“Gee, thanks.”
“Hey, you brought it up.”
I wander over to the window that overlooks my backyard. Instead of the lush green lawn and trees I grew up with, I’m stuck staring at rocks and palm trees. The desert will take getting used to. Even after over six months living here, I still long for the scent of rain and the changing fall colors.
Or maybe I only want to go home because it’s my safe place. Where I can get a hug from Dad and forget what’s happening with Bash and the stress of the approaching playoffs.
“I don't know what I want, Jill, but it just seems like I'm risking a hell of a lot for this guy if it's just a fling. I could find a guy to have meaningless sex with pretty much anywhere. Do you know what I mean?”
“I do, hon, but you also need to live a little bit. You've been so focused on your career for the last fifteen years that you haven't done much living outside hockey.”
“What about Sean?”
“Sean was a douche. You were with that guy way too long, and I never liked him.”
Something she informed me of many times during the years I was with him. I thought they just didn’t mesh, but she saw something beneath the surface I couldn’t. She sensed he was no good when all I saw were hearts and roses…and his warm, dark eyes and sexy grin.
Shit.
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “You know who Sean reminds me an awful lot of.”
“Let me guess. Bash?”
“Yep.”
How could I not have seen it?
Sure, Bash plays hockey while Sean was an accountant, but they are so much alike in so many ways. I definitely have a type. Jill called me on that before, and she was absolutely spot-on with her assessment.
“Greer, you're wrong. Sean was the guy who should've been stable. The kind of guy you spend the rest of your life with. The fact that he turned out to be a total player had nothing to do with the type of guys you’re attracted to. He was the polar opposite of Bash. Just because they might look a little bit alike doesn't mean you should be pushing your feelings about Sean on him.”
“I'm not. It's just hard not to compare the two when he was my last serious relationship.”
My only one, in all honesty. There were other guys in high school and college, but with constant practices and traveling, maintaining any sort of a relationship was nearly impossible.
Until Sean.
He seemed to get it. He understood why my career was so important. Or so I thought. Turned out, he just liked my being gone from town all the time because it meant he could fuck around more easily.
“Seriously, Greer. You're overthinking this. You need to just have some fun. See where it goes.”
“Or I need to leave it in the rearview mirror and get back to just being his coach.”
“As if you can really do that…I gotta go. I'll talk to you later.”
The line goes dead, and I toss my phone onto the bed.
Jill made a few good points. Maybe I am overthinking this thing with Bash, but it's hard not to when the stakes are so high. If I let myself actually develop feelings for this guy, it’s only going to get worse.
So, don’t get a case of the feels for the guy.
It sounds easy. Maybe if I concentrate on reminding myself of the things about him that I don’t like, it will be easier to discount the things that I do.
Yeah. I can do that.
But if I’m going to go down this path with Bash, there have to be some ground rules.
One—no public displays.
Two—no feelings.
If he can live with that, so can I.
BASH
“Dude, you just love to get yourself deep in the shit, don't you?”
I take a bite of my burger and glare at Carter across the table. “You know, when I came down here to Boca to see you during this forced vacation, it wasn't to have you be a total jackass.”
He grins and takes a sip of his beer. “I'm just telling it like I see it. I mean, to be fair, you’re only here because you’re suspended for beating the shit out of someone.”
I growl and shove a handful of fries into my mouth.
And here I thought an eight-game suspension would be a decent time to go see Carter and Kendall. I, apparently incorrectly, believed seeing my best friend would help kill the downtime and also give me a chance to sort out my feelings about what's going on with Greer. Now Carter's kind of being a dick, and I wish I was back in Vegas, preferably with Greer underneath me again.
Carter sets his beer down and leans across the table toward me with a glance at the people around us. “Bash, come on, you slept with your coach. That's ten times worse than anything else you've ever done.”
I shrug. “That people know about.” I flash him a grin and down the rest of my beer. “There are things even you don’t know about, my friend.”
He chuckles and relaxes back in his chair. The loud and raucous crowd around us cheers for the game on the TV, and I glance up.
We're up by three. I kept my eyes on the screen, hoping for a glimpse of her, but they've only shown her once. She's so intense. So focused on the game.
I wonder if she's even thought about me once since she snuck out of my hotel room while I was still passed out the other day.
“Maybe sleeping with my coach wasn’t the best decision I’ve ever made.” My cock twitches, remembering how incredible it felt to be inside her. “But, man, it was so worth it.”
“You're such a dog.” He tips his beer toward me. “Do you realize how complicated you just made your working relationship with her?”
I offer him another shrug. “Can't be any more complicated than it already was. I mean, we basically argued every time we saw each other.”
“You argued because she asked you to act more like a human being and you refused.”
I scowl at him. “What's your point?”
He scoffs and takes a long pull on his beer. “My point, Bash, is that, at some point in time, you're going to have to grow up and realize that your actions have consequences. Whether it be a suspension,” he waves his hand toward me, “or worse. What's going to happen when you go back in a few days?”
“What do you mean?”
“Between you and Greer. What's going to happen?”
I know what I want to happen. I want to be with her again. I don't want this to just be a one-time thing. Though why I want that, and where I want it to go are still dark, gloomy, indecipherable questions floating around in my head.
Greer is incredible, but I’ve been with a lot of incredible women in my life.
Incredibly beautiful ones—supermodels galore. Incredibly smart ones—it’s always surprising who comes to games and throws themselves at me, even people with doctorates in subjects I can’t even pronounce. Incredibly talented ones—rock stars, actresses, authors, and television hosts. Incredibly sexy ones—women who are practically professionals at sex.
But over the last couple of days, I haven’t been able to think of a single one who has it all—except Greer.
I grab a fry and swipe it through the ranch dressing on my plate. I’ll have to pay later for eating this fried crap, but I’m on “vacation.” I chew slowly and watch Carter. “How did you know that you wanted more from Kendall than just a booty call?”