Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 61199 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 245(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61199 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 245(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
She nodded, easily accepting my answer. “Well?”
My lips curled up and I relaxed back into my seat. “It was good to be back. I’ve been training hard to get ready for the season and I’m glad for it, these new guys are dying to take my place on the roster.”
“You’re not even thirty yet.”
“And some of my teammates are barely twenty.” A fact that became more obvious with each passing day.
“Okay, so they’re younger. What do you have that makes you the best winger in the league?”
“Someone’s been doing her homework.”
“I have,” she admitted. “But not even Google can make me understand what your job actually is.”
“On offense, I find or create space to pass the puck, intercept passes from the other team and attack whoever has the puck.”
“So you’re a jack of all trades?”
“Kind of, yeah.” I was so excited talking to a beautiful woman about hockey that again, I forgot to look at the menu. Only this time it wasn’t her tits that had my attention, at least not all of it.
“Are we ready to order?”
I looked up at the server and suddenly I knew exactly what Sasha meant about starting to care because dammit, now I was starting to care about more than getting her in bed. “Um, yeah,” I replied and ordered the ravioli.
Sasha placed her order before she turned those sparkling blue eyes back to me. “So, jack of all trades on the ice?”
I nodded but now it felt different, too intimate to talk about the game I loved with her. “We should probably focus on wedding talk for a while.”
Confusion flashed but she concealed it quickly and sat back, putting physical as well as emotional distance between us. “Oh. Right. The wedding is why we’re here.” She shook off something and when her gaze met mine again, it was distant and wary. “I’ll invite some of my friends from the agency since I don’t keep in touch with my so-called friends from school.”
“And your parents?”
She shrugged. “I’d rather not invite them but doing that would only invite more questions than if they showed up so I guess put them on the list.” As if just realizing something, she pulled out her phone and tapped the screen a few times. “I’ve started the guest list and I’ll share it with you or Jack, and you can add to it as necessary.”
“Oh, um, yeah that sounds good.” The mood at the table had shifted abruptly and it was my fault. “This is weird.”
She shrugged and turned to her wine. “It’s happening,” she whispered and kept her gaze focused on the empty plate in front of her. “Maybe we should just take the food to go, let them think we couldn’t wait until after dinner to ravish each other.” There was no emotion, no fire in her words and I wanted to kick myself.
“Oh my god, Alex Witter!” A group of guys stopped at the table, all smiles and handshakes, as they asked for a selfie and told me how great I was. It never got old, that was for sure.
“This is my fiancé, Sasha.”
She smiled sweetly and four sets of eyes swung to her and widened. “Hey guys.”
“Damn, that’s her? Good for you, Alex.”
“What did you expect,” another guy asked. “A stick like Tatiana? Nah, Witter wants a real woman.”
“Uh, guys?”
“Oh sorry!” They apologized for the intrusion, thanked me and went on their way.
“You love it,” she said with an affectionate smile. And then, as if she remembered we weren’t being friendly, it faded and she went back to her wine.
“I do. Without the fans I wouldn’t be who I am. Sure, I’d still play and I would still be damn good but without the love, I wouldn’t make what I do or have the endorsements that fund my lifestyle.”
She nodded. “Then it’s good that you enjoy it.” That was it, her words bland and stilted.
The rest of dinner was excruciating and I wasn’t sure which I preferred, falling under her spell or having her ice me out completely.
By the time we made it back to the penthouse, I had my answer. I would much rather—a million times over—fall under Sasha’s spell than be the subject of her cold shoulder. She hadn’t said a word since she argued with me about paying half the dinner tab at the restaurant, which made for a torturous ride home.
“Where are you going?” She looked up at me as we made a left down the hall that led to her suite.
“I’m walking you to your door,” I told her. “Like a gentleman.”
Sasha sighed. “You don’t have to do this, Alex. We tried tonight and we failed, so let’s just chalk it up to giving it the old college try, okay?”
“I wouldn’t say we failed,” I began slowly and put my hand to her lower back, where I didn’t fail to miss the shiver that tore through her body. “There are learning curves to be expected.”