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“We aren’t together and we sure as hell aren’t engaged.” She spat at him. “You can leave for all I care because I won’t be spoken to like that anymore. You have been acting like a horse’s ass for months. I have never led you on, never given you any sign that there could be something for our future, but you seem to have a hard time comprehending things. I am wondering if I shouldn’t report you to the College of Physicians and Surgeons. This defiantly concerning behaviour.” She crossed her arms and stood her ground. Garth looked from her to me, shook his head and walked off into the parking lot.
“Are you all right?” I asked, my voice soft and low. Ginny nodded, but I knew better. “Do you want to leave?” Standing next to her only a breath apart, I wanted to grab her to me and hold her.
“No, I need to stay.” She shook her head. “There’s still too much of the night left. Although, thanks to you, I won’t need to do one of these for a few years.” She looked up and smiled. It was forced, and I wanted to kiss it off her face, and replace it with her genuine smile, but now wasn’t the time.
Facing the door, I bent my arm and offered it to her. “Well, if you don’t mind dancing with a guy who limps a little, I would be honoured to be the only one to fill your dance card.” Arching my brow, I watched her relax. She threaded her hand around my arm and we walked back into the hall where all eyes were on us. A slow song started to play through the speakers and I walked out to the floor and pulled Ginny to me. The women in the hall sighed and Ginny stiffened in my arms. “Relax Gin, we’re just dancing,” I whispered into her ear, and it was enough for her to lean into me. Eight years without this woman in my arms had felt like a lifetime.
I wouldn’t let her go again.
CHAPTER18
GINNY
“I needto get my keys out,” I said as I dug through the small clutch I took with me. “How can I lose my keys in this silly purse? It’s not even the size of my phone. Well, I guess it’s bigger than my phone.” I was rambling, I rambled when I was nervous. Why was I nervous? I know this man better than I knew anyone.
“Ginny, Here I have mine.” He opened the door of the car and light filled the small area. “What are you going to do about Garth? This isn’t exactly forgivable behavior.” She placed her hand on my chest and shook her head.
“Can we go inside and talk about this?” He reached over and placed his hand on my back. “You can get into something more comfortable.” I watched his brow raise and his eyes danced like they used to when he was trying to seduce me. All the familiar feelings came flooding back and suddenly I needed to have my husbands touch. All the bad, all the sad times, and the frustrations left my mind
Closing the door, I flicked on the lights and looked around the hallway. We hadn’t spent much time here as a couple, but it was our home base, not to mention it was my childhood home. When my parents moved to the city to be closer to my brother, Boone bought it and gifted it to me on my birthday. He really could be the sweetest man at times. “It’s still early, and there’s a game on. Maybe we should watch it like old times,” he said as he walked to the living room and discarded his coat over the back of the sofa.
“Garth came to work at the clinic six years ago. He was seeing someone and then shortly after they broke up.” I paced the living room, mostly because sitting in this dress was a nightmare and I didn’t feel like having the boning in the dress stab me in the lungs anymore today. “If there was an event for the clinic or my specialty, Garth would accompany me. Not because there was anything going on, but because he was always invited, too. So we would go with one another.” I was very cognizant of not say together. It felt like a word that held more of a meaning than its actual definition. “I suppose it’s my fault for not realizing it before now that he wanted more. But other than these events and work, I never thought about him.” My nose began to tingle and I could feel tears well in my eyes.“You seriously aren’t going to cry, are you?”My brain chastised me, but my emotions were more powerful. I was exhausted from the evening, having Boone home changing everything I had planned for myself, and from the antics of Garth.
Boone was up and off the sofa, wrapping his arms around me tightly. “I believe you and you don’t have to give this guy another thought. We will figure it out. Maybe it’s time for the clinic to let him go. It sounds like he’s becoming rather unhinged where you’re concerned. And that makes me extremely nervous for you while you’re working.” His voice was soft, and he made me feel like I was the only thing that mattered in his life.
“I was worried you wouldn’t believe me.” Boone backed away and frowned as he gazed at me.
“I know you, Virginia Davenport, as well as I know myself. We may have been apart for far too long, but I know you, and I know you took our vows as seriously as I did. Garth doesn’t bother me.” Where had this man come from? He had been jealous when we were young. I couldn’t even talk to another guy without him being suspicious. But the man before me now was different, grown up, the man I needed eight years ago, and still needed today.
“Okay, enough about this disaster of an evening, turn he game on and I will get the alcohol.” I needed to get away from him. He smelled too good, he knew me too well, and he was too nice. This dress was feeling very restrictive, and I needed it off. Heading to my room rather than the kitchen. Jumping around, I tried to grab the zipper of the dress, but unfortunately, I couldn’t contort my arm into the position I needed.
“Can I help?” His voice was light, and I could tell he was trying to stifle a laugh.
“Please pull down the zipper, and then leave the room.” I could feel heat radiating up to my cheeks. Of course, this would happen to me.
“How did you get into this?” He asked as he pulled the zipper down.
“I had Christy help me when I got to the hall.” I shrugged.
“There.” His voice changed from light to husky. Goosebumps spread across my back where he slid his fingers when the dress fell open. “I will go find a game and let you change.” As soon as he left, the room felt empty. His presence was larger than life, as he always had been. It’s what drew me to him all those years ago. My shy pre-teen self couldn’t get enough of his outgoing personality, his caring for people, and making everyone feel like they were important to him. It’s what made him a great star for the hockey league. “Get out here Gin, the game’s starting.” Smiling at hearing his voice through the house, I grabbed a t-shirt and slipped on my jeans.
“All right, I’m here,” I said, as I handed him a beer over his shoulder. He grabbed it and twisted the top off. How had so many years passed yet we were here behaving the same way we always had? There was no awkwardness, just relaxed familiarity. “What are we betting?” I asked as I sat on the sofa, tucking my legs under me. Boone reached over for my beer and took the cap off and handed it back. Narrowing my gaze, I stared at him.
“What? You never could get the top off.” He shrugged and raised his drink to his lips.
“Yeah, well, I’ve had a long time to practice. I am fully capable of doing it myself.” I took a sip before looking back at the television. “Again, what’s the bet?”
“Strip hockey, like old times.” He let his arm drape across the back of the couch, trailing his finger along the top of my shoulder. That was his spot. He knew it was the key to my undoing. “Same rules. If your team scores, I take something off and vice versa. Penalty’s for your team. You take something off.” My brain was screaming no, but in the haze of having Boone back, I nodded and held out my hand. He shook it and smiled. “Who are you taking?”
“The Rockets,” I said confidently, and Boone nodded.
“Then I guess I have the Panthers.” He smiled, and I knew I had chosen wrong. “You maybe should have looked up the teams before you chose. The Rockets are the highest penalized team in the league. You might as well just take your clothes off now.” He reached for his beer and took a long swig. I had the immediate reaction to slap the crooked grin off his face that had just suddenly appeared.
Four minutes in and the Rockets were in the penalty box and Boone shifted on the couch. “What’s it going to be?” He asked, arching his brow, letting his gaze trail over my body. Why hadn’t I put socks on? I wondered to myself. How in the world could I have forgotten how much I hated this game? Well, I didn’t hate it, but I was bad at it even when I watched hockey regularly. Standing, I unbuttoned my jeans and shimmied out of them. Boone’s eyes never left my body.
The game went to commercial break, and I sat back down. “Do you remember what used to happen during commercial breaks?”
CHAPTER19
