There was no help for it, though, because everything else in Garland Grove was sold out. I’d called around after she’d told me people might talk about her spending nights with me, but every place I’d found with a little more privacy was fully booked so there hadn’t been much choice. I already knew she wouldn’t take more than another day or so off work, especially with some big event happening tomorrow night at the rink.
“Hey, what time does the thing at the arena start tomorrow?” I asked her as I drove.
“Six,” she said.
“Are you going to be outside the whole time?”
“I’ll probably be in and out, but for the most part, yes. Dwayne will be keeping up with making popcorn as needed and hopefully two big urns of hot chocolate will be enough.”
“Do you do it every year?”
“Yeah. We unofficially consider it the official kickoff for the holiday season, even though that’s not really accurate since the tree in the center of town technically is, but no one cares. It’s a big, fun night of skating, Christmas music, and hot chocolate, and we’re usually packed. It’s only five dollars to get in, which includes skate rental, so even though it’s not a moneymaker, it’s a goodwill kind of thing.”
I nodded. “Sounds like fun. Have you always done it?”
“I came up with the idea my first holiday season working there and then it stuck.”
“And you run it?”
“For the most part.”
“Thank you for taking care of my arena when apparently no one else has.” I reached for her hand.
“Thank you for noticing.”
“I notice everything about you, Noelle.”
Chapter Fourteen
Noelle
* * *
I knew he meant it as a compliment, but his words made me feel a little weird. He obviously didn’t notice everything or he would have figured out I was homeless by now, and while I didn’t want him to know, I also didn’t like keeping such a big secret from him based on our rapidly growing intimacy. It was just so freakin’ embarrassing, and he was so damn successful, I couldn’t imagine admitting that I’d lost everything and was in the process of starting over. I was almost there—six more months—but in the meantime, it was humiliating.
It was also ironic. The people of Garland Grove were generally kind and caring, while simultaneously spectacularly nosy. Sleeping with Remy Knight? It was undoubtedly the main topic of conversation at the diner on Main Street, but Noelle Burrier living out of her car? No one had picked up on it other than Dwayne. So hiding it from Remy was almost second nature, despite the fact that I longed to tell him. I wanted to curl up in his arms and explain, bask in his warmth and strength, and let him know I was almost there.
I must have sighed out loud because he glanced over at me. “Did I say something wrong?” he asked.
“No.” I shook my head. “I’m a little sad we had to leave Vancouver. That’s all.”
“You want to go back?” he asked. “I can talk to my assistant and check email from anywhere.”
“We can’t. I have to check in at the arena and make sure the coffee urns are working since I haven’t used them in months.”
“How about I come to work with you and then we can go out? You want to catch a movie or something?”
I hesitated. How many times could we go out without him asking to go to my place? What would I say? How could I explain that I didn’t live anywhere right now? The only way to avoid that would be to either go back to the bed and breakfast with him, or not see him at all. I could say I had plans with friends, but I didn’t want to. God knows, I wanted to spend every waking moment with him. Hell, I wanted to spend all moments with him, waking or not.
“Seems like a long time to think about whether or not you want to go to a movie,” he said after a moment.
“I’m not used to…dating,” I said finally. “And frankly, we’re back to the same situation, where everyone is going to see us together and then I’m going to be the small-town girl the billionaire hockey star hooked up with while he was in town, before heading off into the sunset.”
His fingers threaded through mine and this time he sighed. “I fucking hate that. Not just that people in small towns are nosy, but also that you think I’m just going to head off like that.”
“Aren’t you?”
“Well, I’m definitely leaving to go to Florida, but there’s no reason you can’t come visit or that we can’t keep seeing each other. I don’t know where, if anywhere, this is going, but I have no plans to ride off into the sunset or some such nonsense. I like you, Noelle.”
I swallowed down an uncomfortable lump in my throat. “I, uh, haven’t had a lot of luck with people sticking around in my life. One way or another, they all disappear.”
“That’s not me, babe. That’s not what real men do.”
I chuckled but there was no humor in it. “Yeah, well, starting with my dad, that’s not been my experience.”
“Every day brings the potential for new experiences—and that’s what we have with us.”
I nodded, though I wasn’t sure I believed him. “You’re sweet,” was all I said.
“I’m sweet on you.” He lifted our linked hands and pressed a soft kiss on the inside of my wrist.
“You won’t be saying that when I put you to work this afternoon,” I quipped, trying to lighten the mood because I didn’t know how to talk to a guy who seemed to really like me. When was the last time I’d been out with a guy I liked as much as he liked me?
“The harder you work me, the quicker we can be done and I can take you home and ravage you. You want to go to your—”
Nope. Not going there. I interrupted him before he could finish that thought. “I think if we stay out late and sneak in after Rudy is asleep, he might not notice.”
“I don’t like the idea of people gossiping about you,” he said firmly. “I mean, I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks of me, but I won’t do anything that could hurt you long-term.”
I shrugged. “Long-term I’ll be fine. Short-term is the problem.”
“Short-term, I’m right here.” He kept our hands in his lap even though it forced me to scoot over as far as I could in the passenger seat. “Also, just FYI, I’m not a billionaire. Multi-millionaire, yes, but not a billionaire.”
For some reason, that made me smile.
* * *
After a few hours cleaning and fighting with the two big coffee urns I planned to use to keep the hot chocolate warm, I made sure there was enough popcorn and then we called it a day. I desperately needed clean clothes, especially if I was going to stay with him tonight, but how did I explain the fact that they were in my car? I was starting to hate the secrets I was keeping, and it was on the tip of my tongue to just tell him everything.
“I should move my car,” I told him as we walked out to the parking lot. “I might as well drive over to the bed and breakfast with you so I can take off in the morning without making you drive me. I have a few things to do before the skating party and I know you have to keep up with work.”