Playing for Keeps

by Rhonda Laurel

  She would make it up to Derek later. It had been a lovely surprise to find him waiting for her and ready for romance when she got home. They’d both been so busy lately, it had been a while since they’d carved out some quality time to be together. He was still riding high off his win and was in constant demand for interviews. She’d been busy herself with a huge workload as her design services were more and more in demand. The saving grace was that at the end of their busy days was that they got to see each other. Living together definitely had its advantages.

  There had been another close call tonight though. She almost got busted with the maternity clothes and the teddy bear she’d bought. Luckily she was able to scoop up the bags when he went downstairs to get Jonas. Not to mention her reaction to the hotdogs he’d brought back from New York. Any other time she’d dig in and eat more than him, but today the thought of eating even one had her senses in an uproar.

  Still, even though it had derailed their evening together, she was glad he’d decided to let Jonas sleep it off here so he could talk some sense into him. He had firsthand knowledge of how a wild personal life could be a major distraction. He was once the poster boy, after all. Although he was no longer the bad boy hockey player whose sexy exploits were splashed across gossip pages, it had been rough when they’d first gotten together. People speculated that she’d be nothing but trouble for him. She’d taken a beating in the court of public opinion, being branded a gold digger who only dated rich athletes. She knew that her past stormy relationships had a lot to do with the negative press. She’d wanted to break things off with Derek a hundred times as his image took a beating, but he wouldn’t have it. He said she was more important than the public’s perception of their relationship. That made her love him even more.

  So she’d pushed that negativity out of her mind and focused on being happy with the man she loved. Soon the media became uninterested in them when there was no drama to report. It was nice to be a normal couple without someone constantly trying to dig up dirt on them. She no longer craved the mania of flashing cameras and sound bites on television of her exploits. It had taken some time, but she’d gone from being Lamont Brayer’s crazy ex to Charisma Reed, interior designer who was dating Derek Popovich. She loved being a couple, but was happy that she finally had her own identity outside of the drama that once followed her round. She’d read a magazine article last year that claimed they’d become one of the most boring celebrity couples in America. Considering her track record for scandal, she took that as a compliment.

  Charisma closed the bedroom door and darted to the walk-in closet. She’d fibbed about the red dress and had to figure out how she was going to talk Derek out of getting that fashion show. She felt like an idiot for lying to him. But pulling maternity wear out of a bag was not how she’d planned to tell him about the baby. Still she was curious about how her body would change. She took a pillow off the bed and stuffed it under her T-shirt. She felt silly but couldn’t help but imagine how she’d look as her baby bump grew. She put the pillow back, turned on the television, grabbed her bowl of snack mix, and plopped on the bed. She doubted a quick cup of coffee was going to sober Jonas up. And she was relieved that he’d taken a cab here. He was in no condition to drive and he was also too intoxicated to be wandering about the city. He’d probably be staying the night.

  Around midnight Derek came into the room. He looked haggard.

  “How did it go?” She turned down the volume on the television.

  “I gave him an ice pack for his eye and pumped four cups of coffee into him.” Derek took off his clothes and got in the bed. “He’s sacked out in the guest room with the southwestern motif.”

  “That’s the Alamo room.”

  “We’re naming the rooms now?” He laughed.

  “Yes. I thought it would be a nice touch for the magazine people.”

  “You did an incredible job bringing this place to life.” He wrapped his arms around her. “What are we going to call this room?”

  “This is the love den.” She nestled closer to him. The warmth coming from his body felt so good. “How bad is it with Jonas and Mike?”

  “They threw a few drunken punches at each other and vowed never to speak to each other again. That’s all I got out of him before he starting going on a tangent about his stats. But don’t count on their feud lasting long. They’ll be hanging out together again before you know it.”

  “OK, since you won’t say it, I will.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Jonas and Mike do a whole lot of fighting. If they aren’t fighting over who’s the bigger star, they’re fighting over some bimbo.”

  “It’s their thing. They make a great team on the ice, but they are combustible in real life. Some people shouldn’t hang out with their co-workers. I think they’re too much alike.”

  “Don’t you think it’s odd they have this pent-up tension all the time? It’s all very homoerotic.”

  “Oh yeah?” He raised an eyebrow. “You said the same thing about me and Seth.”

  “No, I did not.” She shook her head. “I said you had a bromance on steroids.”

  He chuckled, then his expression grew serious. “Listen, I’m sorry we got interrupted.”

  “I don’t know, you were planning to surprise me with a special evening and someone popped up. It was to be expected.”

  “What do you mean? Why expected?”

  “Don’t you remember two weeks after we moved in together and we’d cleared our schedules so we could lock ourselves in and Trina claimed the heat went out at her place so she came here?”

  He laughed. “I’d forgotten about that.”

  “And a month ago we decided to go naked all weekend before the playoffs started and Theo shows up for a visit.”

  “You’re right. We do have terrible luck when we try to carve out time for ourselves. I wonder why that is.”

  “Grandma says it’s because we radiate so much love and happiness that people are attracted to it. I guess that’s why Jonas came here tonight.”

  “We definitely have love and happiness.” He stroked her hair. “Charisma?”

  “Yes?”

  She looked into his eyes. He had the most beautiful blue, stormed-filled eyes she’d ever seen, but that intensity had waned over the years. Now she saw serenity. He looked like he wanted to tell her something important. Something just as vital as what she had to tell him. They stayed that way for a few minutes without either of them saying a word. Finally, he uttered the words.

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  “Let’s get some sleep.”

  Charisma loved the feel of his strong body as she nestled close to him. It was the simple moments like these with him that she enjoyed the most. The motion of his hand caressing her back had a magical effect on her. He had strong hands, but he was gentle with her. He’d been tender with her since the day they met. There were days she felt like she didn’t deserve his love, but thankfully she had good people in her life to remind her that she wasn’t the same person she’d been a few years ago. She’d wanted to change her ways and she’d become something new. She’d become the kind of woman who could be vulnerable yet strong and let a man like Derek love her. For so long she thought she’d never feel this kind of peace within her soul. It was an exciting time for them both, and she couldn’t wait until the right time to tell him about the baby.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Derek looked at the clock on the wall and continued to pace in the kitchen. It had been a half hour since Charisma left to run errands, and Jonas still hadn’t woken up. The day definitely wasn’t getting started as planned. Right now he should have been in bed with her celebrating their impending nuptials. The glorious diamond should have been on her hand, and they should have been making the rounds to family and friends with their announcement. Instead he was waiting for his friend to get up with a hangover and explain his crazy behavior last night.

  He took the ring box
out of his pocket, opened it, and set it on the counter. He should have put it in the safe in the study, but he didn’t want to part with it. He’d thought about asking her this morning while they were brushing their teeth, but he started that stammering thing again. And anyway, that really wasn’t the most romantic time. He wanted this to be perfect and memorable. While he supposed asking her to marry him in the bathroom was memorable, it hadn’t really been what he’d had in mind. Besides, she’d seemed a little preoccupied and looked as if she hadn’t slept very well.

  He’d brewed a fresh pot of coffee and made breakfast, hoping they could make plans for the evening. But they’d barely said two words to each other before she gave him a quick kiss and zipped out of the apartment saying she didn’t have time for breakfast because she had more shopping to do.

  Nothing last night had gone according to plan. He was getting a little frustrated, but he could turn things around today.

  His cell phone pinged. It was Mike wanting to tell his side of the story and offering to pay for repairs. The rule in the locker room was that they didn’t fight over women. He laughed to himself at Charisma’s theory about those two having too much explosive energy between them. He told Mike he’d give him a call later. First, he had to get Jonas out of the apartment.

  Last night his friend had groaned a bunch of incoherent dribble about being a winner on the ice but a loser in love. The clicking sounds of shoes coming his way meant Jonas was up, finally.

  Derek smirked as Jonas stumbled into the kitchen. “Good morning.”

  “Why is it so bright in here?” Jonas rubbed his eyes.

  “It’s called ten A.M.” Derek yanked on the shade over the sink and more light filtered into the room. “Sit. We need to talk.”

  “I know. I know.” Jonas sat down and ran a hand over his face.

  “You know what?”

  “I know I screwed up last night. I trashed your bar. I fought with Mike. I showed up here drunk.”

  Derek placed a cup of coffee in front of him. “You and Mike will be paying for the repairs. My place is not a boxing ring.”

  “There’ve been plenty of fights at the Slap. You should rename it the Penalty Box.” Jonas chuckled at his own joke, then groaned and held his head.

  Derek gave him a look.

  “Too soon?”

  “I can tell you from personal experience that it’s a bad idea to drown your sorrows in public. The attention can be fun at the time, but it can get messy real quick. Lucky for you, I don’t allow paparazzi in the bar. Take it from me, this is one lesson you don’t want to learn the hard way.”

  Jonas didn’t answer. He was too busy focusing his eyes on the ring box. “Holy shit, that’s a huge piece of ice! When are you proposing to Charisma?”

  “I was going to pop the question last night, but you showed up babbling like a drunken fool and ruined my chance.”

  “Man, I am so sorry.” Jonas cringed. “I can’t believe you’re getting married.”

  “I have to get her to say yes first.”

  “Of course she’ll say yes. You two have been together for a while and you’re finally living together. What was the deal with that? It took you long enough.”

  “That’s none of your business. Let’s get back to your shenanigans.”

  Jonas ignored him. “You hit the jackpot with her. She’s gorgeous and—”

  “Listen up, knucklehead. You and Mike have to stop this childish crap. What happened between you two?”

  “Maybe I deserved it,” he huffed.

  Derek took a long look at him. There were a few things friends couldn’t get past and most of them involved women. “What did you do?”

  “I may have…” Jonas cleared his throat. “Kind of slept with his sister Yvonne when she came to town.”

  “Are you serious?” Derek knew someone would be stupid enough to hit on Mike’s stunning sister, he just never thought it would be Jonas. He ran a hand over his face. If they didn’t straighten this out, team morale was going to suck next season. “How bad is it?”

  “We hit it off at a party he threw at his house. I asked her out for lunch, she accepted, and we kept seeing each other until she left.”

  Derek pointed at Jonas’s crotch. “You need to keep that thing on a tighter leash.”

  “Hey, I’m not into that kinky stuff.”

  “You are too dumb for words. You won’t be able to do too much of anything if you keep fooling around with other people’s sisters. You broke one of the cardinal rules we all have, and a really big one I might add.”

  “I couldn’t help myself. You’ve seen her.” Jonas scooped some fruit into a bowl. “Do you have any whipped cream for this?”

  “I think so.” Derek opened the fridge and scanned the contents. The last he remembered seeing the whipped cream was that time he and Charisma were having breakfast in bed. They’d gotten good use out of the can long after they’d finished their meal. It was a pretty great day until Theo arrived. She was right. Someone was always horning in on their fun. “No, we’re all out. Now let’s focus back on what has to happen. You need to apologize to Mike.”

  “You don’t think I’ve tried?”

  “Are you serious about his sister?”

  “I don’t know. We could be. But I don’t think I’m ever going to find out because she kind of dumped me.”

  “She dumped you?” So Jonas was nursing a broken heart.

  “Yeah. She said I had a bad reputation for being a womanizer and she didn’t trust that I could be serious in a relationship. But she had the nerve to send a thank you text for the good sex. I told her I could change, but she didn’t believe me. I have it in me to change. If you can change, I can change. You got a friggin ring and everything.” Jonas picked up the box.

  “Jonas, it took me a long time to get to this point in my life. Meeting Charisma was the best thing that ever happened to me. But it takes a continued effort, and you can’t be monogamous only when it suits you. Mike is pissed because he’s partied with you. He knows how you treat women. It’s understandable he wants to kill you.”

  “Yvonne is great. I know you think it’s just her looks, but there’s more to her. She’s funny, brilliant, and she likes to snowboard and read graphic novels. She’s like my soul mate.”

  “OK.” He knew he was going to regret this. “If you’re serious, what are you going to do about it?”

  “What can I do?”

  “Get your head out of a bottle and sober up. Take a few days to think about what you want and figure out how to go about it without causing so much chaos. Talk to Yvonne, but you have to talk to Mike too. He needs to know how much she means to you. Otherwise he’ll be coming after you again.”

  They talked about other things as they finished up breakfast. And after he was sure he’d plied enough wisdom, food, and coffee into Jonas, he was confident his friend was going to get through this. Love was a tricky thing, and whether he knew it or not, Jonas had decided to jump into unfamiliar territory. It was a frightening thing, listening to your heart for the first time. He’d tuned into the signals his heart had been sending him the day he met Charisma. It was a wonderful, scary time and there had been a hell of a lot going on. But he’d known their paths were entwined. He’d known they were meant to be.

  Derek walked Jonas to the elevator and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Remember. Clear your head first. Then follow your heart and make a move.”

  “Thanks.” Jonas smiled. “And good luck with your proposal. Charisma’s one in a million.”

  “I know.”

  The elevator opened. Jonas stepped inside, but held the door so it wouldn’t close immediately. “I just want someone to look at me the way Charisma looks at you.”

  “You will find that when the time is right.” Derek smiled. “Take care. I’ll see you in a few weeks when we have those team interviews for the documentary.”

  Derek went back into the apartment, relieved that this drama was over. He’d still managed to h
ave a pretty good night with Charisma, even though he wasn’t able to execute his plan. He blamed his weak nature. Seeing her after being away for the smallest amount of time always got him hot and bothered and he’d missed his chance to pop the big question. Next time, though, he would be a stoic rock. At least until she said yes. Then he’d be all over her again.

  He glanced at the time on his cell phone screen. He still had plenty of things to do today, like stopping by the arena to pick up some things he’d left in his locker. Tonight he’d try round two. He had to keep his cool and focus on his mission.

  Tonight he’d propose and hoped she’d say yes.

  * * *

  Charisma walked into the Seraphim’s Dream beauty salon and waved to her stylist Ethel. She was a little early for her appointment but she’d gotten things done on her list at lightning speed.

  “It will be about five minutes, hon, and then Nicola will wash your hair.”

  “No problem. Take your time.” She smiled. She remembered the days when she would have stormed out of a place if anyone asked her to wait for anything. She was grateful she wasn’t that woman today. That woman from a few years ago was a demanding diva who always had to have her way. These days she was mellow and more considerate of other people’s feelings. What a difference a few years, some tough times, and a lot of introspection could make. She took a seat and checked her cell phone. She marked off the tasks she’d completed in her to-do app and scrolled through the messages she’d received.