by Toni Aleo
“You have just described my exact situation. It is unbearable, except what I used to do is start babbling, usually about myself, which was ten times more embarrassing than letting the silence drag on. So these days, I just don’t say anything and let people think I’m an asshole. Or I find someone I know and then stick to them like a Siamese twin the whole time.”
Good lord. If the man wanted to Siamese-twin her tonight, she was totally down for that. If their encounter had ended when she dropped him off, she probably could have lived off the thrill for a good two weeks. Being his date tonight? That was going to create memories for a lifetime. She could picture herself decades from now in an assisted-living community impressing all her fellow old ladies with the story of how she once handheld a professional athlete through a scary Christmas party.
“So let me tell you the secret for killing silences that I learned when I joined my sorority. All you have to do is ask questions. Get the other person to talk. They’re probably just as eager to find a topic of conversation as you are. Like, here’s a great conversation starter I use all the time. ‘Tell me, what’s the best thing about your job?’”
He gave her a look. “Everybody here has the same job as me.”
“Okay, okay. Then ask what they’d do if they couldn’t play hockey.”
He recoiled. “No way. No one wants to think about that. That’s depressing.” He coughed. “I’m beginning to think you’re not as good a conversationalist as I thought you were.”
Her eyes flashed. “Is that a challenge?”
“Maybe,” he said with a grin. “Your suggestions haven’t been all that good.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Oh yeah. Watch this.”
She grabbed his arm and, mustering up her courage, led him over to a couple of players talking in the corner, Andre DiMarco and Spencer Corbett. DiMarco was an accomplished gourmet cook and had a visually stunning Instagram. Corbett was known for his wide and unshakeable stance. Not many players could knock him off his skates and he was especially effective at face-offs.
“Hi guys,” she said, extending her hand. “I’m Bailey and this is Gideon.”
“Hey, Gideon, Bailey. Good to meet you. Andre DiMarco. This is Spencer Corbett. Welcome to the team, man.”
“Thanks,” Gideon said.
Before one of the dreaded awkward silences could descend, Bailey said, “Gideon and I were just talking about how I can make an origami crane. He was amazed but I told him it’s a pretty useless skill as far as skills go. What weird and useless talent do you have?”
Spencer grinned. “I can do that cherry stem knot thing.”
“I can do that too,” Bailey said.
“But can you do it in less than ten seconds?” Spencer asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe.”
“Let’s race,” Spencer said, still grinning.
“You’re on,” Bailey said. Andre was already fetching them a cup of maraschino cherries from the bar. “You want in on this?” she asked Gideon.
“No thanks,” he said, looking amused. “I’ll just watch.”
“Get ready,” Andre said, pulling out his phone.
Bailey and Ian plucked stems and held them ready between thumbs and forefingers.
“Get set.”
Laughing, Bailey held the cherry stem in front of her open mouth.
“Go!”
Bailey had never tried to do this quickly before. The goal had always been just to knot it, period. But she did her best. The first step was softening up the stem with her teeth so it was pliable. She was just getting the stem ends to cross when Spencer spat his stem out into his hand.
“And we have a winner,” Andre said, raising Spencer’s arm into the air.
“I bow to the King of Cherry Stem Manipuation,” Bailey said dropping her stem into Gideon’s napkin-lined palm.
“Thank you. Thank you very much,” Spencer said in a passable Elvis impression.
“Okay, now you, Mr. DiMarco. What is your useless talent?”
“I only have useful ones,” Andre said.
He promptly got booed by people standing nearby who had gathered to watch the cherry stem competition.
“You must know how to do something nobody cares about,” Bailey said.
Everyone looked at him expectantly.
“All right, fine,” Andre said. “I can make myself sneeze.”
“What? No way.”
“Demonstration, please,” Bailey said, super curious. She’d never heard of this before.
Looking slightly embarrassed, Andre lightly pinched his nose and as Bailey and a few others leaned closer. After a moment, Andre released his nose, blinked rapidly and let out a hearty sneeze.
Applause broke out and Bailey laughed. “Who’s next?” she asked. “Gideon?”
Chapter Four
Gideon had to admit Bailey was a whiz at this party thing. She had everyone eating out of her hand armed with just one question. And the way she’d brought it up was genius. She hadn’t just busted the question out cold. She’d introduced it by saying they’d been talking about useless skills. As everyone was trying Andre’s method for sneezing on command, Gideon realized he might never have to be tongue-tied at a party ever again. All he had to do was prepare an interesting question beforehand. He could even have a list of possible questions on his phone.
“Earth to Gideon. Come in, Gideon,” Bailey said.
“What?” he said, noticing that everyone was looking at him.
“It’s your turn,” she said. “To demonstrate your useless skill.”
“Me?”
He thought he didn’t have one, but then remembered. “Okay, I do have an almost useless skill. I say almost because it does actually come in handy once in a while.”
“What is it?” Andre asked.
“I always know what time it is. I never have to look at a clock. I just always know.”
“Exactly?”
“Within a minute or so, yes.”
Someone behind him clapped hands over his eyes. “What time is it?”
“Seven forty-two,” he said.
“He’s right!” Bailey exclaimed after checking her phone. “That’s amazing.”
And damned if his chest didn’t swell up like he’d won some kind of award.
He looked down at her face, beaming with excitement and pride and he surprised himself by kissing her. She went still and her eyes stayed open, but her lips were soft. When he drew back, she gave him a tremulous smile.
Fuck. Those full lips of hers were so tempting.
“Knowing the time does come in handy during games, I have to admit,” Gideon said.
“Then it’s not a useless skill, dickhead,” someone said.
Gideon turned toward the angry voice and saw Cameron Bowes a couple of yards away pointing a finger at him.
“Oh, shit,” Gideon said. “This is going to get real awkward real fast.”
The crowd was slowly parting for Cam who was shedding his suit jacket. Not a good sign.
“What? Why?” Bailey asked.
“Well, the last time we played, I, ah, slammed him into the boards and he broke his nose.”
Cam had just shoved one of Gideon’s teammates off the puck in the corner when Gideon came speeding in. A second later, Cam’s face connected with the boards. Looking back, he still thought it was a fifty-fifty situation. He certainly could have hit the brakes, but with only a split second to decide, sometimes a guy just chose the wrong option.
Cam left the ice with a nose gushing blood. Gideon didn’t even serve a penalty in the box.
“But that’s just part of the game, isn’t it?” Bailey asked. “Hockey’s a physical game.”
But Cam had arrived and Gideon didn’t have time to answer. A woman Gideon assumed was the fiancée that Bailey had mentioned earlier followed, looking worried. The rest of the people gathered in a loose circle around them.
“I have a bone to pick with you, Aguilar. You broke my
fucking nose,” Cam said in a louder than normal voice.
Gideon held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “I’m sorry, dude. It wasn’t the cleanest hit in the world, I admit, but I was just doing my job.”
Cam poked Gideon in the chest with a stiff forefinger. “You and me need to go outside.”
“Cam, don’t,” his fiancée was pulling at his jacket.
Bailey was somewhere to the left and he extended his arm to try to get her behind him in case Cam got physical. He didn’t smell alcohol on Cam’s breath, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t already downed some drinks. Gideon had been at a teammate’s wedding once when a fight broke out.
“Come on, don’t do this,” Bailey said, stepping forward. “He’s your teammate now. It’s time to let bygones be bygones. You have to work together now.”
Cam rounded on Bailey and Gideon moved quickly to block his way. “You stay out of this,” Cam said. “There’s a score to settle and it’s time for him to answer for his crimes.”
Cam’s fiancée stared at him with a weird look on her face. “Answer for his crimes?” she repeated.
Gideon was about to agree to taking it outside because the last thing he wanted was for Bailey to get in the middle of this, but Cam busted up laughing.
What the fuck?
“I’m sorry. That was totally lame,” Cam said, still chortling. “But I had you going for a while, didn’t I?” He held out his hand. “Cameron Bowes. Welcome to the Dragons. This is my fiancée, Dakota. Full disclosure, she participated only under duress.”
Gideon had to laugh. If you were in the NHL, you had to be prepared to be the butt of practical jokes and when you were new to the team, a good practical joke was almost a rite of passage. You weren’t one of them until you’d been pranked by them. Gideon was actually glad it was out of the way.
“No hard feelings,” Gideon said to both of them, taking Cam’s proffered hand and shaking it firmly. “I really thought you were pissed.”
“About a broken nose? Nah. Did you catch that pun? ‘I have a bone to pick with you’?” Cam guffawed. “Sometimes I just kill myself. Is this your girlfriend?”
Gideon chuckled. “No, this is my fake Uber driver, Bailey,” he said.
After explaining what happened, Cam shook her hand too. “Great to meet such a fast-thinking fan.”
“C-can I take a selfie with you?” Bailey asked.
“Sure,” Cam said with a wide grin.
A blushing Bailey stammered her gratitude while she handed Gideon her phone and moved to stand beside Cam.
Gideon wondered where spitfire Bailey had gone, the one who wasn’t afraid to criticize Cam for his post-engagement downward slide. Sure, Cam was the Dragons’ star defenseman and he was a good-looking guy if you liked the blond surfer dude look. But Gideon was no slouch. He had five percent body fat, abs he worked damned hard on every day, and a halfway decent face.
Slightly disgruntled, he took the picture and handed her back the phone with a tense smile.
“Are you ladies thirsty?” Cam asked. “I’m asking since my new teammate clearly forgot his manners.”
“I’d love a daiquiri, please,” Bailey said.
“Ooh, what’s in that?” Dakota asked.
“Rum, simple syrup and lime.”
“I’ll have a daiquiri too.”
“Aggie, why don’t you come with?” Cam asked. “I’ll introduce you to some more of the guys.”
“Sure,” Gideon replied.
When they returned a few minutes later with daiquiris for the ladies and beers for himself and Cam, Dakota tried her drink and smiled. “Ooh, I think I found my new favorite cocktail.”
“It’s good isn’t it?” Bailey said and sipped her own.
Gideon found himself staring at her mouth as her lips caressed the rim of the glass and a host of inappropriate thoughts tumbled into his mind. Number one being Bailey taking his cock into her mouth and using her tongue to play with it.
He could picture it perfectly—those gorgeous red lips closing around the head and the exquisite feeling of her silky tongue swirling around him, but he immediately reined in his libido. It was way to soon to be thinking about her like that. He hadn’t had a one-night stand in a while, finding them dissatisfying the older he got. He’d gotten to the point in his life where he wanted to settle down, professionally and personally.
He’d love to find someone who enjoyed the game so they’d have that in common, but his last relationship had been an exercise in patience. Susan had treated him like her prized possession, which she loved to show off to her friends, acquaintances and even total strangers. He could always count on her to mention that he was an NHL player and constantly tried to use that as leverage to get discounts or better treatment. She also harangued him into buying four season tickets so she could host people whenever she wanted. Why don’t you come along? I have two extra tickets that aren’t doing anything. Center ice, premium level. And don’t even think about trying to pay me.
He’d finally gotten sick of it and broke up with her.
Eventually, he, Bailey, Dakota and Cam went in search of some food.
Willow and Aspen had a top-notch chef in the kitchen. Everything they sampled was superb. The food was all small plates, allowing them to taste a variety of delicacies. Truffle mushroom risotto. Japanese fried chicken wings. Flat iron steak and the best garlic fries he’d ever had. Roasted Brussels sprouts with pine nuts and currants and this stupendous maple whole grain mustard glaze. Fine wine flowed like water. The Dragons weren’t a stingy team, that was for sure.
After dinner, the music started.
Great. He hoped Bailey hated dancing as much as he did.
But no. She squealed when “Uptown Funk” began to play and said, “Oh my gosh, I love this song. Come on, let’s dance.”
He grimaced. “No thanks. I suck at dancing.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” she said, her shoulders twitching to the beat. Her breasts shook slightly and he forced himself to look away.
“No, really. I have about two rhythmic bones in my body. In fact, I can’t even …no. Never mind.”
Shaking her head, she said, “Oh, no, you can’t do that. You have to tell me now.”
“I do not. It’s embarrassing.”
“All the more reason.”
They engaged in a mini-staring contest, which he conceded. “All right,” he said, “but if I tell you, you have to tell me something embarrassing too.”
She didn’t even think about it. “Done.”
He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Let’s go outside. It’s too loud in here and if I shout this and my teammates hear, they’ll tease the shit out of me.”
Almost by accident they found themselves on the roof. It was about fifty degrees, but Bailey didn’t seem to mind. Elegant and unusual potted plants decorated the intimately lit space and there was a small seating area with outdoor patio furniture and a portable heater. Gideon could see and hear the street traffic below.
“So what’s this deep dark secret?” Bailey asked as they sat on the sofa under the heater. She tucked her leg underneath and her knee touched his thigh. Again, he felt that connectivity that made him wish he could be next to her, skin to skin.
He rolled his eyes. “It’s not that deep and dark. It’s just a recurring nightmare I get when I’m stressed.”
Her expression turned serious. “I hate those.”
“Tell me about it. Anyway, in the dream I’m on the ice in Madison Square Garden during the playoffs but I don’t have any of my gear. Instead of playing hockey I somehow end up dancing the Macarena. Badly. Every move I make is about a beat too late. The game’s still going on, but I’m just standing there doing this idiotic dance. The fans boo me and throw dirty socks and Oreos on the ice and I get kicked out of the game.”
He expected her to laugh. He probably would have. Because Oreos? Come on. Ridiculous.
But she didn’t laugh.
She said
in complete sincerity, “That must be terrifying.”
“I usually wake up sweating and shaky.” For some reason he felt comfortable admitting this to her.
“I used to work as a personal assistant to a wedding planner but I quit because of the stress. You have so many people needing everything to be perfect and you often have two events on the same weekend, especially during the summer. The level of detail involved, not to mention the crazy people.”
“Sounds like our jobs had something in common. Large groups of people counting on you to perform. Wasn’t there that show on TV for a while? Bridezillas? Did you have some of those?”
“We did. Most of the brides were normal, but a lot of the time, it wasn’t the brides who were crazy. The mothers and sisters were just as bad.“
“So it was mainly the girls misbehaving? Not the guys? I’m not trying to be sexist. I’m just curious.”
“No. The men…” She glanced aside and didn’t say any more.
Gideon’s radar pinged and pinged hard. Something happened with one of those men. Something bad. And the idea that Bailey had suffered at the hands of some asshole made his blood boil.
“Bailey, what happened?”
She hugged herself around the middle and pressed her lips together. “It wasn’t anything huge. In fact a lot of the time I feel silly because it bothers me more than I think it should.”
Gideon sat quietly waiting for her to elaborate. The sounds of the party drifted up, music and laughter, as did the noise from the street below. He thought he might even be able to hear Bailey’s breathing as she battled some kind of inner demon that he wanted more than anything to help her with.
“Like I said, it wasn’t anything huge. Just…a father of the bride cornered me by the restroom and felt me up.”
Gideon felt a muscle twitch in his cheek. If he could have a super power right now, he’d want it to be the ability to go back in time, find that prick and teach him a lesson about how to treat women.
“I didn’t get raped or anything,” she said, “so I guess I was lucky.”