"Wow. Pretty fancy. What's the occasion?"
"No occasion." He led her to the table and pulled a chair out for her with a flourishing bow. AJ smiled again and took a seat, turning up to look at him, her bewilderment still clear on her face. He couldn't resist; he draped his arm along the back of the chair and leaned down, claiming her mouth in an all-too-brief kiss. "Wait here."
Alec walked into the kitchen and opened the oven, breathing in the warm scent of Italian spices as he pulled the tray out. Sitting it on the island, he turned and walked to the refrigerator and pulled out the bottle of wine. He had thought about opening one of the reds, but decided against it because of AJ's headache. He certainly didn't want to make it worse.
No, if things went well, he was hoping he'd be able to make her forget all about her headache.
He worked on uncorking the bottle and called into the dining room. "So how did your meeting go today?"
"Um...yeah, about that." The hesitancy in her voice caught his attention and he stepped into the dining room, the bottle of wine in his hand. AJ had her head propped in her hands, her hair falling around her face. She looked up briefly when he leaned over and poured wine into her glass, then muttered a quick thanks.
She didn't say anything else, so Alec went back into the kitchen and grabbed the tray from the island. He entered the dining room once more, the tray held out in front of him, and offered it to her with a small bow. AJ's light laughter drew a smile from him as he placed the tray in the middle of the table.
"Pizza! I knew something smelled good when I walked in."
"Nothing but the best." Alec took a seat across from her then slid a slice onto her offered plate before scooping one out for himself. "So about your meeting...?"
"Let's eat first." Her gaze dropped from his and she focused on eating the pizza, her bites small, almost hesitant. He could see the tension in her face, the small furrow in her creased brow as she did little more than nibble her food. She finally gave up and put the pizza down, then took a long sip of her wine.
"Are you sure you're feeling okay?"
She took another sip then pushed the glass away, giving him a slight nod. "Yeah. Listen, I just want you to know that I tried to stop it."
Alec paused with the pizza half-way to his mouth. The expression on her face was pure agony; he had thought it was from her headache, that she was getting another migraine, but maybe not. He put the pizza down and looked at her. "That sounds pretty ominous."
She met his eyes briefly then looked away and shrugged. "Not really. I mean, I don't think so. You might, though. Actually, the whole thing is really a bit funny and—"
"AJ, out with it."
"Um...they thought it would be interesting to get some shots of me on the ice. I don't know why, they just did, so I'll be practicing with you tomorrow." She finished in a rush then grabbed the wine glass and drained it.
Alec sat back in his chair at her news, torn between laughing and leaping across the glass table to kiss her. This is what had her looking so miserable and tense? Unless he was missing something, the news wasn't terrible. Had she really thought he would be upset by it?
"That's it?"
She finally looked up at him, her eyes still wary and hesitant. "You're not mad about it?"
"For God's sake, AJ, why would I be mad? It's not a big deal. So you gear up and do a few turns around the ice, take a couple swipes at the puck. So what?" He finally laughed at her reaction, a mixture of surprise and confusion.
"So you're not upset?"
"No AJ, I'm not upset. Did you really think I would be?" Again her gaze drifted downward. An icy rush of disbelief swirled through him, and his light mood from several minutes ago suddenly dimmed. "You honestly thought I would be mad about this? AJ, do you really think I'm that bad?"
"What? No. I just...I don't know. I didn't think you'd really be upset, but I didn't think you'd be jumping for joy, either."
"Why not?"
"Well...because...well, you weren't real thrilled about doing this whole thing to begin with, and the only reason you finally agreed to it was because of that bet. And I know for a fact that you didn't even think there was the slightest chance of you losing." Alec opened his mouth to disagree but she waved him off, obviously warming up to the conversation now. "And don't deny it. If you had thought there was even the slightest chance of me scoring, you'd have never agreed to it."
Alec sat back and twirled the wine glass between his fingers. She was right, of course, and it would be foolish for him to even pretend otherwise. But he couldn't complain about how things had turned out. Well, except for his initial shock at being blindsided by the first feature last week. But that had more to do with bad timing than anything else.
So no, he certainly had nothing to complain about. And if he had the chance to do it over again, he would.
So tell her, he thought. Alec lifted his head to meet her gaze, trying not to smile at her dismayed expression. "You're right, I probably wouldn't have. That doesn't mean I regret it."
AJ's eyes actually widened, if only for a fraction of a second. Then a light blush colored her cheeks and she quickly looked away, clearing her throat. He knew instantly what she was thinking, and spoke up before her mind went into overload conjuring up all the wrong reasons.
"And no, I wasn't talking about the sex. I don't regret that, either—I really, really don't regret that—but that's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?"
What did he mean? Alec sipped his wine, thinking. What was it Ian had said earlier? Oh yeah: AJ was his girlfriend. But it didn't feel like that. They didn't get dressed up and meet for dates, they didn't go dancing or out to dinner or circle around each other, trying to find hidden meanings in every word and gesture, out-doing themselves as they tried to impress the other.
They didn't do any of the agonizing things that Alec usually associated with dating today. Which was why he didn't date.
Alec frowned into his wine glass. Now that he was actually thinking about it, he realized that they didn't really do anything at all. The one time he had taken her out, it had been to a strip club. Of all places. Yeah, they hung out. Watched television and maybe a movie. She came to his practices and games.
He looked at the pizza tray in the middle of the table. They didn't even have nice meals—they had pizza, instead.
And—oh yeah—they slept together.
AJ wasn't his girlfriend. She was more like one of the guys on the team that he hung out with, except he was screwing her.
"Alec...so what did you mean?"
He looked up and noticed AJ staring at him, confusion creasing her brow, and he tried to remember what they had been talking about. Yeah, he remembered—why he didn't regret the bet. He drained his glass and cleared his throat. "I just meant that I like having you around, you know? I enjoy when we hang out."
Inwardly, he groaned. Those had to be the lamest words a man had ever said to a woman he liked. He reached for the bottle of wine and poured himself another glass, doing his best to not look at AJ. His resolve lasted for three seconds before he lifted his eyes to her face, expecting to see...well, he didn't know what he expected but it wasn't the sardonic half-smile and raised eyebrows aimed his way.
"Gee, Kolchak, I like you, too."
"I didn't mean—"
"I know. I actually kinda like hanging out with you, too. It hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be." AJ smiled, then quickly grimaced and looked away. Alec knew instantly the grimace had nothing to do with their losing conversation, and everything to do with her headache. He pushed his chair back and walked around the table, reaching for her hand and pulling her up.
"Go upstairs and lay down. I'll clean up down here and be up in a few minutes."
"No, I'm okay. Besides, you cooked, I should clean."
"AJ, no arguments. Go lay down before the headache turns into a migraine."
"It's not—"
Alec leaned forward and kissed her, stopping he
r in mid-sentence, enjoying the way she automatically leaned into him, enjoying her soft sigh against his lips, the tiny moan of disappointment when he pulled away. "No arguments. Now go."
He gently pushed her out of the dining room, then leaned against the door frame, enjoying her rear view as she made her way to the stairs. She turned around and gave him a small smile, as if she knew exactly what he had been doing as she walked away.
"Thanks Alec. And thanks for the dinner, too. It was sweet." She turned and walked upstairs, leaving him standing there, stunned.
He pushed away from the door frame, frowning. Sweet? Had she just called him sweet? That hadn't been what he was shooting for.
Alec turned and surveyed the dining room. Candles, music, wine. Pizza. So okay, maybe the pizza was a bit out there, but still...Sweet?
He bit his tongue and began clearing the table, his mind whirling. He didn't want her to feel like one his buddies, and he didn't want her to think he was sweet. So what did he have to do to change things?
He had no idea.
FOURTEEN
AJ stood at center ice and rolled her shoulders, trying to adjust the fit of the pads as she fought off a sense of déjà vu. A photographer stood off to the side, leaning against the player's bench as he spoke with Tim. She still couldn't believe her editor was here. Hell, she couldn't believe he had come up with this insane idea. Part of her wanted to shoot a puck in his direction and hope it hit him upside the head. Another part—the largest part—just wanted to go home and soak in the hot tub.
Wait. She didn't have a hot tub at home. The hot tub was at Alec's. And since when did she start thinking of his place as home?
She turned her head toward the end zone and studied Alec, leaning casually against the net as he talked to Ian. Her heart did a quick drum roll in her chest and she mentally kicked herself. What had she gotten into? And she wasn't talking about this whole photo shoot fiasco. She wasn't even talking about the exclusive feature articles. A few weeks ago, all she could think of was getting her by-line on an exclusive, of the excitement and sense of accomplishment she would feel at reaching that goal. Somehow the excitement wasn't as great she thought it would be now that she had actually done it.
In fact, the excitement pretty much paled in comparison to what she felt each night sleeping in Alec's arms. Just like last night, when she had come home—gone to Alec's, she corrected herself—and he surprised her with the dinner. She couldn't believe how much the sweet and thoughtful gesture had actually meant to her.
It shouldn't have meant nearly as much to her as it did. And the fact that it did, just like the fact that she was beginning to think of Alec's place as "home", was bad news. Really bad news. As in starting with "L" bad news.
AJ's stomach did a slow roll as her eyes again rested on Alec. He must have sensed her gaze on him because he turned toward her and smiled. In the brief moment that she allowed her eyes to meet his, enough heat seared through her that she was surprised she wasn't standing in a puddle of water from melting the ice.
She was so thoroughly screwed. How could she have let this happen? He was Alec Kolchak, for crying out loud. They had done nothing but bicker during every encounter they had ever had since first meeting several years ago. What had changed?
Maybe it wasn't the capital "L" trouble. Maybe it was just the capital "S" trouble. Because yeah, the sex was absolutely phenomenal. So maybe that was it. It had nothing to do with that "L" mess, it was just about the sex.
Yeah, sure. And maybe she wouldn't make an ass out of herself during this stupid photo shoot. She still didn't know what Tim had been thinking. Was it really necessary to have a picture of her on the ice for next week's feature? No, it wasn't. Not as far as she was concerned, anyway. She had more important things to worry about...like convincing herself she was not in love with Alec Kolchak.
"AJ, you almost ready?" Tim called from the player's bench. She jumped, startled, then turned and gave him as dirty a look she could get away with, which was pretty extreme. He either couldn't see her that well, or didn't care, because he didn't say anything, just eyed her impatiently.
Like he was the one standing on display out in the middle of the ice, getting ready to make an ass out of himself.
"Yeah, I'm ready." She tapped the blade of her stick on the ice and skated around in a small circle, then pushed off toward the player's bench. She wished she was skilled enough to stop with a spray of ice, but she didn't want to push her luck so she settled on just gliding to a stop near the boards. "Now what, exactly, is it you want me to do? Because I'm not really sure why everyone else is here."
Maybe "everyone else" was overstating it a bit. Besides Alec and Ian, there were three other players on the ice, including Jean-Pierre Larocque and Randy Michaels, hanging out near the penalty box looking mostly bored. The Banners' owner and General Manager were also present along with some other suits, all seated up in the stands and looking mildly interested.
And, of course, there were the fans and spectators who always showed up at practices, hoping to meet the players and get autographs. Not to mention the rink bunnies, who always hoped for more. There seemed to be more of the latter present today, which bothered AJ for some reason.
Probably because more than a few of the rink bunnies were eyeing Alec like he was an all-you-can-eat salad buffet. Nope, she couldn't imagine why that bothered her at all.
"AJ, are you even listening?"
She turned toward Tim and gave him an innocent look, which got her an eye roll and sigh in return. He pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered something under his breath, shook his head, then looked up at her.
"I want some shots of you actually playing. So just go out on the ice and skate around and hit the puck and Joey will take the pictures. Joey, make sure you get shots of the other players as well. We'll look at everything when we get back and go from there."
"Wait. The other players, too? You want me to actually, you know, play hockey? With these guys? For real?"
"Well what did you think I wanted?"
"I don't even know why you want pictures at all, so I didn't give it much thought. I just figured you wanted some shots of me skating around the ice or something."
"Exactly. Now go, do something." Tim made shooing motions with his hands then muttered something to Joey as she skated away. AJ could have sworn she heard someone yell out to make it look real, but when she turned back around, everybody seemed to be busy doing something else.
Shaking off a sense of impending disaster, she skated back to center ice, not surprised to see Ian meet her at the face-off circle. He offered her a slight smile and a wink, then dropped the puck between them.
"Ready on three?"
"Oh God, are we really doing this for real? Seriously? Please don't hurt me."
Ian chuckled as he placed the blade of his stick against the ice, waiting for her to do the same. AJ sighed then moved into position, noticing Joey sliding closer toward them, the camera to his eye. She let out a deep breath and listened for Ian's count, then scrambled for the puck. She muttered to herself when he slapped it away, then skated after it, knowing she had absolutely no chance of ever catching up to him.
Ian looked back over his shoulder at her and made some kind of motion with his hand. She didn't understand at first, then realized he was letting her know he was passing it to her a second before the puck flew her way.
AJ let it ease into her stick, then turned on the ice and skated toward the net, not caring if Joey was getting his pictures or not. Five feet from the net, she drew back with her stick and slammed the puck toward Alec.
Who, of course, deftly caught it without having to move so much as an inch. He winked at her then tossed the puck back out to the ice.
"C'mon sweetheart, you can do better than that."
AJ skidded to a stop in front of the net and stared at Alec, her eyes wide in feigned shock. "Sweetheart? No, you did not. Did you just 'sweetheart' me?"
Alec shrugged, a lopsided
grin on his face. "It was either 'sweetheart' or 'babe'. I kind of liked 'sweetheart' but 'babe' works for me, too...babe."
"Oh no. No, you did not." AJ shook her head, biting back her smile as she reached out for the puck. He winked at her again then pulled his helmet back down.
"C'mon, sweetheart, show them what you've got."
AJ laughed then skated away from the net, passing the puck to Ian, who passed it to Randy. They continued playing for at least thirty minutes, giving AJ every chance to shoot. Not a single shot got by Alec, but she didn't care—she was having too much fun. Even when Jean-Pierre tried to get the puck away from her, and "accidentally" ran into her, sending her flying across the ice on her butt so he could race over and eagerly help her back up. The only thing that wasn't fun were the heated words exchanged between Alec and Jean-Pierre after that, but even that incident was quickly quelled by Ian's calm interference.
Tim finally called a halt to the mock "game", saying that Joey had enough photographs for them to go through. AJ had no idea what Tim was hoping for, or how he was even planning on using the pictures, but she wasn't going to argue. A half hour on the ice was enough to drain her.
Because, for as much fun as she was having, her body was ready to call it quits. Her arms were sore, her shoulders hurt, her legs were rubber, and she was drenched in sweat. Even her hands hurt. She had no idea how the players did this for real, night after night, and knew without hesitation that she was going to use this in next week's article. The details were still vague, but she was definitely going to use it.
AJ watched Tim and Joey head toward the suits in the stands, and let out a deep breath, grateful they were no longer paying much attention. With a heavy sigh, she lowered herself to the ice and laid flat on her back, closing her eyes and groaning as the muscles in her body stretched and screamed. No more than a few seconds went by before she heard the scrape of metal on ice near her head, and felt a presence hovering over her.
"What are you doing?"
"Dying."
"Not funny. C'mon, get up. All you're going to do by laying there is cramp up."
Crossing the Line (The Baltimore Banners Book 1) Page 13