“I’m not your girlfriend.”
“Oh, I see. So I should have said ‘that chick I’m fucking’?”
She rubbed the side of her head. “You’re giving me a headache.”
“And I don’t get why this is a thing. What’s wrong with me watching you dance? I told you the other day I hadn’t seen you dance yet, and I wanted to. I figured this was a great opportunity. I’m sorry it freaked you out.”
It had freaked her out. For so many reasons it made her head spin.
He pulled out his phone. “Listen, I gotta go. You looked amazing up there—like you were born to be on the stage. See you at the game tonight?”
She nodded mutely, and he turned and left.
No good-bye. No kiss. No . . . anything.
Then again, she’d been the one to rain on his parade, hadn’t she? So what did she expect? Flowers and him bending her over backwards with a swooning kiss? He’d tried to surprise her with something sweet, and she’d been a major bitch about it.
She was a moron.
A moron who didn’t know what she wanted.
***
“I don’t understand women.”
Trick sat in the locker room after an intense late afternoon practice with his team.
Drew was sitting next to him and nudged him with his shoulder. “Dude. We’re not supposed to. That whole mystery thing is what’s so fun about them.”
Trick shook his head and stared down at his skates. “I don’t know. This whole thing with Stella is about as mysterious as waking up after an all-night bender with one hell of a hangover, cotton mouth, and no memory of the night before. Only you know you had a shitty night and not a good time.”
Drew gave him a look. “That bad, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Wanna talk about it? Maybe I can help.”
He gave Drew a look. “I don’t know. Stella gives me mixed signals. She’s with me, but it’s like she doesn’t really want to be.”
“Carolina would likely say that maybe Stella’s scared of commitment.”
Trick snorted. “Wow, you’ve learned some things.”
“I pick stuff up here and there. Living with a woman will do that to you. But seriously, have you talked to her about it?”
“She’s not really into talking about the deep shit.”
Drew’s brows rose. “And you are? Since when?”
“I don’t know. I guess since Stella.”
“Huh. Big admission for you, since you were always such a player.”
Trick shrugged. “Maybe I don’t want to be a player anymore. Now I just have to convince Stella.”
Drew laughed and slapped Trick on the back. “Try talking to her, and keep talking until she hears what you’re saying.”
“I guess.”
“Now, enough about women. We have a big game tonight and you need your focus.”
Drew was right about that. He had to shake off thoughts of Stella and put them where they belonged.
On the game, where they were supposed to be.
They needed this win tonight.
After they kicked Detroit’s ass, he’d turn his attention back on the woman who was currently tying his stomach up in knots.
Chapter Ten
Stella met Carolina in the club suite.
“You look hot, as always,” Carolina said.
Stella looked down at her black skinny jeans, her knee-high boots, and her green sparkly top that she’d covered with a leather jacket. “I thought I was dressed kind of average tonight.”
Carolina looped her arm through Stella’s. “Honey, you are anything but average. You look gorgeous.”
“So do you. I’m in love with that cream jacket. The strategic placement of those zippers is killing me.”
Carolina laughed. “Of course. It’s always about the zippers for you, isn’t it?”
“All the time.”
They wandered over to the buffet and found something to eat and drink, then grabbed a seat with a prime view of the guys during warm-ups.
“How’s it going with the design stuff?”
“Actually, pretty good,” Carolina said. “We’re on schedule, I have amazing models to walk the runway for me, and we just finished a fitting for everyone this morning. Fingers crossed, because I don’t want to jinx anything, but it looks like everything’s going smoothly.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Is Drew going to walk for you this year?”
Carolina laughed. “Unfortunately, no. He claimed that was a one-time thing last year, so he refuses to be a model for me again. Though the ad campaign he did on the ice was incredibly successful.”
“Of course it was. Hot hockey player wearing Carolina Designs underwear? How could it not be?”
“He did look spectacular on those billboards, didn’t he?”
“I’ll say.”
Carolina’s gaze strayed to the ice, where Drew and Trick were passing the puck back and forth. “Maybe I could convince Trick to model my underwear this year.”
“I’m sure you could convince Trick to model naked for you.”
Carolina laughed and turned her attention back to Stella. “And you wouldn’t mind that?”
She shrugged. “I don’t own the man, or any part of his body. He’s all yours.”
“Hmm, that sounds a lot like you two might have had a fight.”
“We didn’t fight at all. To fight means we have a relationship, and you know I don’t do that.”
Carolina took a sip of water and leaned back in her chair. “Okay, spill. What’s going on?”
“Nothing, really.”
“Stell, I know you. You’re always so free and easy about the men you see. There’s clearly something more going on with you and Trick.”
That was the problem with best friends—they knew everything about you. Or, almost everything, anyway. “Fine. We’ve been getting closer and it’s unnerving me.”
“Unnerving you in what way?”
She gave her friend a pointed look. “Mainly that I’ve allowed it to happen at all.”
“Ah, I see. Because that goes against your standard MO of fuck ’em and leave ’em.”
“Exactly. What’s wrong with me? We hooked up last year, and that was fine and all. Okay, it was more than fine. It was great. But then we drifted apart, and here we are again. I never do this. I never see a guy twice.”