“My stepfather.” Her tone is icy as she corrects me. “And I can’t stand hockey. I don’t know anything about the team.”
My eyebrows fly up. “Really.” I’m a little offended by her dislike of my sport.
“Really.” She opens the other beer and takes a guzzle.
My lips twitch with the urge to smile. Diamonds glitter at her ears. She’s dressed in an elegant, knee-length black velvet dress, bare legs stretched out with her feet on the table, toenails impeccably pedicured in matching black polish, ankles crossed—one of them tattooed—and swilling a beer.
Her natural hair color—assuming this is natural, who knows?—is dark blond with pale honey highlights, parted in the middle and hanging in waves just past her shoulders. I assume she’s wearing contacts now. Or the big glasses were fake.
She’s stunning.
But then, I thought that when her hair was green. It’s not about the hair and the clothes…it’s the sweet, luminous smile and warm, shining eyes.
Never mind that. We have a huge-ass problem here.
“I can’t believe it,” she moans, letting her head fall back against the couch. “How did this happen?”
“You’re asking me?”
“That was rhetorical.” She rolls her head side to side. “I thought you were some random hedge fund trader Roman and Vince would never see again.”
I’m kind of believing her now. She seems really perturbed.
She lifts her head and meets my eyes. “I had no idea. I’m so sorry I dragged you into this.”
I nod slowly.
“Thank you for going along with it out there.”
“I had no idea what to do.” I pick up the beer and take a gulp, waiving my no alcohol rule because, Jesus.
“You did great.” She sighs. “What do we do now?”
“Another rhetorical question?”
“No, we really need to figure that out.”
“Oh. I guess we do. I could just disappear, and you could claim I dumped you.” I smack my forehead. “No, that would probably piss off your stepdad and get me fired.”
“He can’t fire you!” she says on a gasp. “Can he?”
“He can trade me. Buy out my contract. Bench me. Make my life living hell.”
“Oh, Jesus Krispy Creme Christ.”
I choke on a laugh. “Yeah.”
“Okay.” She holds her hands up in a soothing gesture. “Realistically, he won’t do that. He doesn’t care enough about what I do.”
“Except for skeevy Roman, there.”
“Oh right. Shit. Vince is pissed because of that.” She nibbles her full bottom lip in a gesture that makes my groin tighten. “It’s true he might want you out of the picture.”
“What does that mean?” Alarm heats the blood in my veins. “Is your family…you know…”
“What?” Her forehead crinkles.
“Is your family in the, uh, garbage business?”
She squints. “No. Vince owns a bunch of different businesses, but not garbage.”
“No, that’s a euphemism.”
“For what?” A notch forms between her perfect eyebrows.
“You know…” I don’t want to say it. “The mob.”
She bursts out laughing. “Oh my God! Because he’s Italian?”
My face heats. “Is that stupid?”
“Yes.” She laughs more. “But you’re not alone. Other people assume that, too. It’s ridiculous.”
“I wouldn’t put it past Moretti,” I mutter. “How long were you together?”
“A few months.”
My gut twists. “He didn’t want to end things.”
“No. But I can’t marry him.” Her firm words ease the tension in my belly. What is that tension? Not…jealousy?
“He looks like a creepdog.”
She laughs more, then takes a breath. “He’s not that bad. He’s rich and thinks he can have whatever he wants. But I don’t think he’s mobbed up. You’re not going to get whacked.”
“Good to know.” I gulp more beer. “However, my career is fucked.”
I hope I’m exaggerating, but that’s how I feel. How could this happen? To me? The hardest-working, most focused and serious guy on the team. The last thing I’d ever do is get involved with the owner’s daughter!
She groans, head falling back again. “No. It can’t be. Let’s think about this.”
After a moment of heavy silence, I say, “Your sister is a lot younger than you.”
“Um. Yeah. She’s my half-sister. She’s twelve. My mom married Vince when I was twelve. They had Cat a year later.” She pauses. “Mom died when I was fifteen. Cat was only two.”
My body stiffens. Talking about losing loved ones rattles me. “Oh. I’m sorry for your loss.” I clear my throat and try to relax.
“Yeah.” She sighs. “Cat doesn’t even remember her.”
“Your biological father…?”
“He died when I was nine.”
Hell. Both her parents. Heat burns over my skin. “That’s a lot of loss.”
She meets my eyes and hers shine in recognition of my sympathy. “It is. My dad was a cello player. He played on Broadway in orchestra pits for lots of big musicals.”
“That’s where you get your talent from.”
“Yep. Wish I got more of it.” She pushes hair back off her face. “Anyway, he’s not around either. Vince isn’t exactly paternal, so Cat and I have been mostly on our own since Mom died.”
“On your own.” I look around. “When I saw you in the subway I wondered if you were homeless. This is a far cry from that.”
“I know!” She sits up straight. “Don’t think I’m a privileged brat. Well, okay, I am, in some ways. I live here, Vince has lots of money, and we have a privileged lifestyle. I know that.” One corner of her mouth hooks up. “But people need more than just food and shelter.”
I can’t help the small snort that escapes me. “Again…this ain’t just food and shelter, sweetheart.”
She pins me with a long look. “I know. But love is pretty important too. Belonging somewhere.” She sweeps out a hand. “I’ve never felt like I belong here. Especially after Mom died.”
That renders me silent.
“I had to make sure Cat didn’t feel like that, too,” she adds quietly.
She’s looking after her sister. I feel like a hand is reaching inside me and twisting my guts up. Of course, I think of my brother. But I shove those thoughts away.
I have a million more questions for her. She’s intriguing and interesting and puzzling. “Why do you say you’ve never belonged here?”
She doesn’t answer right away. Finally, she says, “Vince loved my mom, but he never loved me. This is a beautiful apartment…” She sweeps out a hand. “But it never felt like home. And when Mom died…well, then I really felt alone here.” With a shake of her head, she lowers her feet to the floor and leans forward, elbows on her knees. “But we don’t need to get into that. We just need to figure out how to handle this without you losing your job and without me ending up married to Roman.”