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Right. They were off for a week to a hockey camp in Missoula. When I first heard about it in the winter, I didn’t think Sierra was old enough to be away that long. But I was assured that since it was the Silvermines off-season, Dex James would be going. Since he and Lindy had baby Jillian in the spring, the trio was inseparable. That meant Lindy would be going to the camp as well. They knew Sierra and vowed to keep a close eye on her.
I hadn’t been able to say no after that, especially since Jackson and Johnny–along with the rest of Sierra’s team–were also going. Along with about ten parent chaperones and coaches.
“It’s not going anywhere,” I said. “If I find it while you’re gone, I’ll bring you up and show it to you.”
“But what about today?” Sierra asked, unscrewing the lid on her water bottle. “I mean, we’ll be sad if we don’t find it.”
“How about we get ice cream.” Luke offered. “That always makes me less sad. Especially Rocky Road.” He looked to me, probably a little late to see if that was okay.
Their whoops and hollers let him know they liked his Plan B, and they ran off again to continue the search.
Ice cream wasn’t my Plan B. I had none. I had to find that rock.
9
ASPEN
* * *
I was in the corner of the studio at the speaker system, picking the music for my afternoon Vinyasa class on my synced cell when Mallory tugged on my arm and stepped right up in my space.
“Psst.”
I turned my head. She was so close her blonde ponytail brushed my cheek. She wasn’t looking at me, but across the room.
“What?”
“Shep Barnes is in your class,” she whispered, still holding my bicep and now squeezing like she was testing my muscle tone. “He’s such a good actor.”
“Who?”
“Who?” she hissed.
“Shep–” Oh. My head whipped in that direction and there was Luke rolling out a yoga mat on the floor. He must’ve grabbed one from the selection in the supply corner.
Holy hell, was he hot. It was downright cruel. He wore sleeveless t-shirt and shorts, with the snug, black compression shorts beneath that peeked out from the bottom hem highlighting his muscular thighs. They were exactly what guys should wear doing yoga, keeping anyone from seeing glimpses of their junk when shorts crept up in various poses. It happened in the past and it was startling.
Luke must’ve felt the strength of our stares because he looked our way and winked.
Mallory spun away and faced my speaker. “He winked at me!”
I bit back my smile because she ran a hand over her hair as if trying to look good for Luke when Theo–who really was a doctor and not one played on TV–sat on his mat not fifteen feet away.
Oh my God, she was being a total idiot over a celebrity.
It wasn’t because he was a star that had my heart beating out of my chest. I felt like I was a fifteen-year-old crushing over the attention of the star quarterback. It was my reaction that surprised me, although I should have some reaction to the man that railed me in his bed the other night.
After our unsuccessful hunt for the bulldog rock and ring, we’d taken the kids to ice cream as promised. They’d talked non-stop about hockey camp; the itinerary, what they heard about the cafeteria and how many hamburgers they can eat at one time, the dorm rooms they were staying in, whose parents were chaperoning and even mentioned Dex James. I wasn’t sure how many tweens he’d been around, but Luke had been a good sport, giving them his full attention. Except when two giggling women came over to him and asked him for his autograph.
After returning home, he’d fist bumped the kids and told them to have an awesome time at camp. Then he’d turned to me, with that smoldering stare and wicked smile, and told me he’d see me later. No kiss, because kids, but a wink which was, I discovered with him, equally sexy, although not as fulfilling.
When he said later, I figured sometime this week, perhaps, but not the next afternoon and in my yoga class. This morning, Sierra and I had breakfast with Granny Waddle and then did the last bits of packing before I drove her to the winter sports complex for camp drop-off. I only cried after the buses had pulled out and I was back in the car. I’d been mopey since then and was glad for afternoon class to distract me.
“Wait, why would he wink at me?” Mallory eyed me. “Why did Shep Barnes, the sexiest bachelor alive, wink this way and why is he taking your class?”
“The sexiest bachelor alive?”
“Yeah, there’s a whole spread on him in that magazine.”
