip even
though he showed no lingering symptoms, but Scott begged them to clear him and
they finally acquiesced. He made it to Minnesota and went straight to the arena
for practice.

While he was lacing up his
skates, thoughts of Hannah came to him unbidden. He’d sent her a text to let
her know he was leaving for Minnesota, and she’d sounded happy when she’d sent
a voice mail back, but it been nearly a week since the hit and Scott hadn’t
seen her at all. Now he was out of town, not returning for a couple more days,
and when the team’s charter touched down upon its return to New York, it was
going to be too late to see her. Dammit, he missed her.

How can I miss a woman
I’ve known only a few weeks? This is ridiculous.

But he did. Scott thought
of her again during a lull in practice, and then again in the shower;
definitely not the best place to be reliving their last encounter. The team
took a bus back to their hotel and Scott was occupied talking to his teammates,
but when they had the whole afternoon ahead of them with nothing to do, the
only thing that sounded good was calling Hannah.

His road roommate asked
him if he wanted to go to a movie and Scott said yes, if only to stop this
outlandish burgeoning obsession. They met up with some of the other guys at a
steakhouse afterward, and though conversation was raucous, Scott found himself
checking his phone frequently, itchy to get back to his room.

One of the guys motioned
toward the phone on the table. “Got a hot date later or something?”

“What? No.”

“Then what’s with the
constant checking? We not enough entertainment for you?”

Scott laughed, hoping it
sounded sincere. The last thing he wanted was for the guys to figure out how
whipped he was already. He’d never hear the end of it. “You guys are
entertaining like a freak in a circus sideshow. Just expecting a call.”

Another man joined in.
“Agent?”

“No.”

“Then it must be a chick.”

He shrugged. “I’ve been
seeing someone, but it’s not a big deal.”

“You stalking her through
your phone is definitely not a big deal. Nope.”

“I’m not stalking her. I
was just hoping to hear from her.” Scott looked around the table. “Shit, you’re
worse than a bunch of preteen girls.”

“Defensive. We get it.
Just remember, bros before hos.”