“Go for it.”
“The next time you’re tempted to do something that doesn’t align with the team’s goals, ask yourself whose expectations you’d rather meet. Yours? Or Coach Donaghy’s?”
Vivian’s words stuck with Callan as he left the stadium. Her advice resonated with him, even if the question really was whether he’d rather meet his grandfather’s expectations or Knox’s.
The asshole.
Actually, Callan thought as he got into his car, he was grateful Knox was being such a dick. It made him want to do whatever it took to prove Knox wrong.
Which meant making time for the community involvement efforts Vivian was going to arrange for him and keeping a low social profile. No more frequent partying on his off days during the season. No more hunting for casual hookups. More focus on his conditioning and making the most of his time on the ice.
He considered that as he drove out of the parking lot. He had already started implementing some of the changes the team wanted to see. But it mystified him why his dating life was such a big deal. As he’d asked himself before, what difference did it make if he was out with a different woman every night? He would never let that affect his gameplay.
After meeting with Vivian, he understood a little better. It all came down to the commitment thing. If he couldn’t commit in his personal life, after all, how could he commit in his professional life?
That might not have been a fair assessment in general, but it was true enough in his case.
He continued mulling it over as he parked at the restaurant where he was meeting Roxy for lunch. They were going to spend the afternoon together looking at houses, so he had offered to feed her for her trouble. He tried to feed her every time they got together, sending her home with leftovers as much as possible. It was the one thing she let him do for her without argument, which told him she really needed the meals. He was fairly certain she lived off leftovers and whatever processed breakfast food item was BOGO at the supermarket that week.
If she would accept his help, he would have loved to do more. It bothered him that she struggled when it really wasn’t necessary. But he understood pride, and he figured crossing that line with Roxy would push her away.
His gaze lifted to the glass front of the restaurant as he approached the front door. He spotted her sitting at a table near the window. She was watching him with her sexy smile. Just as it had done when he first saw her across Nightscape’s dance floor almost two months ago, his heart instantly went off to the races.
He had been looking forward to seeing her all day. It didn’t matter that they had talked on the phone the night before or that they had seen each other two days ago. Whenever he wasn’t with her, he wanted to be.
He initially thought his powerful draw to her was strictly sexual. But having sex with her hadn’t quenched his need for her. Instead, it had just ensnared him further.
And up until just now, when he saw the same eager anticipation on her face that he felt himself, he had somehow convinced himself that his recent lack of interest in pursuing other women was due to the team’s crackdown on his personal life and how that tied into his new goals.
Now he finally admitted the truth. He hadn’t pursued anyone else because of Roxy.
He remembered what Javy suggested about committing to just one woman. Seeing Roxy now, he craved just that. Yet whenever they talked about relationships, she mentioned how she loved being a free spirit…a Romani soul.
Could he possibly convince her to think differently when it came to him?
* * *
Roxy had arrived at the restaurant early. She had grown tired of eating Ramen and dry cereal and decided to take advantage of Callan’s generosity by getting to the restaurant first and ordering herself something to curb her ravenous hunger.
It chafed her pride to have to scrape by this way. Getting another warning from her landlord that she had better be on time with her rent payment hadn’t helped.
“The first of the month is only twelve days away, Ms. Wagner,” he had said as she passed him in the parking lot.
“It’s still twelve days away, Mr. Stilinski,” she had retorted.
They parted on mutually cranky terms.
The truth was, she was having serious doubts she would meet the deadline. The challenging clients Darcy had given her still hadn’t made progress towards a home purchase, and only one of them had actually signed their buyer’s agent agreement. The one other client besides Callan that she had signed in the past week and a half was refusing to do any updates to the home they were trying to sell and wanted to price it well above market, which meant it would likely sit for months with no offers.
She had earned some spare money working with her grandmother on a couple more readings and helping her mother at her craft fair booth the previous week, but that had only paid for a little food, gas for her car, and utilities—except cable, which she had simply written off as a luxury she couldn’t afford.
There was no getting around it, she silently acknowledged as she stirred the delicious-smelling bowl of she-crab soup she had ordered. She was going to have to ask her family for help.
The thought both defeated her and pissed her off. She felt defeated because she was failing to achieve her goals, and she was pissed because she wouldn’t be in this position if Bentley Kamps hadn’t stolen those prospects from her. The sales he ultimately closed with those prospects would have covered her rent for months to come.
Instead, she was rushing to lunch meetings with Callan so she didn’t starve.
Thinking of him improved her mood even more than the hearty soup, and she found her first smile of the day. They had been spending a lot of time together over the past couple weeks. Most of that time had been spent touring homes, but he had also surprised her a couple times by driving her somewhere unexpected to give her a break.
The first surprise had been an evening rooftop picnic at Ponce City Market. He reserved a private space for just the two of them and had it catered with some of her favorite foods. The setting had been incredibly romantic with the sun setting around them and strings of market lights and candles casting a glow over their table. It was unlike anything she’d ever experienced, and it came dangerously close to making her break her no-sex pact.
About a week later, he surprised her with a private tour of Zoo Atlanta. They went after hours when it wasn’t as hot, and they were shown exhibits and parts of the zoo that weren’t seen by the general public. Once again, she thoroughly enjoyed herself.
Not that she didn’t enjoy taking him out to view potential homes, because she did. It helped her learn more about him as he talked about what he liked and didn’t like, and how he envisioned using certain spaces in the future. She had taken him to nearly twenty listings already and they’d be visiting three new ones today. With each listing, she added to her list of criteria for his perfect home.
A couple of times, he’d said a listing was “good enough” and they should put in an offer. As tempting as it had been to let him settle for something so she could get the commission payment, she hadn’t been able to do it.
“This purchase should be something you absolutely love,” she told him. “Not something that’s good enough.”
“How can I be sure I love it? I’ve never owned a home before. What the hell do I know?”
“You just will.”