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“I’m just wondering if you knew about Knox before I told you.” I drag out a bar stool and sit, dropping my bag on the counter in front of me. “If you had some reason for our fast-tracked relationship outside of my stunning personality.”
He comes closer. He’s in boxers and a sweatshirt, undoubtedly thrown on when he woke up. I resist the urge to peek down the hall that leads to his bedroom, lest I see a girl sneaking into the bathroom.
I have no doubt he could have whatever girl he wanted.
“You convinced me to move to Denver,” I say. “You collided withmethat day.”
“I’m a goalie,” he says. “I don’t skate much.”
“Whose idea was it? Did they show you my photo? Suggest maybe…”
He laughs. “No, Aurora, no one bribed me to talk to you.”
I narrow my eyes. “I didn’t say anything about a bribe, Joel.”
He goes quiet. The whole apartment is quiet, and my jaw aches, and I long for my bed. My body is sore, and I wish for the comfort of being wrapped up in something familiar. Which is ironic, since this apartment used to be that. How many nights did I crawl into bed alongside him, kissing his jaw, seeking solace in his arms? When I was homesick, when I was lonely.When he and Beth and me seemed like a thin slice of a vast world.
Knox is the opposite.
Knox makes me feel like we’re the world.
“The truth will help.” I reach for him and stop. Clear my throat. “Please.”
He retrieves a bottle of tequila from the freezer. Two shot glasses. He leans on the counter across from me, his biceps flexing, and pours two. He slides one to me, and I pick it up. But I don’t drink it until he’s downed his, his throat bobbing with his swallow.
“The NHL has known about Knox’s marriage since he was drafted to the New York Guardians.”
Okay, yeah. Shot time. I pull the gauze from my mouth and toss back the alcohol. It burns going down. My broken tooth is a knife stabbing my jaw, reacting to the cold. I make a face.
Joel smiles a little, raising his eyebrow at the bloody gauze now on his counter.
“Continue,” I say.
“It’s also known that Knox Whiteshaw, while a great player, can be a bit of a wild card. Which is how I ended up in Boston.”
“To… find me?”
He inclines his chin. “To talk to you, at the very least. To get a read on him before he joined us. But then…”
“Don’t say one thing led to another,” I warn him.
He refills our glasses.
This time, I take it without hesitation, and he follows suit. After a minute, the warmth spreads through my belly and up into my chest.
“Did it start as a planned meeting? Yes.” He meets my gaze. “Did I like you more than I thought? Yes, Aurora. But then… I was nudged to make it more serious. To get you to Denver.”
And I went.
How happy I was, telling my father I was engaged and moving andthriving. The book was selling at that point. I could afford a high-rise condo, the down payment, all of it. It was like I snapped my fingers and I wasn’t drowning anymore.
Overnight success on multiple fronts.
Too bad only one of them was real.
“You freaked out about Knox?—”
He sighs. “I’m sorry. It was getting to be too much, knowing I was seeing my teammate’s wife, putting his play at jeopardy, and he wasn’t even being used?—”
