Major Misconduct (Aces Hockey #1) (10 page)

“What’s up tonight?” she asked.

“Nothing. We practiced today. Game skate tomorrow morning, game tomorrow night.”

“No wild single dude parties tonight?”

Duncan gave her a reproving look. “As if we could do that every night of the week.”

“I’m going to change. Uh…want me to make dinner?”

Their heads both snapped around. “Like what?” Duncan asked.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged and stood. “I’ll check out what’s in the cupboards. Should be able to come up with something.”

“Sure. That’d be great.”

She went to her room, took off her suit, and changed into a pair of yoga pants and a hoodie. She’d gotten an email back from her mom that afternoon that said her furniture should arrive Thursday. Soon she’d have a bed in her room. And a desk. Woohoo! That would be so great.

She twisted her hair up into a messy bun and returned to the kitchen to inspect the contents of the cupboard and refrigerator. After a few minutes of contemplation, she pulled out a piece of salmon from the freezer and started to thaw it in the microwave. The only fresh vegetables were the ones she’d bought, so she put together a broccoli and red pepper stir-fry. She found a box of couscous that came with a seasoning packet, and that rounded out the meal. She couldn’t find much to season the salmon with, so she mixed up some butter and maple syrup, spread it over the thawed filet, and slid it into the oven to bake. This would be decent.

She hadn’t quite counted on the size of these two men’s appetites, though. She should’ve known, from growing up with Duncan, but Richard hadn’t been a pro athlete. He worked out, but he sat at a desk all day, and a small piece of salmon, a few veggies, and a scoop of couscous would do it for him. And for her.

Marc and Duncan devoured everything, and she was lucky she got a few bites. Oookay. Lesson learned. That salmon filet would have fed one of them. She could tell they were still hungry after the meal.

“Sorry, guys. I forgot you’re calorie-burning machines.”

“I’ll go get ice cream,” Marc offered.

“Where?”

“There’s a little place a few blocks from here.”

“Can I come?”

His eyes met hers. Omigod. She never thought she had a dirty mind, but the way he looked at her instantly made her think of sex, and of the other meaning for what she’d just said. Heat flooded into her cheeks.

“Sure,” he said with a shrug. “Wanna walk? Or drive?”

“How far?”

“About five or six blocks.”

“Ha. You’ll just work up more of an appetite if we walk. But sure, we can.”

“I’ll come too,” Duncan said.

She sighed. “Okay.”

They walked to Sweet Licks and bought three pint containers of ice cream in different flavors, each of them picking one. When they got home, Marc and Duncan each ate a whole container. Lovey had a small scoop of cherry cheesecake ice cream.

They watched
The Voice
and when she sighed over Adam Levine, both guys got grouchy. “He’s fucking skinny,” Marc growled.

She laughed. “Compared to you, yeah, he’s lean. But he has muscles.”

“He’s short.”

“Whatever.” She waved a hand. “That has nothing to do with sexiness.”

“Is it the music? Is that what makes him sexy?”

She frowned. “Um. Well, yeah. But it’s not just music. Any guy who’s good at what he does is sexy.”

Both guys grunted at the television. Then Marc asked, “Is it the tattoos?”

She lifted an eyebrow at him. “Do you have tattoos?”

He narrowed his eyes at her and slumped lower into the couch. “Maybe,” he mumbled.

He was so fucking cute. She wanted to see his tattoos. But she knew better than to say that in front of Duncan.

Her brother was cramping her style.

She had to smile at the thought. Here she was camping out in his condo and she was bitter because he was there, interfering with
her
sex life. She shook her head.

“What’s so funny?” Marc asked.

“Nothing.” She met his eyes. She was pretty sure he got her message.
Want to find out what’s so funny? Want to show me your tattoos? Let’s meet up in your room later.

He scowled.

She sighed.

“So you have a game tomorrow night,” she said. “On Halloween. Then when’s your next one?”

“We’re away for a few days,” Duncan answered. “We leave Wednesday morning and we’re back Sunday. We play Wednesday night in Los Angeles, Friday in Anaheim, Saturday night in San Jose. Next home game is on the Tuesday after that.”

Oh. “Awesome,” she said slowly. She was both disappointed and happy they were going on a road trip. Relieved that she wouldn’t need to worry about being in their way and that she wouldn’t have big brother and his friend breathing down her neck and pressuring her to get a job and find her own place, but disappointed because Marc wouldn’t be around to make things exciting.

Yes, Marc made things exciting. There was no denying the little zing in the air she felt when he was around, no matter how much she tried to ignore him. Everything felt more vibrant, more electric when he was there. She felt…excited. Yeah, yeah, attracted. She’d already admitted to that.

And that was the reason for the disappointment that they’d be gone for four days.

Ah well. She had a new life to start.

“Thanks for making dinner last night.”

She looked up in surprise at Marc the next morning. “You’re welcome. Sorry there wasn’t more food. I’ll make you guys a big dinner when you get back from your road trip.”

“I feel I should say you don’t have to do that, but I’m not gonna. Because that would be awesome.”

She grinned at his admission. “What’s your favorite food?”

“Steak.”

“No hesitation there.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not great at cooking steak. But I could make a roast beef.”

“Close enough.”

She started planning Sunday dinner, even though it was only Tuesday. Ah well.

Marc and Duncan were off for their game day skate. She wasn’t going to the game tonight but planned to watch it on TV. She had work to do before then, though. She’d been contacted by another potential client. Somehow word was getting out about her and her new business. This was good. Some of it was coming from her blog, Sugar Blossom, which was increasing in popularity and for which she’d started accepting paid advertisements. This was another small but growing source of income for her.

It meant business to attend to, though—emails to reply to, invoices to send, also the research that went into putting together her posts. Her blog’s tagline was “Make life beautiful” and she posted about a variety of things—fashion, food, décor. She was no Martha Stewart, but her blog had been getting lots of attention. She’d developed a following, some of whom had turned into online friends. Some companies she mentioned on her blog, like cosmetic companies when she talked about a favorite new lipstick, or clothing or shoe manufacturers when she photographed a pair of shoes or a jacket she loved, had contacted her not only about advertising but about social media services. A mention of their product on a popular blog was great word-of-mouth advertising.

This was another reason for moving to Chicago. She could go out and find women who had great style and, if they agreed, use their pictures, or if not, just make note of how they dressed or did their makeup. She used her own photographs as much as she could and that took more time. Richard had considered all the work she did on her blog a big waste, until she’d started to make a little money from it. She knew she’d never be able to earn a living at it while she had a full-time job, but now that she had time to devote to it she could hopefully make it bigger and better, and at the same time grow her social media business too.

Her family would probably still think she was flitting around playing on the Internet, and in a way she was. So with the guys gone for the next four days, she’d have time to get a lot of work done without them thinking she was hanging out on Facebook or Pinterest instead of job-hunting.

She started looking for an apartment too. But holy crap. It was hard to find anything under a thousand bucks a month, and those were tiny little studio apartments. Maybe she hadn’t quite thought through this part of her plan. She sighed. She did not want Duncan saying “Told you so.”

But then, why did she need anything more than a studio apartment? It was just her. Her little apartment in Madison hadn’t been that big. She couldn’t get spoiled by living in this luxurious high-rise condominium. Maybe that little studio apartment on Sheridan Road would be okay…there was one floor plan that looked pretty good. The first had the bathroom right off the dining room. Eew. But this other one had a kitchen/breakfast room at one end, a big living room, and the bathroom and a large closet at the other end.

Taking a deep breath, she filled out the online request to check availability and sent it off. She could look at it this week if something was available. Her bank account was going to take a hard hit, and she’d have to hope like hell that work kept coming in. At least she had a few contracts that she could count on.

Duncan and Marc both came home for a nap per their usual game day routine, then left again for the game. “No job interviews today?” Duncan asked on his way out.

“Not today,” she said cheerfully.

She wished she’d hear back from Panache with their decision. Whenever she thought of it, her stomach twisted into knots. She wasn’t used to keeping stuff like that inside her, but she certainly wasn’t going to share it with Duncan. Or Marc. Well, maybe Marc. Somehow he seemed like someone easy to talk to, despite being so serious. It was obvious his teammates all liked and respected him. Maybe he wouldn’t be as judgy as Duncan.

But that was all moot, because Marc wasn’t around; he was off to the game also and they were leaving early in the morning for Los Angeles.

The Aces managed to pull off a win that night, although honestly they didn’t play great. They made a lot of mistakes and allowed the Penguins to score three times in the first period before Brent was yanked and replaced with their backup goalie, Oleg Boyarov. Lovey winced as Brent slammed his stick into the boards as he skated off.

It wasn’t as if he’d had a chance on any of the goals. Their defense had been shoddy.

But the game ended up a four-three win for the Aces, so that was good. Lovey clicked off the television and went to have a bath before she went to bed. A soak in the tub would be nice.

An hour later, with a towel wrapped around her, she left the bathroom and came face-to-face with Marc.

She stopped short. “Oh. Hi. You got home quickly. Did you do your thing with the kids?”

He shrugged, although his gaze wandered over her before snapping back up to her face. She clutched the towel tighter over her breasts. “Yeah, I did. Kept it pretty short, since we have an early flight tomorrow.”

“It’s so nice that you do that.”

He shrugged and looked away. Aw.

“Nice win.”

“Thanks. Not sure we deserved it, but we’ll take it.”

She loved how he didn’t make a big deal about the time and money he spent making those kids happy, and how it was always “we” and “us” when he talked about the team, never about how
he’d
played or the goals
he’d
scored. “I just had a bath,” she explained, probably unnecessarily.

“Uh. Yeah.”

Her nipples tingled beneath the damp towel as he again swept her with his gaze. His eyes lingered on her bare toes and calves and when he looked back at her face, his eyes were hot and heavy-lidded. Then his gaze dropped to her mouth and her breath caught in her throat. God. She wanted so badly to kiss him.

But last time she’d tried that it hadn’t ended well. So she gathered up all her resolve and headed into her bedroom. She dressed in her cami and shorts, and went out to make her bed on the couch and sleep there alone.

On Thursday her furniture arrived from Madison. Not all of it, but her bedroom furniture anyway, her double bed and dresser and nightstand. Mom had also included a lamp and the box of pillows and bedding she’d packed up for storage. The guys who delivered it kindly moved it all into the bedroom and set things up for her, which was good, since Duncan and Marc were away. She decided to wash the sheets she wanted to use, so she started that and then called Mom to tell her that the things had arrived and to thank her for helping out with that.

“So what have you been doing there?” Mom asked. “Have you been looking for a new job?”

Man, these people were obsessed with her getting a job. “Yes. I have a few good leads. I went out with my friend Jillian from college; Marc got us tickets to the game last weekend.”

“How is Marc?”

Lovey made a face. “Good, I guess. They’re away on a road trip right now. Why d’you ask?”

“He was pretty devastated after his girlfriend broke up with him. I hope he’s getting over that.”

Lovey frowned. “Girlfriend?”

“Yes. They lived together for quite a while.”

Her forehead tightened even more. How did she not know this and her mom did? “I didn’t realize that. When did that happen?”

“Oh, I’m not sure…what, about six months ago? That’s when he moved in with Duncan, after Marissa kicked him out.”

“She kicked him out?” Lovey gaped at the window she was looking at. “Why?”

“I don’t know the details, honey. He didn’t talk about it much. Your dad and I were visiting Duncan when it happened. It was just before the first round of playoffs. Not a good way for him to start them.”

“I guess not. Well, I think he’s okay.”

“Is he seeing someone new?”

“Uh…not that I know of.” Jesus, Mom was getting her worked up. What if Marc did have a girlfriend? He hadn’t mentioned anyone in the week she’d been there. She certainly hadn’t met anyone. He didn’t seem like a guy who was in a relationship. He’d definitely seemed interested in her. He’d kissed her. A guy with a girlfriend wouldn’t do that. Unless he was a douchebag.

Not only was the possibility that he could have a new girlfriend bugging her, but the fact that he’d lived with a girl, who’d kicked him out, made her feel all ragey. He’d lived with her. That was pretty serious. And she’d dumped him? What the fuck? Was she crazy?

“That’s too bad. What about Duncan? Is he seeing anyone?”

“Nope, him neither.”

Mom sighed. Duncan had never had much time for girls, and had never really had a girlfriend. “I guess they’re both young yet.”

“Mom, are you getting anxious for grandchildren or something?” Lovey grinned.

“Well, that would be nice someday. I thought you and Richard were going to give me grandchildren.”

“Yeah, so did he,” she said dryly. “I’m not ready for that, Mom.”

“Was that what happened with him?”

“Yeah.” She paused. “Sorry, Mom.”

“Don’t apologize! If he was the right man, you would’ve been ready. I was just worried that he’d broken up with you and you were devastated.”

“I’m fine.”

“I’m glad to hear that. You’re not being a pain in your brother’s butt, are you?”

Lovey bit her lip. “Yeah, I probably am.”

“Lovey.”

“I know, I know. I’m trying not to get in his way. Much. I’m going to look at an apartment tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

Mom’s doubtful tone made her sigh. “It’ll be fine, Mom. I’m excited about living here. I’m going to make new friends and it’ll be great.”

“You always are so optimistic about things.”

“You think I shouldn’t be?”

“No! That’s not what I meant. It’s
good
that you’re optimistic. You don’t let things get you down for long. You’re always upbeat and positive. It’s why people like to be around you.”

“Aw. Thanks, Mom.” Her words of praise surprised Lovey for some reason. She didn’t think people liked to be around her particularly, although she’d always had lots of friends, and she supposed she’d been considered popular in school. She just liked to have fun, and she liked to do it with other people.

They chatted a bit more before ending the call. Lovey moved the laundry from washer to dryer in the small laundry room, then got ready to go out. The managers of the apartment she’d checked out online had emailed her back that they had one studio available for the first of January. That was still a long time away, but when she’d checked others, she mostly came across the same thing. She’d found one apartment for immediate sublet, but it was far away from Duncan and she preferred to be at least somewhat close to the only family she had in the city, not to mention close to business and shopping and nightlife. So she had an appointment to look at the studio apartment that afternoon.

It turned out to be decent. It was an older building that had recently been remodeled, so it had a bit of character, with big baseboards and door casings, hardwood floors, and cove ceilings. A big window in the living room looked onto a tree-lined street from the third floor. The kitchen was tiny but also remodeled with nice white cabinets and black countertops, and new appliances, and there was space for her small dining table.

The guy who showed it to her told her she should put down a deposit to hold it because apartments in this price range went really fast. She didn’t like the pressure—but on the other hand, her gut told her he was probably right, so she wrote a check and took the leasing agreement to fill it out. Yipes.

Once again, she wished she had someone to talk to about all this. She ended up messaging Jillian that she’d found an apartment and Jillian suggested they get together tomorrow night. She’d get her other girlfriends to come. So that was good. She had Friday night plans.

Another thing she did while Marc and Duncan were gone was sign up for a cooking class. She needed to meet new people, and cooking was something she liked but could learn more about. So next week she would be learning how to make fresh spring rolls.

And she also watched hockey games while they were gone. The novelty of having a big brother playing in the NHL had worn off years ago, so she no longer watched all his games, though she did cheer for the Aces, and when it was playoff time, she was really into it. But this time, she found herself watching…Marc.

Friday night she met Jillian at a little restaurant about halfway between their homes. She was so excited to go out in the big city with some girls and was looking forward to meeting Jillian’s friends. Lovey was realizing that her business plan might not be giving her the interaction with live people she seemed to need. Sure, she had online friends and acquaintances, and she was keeping in touch with her friends in Madison, but with Duncan and Marc gone and the condo empty and quiet, she was going out of her mind. She loved what she was doing and she wanted to succeed, but she’d need to find ways to interact with people.

It would come. She’d go to cooking classes and maybe some other kinds of activities—yoga or kickboxing. Join a gym. Marc could probably give her advice about a gym. She’d tell him she wanted to meet guys who were very fit. Thinking of his reaction to this made her smile.

Jillian and her friends Leigh and Dior were in the restaurant waiting for her, with drinks already in front of them. Jillian made introductions and they all said hello. Lovey took off her coat and scarf and ordered a lemon daiquiri.

“I’ve been so excited about this all day!” she told them. “I’ve been alone this week since my brother and his roommate are on a road trip. They play for the Aces,” she explained to Leigh and Dior. “I’ve been busy, but I need to be with people!”