by Lily Harlem
“Of course I’m sure.” He looked bemused. “I wouldn’t say it otherwise.”
“But what will you tell your family about me?”
His lips brushed mine as his hands spread on my back, squeezing me close. “Mmm, you taste fruity.”
I frowned.
He grinned. “I’ll introduce you as my girlfriend.”
My heart fluttered. “Girlfriend?” I whispered.
“That’s what you are, isn’t it? We’re spending time together, having great sex, sharing secrets. Doesn’t that put us in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship?”
A hot bubble of pleasure popped inside me. Girlfriend. Rick wanted me as his girlfriend. That meant he was my boyfriend. We were together. An item.
“And,” he added, “just so you know, I only do exclusive these days.”
Oh my god. It had gone so much further than a quickie in an office or a grope in the spa. Relationship. Exclusive. But instead of feeling scared or as though I was relinquishing some of my hard-earned independence, it felt right, it felt natural. Being with Rick was right for me. Good for me.
“Girlfriend,” I said, trying the word out on my tongue.
“Is that okay?”
He looked so worried that I couldn’t help but kiss him. “It’s better than okay,” I said onto his lips. “It’s perfect, and just so we both know where we stand, I only do exclusive too.”
Rick set about preparing wraps and setting out bowls of chips and plates of cookies. I made coffee but every time I tried to help with the food he urged me to relax, telling me I was helping just by being there and looking pretty.
Before long the intercom system buzzed and he went to let in his family.
I nibbled on my bottom lip. Sipped my coffee. Straightened my T-shirt. My heart was thudding. I’d never been formally introduced as anyone’s girlfriend before. “Piece of ass” once, and another time “current fuck”, but never girlfriend.
Chatter filled the hallway, the chatter of children and people familiar enough with one another to all talk at once.
Rick loped back into the kitchen. He had a smiling boy with black tousled hair on his shoulders and another standing on his left foot. The child on his foot had his arms wrapped around Rick’s thigh and was clinging so that when Rick took a step he went with him. Each step produced a squeal and a giggle.
“Uncle Rick, Uncle Rick,” shouted another boy with russet hair, running into the kitchen. He held up a giant piece of paper painted with bright blobs of color. “I made you a card, look.”
Rick grinned and stooped down, holding the child on his back secure. “That’s really good, Elliot. What is it?”
The child was unconcerned by the fact his scribbles were unrecognizable. “It’s you, playing hockey. Look these are all the people watching, this is the net and these are sticks.”
“It’s really great, I love it. I’ll put it up on the fridge in a minute.” Rick scooped the child off his shoulders and set him on the tiled floor. “Just as soon as you all say hi to my girlfriend, Dana.”
The kids all suddenly stopped scampering and turned to study me. Eyes wide, mouths slack.
I smiled self-consciously and waved. “Hi,” I managed.
“Elliot, Teddy and Jack,” Rick said, placing a hand on each little head as he said their names.
“Hello, Dana,” said a deep voice from the doorway. “Apologies for my grandchildren, they’re not used to seeing a woman in this house.”
A tall, silver-haired man wearing jeans and a short-sleeved checked shirt strolled into the kitchen.
I slid from the stool I’d been perched on gingerly and took his offered hand. He bent and placed a light kiss on my knuckles.
“Lovely to meet you,” he said, smiling the same smile Rick gave when he was being his most charming.
“And you too. Mr. Lewis, I presume.”
The older gentleman bobbed his head in confirmation.
“Rick, for goodness’ sake, what are you playing at?” A high-pitched female voice rang through the air.
“Yeah, Rick, for goodness’ sake. Trust you to be so secretive.”
Two tall brunettes tapped into the room on high heels, their eyes glued on me.
“Typical, he didn’t think to mention he had female company,” the woman with a fluffy pink sweater said.
“Well, he wouldn’t would he?” The other, wearing a flowery orange top, poked Rick in the ribs, causing him to feign injury. “I’m Nancy,” she said to me, leaning into the fridge and pulling out a bottle of white wine. “And this is my twin, Lucy. We’re two of this lumbering great brute’s older sisters.” She jabbed a thumb in Rick’s direction.
Lucy proceeded to reach four wineglasses from the cupboard and set them before Nancy who duly filled them all to the brim.
“So are you going to tell us her name?” Nancy directed at Rick.
He held out his palms and raised his brows. “If I could get a word in edgewise.”
The twins tightened their mouths and frowned at him.
Rick smiled as though enjoying a small triumph. “Nancy, Lucy, this is Dana Wilcox. We’ve been seeing quite a bit of each other over the last few weeks.”
I raised my brows at him.
He shrugged and grinned.
“It’s lovely to meet you, Dana,” Nancy said, reaching back into the fridge and handing her father a bottle of beer.
“Yes, we’re not usually considered worthy of meeting any of Rick’s girlfriends.” She put finger quotation marks around the word girlfriends.
“In fact I think you’re the first in a couple of years.” Lucy remarked, sipping wine and studying me with huge hazel eyes.
“First what in years?” An elderly lady, as tall as the rest of the family, walked into the kitchen holding patent black heels but wearing a pair of tartan slippers. “Oh,” she said, her gaze settling on me. “You have company, Rick.” Her face broke into a smile. “Very beautiful company.”
“This is Dana,” Nancy said, gesturing toward me with her wineglass then taking another slurp.
“Yeah, she’s Rick’s girlfriend,” the little boy who’d been standing on Rick’s foot piped up. Jack, if I remembered correctly.
“And she’s really pretty,” Elliott said, his finger worrying at a wobbling bottom tooth.
“Thanks,” I said, smiling down at him.
He grinned then darted toward Lucy. “Mom, Mom, can we go in the pool now, please, can we?”
“You’ll have to ask Uncle Rick.”
Rick shrugged. “Sure, go get changed. I’ll be there in a minute to throw the last one to get ready in.”
Shrieks of delight filled the kitchen, echoing off the high ceiling and the hard floor. Nancy handed me a glass of wine. I took it gratefully and glugged back a big mouthful.
“It’s lovely to meet you, Dana,” Rick’s mother said with a smile. “I’m Hilary and this is Bert.” She pointed to her husband who was fiddling with the TV remote and flicking through the sports channels.
“Where did you two meet?” Nancy asked before I could respond to Hilary.
“I, er, we met at…”
“At a wedding,” Rick chipped in.
“Yes,” I said, “at a wedding, a few weeks ago.” If you call getting naked and sweaty in a dark office “meeting”.
“Whose wedding?” Lucy asked.
“Wolf and Mae French’s.” Rick helped himself to a bottle of beer and clinked off the lid. It rattled across the granite surface.
“Oh, that crazy one.” Lucy looked at me. “It was splashed all over Here magazine.”
I nodded and carefully sat back down against the island. “Yes, that was the one.”
“It was nuts, wasn’t it?” Nancy added. “Unicorns and pumpkin carriages. Mae looked like Cinderella.”
I smiled. “Yes, the theme was fairytale.”
Rick came and stood next to me, brushed my hair over my shoulder and touched the back of his finger to the curve of my jawline. “Dana was t
he event organizer. She has her own company and Mae and Wolf booked her to do the wedding.”
I wanted to melt into his body. Where he’d just touched me was the epicenter of rippling sensations that filtered to every nerve in my system. But I tried to look unaffected, as if his touch wasn’t a signal for my senses to go on high alert for hot, steamy action. “Yes,” I said, clearing my throat. “My company, Best Laid Plans, has done several celebrity weddings and parties over the last year with Here magazine.”
“Wow,” Nancy said. “That is awesome, your own a company and you get to meet A-listers.”
I smiled. “Yes, it’s great, I love it.”
“I’m going to check on the boys,” Rick said, dropping a quick kiss to the top of my head. “Back in a bit.” He glanced across the room. “Dad, are you coming?”
“Yep.” Bert flicked off the TV and rested the remote on the windowsill. He jogged out of the kitchen. “Grandfather duties call,” he shouted over his shoulder.
Rick followed and my eyes were drawn to his butt, the faded jeans he’d put on hugged it to perfection, showing off the ideal amount of roundness in his cheeks and his long, powerful legs. The label at the waistband had been ripped off, revealing a square dark denim patch. He wore no shoes, his feet were bare.
“He’s great with kids,” Lucy said.
I dragged my eyes from Rick and was met with her smiling, knowing face.
“Yeah, they all adore him,” Nancy added, giving me a similar look as her twin.
“I can tell,” I said, sipping my wine and praying a blush wouldn’t attack my cheeks. It was so not cool to be checking out my boyfriend’s ass in front of his mom and sisters.
“Do you have any children, Dana?” Hilary asked, twirling her fingers around the stem of her wineglass.
“No.” I quickly shook my head.
“Ever been married?” Lucy asked.
I raised my brows. “Er, no to that question as well.”
“Do you want to get married and have kids?” Nancy asked.
Glancing between the three women, I could see they genuinely wanted to know. Anyone else asking me such personal questions would have gotten my back up, but it was clear they were just checking me out, considering my suitability for Rick, a man they obviously all cared for deeply. I decided on an honest answer, it was the best approach. “Yes,” I said. “I would love to settle down with the right man and have a ton of kids, one day.”
Hilary smiled.
Nancy leaned in to me like a conspirator. “When I had Elliot, Jamie, that’s my husband, was away on business and Rick had to come with me to the hospital.”
“She went into labor three weeks early,” Lucy chipped in. “Rick was visiting.”
“Yeah, he was dropping off the tiniest hockey shirt you’ve ever seen. He’d even had Lewis embroidered on the back in dinky stitching.” She drained her wine. “And it all happened just as I was making him coffee. My water broke, flooded the kitchen floor and my stomach just…” She clenched her fists and grimaced. “Boy, did it hurt.”
“He took her to the hospital.” Lucy said, nodding vigorously, her eyes wide.
“It was good he was there then.” I looked between the two of them, they were like a double act the way they shared a conversation.
“Yes,” Nancy agreed. “But the midwives fawned over him like a bunch of giggling schoolgirls and there was me, in agony, and he was being asked for autographs and to pose for pictures.” She tutted, as did Hilary and Lucy.
I frowned sympathetically.
“But eventually he held your hand didn’t he?” Lucy said.
“Yes, eventually he came into the delivery suite. I was really starting to panic, Jamie wasn’t even on a flight to come home and the last thing a girl wants is her brother seeing her…” She pointed downward and pulled a face. “Her…dooda.”
I nodded and then shook my head, wondering where the story was going.
“But let me tell you one thing about Rick,” Nancy said, reaching for the wine and topping up everyone’s glass. “He can handle all kinds of pain himself, we’ve seen him bust up so many different parts of his body on the ice, but if he sees a woman in pain, that’s it, he can’t cope. He’s like a wet rag. Goes all stupid and pale.”
I swallowed and looked down at my nails, unable to trust myself to catch anyone’s eye, let alone speak. Rick had enjoyed the whole woman in pain thing with me just a few hours ago. Okay, his sister having a baby was a completely different thing, but even so, Rick seriously got off seeing a woman writhing on the pleasure/pain border. A border he’d created, with clever, skillful hands, hands that struck and stung and hit the perfect spot with an expertise that had clearly been honed. I gulped. There were just some things a family, even a close family, should never know about one another.
“Luckily, before it got bloody and gruesome I arrived at the hospital,” Lucy said, oblivious to my discomfort and luckily none the wiser to the images and memories cavorting through my head.
“Thank goodness,” Nancy sighed.
I smiled, took a sip of wine and hoped that would be the end of pain talk.
“But I’m sure he’ll be fine when you have his babies, Dana,” Nancy said with a shrug.
Wine burned the back of my throat, fluid gurgled into my lungs. I coughed and spluttered. Jumped from the stool.
“Oh dear, are you all right?” Nancy asked, thumping my back.
I nodded and sucked in a trickle of air, tapped my sternum and reached for a glass of water at the sink.
“Girls, I think it’s a little premature to talk about Dana having Rick’s babies,” Hilary said sternly. “It’s early days, they’ve only just started dating, isn’t that right, dear?”
Glugging back water to ease the fire, I turned to Hilary. “Yes,” I said in a croaky voice. “Early days.”
By the time the boys had exhausted themselves in the pool, we’d finished another bottle of wine and Lucy and Nancy has spilled several juicy bits of gossip about Rick’s childhood.
The men and kids all tumbled into the kitchen, reaching for the wraps, chips and cookies that were waiting on the counter.
“Oh I nearly forgot. How silly of me,” Hilary said, jumping up and disappearing into the hallway.
“You surviving?” Rick whispered into my ear. He smelled of tangy, lemon shower gel.
“Oh yes,” I said with a grin. “Had a lovely time hearing all about your habit of hiding your dad’s car keys when you didn’t want him to go to work.”
He rolled his eyes. “I was three, and it was a long day waiting for him to come home.”
“And I also learned how you used to like Nancy and Lucy tying your hair into braids so you could look like them.”
“When I was four,” he said, frowning at his sisters who giggled and nudged one another.
“Here we go, come on, kids.” Hilary walked into the kitchen holding a huge chocolate birthday cake covered in lit candles. Bert hovered behind her, his arms out as if ready to catch either her or the cake should there be any faltering.
“Time to sing happy birthday to Uncle Rick,” Hilary called.
The kids whooped with delight then launched into a very noisy rendition of Happy Birthday. Hilary walked slowly across the kitchen, carefully balancing the cake, the lit candles sending flickers of light over her face.
I joined in the singing as Rick knotted his fingers with mine. When the cake was set before him and the song finished he leaned over it.
“Make a wish, make a wish first,” Elliot shouted, jumping up and down on the spot and clapping his hands.
“Okay.” Rick screwed up his eyes for a second then opened them and blew out the candles in one sharp puff. He grinned at the three small boys.
“What did you wish for?” Ted asked.
“Yeah, what did you wish for, Uncle Rick?” Elliot demanded.
“I can’t tell you that, it will stop it coming true,” Rick said, feigning mock horror.
“Ah, he alwa
ys wishes for the same thing,” Jack said, nodding confidently and crossing his arms over his skinny chest.
Rick looked at him, surprised. “I do?”
Jack shrugged. “Yeah, you always wish that you could score the winning shot for the Stanley Cup.”
Rick laughed, a real hearty, deep guffaw. “Ah, you got me there, kid, I usually do, but this year, no…” He lifted my hand to his mouth, turned it over and kissed my palm. “This year I wished for something entirely different.”
Chapter Eight
Sitting in the Lexus the next day, heading toward the rink instead of my office, I couldn’t quite believe how Rick had persuaded me to skip work. I didn’t skip work. Ever. I always went into the office. It was my office. My business.
Oh yeah, I remembered how he’d gotten me to agree. My legs had been wrapped around his hips before I’d even opened my eyes that morning, and until I’d promised to take a whole day off I wasn’t getting any of what I wanted, what I needed the same way I needed oxygen.
It had been underhanded, conniving and manipulative. It had worked extremely well!
A quick call to Maddie, who now had her cousin Cassie helping out, to tell her I was taking a day off had been a breeze. There was more than a hint of “tell me later” in her voice but I could live with that.
“Practice is only an hour on a Monday,” Rick said, “We don’t like to overdo it when there’s a Tuesday game so afterward I’ll take you to that Italian place I was telling you about. It’s really nice, small and intimate with amazing food.”
“Sounds lovely,” I said, resting my hand on his thigh. I couldn’t stop touching him. It was as if I would never get enough. Never fill the need to have him close, with me—in me.
The outside of the Vipers’ home rink was painted red and had huge emerald-green snakes with black forked tongues painted above each entrance. Rick parked around the back next to several other expensive cars and a bright orange motorcycle. He keyed the number into a security door and as we stepped inside the cold hit me. It was like walking into the arctic. The air even smelled different, icy and fresh with a hint of nachos and beer.
“Put your coat on,” he said, grinning at me when I shivered.