She tilted her head to look at him, looking genuinely interested. “In what way?”
“When they realized I not only loved hockey but was good enough to play in college, they sacrificed so much for the chance I’d get a degree because nobody in my family ever had one. My dad took every chance at overtime. My mom would work second jobs here and there, part-time. It’s incredibly expensive to raise a hockey player, especially on what they made. The gear. Fees. Just the gas to drive my ass around. When I got my college scholarship, they were not only proud but so relieved. They’d accomplished their goal, which wasn’t about the game at all. Even though I don’t use the degree to do more than keep an eye on my business manager, I owed my parents that framed certificate on the wall becausetheyearned it.”
“What about your sister? Did you owe her, too?”
There was some bite in her tone, and he twisted his body a little so he could see her face and the tension in her jaw and cheekbones. “What do you mean?”
“What sacrifices didshehave to make so you could get that certificate on the wall?”
He was about to make a joke about getting to have a professional hockey player for a big brother, but his brain kicked into high gear just in time to stop the words from coming out of his mouth. Having a professional hockey player for a big brother might be a big part of why Kristen hated hockey, and there was a good chance being flippant about it was going to put him on the wrong side of her front door with his clothes in his arms.
“It wasn’t easy on her, I’m sure. She was in chorus and was a cheerleader for the basketball team, so winter was busy. My parents had to trade off a lot so one of them was at each event, meaning she rarely had both parents there. Neither did I, but we made it work. Sometimes our neighbor had to drive Cassie around if I had a tournament out of town, but we all helped her with her lawn and keeping her house up and stuff.”
“I guess having two parents helped.”
Will closed his eyes, belatedly remembering a profile of Erik Burke that mentioned his mom had passed away when he was a kid. Now he wished he’d paid more attention to the stories about Burke’s background, since he shared that childhood with Kristen.
“I did a few extracurricular activities when I was in school, but my dad rarely showed up,” she said. “And nothing that cost a lot of money, since there wasn’t any left over after Erik’s hockey expenses.”
He wanted stroke her hair, but he suspected if he interrupted her or tried to give her sympathy, she’d shut down, and he wanted to hear it. He wanted to understand a little more about why she hated the sport that was his entire life.
“We moved to a new place right before I started middle school,” she continued. “My dad wanted Erik in a high school with a top hockey team, so we just…moved. Dad took a pay cut and the cost of living was a lot higher, so I had no friends, no money and didn’t feel safe in the sketchy apartment building we lived in. I spent a lot of time alone with the doors locked and a lot of time doing my brother’s homework so he could be on the ice.”
“That sounds lonely. I can see why you’d have some resentment toward the sport.”
“That’s putting it mildly. I guess it worked out. Erik’s living his dream—or Dad’s dream, since the line’s a bit fuzzy there—and I have this apartment.”
Will wasn’t brave enough to ask her outright if Erik had bought it for her, but it sure sounded that way.
She chuckled softly. “Probably thanks to Dad, Erik’s not great with expressing emotion, so he wrote me a letter. An actual paper letter sent through the mail, with a few pictures of the place. He said he knew I’d spent a lot of time alone in a shithole growing up and that he’d been putting money aside for six years until he found a beautiful place he thought I’d like and that would make me feel safe and that nobody could take away from me. And he hadn’t signed the papers because he wanted it to be my choice and to only have my name on it, and he said if I wanted it, to let him know.”
He wasn’t surprised her voice choked off, since he was feeling a bit emotional himself. About Erik freakin’ Burke, of all people. “Damn.”
“Of course my first reaction was to refuse to let him throw his hockey money at me,” she said with a laugh. “But then I realized it wasn’t some kind of grandiose gesture to show off or even an apology for shit that was mostly our dad’s fault. It was his way of saying thank you, so I accepted it.”
“It’s a very nice thank you,” he said. “And since you gave him a key, now you’re stuck with me for a while to keep everybody’s name out of the mud.”
She laughed, as he’d hoped she would. “Let’s not get things twisted here. You know as well as I do the only name that would be dragged through the mud is mine. And I’m not stuck with you. I’m choosing to go along with this charade because I’m not done with you yet and this is the best way to get what I want.”
“Which is me.”
She jabbed her elbow into his side. “Which is orgasms not of the do-it-yourself variety and you happen to be particularly good at providing them.”
“I should havebetter than a vibratoradded to my press kit.”
“Probably see a nice bump in jersey sales.” She laughed. “You could even expand your branded merchandise.”
“I don’t see the league letting me brand that kind of merch, but I bet I could secretly have a limited edition, custom Cross Lecroix vibrator made for you.”
She ran her hand up his thigh, managing to skim her fingernails over his balls before stroking the length of his dick. The denim between his flesh and her palm wasn’t enough to keep him from being instantly hard.
He was pretty sure a time when he wouldn’t desperately want her didn’t exist.
“I’ll stick with the real thing,” she said in a husky voice.
“I get the feeling I’m about to be sent to bed with no ice cream.”
“You must have been naughty.” She stood and took his hand to haul him to his feet.
