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Vanessa gives a sigh as she gazes around the room. “You’re a nice guy, Aiden.”
She sips her drink and although I know she meant well by her comment, it’s like a hit to the gut. I’m tired of being the nice guy. I’ve been the nice guy my whole life. I’ve sat back and watched all my friends treat their women like shit and still wind up with their happily ever after. They all have children of their own and beautiful wives. They have a home in the suburbs and a fucking white picket fence that they don’t deserve.
Yet, here I am.
Just aniceguy.
A deep ball of determination builds behind my eyes. I’m staring across at Vanessa, my best friend’s sister. I’m not letting this one go. Not this time.
I allow my arm to drop from the top of the booth and curl my hand around Vanessa’s shoulder. She looks at me and I’m pretty sure she can hear the sound of my beating heart. My heart is raging inside and even the smallest touch of her hand sliding across my thigh again has me hardening up in my pants.
I’m not sure what I expected. Maybe I’ve had too many women scamper away the second I make my move… Maybe the fact that her brother is my best friend was lingering in the back of my mind?
Because what I didn’t expect, was for Vanessa to lean into my embrace and lay her head on my shoulder.
“I think you should show me some of your work,” I say, gripping her tight, drawing in long, deep breaths of her sweet scent. “I’d love to see you on the screen.”
I can’t see the smile on her face, but dammit I feel the warmth fill the entire fucking room.
“Oh… No. No way. That’s not going to happen, Mister.”
I allow my grip around her to loosen so I can gawk down at her in protest. “The hell it isn’t! I want to see you lighting up the screen!”
Color flames into her cheeks as the flow of her soft hair brushes my face.
“I won’t allow it. Especially that sitcom I was in. It was terrible, truly terrible. There’s a reason that show has never seen the light of day.”
“I think I’ll be the judge of that,” I say cheekily.
Vanessa slaps my chest and escapes my grasp. Her face is bright with a mix of amusement and fright as the song on the jukebox is changed by a group of skimpily-dressed girls.
“Aiden, you can’t. You just can’t.” Her body is tense and I’m smirking across at her. “That would be like me… I don’t know… It would be like me playing ice hockey. Trust me, you don’t want to see me slapping a puck. No one needs to see that.”
I chuckle and pull her back in. She was only out of my arms for a moment, but it was a moment too long.
“If your brother’s technique is anything to go by, I’m sure your stick action is fine.”
Almost as if the mere mention of her brother has her questioning whether she should be laying in my arms, I feel Vanessa squirm beneath me. But I hold her tight.
“Well I guess you’ll never know that either,” Vanessa says. “Because I’m nothing like my brother. I’ve never even laid a foot on the ice before.”
My jaw drops. Suddenly I’m squirming backwards along the red seat of the booth.
“You’ve what?!” I bellow through puffed cheeks.
“What?” Vanessa frowns across at me.
“You’ve never skated before? Is that what you just said?”
She shrugs and nods. “Yeah, so what?”
My head fizzes with excitement. I grip the glass dripping with condensation and down the lager with two gulps. I nod my head to Vanessa’s glass to encourage her to do the same, but she just looks at me with a blank expression.
“Come on,” I exclaim excitedly. “We’re going.”
A frown knits across her brow. “Going? Going where?”
“I promised you a fun night. And that’s what I damn well plan on doing.”
