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“And you’re okay with that?”
“Well, it’s not ideal.” Gunnar turned up the radio. He was obviously upset and I bit my tongue.
“Gunnar.” I took my phone out of my purse. “You are too nice sometimes.”
He didn’t reply and kept his gaze on the road ahead. Just then, an idea hit me. “If I can get him in with someone today – someone reputable, are you okay with that?”
“Good luck with that.” Gunnar sighed.
I had already dialed. “Remember who you’re talking to.” I smiled at him as the phone rang.
One minute later, I had a solution. And Gunnar and I had a full day road trip ahead of us. It wasn’t the day I had imagined – I had wanted a repeat of the orgasms we’d had the night before, over and over. But instead of exploring each other’s bodies, we were crisscrossing the countryside in a Cadillac that looked like it had been stolen from an eighties mafia boss, that smelled of wet dog.
Yet somehow, other than the orgasms, this felt even better than lounging in bed.
TEN
GUNNAR
The first hourof our drive from the farm we listened to talk radio, the sports edition. One of the sportscasters was optimistic about the New York Thunder’s upcoming season; the other thought that last year was a fluke, and that the shake-up in management had been a mistake.
“That’s enough of that.” I turned the dial to try to find a radio station, but when the red needle reached the end, I just shut it off.
“Why did you do that?” Everleigh asked.
“Those two assholes wouldn’t know…” I was going to finish with a crude joke about finding their own assholes, but stopped short.
“Where to find their own assholes?” Everleigh pumped her eyebrows at me. “Gunnar, you don’t have to censor yourself with me. I grew up around hockey players and I probably use the F-bomb more times in a day than half the guys on the team.”
Everleigh was a classy, wealthy woman, but that day, sitting beside me in her yoga pants and loose hoodie, her hair bundled up underneath a baseball cap, she could’ve been the girl next door in the small town I’d grown up in – not a private-schooled, jet-setting socialite. She didn’t even blink an eye when I opened the door of the Cadillac for her to get in. I’d had dates balk at my car before. One date had even suggested that we go car shopping instead of out to dinner. But not Everleigh. She’d just sat in the old rusty car like it was a stretched limousine.
It dawned on me that Everleigh was the most down-to-earth woman I’d ever met – when she showed her true self. The version of herself that she showed the public was definitely upper crust, high maintenance, and truthfully, totally bitchy. And I think she liked it that way. The Ice Queen wore a mask, and it made me sad that more people couldn’t see who she was behind that cool front.
“Those radio guys wouldn’t know…” I couldn’t come up with another euphemism.
Everleigh smiled and put her hand on my leg. “They’re not wrong, you know.”
“About what?” I hadn’t agreed with ninety percent of what they’d said about the team.
Everleigh rubbed my forehead with her fingertips. “You’re cute when you furrow that brow.”
I could feel the heat rush along my jawbone. “No, seriously.” I rubbed my forehead where Everleigh had touched it. “What do you think they got right?”
She chuckled. “The fact that I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m totally winging it.”
Some of the guys weren’t happy with her management style, but other than her lapse in judgment with me and my dick, I thought that she was the best GM I’d ever played under. “You’re too hard on yourself. If it makes you feel any better, I think that the last guy was winging it too. Wait, that came out wrong.”
Everleigh smiled. “I’ve got thick skin, Gunnar. Some would even call it icy.” She shot me a wry smile.
“No. Everleigh,” I pointed to the road sign, “am I taking this exit?” I was grateful for the navigational disruption to the conversation. It gave me a bit of time to get my foot out of my mouth.
She nodded. “Yes. This is the one.” I signaled, and we were immediately engulfed by a canopy of leafy trees, shading us from the blaring sun.
“Everleigh. You are a great GM. And if there’s something you need to know about me, it’s that I value the truth and I always speak mine.”
Her cheeks turned a little pink and dented with dimples as she smiled with her lips together. “I know you do, Gunnar. I’ve never met anyone like you.”
“Ditto.”
