Victor Putinov was their left-winger on the Ice. His platinum blond hair and patrician good looks always sent the women swooning.
Victor lifted his chin. “I will go see them. Sign their papers.”
“I’ll bet you’ll sign their papers,” Ty said without looking up from the pool table.
Victor arched a brow. “It is my duty to keep female fans happy.”
Eddie laughed. “Yeah, with your giant dick.”
Jenna shook her head.
“I see you got yourself a new boyfriend.”
She stopped and turned to face Ty, who’d taken his shot and leaned against the end of the pool table. “Not a boyfriend. A date.”
“New guy?”
“None of your business.”
“He’s not your type.”
Irritation skittered along her nerve endings. She put her hands on her hips. “Really. And why would you think that?”
He shrugged. “No chemistry between you.”
“There’s plenty of chemistry between us.”
He reached up and grasped a strand of her hair, gave it a gentle tug.
Her breath stilled, and a tingle shivered down her spine. Everything she hadn’t felt between her and Joe sizzled between her and Ty.
“Between you and me? Yeah. There’s chemistry.”
She lifted her gaze to his. He was right. An explosion bombarded her senses. Her br**sts tingled, her lips parted. She went damp and she all but gave him an invisible road map to the promised land.
Whatever was between them was combustible, and very dangerous.
But he wasn’t on her list of acceptable males to date. Or to do anything with, for that matter.
“There’s nothing between you and me,” she said.
“Isn’t there?”
She liked Joe. She was going to go out with Joe.
“I have a date on Friday.”
He let her hair sift through his fingers and took a step back, but still the shadow of a smile remained on his lips. “Have a good time.”
“I will.” She pivoted and walked away, figuring she’d feel a sense of triumph.
All she felt was empty.
A DATE? SHE WAS GOING OUT WITH THAT LOSER?
Why?
Ty stood back and watched Eddie take the shot, but his mind wasn’t on the game anymore.
Not that it had been 100 percent on the game ever since he’d caught sight of Jenna talking to—what had she said his name was? Joe?
He took a quick glance at the bar. She was wiping it down with a cloth and laughing with one of her customers.
He liked her laugh. It was deep and gravelly, the kind of sound that got into every one of his nerve endings. He wanted to make her laugh like that. Actually, he wanted her naked and laughing.
Hell, he just wanted her naked.
He wanted more than that. He just didn’t know why. He wasn’t looking for a relationship, so why the hell did he care who Jenna went out with?
Except that Joe guy wasn’t for her. He could tell right away it was the wrong kind of match, but if she wanted to go out with the guy, it wasn’t like he had any claim on her. They hadn’t even dated.
If she kept going after the wrong guys, Ty would never get a chance.
Not that he planned to give up. He’d just let her play her games with losers like Joe, and when the right time came, he’d swoop in.
Feeling better, he picked up his pool cue, ready to take his shot.
SIX
TWO DAYS LATER, JENNA STOOD IN FRONT OF HER MIR-ror, inspecting her just to the knees, long-sleeved black dress and black peep-toe pumps.
She chose dangling silver earrings and a long silver chain to complement the outfit.
Simple, yet sexy.
Joe told her to choose a restaurant—an upscale one so he could treat her to a nice meal since she was going to be his tour guide. He said he’d heard Italian food was good in this city.
He’d heard right. She chose Tony’s on Market Street, even though the best Italian food was on the Hill, in her opinion.
Their reservations were for eight o’clock. It was almost seven. Joe said he’d pick her up at seven and they’d have cocktails in the bar before dinner.
She’d spent the day picking up the house, or at least the living room and kitchen, which had been a war zone. She’d vacuumed and dusted and put away the clutter so it didn’t look like an insane person or a hoarder lived there.
Her stomach fluttered. She was nervous. How crazy was that?
Relax, Jenna. She really had to start going out more.
The doorbell rang and she hurried out of the bedroom, stopping at the mirror for one last quick look to make sure she didn’t have lipgloss on her teeth.
Everything in order, she spiked up her hair and went to the door, taking a quick, calming breath before opening it.
Joe stood there with flowers in his hand.
Nice touch.
“Hi. Come on in.”
He smiled at her and handed her the flowers. Roses. How utterly…unoriginal. But still, sweet.
“These are for you. Thanks again for offering to show me around.”
“You’re welcome. And thank you for the flowers. Let me put these in some water.”
He slipped off his coat. He wore dark slacks, a white shirt, no tie, but a jacket. Kind of relaxed, but still dressy. He looked incredible.
He was a good-looking guy. A really good-looking guy.
So why wasn’t she tingling?
Likely because she was starving. She’d had a busy day, had run into the bar to see to a few things, do some bookwork, make sure everything was set up for tonight with her assistant manager before rushing home to clean the house and get ready for her date. And she might have forgotten to eat lunch.
So she was stressed. And really hungry.
She put the flowers in a vase of water, then came out. Joe was standing in her living room, looking around. Grateful she’d cleaned up the mess, she wandered over to him. He was examining the art on the wall.
“This is nice.”
“Thanks. It’s one of my favorite pieces.”
“Original?”
“You could say that. Shall we go?”
“Sure.”
He took her coat and helped her with it. The drive downtown didn’t take long. They’d had a dusting of snow earlier in the day, so it was cold. Thankfully he used the available valet parking the restaurant provided, so she wouldn’t have to worry about maneuvering the snow in her heels. They dashed inside where it was warm and cozy.