Gauging the Player: A One-Night-Stand Sports Romance (The Playmakers Series Hockey Romance Book 3), стр. 32
Enthralled, Gage gave her a go-ahead nod.
“No one questioned that Jack loved Lily. He took good care of her, and they seemed happy.” Another pause, to pull in a breath this time. “But he wasn’t perfect. No one is. She was young, head over heels, and overlooked his faults. The problem is that since his death, she’s forgotten those faults ever existed and has built him up into this impossibly perfect paragon in her mind. Which he never was. Hell, if he came back today, he wouldn’t live up to the image she’s painted of him.”
“So why are you telling me this?”
“I’d like to see someone make her forget Jack. Oh, not completely, of course, but enough so she can put those memories in a box, shelve it, and start living again.”
He pointed his thumb at his chest. “And you think I can make her forget him?”
“I look at you, and you’re a man who’s used to the spotlight, yet you don’t seem caught up in it. As a matter of fact, I think I owe you an apology.”
His eyebrows crawled to his hairline. “Why?”
“Without having met you, I had you pegged for a cocky prick hot to fuck anything with a vagina.”
“Whoa!” He put his hands up in surrender, trying not to laugh. “Are you always so direct?”
She shrugged. “I find it takes a lot less time and BS.”
“Couldn’t agree more.” He glanced down the hallway, relieved no one was around to interrupt this very fascinating conversation.“So now that you’ve met me, am I still a cocky prick?”
She shot him a broad grin that made his insides uncoil a fraction. “I don’t think so. I like to think I’m a pretty good judge of character, and you strike me as grounded. A surprisingly nice guy, but no pushover. Someone I would approve of for my little sister.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear I pass the, uh, test. Maybe you’ll put in a good word for me with your sis?”
A head dip was her answer. Curiosity had its talons hooked in him. “So what about the idiots she meets?”
She smirked. “Guys get starstruck. First of all—and I’m sure I’m not telling you something you don’t already know—she’s beautiful, and then they find out she sings. Or they see her perform—which doesn’t happen as much as it used to—and they just want to get in her pants. They don’t care who she really is, or that she has a daughter, or anything about this,” she tapped two fingers against her temple, then her heart, “or this. I’m guessing you go through the same kind of thing, but on crack. Women only see the pro athlete, and they line up to suck your dick because they think you’re this … this god.”
He tried to choke down his laughter, but he couldn’t, and it escaped in a bark. “Could you please point me to this line of women?” he managed. “And tell them I am, in fact, a god?”
“You’re funny,” she scoffed good-naturedly.
“Yeah, I’m thinking of giving up hockey for stand-up. What do you think?”
She burst out with a laugh. “Don’t quit your day job.” In a gesture that warmed him, she placed her hand on his arm. “I hope I’m not making you too uncomfortable. I must say, though, you’re taking it well.”
He shrugged. “I’m flattered you think I’d be good for your sister, but it’s really—”
She flung her hands in the air. “Yeah, yeah. She’s feeding me the same bullshit. It’s all business, yada, yada, yada.” She added an eye-roll.
“No, I was going to say it’s up to her.” He gave her a pointed look, and her eyes gleamed with understanding at what he’d just confessed. The puck was in Lily’s rink, so to speak, and all she had to do was pass it to him. He was ready to charge the net with it.
What Gage didn’t reveal to Ivy was that despite Lily having a daughter he didn’t know, despite the ghost of a husband hanging around, he couldn’t deny the odd sensations in his chest when he was with her. His heart seemed to balloon and levitate and invert all at once. In fact, the damn thing tripped the same erratic way every time he thought about her, which was constantly.
Ivy brightened. “Okay, then. Consider me on your side. Anything I can do to further the cause of,” she laced her fingers and brought them to her cheek while she fluttered her lashes, “wuv, twue wuv, you just let me know.”
“Princess Bride?”
“None other.” She scuffed her heel against the floor. “Why don’t I give you my cell number?”
He chuckled and whipped out his phone. “Because?”
Her whole upper body seemed to shrug. “Oh, I don’t know. In case you want to take my sister out and you need someone to watch Daisy. In case you get stuck and need help interpreting her—Lily, not Daisy. Not that I’ll be able to shed light on her every word or move, but at least I’m closer than you are.”
I’m hoping that changes. “Thanks. I appreciate your, your …”
“Butting in? It’s what big sisters are for.”
He’d been thinking more along the lines of her offer to help, but he chose to keep it to himself. He was still processing Lily’s big sister. Energy spun from Ivy like a dust devil spun dirt into Colorado’s shimmering July heat. Yeah, she was a firecracker on steroids, but she seemed genuine, and he liked her. She was probably a lot like his big sister: fierce and loyal and true.
“You know, you and my big sister