Neutral Zone

by Amber Lynn

  Brady wasn’t sure if she wanted to throw him off, but it had been a ritual. Since their contract said they had to spend their evenings together, he sat in his comfy chair with headphones in watching anything but sappy movies on his phone.

  Half the time he spent looking just above his phone, trying to figure out if she had headphones in as well. It just seemed weird for someone who was a habitual single person to find any pleasure in love stories.

  “She’s not geeky,” Curtis replied. He was about to clarify that, but the glare Brady gave stopped him.

  They’d made it back to the locker room. The buzz hadn’t died down as much as Brady hoped. There wasn’t anyone sitting in his usual spot, so he really didn’t care what the guys running around them were up to. He wanted to get changed quickly and head back to his place. Nina was at work, which meant it was the only time he could possibly hide all the clothes she’d gotten for Henry.

  “Just because Hannah likes numbers doesn’t mean she’s geeky. She’s just more reserved than the women you spend time with.”

  There was no argument about her being reserved, although she seemed to be coming out of her shell more. Brady still thought she was on the geeky side, but he wouldn’t argue about it.

  “Maybe you and Hannah should come over for dinner tonight. Nina’s chef told me last night that he misses cooking for parties bigger than just Nina. Evidently, it’s nice having me around with my endless stomach, but I imagine it will be even better with someone eating for three and another person who can eat a whole cow without blinking.”

  Brady didn’t think anything of the suggestion as he stripped his jersey off and started taking off his pads. It wasn’t until he got his skates off that he looked to Curtis for a reply. It’d been at least a minute since he asked the question, and his friend remained mute.

  Seeing his friend’s jaw dropped open wasn’t expected. When Curtis saw he finally had his attention, he smacked his hand to his forehead. Brady got the feeling he would’ve preferred it was Brady’s head, but Curtis was a couple stalls down.

  “You’re having deep conversations with Nina’s chef. Has he moved in too?”

  Brady stopped himself mid eye roll. He was sure he’d occasionally rolled his eyes before Nina moving in, but she did it so much he found he was doing it more. It was better than some habits he could pick up. He was afraid prolonged exposure would add others.

  “No, he just shows up if Nina calls him. I’m not sure if she already has, but I’ll call her on my way home and make sure it’s not a problem.”

  “Not a problem if you invite your friends over to your place? I mean, you haven’t ever asked us over to dinner or anything, which is odd enough, but you’ve got to clear it with your girlfriend first.”

  Curtis stood up and started getting undressed. He was behind Brady, who was just getting ready to throw his navy button-down on.

  “What’s your deal? First you went and brought up marriage, and now you’re calling her my girlfriend, both of which you know aren’t true and are never going to happen.”

  Brady had shared the fact that there was a contract, but he hadn’t shared all the details. It specifically said that the relationship was simply consensual sex and the words boyfriend and girlfriend were never to be uttered. Brady had requested that himself just for fun.

  There wasn’t a chance it would really happen. Nina kept adding weird things like every Friday he had to give her a foot massage, so he panicked and started listing off the first things that came to mind. Somehow, she’d allowed them to keep his request for her to dress up in a maid costume and pretend to dust the house once a week.

  “I’m not the one with a problem. You said it yourself. You’re in way over your head, and I don’t think you have any clue what that really means.”

  “What in the world is that supposed to mean?”

  “Yeah, what’s that mean?” Kevin echoed Brady’s question.

  The man had been on the team for a couple years and liked to butt in when his opinion wasn’t requested. He’d been one of the first back to the locker room, so he was already dressed and just tying his shoes before he left.

  Nothing was private in the locker room, but most of Brady’s conversations weren’t of the personal nature. He didn’t like the idea of the others knowing who he was spending his time with. It was bad enough Curtis practically had them walking down the aisle.

  “It means you should get lost, Kevin. Don’t let the fact that we’re talking where you can hear us fool you. We’re having a private conversation.”

  Brady was almost ready to leave, so he could’ve let things go. The fact that he wanted an answer to his question and had decided he really didn’t want anyone else to hear it meant he was likely going to have to wait for it. Curtis had wrapped a towel around his waist and was just waiting for a chance to break from the conversation.

  “Don’t mind him, Kevin,” Curtis said as he headed towards the shower. “He’s got woman troubles, and since he’s never had to deal with them, he can’t see them.”

  Curtis walked out of the room, but peeked his head back in for a second. Brady had been ready to chase after him, so it saved him the trouble.

  “Since you want things to be private, I’ll call you when I’m done here and explain it to you.”

  Not able to catch himself, Brady rolled his eyes. Curtis had obviously been drinking. Either that, or it was fuck with Brady day. Those didn’t happen often, but when they did, Brady usually ended up spending an hour in the gym he had at home, working over the punching bag until he couldn’t stand.

  It wasn’t usually Curtis who drove him to that point, so it would be interesting to find out what explanation his friend had for his crazy thoughts. Maybe Hannah’s hormones were somehow carrying over to her husband.

  On his way out of the building, Brady hurried to call Nina to make sure she didn’t have plans. He’d been a little surprised when she hadn’t tried to drag him out to clubs every night. There had been the impression she was a party kind of girl, where she was always the life of the party, but they’d been strictly homebodies.

  “What? I’m in the middle of a meeting and for some reason these idiots are giving me dirty looks for answering my phone.”

  Nina’s voice increasingly got louder as she spoke. Brady could tell it wasn’t just her normal bitchy tone. Something was pissing her off, which meant she could use some cheering up.

  “Curtis thinks we’re going to get married.”

  It was the best joke Brady had available. He hadn’t personally laughed at it in the moment, but it was easy to chuckle about it with Nina on the phone.

  “What?” she asked. The anger ebbed a little in the simple word. “I thought you guys were at practice, not out somewhere doing drugs. You better hope they aren’t doing random drug tests on you idiots.”

  “I’m not sure about him, but I haven’t touched any drugs. I told him he’s crazy and invited him and Hannah over for dinner. Is that okay?”

  There was a small groan and then a long sigh. Brady had made it to the arena’s exit, not paying attention to anything other than the conversation he was having. He waited to leave to make sure the noises from the cars passing didn’t interrupt them.

  “I told Curtis I was checking with you, so if you don’t want to do it, that’s cool. I’ll just go tell him it will have to be another night.”

  “No, that’s fine. I was just reading over something, and I don’t like what I see. I’ll let Michael know to expect ten people for dinner. That should give us enough food for the four of us.”

  She sounded distracted. Since she’d said she was in a meeting, it wasn’t unexpected, but usually Nina could do at least five things at once.

  “I’m on my way home, so I’ll fill him in a little on Hannah’s current likes and dislikes as far as food goes. I’m sure whatever he makes will be great, but I don’t want to set off that sensitive stomach of hers.”

  “Great. I should be home around six, maybe si
x-thirty, so plan accordingly.”

  The phone hung up before Brady could say anything else. It was the first time anyone had called a meeting to a halt to answer his phone call, which was interesting. Nina had told him she had meetings all day, so he’d expected to leave a message and spend the day waiting for her answer.

  Pushing the door he was leaning against open, Brady stepped outside and inhaled the warm summer air. It felt good against his sweaty skin. He really should have taken a shower like everyone else, but he only had a few hours to get home and try to hide all the dog clothes before Nina arrived and thought dressing Henry up for dinner was in order.

  Chapter 9

  “Henry, I have something for you.”

  Nina smiled as she walked through the front door. She’d found she loved dressing Brady’s goofy-looking dog up, but even more than wanting to make sure her often couch companion looked snazzy, she loved how much it drove Brady crazy that she was doing it.

  Something about the glares he gave when he saw Henry in a new outfit turned Nina on. It didn’t make a lot of sense, but making the man mad had become a passion of hers. She was waiting patiently for the moment he exploded, even though she wasn’t really certain what she’d do once it happened.

  There were plenty of little things she’d done around the house to see what kind of reaction she’d get from him, many of the things were needed for her to be comfortable living there for three weeks. None of the home improvements compared to the shock and horror in Brady eyes when he saw the raincoat and booties Nina brought home for Henry.

  The dog came running from the kitchen. It gave Nina an idea of how much he enjoyed having her around that he’d pass up the smell of roasting meat he’d abandoned to answer her call. It was a little after six, so she expected the food to be ready or just about done. She was starving and more than ready for the day to be over, so she could relax and not think about work for a little while.

  “There you are, little buddy. Were you a good boy today?”

  Nina gave Henry’s ears a good rub and then knelt to put the little black bow tie she’d bought him around his neck. She hadn’t been sure how she’d react to living with a pet, since she’d never had one, but there was something about Henry that just made her want to cuddle with him.

  Brady claimed he was old, and the few gray hairs in his muzzle reiterated the fact, but Henry got around pretty well as far as she’d seen. He was always quick to jump on the couch when she sat down. Nina figured there was something about his easy nature that made him so likeable. He definitely was a good sport when it came to her desire to taunt his owner.

  “He was a great boy today,” Brady said as he carried a platter to the table and set it down. “Did work get any better after we talked?”

  Brady walked over and looked disapprovingly at Henry before he leaned in to give Nina a kiss on the cheek. She’d started the gesture, giving him a similar kiss on the cheek to try to get him riled up, but it just folded in to the odd routine they’d established over a few days.

  “I got the deal I’ve been working on for months out of the way, but I about shot everyone involved. I swear, the inability of everyone around me to do simple tasks is going to send me on a rampage one of these days.”

  Nina wanted to avoid any conversations about exactly what she’d been working on. It wouldn’t really make a difference to him on a personal level, but she didn’t think Brady would react well to knowing she owned his team. It wasn’t something she planned on spending a ton of her time working on – there were plenty of executives already in place running the day-to-day operations. She just had final say on a mess of things and could make all the suggestions she wanted.

  “The real question should be whether you made anyone cry today,” Curtis remarked, as he too carried something out to the table.

  Nina had been focused on Brady, so she hadn’t noticed their company was already there. Her eyes darted over to Hannah, who was hard to miss in her magenta dress that did nothing to help her figure. Hannah’s forehead was scrunched up as she hovered next to the table.

  “Why is that even a question? I can’t help that people don’t understand I like things done a certain way. That’s beside the point. What are we having for dinner? Some idiot ordered sushi for lunch, and while everyone else in the meeting thought it was delightful, I about vomited at the sight of it. I don’t know where they got it from, but I could tell it wasn’t fresh.”

  The smell of Michael’s cooking made Nina’s stomach do somersaults in anticipation. She would’ve eaten anything, as long as it hadn’t been sitting out for hours at room temperature rotting, but the roast something or another she could see on the table made her drop her purse and briefcase on the floor and walk over to check it out.

  “He claims it’s a basically prepared prime rib with roasted potatoes and onions au gratin.”

  Brady followed behind her and filled her in. She licked her lips when she saw the pink cuts of meat already sliced on the platter. As far as she knew, Michael had never prepared the meal for her, so she was curious if it tasted as good as it looked.

  “You didn’t stand over him while he cooked, did you? You know how much he hates that.”

  Nina wasn’t sure that was the case, but Brady seemed to spend way too much time in the kitchen when Michael was around. It had only been three days, and each time Michael showed up to cook for them, Brady disappeared for almost a whole hour. Nina hated spending much time in the kitchen, since she had no clue what to do in there, and she hated not being able to keep an eye on her roommate.

  She didn’t think he had some secret dungeon he was sneaking off to in order to visit sex slaves or anything – she’d already searched the entire house for something like that. For some reason, she just felt a little awkward being in his house without him within shouting distance.

  “I did not stand over him while he cooked.” Brady’s sly smile potentially said otherwise, but as he pulled out a chair for her, Nina didn’t comment on it. “I had some other things to do around the house this afternoon, so he was completely on his own after I mentioned some kind of onions had to be on the table for dinner.”

  Nina’s eyes narrowed as she looked around the space. She got the onion remark, since Hannah basically wouldn’t eat a meal if there weren’t onions involved, a habit she’d only picked up since being pregnant. What Nina wasn’t sure of was what Brady could have been busy doing around the house.

  In three days’ time, Nina had done plenty of home decorating and general accessorizing of spaces, but Brady had only stood back and watched. She didn’t put it past him to wait for a day when she was preoccupied with work to undo some of the projects she’d worked on.

  “Brady says you’re the reason there’s finally things on the walls in here.”

  Curtis interrupted Nina’s perusal with his statement. Nothing seemed different or out of place, but they were in a small part of the house, comparatively speaking. There was at least three thousand more square feet he could’ve done something in.

  “Yes, well, it is a house, and not a dorm room, like some would have you believe.”

  The couples sat down and started dishing food onto their plates. Even though she was famished, Nina stuck to just a slice of meat and a couple spoonfuls of the sides. The rest of the table wasn’t shy about piling the food on. They clearly didn’t want to hurry up and run around the house to see what in the world Brady had done.

  It was his house, so he had every right to redecorate however he wanted. Nina hadn’t really considered what would happen after their contract was up when she went on her little shopping spree. Brady would probably gather everything she’d bought, put it in a pile in the backyard, and then torch it. He might not do it with everything, but he sure as hell would with the dog clothes.

  “You didn’t,” she said as the thought solidified.

  Brady just smiled as he took a bite of his beef. Nina had been so lost in thought that she hadn’t taken a bite after dishing everyth
ing up.

  “He didn’t what?” Hannah asked.

  Nina ignored her and pushed her chair back so she could go check. It wasn’t really necessary based on Brady’s words once she got to the hallway that led to his bedroom.

  “You guys might want to cover your ears.”

  Scowling, Nina didn’t let the words stop her. She shouldn’t have been upset, but she kind of liked the dog and didn’t like the idea of Brady getting rid of the presents she’d bought Henry.

  The hall leading to Brady’s room wasn’t as long as the one upstairs, but there were four doors, leading to his room, a bathroom, a den and a gym. The den used to be his trophy room, but Nina had brought his awards out of the shadows and into the dining room.

  With the extra space, Nina had filled the shelves with clothes for Henry. Henry already had a large kennel and a toy box in there, so it made sense that anything she bought for him joined his other stuff.

  The light was off when she turned the corner, but there was enough of it coming from the hallway that she could see the empty shelves. Brady had expected her to scream, so she growled instead. Squinting her eyes, she turned to stomp back into the dining room and give Brady a piece of her mind.

  It would’ve been easier to get the stomping in if Brady wasn’t standing five feet away. The smile on his face hadn’t changed a bit as he leaned up against a wall.

  “Something wrong, Nina?”

  Nina could barely see out of her eyes. Her scowl was as deep as it got.

  “What did you do with them, Brady?”

  “It’s rather rude to get up and leave the table while we have guests. Maybe we should wait until they leave to have this conversation.”

  “What did you do with the clothes, Brady?”

  The man moved away from the wall and closed the distance between them. Nina’s hands went to her hips, and she pushed out her chest as she got ready for combat. A part of her wished Brady wasn’t a six-foot, solid rock of a man. The heat of his body warmed her as he got close enough he could lean down and whisper in her ear.