“Thanks.”
“Hey, would you autograph my jersey? I wore it under my coat today.”
“No kidding. Let’s see it.”
Henry unbuttoned his coat to show off the green and white colors of the Travelers jersey, and sure enough, there was Drew’s number twenty-two jersey.
“Nice. And I just so happen to have my Sharpie with me.” He opened his coat and pulled out his pen, which he’d used earlier today to sign autographs. He signed Henry’s jersey with it, and Henry went wide-eyed.
“Wow, that’s so cool. Wait’ll my friends find out I met you. They won’t even believe it.”
“If your parents have a camera on them, we can take a picture.”
“Really?” Henry asked.
“I can take a picture,” Henry’s mom said, pulling out her phone.
Drew kneeled next to Henry while his mom took the picture. Carolina wasn’t sure if she’d ever seen a kid look happier.
After the family moved off, there was a surge of fans. Carolina made her way over to the side of the rink. Drew looked her way, but she nodded and waved, and he took the time to meet with all of them, sign some autographs and take pictures. She was certain his fans would have liked him to skate with them, but he finally excused himself and made his way back to her.
“Sorry about that.”
“It’s no problem. It’s nice you take time with your fans.”
“I forgot about it being Thanksgiving. I didn’t even think about the possibility of the rink being so crowded. Or of being recognized.”
“Please. You, on the ice? I think it was obvious.”
He laughed. “Maybe so. Let’s take another few turns before we hop off.”
He slipped his arm around her and glided her around. By then, people were taking pictures of both of them, and a few of the kids skated nearby. Most hot athletes were chick magnets. Drew was definitely that, but he was also apparently a kid magnet, which he took in stride. He made sure to skate slow enough, and even held a little girl’s hand as she floated up beside him, gave him a bright grin, and wobbled her way around the rink with them, her parents hovering in front of them snapping pictures the whole time. Drew chatted with the little girl the entire way.
Which didn’t endear him to Carolina in the least.
Much.
By the time the break bell sounded, she was more than ready to get off the ice.
“How about some hot chocolate?” Drew asked.
“That sounds fabulous. My toes are cold and my legs feel like Jell-O.”
He laughed. “We need to work on your skating endurance.”
They removed their skates and headed upstairs. “Since it’s highly unlikely I’ll be ice skating regularly, I don’t think I need to worry too much about building up my endurance.”
Drew ordered two hot chocolates for them. “Oh, you never know. You might decide you love it.”
“It’s doubtful.”
“What if I give you season hockey tickets?”
She cracked a smile. “First, thank you for the offer. I do enjoy hockey. Sadly, I won’t have time to see all your games, because I’m kind of busy right now. And why would you do that?”
“Always nice to have someone you know in the stands.”
She shook her head. “You need a girlfriend.”
“I do, don’t I? Care to apply for the job?”
She wasn’t sure if he was teasing her or not. “Uh, no, thanks. I think that ship has sailed.”
“Has it?” The way he looked at her melted the last of the ice on her formerly frozen toes. So direct, so purposeful, the way he had been that night so long ago. She might have been inebriated and she’d definitely consumed enough wine for liquid courage to embolden her to invite him to her place after the graduation party. But he’d latched onto her at the party and hadn’t let go of her the rest of the night. He’d danced with her, had held her close, whispering in her ear about how beautiful she was, and how he’d asked himself why the two of them had never gotten together before that night.
And then he’d taken her back to the quiet of her dorm room when everyone else had been out partying . . .
“Carolina.”
She lifted herself out of that trip to the past and met his gaze. “Yes?”
“You were off in a fog somewhere.”
“Thinking about work.”
“Time to go?”
“Yes, I think so.” Before she did something foolish, like travel too far down that path of yesterday and fall down the rabbit hole again.
With Drew right beside her.
Which would be a huge, huge mistake.
SIX
DREW WATCHED THE PLAY OF EMOTIONS CROSS Carolina’s face as they climbed into the car. One of the things he’d always liked most about her was how smart she was, how she was more than what you saw on the surface. In college, he’d often run into her on the quad, and she was always sketching, or had her nose in a book.
Beautiful women were a dime a dozen. He knew, because he’d had plenty of them chasing him through college. But try to have a meaningful conversation with some of them and it was like coming up against a brick wall. A lot of them wanted to get their hands in his pants, and hey, as a young stud, he’d let them. But after you got out of bed, you had to have something to talk about besides where the next party was.
A beautiful, intelligent woman? Now that was something special.
He’d always kept his distance from Carolina because she was Gray’s little sister, and that had made her off-limits.
Until the night of graduation, when he’d had a little too much to drink—okay, he’d had a lot to drink. And Carolina had given him an invitation that had been too hard to resist. He’d forgotten all about her being his best friend’s sister then.
He hadn’t known then that she’d never been with a guy before. He figured as beautiful and as smart as she was, that she’d had a boyfriend or two.
Stupid move on his part, but he couldn’t say he regretted being her first. He’d only regretted turning tail and running after that. One of the most cowardly moves he’d ever made.
Now that he’d run into her again, this was his chance to maybe do it all over—the right way this time.
When they pulled up to her apartment, she turned to him. “Thanks for the ride.”
“You’re welcome. Thanks for coming along to help today.”