Him wanting to spend the evening with her instead of attending what she was sure was a blowout party with his brothers and best friend had been astounding. Even after the first movie, she thought he would go to the party, but then they had watched a second movie and he had nonchalantly gotten ready for bed, kissed her good night and nodded off without ever looking like he felt cheated. How could she not believe he had missed her? God knew she had missed him and it had really pissed her off. It had been a rude awakening to discover how accustomed to his presence she had become. She knew Jameson would be furious, but she couldn’t find it in her heart to send him away and even though they couldn’t have sex, she was perfectly content to lie in his arms. It was just sick, she thought with a silent laugh at herself. She shifted in his arms to turn towards him. He roused enough to pull her back tightly to him, draping one of her thighs over his and brushed his lips across her forehead. “Ava...baby…” he murmured before falling back into a deep sleep. She kissed his chin and closed her own eyes, sighing with contentment.
“Ava?” Cian’s deep voice murmuring her name brought her out of a deep sleep. She blinked her eyes in confusion for a few seconds before realizing she had slept through the night. Her eyes focused on his gorgeous face grinning down at her with amusement at her sleep befuddled expression. She smiled up at him sleepily thinking this was a pretty good way to start the day; staring into the velvety brown eyes of a beautiful man. He leaned down and kissed her nose. “I gotta go workout, Baby.”
“Okay.” She mumbled her eyes drifting closed again. He kissed her mouth lightly.
“I’ll see you after while, okay?” he whispered against her mouth. She murmured her agreement, her lips moving lazily against his. He chuckled and pulled the sheet up over her shoulders, kissing her forehead before leaving the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
Chapter Thirty-One
Cian looked over the menu, so hungry he felt like he could eat one of everything offered. He and Max had spent the last several hours on the ice and had decided to stop at Applebee’s for some lunch. `Having made his choice, he lay his menu down, prepared to order but rolled his eyes when he saw and heard the holdup.
“I am sure anything you choose to serve me would be very satisfying, Brittany.” Max grinned broadly at the little blonde waitress, staring straight into her eyes, sucking her into his bullshit, Cian thought to himself, disgusted on behalf of all other men. If he had said that to a waitress, she would have cursed him out or spit in his food; not Maxime Brooks. Brittany as her nametag read, giggled at Max’s outrageous antics and posed in a manner that displayed all of her assets for his perusal. For some reason, the more outrageous he behaved, the better the females liked him. Cian cleared his throat, bringing Max’s mellow, smiling gaze to him. Upon seeing Cian’s irritated glare, Max’s face fell into a comical sulk, rolling his eyes at him before turning back to Brittany with an apologetic smile. “I’ll have the Three Cheese Penne pasta and sweet tea.” Max lay his menu on top of Cian’s and raised a haughty eyebrow at him.
“Same for me, thank you.” Brittany threw one last smile at Max over her shoulder while she sashayed to the order station to punch in their order.
“Why must you insist on ruining all my fun?” Max asked indignantly, after the drinks had been delivered. “Brittany could be my soulmate.”
Cian let out a booming laugh at the other man’s dramatic statement. Max had about as much interest in finding his soulmate as he had in taking a vow of abstinence and becoming a monk; neither would be conducive to his lifestyle. “Sorry I messed up your love connection, man.”
Max grinned broadly and flipped his hand as if Brittany was already firmly behind him. “It is not I you should be apologizing to…it is Miss Brittany that has been wronged by being deprived of my…”
“Oh my God, would you shutup for five minutes?” Cian interrupted before Max could go into graphic detail as to how Brittany had been deprived. “I’m tired and hungry and you’re giving me a headache.”
Max chuckled, completely unfazed by Cian’s exasperation. “Since you refuse to talk about me, tell me where you disappeared to last night.” Cian fiddled with the straw wrapper, not meeting his friend’s questioning eyes. He felt his face heat with embarrassment and shrugged.
“I was at Ava’s.” He mumbled sending Max into peals of laughter. Cian glared at him and threw the wadded up straw paper, hitting him right between the eyes. “I don’t know why I thought I missed you…”
“You missed me because I am your best friend, you ungrateful bastard.” Max said with a smirk. Max leaned back in the booth and crossed his hands across his abdomen looking thoughtful. “So….you passed up what I can tell you was a first rate party; Jack Shaw may be my new hero.” Max sighed happily.
“I didn’t feel like a party.” Cian stated defensively.
Max shook his head in mock pity. “At least my question is answered.”
“What question?” Cian asked in confusion, dreading where Max was going with this.
“The lovely Ava does know you are a pussy.” Max burst out laughing at Cian’s look of disgust. He continued to stare at the table until Max wound down. Seeing that Cian appeared to be genuinely upset, Max attempted to placate him. “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be with your woman.”
Max’s words had Cian’s jaw dropping in shock. He hadn’t thought of Ava as his woman and Max referring to her as such dumbfounded him. Was she his woman? Wow, that was a sobering thought. Max was looking at him like he might be ready for the loony bin but he couldn’t seem to form the words to reassure him at the moment. How was he supposed to form words when he had just realized he was having a relationship with Ava? He wondered idly if she knew they were having a relationship and snickered at his screwed up thoughts. For once, Max wasn’t talking, just watching Cian like he might do a trick if he watched long enough. He would bet money Ava didn’t consider them to be in a relationship but what else would you call it? He had been separated from her for forty-eight hours and damn near went crazy wanting to be with her. He should have known when he watched that godforsaken Notebook movie…
“Have you ever seen The Notebook?” He suddenly asked Max after long moments of silence.
“Uh…no.” Max answered slowly, a baffled expression on his face. He hesitated before asking, “Have you?” like he was asking Cian if he’d gotten a bikini wax. He gave Max a wry smile and nodded his head.
“Yep. I watched the damned Notebook and ate junk food with Ava last night instead of going to the party and do you want to know why?” Max looked undecided as to whether he wanted to know the reason but he forged ahead before Max could answer. “Because I wanted to spend the evening with my woman, that’s why.” Max looked at him in awed surprise before shaking his head as if his thoughts was more than he could deal with.
“Damn, mon ami, you have got it bad.” Cian ran his hand through his hair, feeling like he had been hit by a truck. Max continued to study him as if he could somehow get into his head but finally shrugged in a very European fashion. “So was it any good?”
“Hell no!” He growled with disgust. “It was the most depressing damn movie…man; I don’t understand this chick flick shit at all.” They both burst out laughing before changing the subject to hockey, discussing the summer trades and how the new acquisitions would fit into their organization until their food was delivered. Starved, both of them dug in with gusto, eating in silence for a few minutes. Max set his fork down and reached for a piece of garlic bread.
“Do you remember the weekend in February we had the three day break?” Max asked casually. Cian looked thoughtful for a moment.
“After we played the Rangers?” Cian snickered as Max nodded. “Avery slashed you all night until you kicked his ass!”
“That bastard…” Max muttered recalling one of the NHL’s most despised players, Sean Avery of the New York Rangers. He was one of those players everyone hated unless he was on their team…and someti
mes even then. “I was ejected for that shit, that damn pussy…” Max ground his teeth together, his jaw flexing with the effort before he shook it off and glared at Cian. “That is not the point I was making.”
Cian let out a hoot of laughter. “You had a point?”
Max flipped up his middle finger at Cian, amusing him even further. “We attended a party at that huge penthouse over on Park West…”
“Oh yeah…that friend of Lani’s.” Cian look like he tasted something bad. “What of it?”
Max appeared vaguely uncomfortable, alarming him since Max was never uncomfortable. “You and Lani had a disagreement…”
Cian snorted in disbelief. “A disagreement?” he asked incredulously. “She slapped the hell out of me over some imaginary female I was supposedly eyeballing. Damn, she’s nuts.”
Max nodded his wholehearted agreement. “You left pissed off without waiting on me and I thought I would hit the restroom before catching a cab back to the hotel.” Max watched him as if gauging his reaction. Cian rolled his eyes.
“Jesus Christ, Max, would you tell the damned story and stop with the suspenseful pauses?”
“Lani followed me into the bathroom and locked the door.” He stared at Max, an arrested expression on his face. Looking pained, Max continued. “She…uh…tried to…well, she dropped to her knees…we were wrestling for control of my zipper…” Cian tried to stifle his laughter, knowing Max would be highly offended if he let loose, but once Cian realized he was not bothered in the least that Lani came onto his best friend, he couldn’t seem to control himself.
“Ah…so you were molested?” Cian asked before letting loose with a deep belly laugh, earning him a disgruntled glare from his friend but Max could only hold out against Cian’s raucous laughter for a few moments before he too joined in the laughter.
“She must have had six hands! She would pull my zipper down and before I could get it all the way back up, she would somehow manage to get it back down.” Max managed to choke out through the laughter. “You know I have never been one to turn a lady in need down but even I draw the line at crazy…” Cian raised a skeptical brow. Max shrugged and grinned. “Okay, I’ve stepped over that line a few times but she was your girlfriend! I do not poach.” Cian cleared his throat. “Fine, I do not poach from friends.” Max raised an eyebrow, challenging Cian to say otherwise. Cian grinned and shook his head. “I managed to free myself from her…”
“It doesn’t matter.” Cian shrugged. “I wouldn’t care if you’d taken her up on her offer.” Max’s jaw dropped. Cian grinned at him. “I was more caught up in dating a supermodel than dating Lani. I didn’t even like her much.” Max hooted with laughter.
“All that excellent coaching by the lovely Ava…”
“Why do you keep calling her that; ‘the lovely Ava’?” Cian mocked Max’s French accent, sending Max into gales of laughter. Cian threw some cash on the table and headed for the door. Max climbed into the SUV, still laughing.
“I keep calling her that because she is lovely, her name is Ava and last, but never least I must get my entertainment where I can.” Max paused before laughing again. “And you acting like a jealous ass every time I refer to your woman as ‘the lovely Ava’ entertains me immensely.” Cian punched him hard in the shoulder. “Ow! And there it is!”
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Is he always like that?” Ava whispered softly into Cian’s ear giggling at Max’s antics on the dance floor with Macy. Macy was laughing helplessly as Max took her into a deep dip, bending her back over his arm like a heroine on the cover of a romance novel.
“Pretty much.” Cian grinned broadly. Max had pulled Macy onto the dance floor immediately after talking her into matching him shot for shot on a bottle of Patron. Ava was glad to see her best friend laughing and having a good time. She still wasn’t sure what had happened during the month Macy had been gone on tour with Nate’s band, but whatever it was had taken a toll on her friend. Jameson, Jack and Cian’s younger brothers had all departed the day after Independence Day leaving Ava to entertain Cian and Max on her own for a week before Macy had finally came home. Macy had been going through the motions and not much else since her return. The only time she had seemed normal was when she was with Maddie but other than that, she had been very quiet. Ava had caught her staring off into space on numerous occasions over the last couple of weeks. When asked if something was wrong, Macy was quick to deny anything was bothering her. Ava hadn’t worried too much until Nate had called her the night before and asked if his mom was okay. Nate said he hadn’t talked to his mom since she left the tour and he was just making sure she was okay. He didn’t go into any details, but he and Macy had fallen out over something. It must have been pretty bad for Macy to not be returning her son’s calls or emails but Ava hadn’t pushed either one to reveal the cause. Macy’s stubborn ass would talk about it when she was good and ready and not a moment sooner. Nate could probably be cajoled into spilling his guts if pushed a little by his favorite Aunt Ava, but that wouldn’t be fair to Macy so Ava was staying out of it for the time being.
It hadn’t really been that much of a struggle to leave Macy to her brooding. Ava had been so wrapped up in Cian; she’d had little time for much else. He had his chair pulled up close to hers with his arm draped over the back of hers, his hand toying idly with her silky curls. She turned to look at him and found him looking back, his dark eyes watching her with predatory intent. She flashed him a smile and placed a loud, smacking kiss on his lips. He slid a hand to the back of her neck and pulled her in for a deep feeding kiss, his tongue and lips rubbing against hers until he coaxed a response out of her. She felt the now familiar, but no less stunning, reaction of her body to just a kiss from him. With a mere touch of his lips, he could send a tidal wave of warm wanting through her body that completely overwhelmed any thoughts of resistance. She moaned into his mouth, returning his kiss wholeheartedly before abruptly remembering they were in public. Her hands came up to press against his chest, jerking her mouth free to put some much needed space between them. His heavy lidded gaze glittered with arousal. Those deep pools of chocolate brown mesmerized her like a hypnotist with a pocket watch. He made to draw her towards him for another kiss. She came to her feet so quickly; she knocked her chair over as she stepped out of his reach before he could grab her. “Down, Big Guy before you have me draped across your lap, table or some other hard surface.” Her eyes narrowed in warning. He grinned sheepishly at her.
“Over the last few weeks, I’ve discovered that there’s not a surface known to mankind that doesn’t look better with your naked body draped over it.” He teased, causing her to shake her head at him in mock disgust. He wasn’t joking by much though. They’d had sex in some real unusual places, especially when they had been alone together for weeks in her big house. Whenever and wherever the mood struck, Cian somehow managed to get her out of her clothes and wrapped around him with very little effort on his part. She would have been embarrassed by her shameless behavior if it hadn’t been such a rewarding experience. She righted her chair and moved it away from Cian before taking a seat. His bottom lip pushed out in a mock pout and gave her the puppy dog eyes.
“Stop trying to look pitiful. It’s not happening, Secord. Keep your distance.” She warned with a teasing scowl. His expression reverted to the heavy lidded, sensual gaze that caused her breath to catch and her heart to race. A very self-satisfied smile split his face when he heard her gasp.
“We both know I could change your mind if put to the test.” He said softly, noting their friends’ impending return to the table as they made their laughing way through the crowd. His gaze met hers, one brow arched as if daring her to deny it.
She smiled at him knowingly. “Honey, I didn’t mean it as a challenge.”
“Just so we’re clear.” He gave an arrogant nod of his head. She laughed and shook her head.
“You really are incorrigible.” She huffed in irritation when his long arm reached out and
pulled her, chair and all, right back where she started. When she turned to glare at him he dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose and smiled.
`
“I’ll behave. I promise.” He said managing to look innocent as a choir boy when not two seconds earlier he’d been doing all manner of nasty things to her with those same eyes. Giving him a stern look she kissed his cheek as Max and Macy plopped down in their chairs at the table.
“You probably missed our tango over here billing and cooing at each other.” Max teased in his lightly French-accented voice and everyone knew American women were mad for men with accents. Cian was arrogant and on perpetual testosterone overload but Max made Cian look humble. Luckily for Max, he was hot and somehow managed to come off as charming. “We were magnificent! Ava, darling, you have wasted time staring into Key’s eyes when you could have been treating yourself to watching me master the dance floor.” Max turned his beaming grin on Macy, picking her hand up to bestow a quick kiss to her palm. “And my partner was amazing, as well. You were like a gazelle, gliding across the floor…” Macy let out a snort of disgust but still laughed.
Melting The Ice Page 18