SECOND SHOT WITH #76 (Hockey Hotties #5)

Chapter 2

HONK!

“Jesus, Ande.” Trevor holds the car door handle as if I’m going to get us into an accident and he’s considering bailing.

“What? I’m still getting used to these roads.” I pull into the grocery store lot.

“The roads are different in Florida compared to Salt Lake City?” Trevor’s arched eyebrows lift to his hairline.

“Shut up.” I playfully smack him in the chest.

“It’s not really cool to tell your boss to shut up.” He opens his door before I have the car fully parked because he has to be dramatic in most things.

“Then don’t ask me to pick you up and help you cook dinner for your date.” I climb out of my car. It’s new, but nothing fancy. The beater my parents gave me in high school never would’ve made it here when I moved.

“I think we have the perfect work relationship.” He swings his arm around my shoulders and kisses my temple. “Plus, you owe me. I gave Janice the hard account, and you got the easy one last week.”

I punch him in the stomach, and he pretends I actually hurt him.

I’m not sure what I would’ve done if Trevor hadn’t hired me and taken me under his wing. Leaving my two best friends, Sophie and Brit, left me feeling a little lost. After the fling I had with Cory in the tropics, I thought we had a connection, so I looked him up now that we were practically neighbors, but what I found online told me the only connection we’d had was that we were both horny. Finding all sorts of stuff online about his playboy ways told me he wasn’t pining away for me. Sure, he’d messaged me a few times when he was coming through Salt Lake City, but I wasn’t interested in being his booty call again. He didn’t know it, but I was already in the same town as him.

“No preferential treatment,” I say.

“If you can’t throw your new bestie a bone, then what’s the advantage of being the boss?” He grabs a cart and propels himself forward.

I take a small basket to grab a few things for my dinner for one. “Let’s pick up the pace. I have things to do tonight.”

“Like what? Watching your pathetic DVR shows? What is it tonight? Bravo housewives or Married at First Sight?” He picks up a grape and tosses it in his mouth, then his eyes widen as though he’s thought of something. “You know what? You should go on that show. Married at First Sight.”

“Yeah, no.” I peruse the fruit. “It’s crazy how good your produce is here.”

“I wouldn’t know the difference, I grew up here.” He takes another grape and throws it up in the air, but it hits the corner of his mouth and rolls across the floor.

“Okay, let’s focus. Do you know what kind of food your date likes?”

He pushes the cart forward. “Nope. It’s a blind date.”

“Trevor, you don’t invite a blind date to your house.”

He shrugs. “It’s fine.”

“You have to woo him. What if he’s the one? Or worse, a serial killer?”

Trevor laughs and pushes the cart like an adolescent who can’t control himself. He’s going to hit some grandma’s heels, and she’s going to smack him in the head with her shelled purse.

“I’m going to check out the meat.” He winks and disappears.

I look over the prepared salad bags, hoping to find one that isn’t starting to go bad already, shaking my head at Trevor. I love that guy.

“Ande?”

My hand stills on a bag of salad.

That voice.

The one I heard in interviews when I stalked him on social media. The same one I still have saved as voice mails on my phone.

I circle around and it’s him. Cory.

When I first moved here, I used to picture running into him, but figured the chances of that happening were slim. A bachelor’s life is very different than mine. Especially when the bachelor is a professional hockey player.

“Cory,” I say, trying to act as surprised as he looks to find me in Florida.

He leans forward and I do too, but we draw back right before going back in for an awkward hug where his lips touch my cheek. I swallow down the sigh that wants to escape my lips.

“What are you doing here?” He runs a hand over the stubble on his face.

“Funny thing. Right after I got back from my trip, I was offered a job here. So…”

His smile grows. “You live here now?”

“I do.”

For a moment, I forget everything else. The booty calls he made to me when the Fury was playing Salt Lake City, the fan site with pictures of him with other women, how hurt I was when I realized that I was just a vacation fling no matter what he’d led me to believe. I’d thought Cory was different, but he was the same as them all.

“That’s great.” He looks around and frowns at whatever he sees behind me right before the sound of oranges toppling from a display has me turning around.

“We thought that was you,” Imogen says and comes over.

One at a time, all the hockey players’ girlfriends reveal themselves from behind the orange display. Tedi, Saige, and Paisley wave before hugging me as though we’re long-lost friends. I met them on vacation and they were nice, but I don’t know them well.

“You should come to Imogen’s. She dates Warner Langley now,” Tedi says.

I laugh. “I saw.”

How could anyone not? The man poses for every damn paparazzi photo with Imogen tucked under his arm. He might as well wear a T-shirt that says, “My heart belongs to Imogen Jacobs.” As you can see, I’m not the least bit jealous.

“Their billboard, you mean. Yeah, he can just stop now.” Tedi puts her finger in her mouth.

Imogen blushes.

“Well, I’d love to, but…” I stop, not sure what else to say.

Cory groans.

“You know what? We have to go. I forgot Warner wants sausage. Big, thick sausage,” Imogen says.

“Nice.” I smile.

“Did you hear yourself?” Tedi pushes Imogen forward, then turns to us. “We’ll meet you at the cashier. Hope to see you there.”

Once they’re gone, Cory and I stand there awkwardly. I don’t know what to say. I’ve both dreaded and looked forward to this moment.

“I should go.” I thumb in the direction I was headed. “It was great seeing you.”

He shoves his hands in his pockets. “Hey, do you have a new number?”

And there it is. I need to decide if I should cut ties altogether with Cory. But damn, half a year as a pro hockey player and his body is transforming in ways that make me drool. And that’s while he’s fully clothed. I can’t imagine him naked… okay, yeah, I can visualize.

“Hey, love.” Trevor approaches us. “Got the meat.” He holds up a package of some type of meat with a huge smile and puts it in his cart. “Oh, I don’t need salad. I don’t much care to eat anything green.”

Trevor doesn’t seem to even notice Cory at first, but Cory is busy looking him up and down as though he’s sizing up the competition.

“Oh, who’s our friend?” Trevor asks, then a strangled cry comes out of his mouth. “No! Oh my god. Are you trying to pick up Ande right now?”

I scoff and turn to him. He covers his mouth with his palm.

I slide my arm through my friend’s and Trevor looks at the movement in confusion. “Cory, this is my boyfriend, Trevor. Trevor, do you know Cory—”

“Freeman! Jet from the Florida Fury. I just figured it out.” Trevor sticks out his hand.

I hope he’ll go with the white lie I just told. It was a split-second decision, and it just seems easiest to end the possibility of something with Cory.

“That would be me. So, you two are dating, huh?” Cory shakes Trevor’s hand, his eyes on me.

“Yep,” I answer, instilling my voice with confidence.

“How the hell do you two know one another?” Trevor stares at me, waiting for the answer.

I never told Trevor, or anyone else, about Cory because I think deep down, I knew that it probably was more meaningful for me than it was for him.

“We met at a resort last summer. In the off-season,” Cory says.

“Tell me, Cory, if someone was going to make you dinner, what would you want them to cook?” Trevor asks.

Before I know it, the three of us are walking the aisles of the grocery store. Cory is actually telling Trevor what to cook and I’m annoyed. Trevor is an intelligent guy. I’m pretty sure he can put two and two together—like my awkwardness toward Cory and the fact he keeps trying to start a conversation with me while Trevor bulldozes him with questions.

Before I realize it, we’re at the checkout with all the hockey girlfriends.

“I can’t believe you know someone who plays for the Fury, Ande. Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Trevor asks.

Tedi’s eyebrows crinkle in confusion.

“Girls, this is my boyfriend, Trevor. Trevor, these are all the girlfriends of—” I don’t get a chance to finish before Trevor jumps in.

“Imogen Jacobs, you date Warner Langley,” Trevor says, pointing at her with a big smile.

“That’s like the free bingo marker. Try another one of us,” Tedi says.

He shrugs. “I just saw the i********: post.”

“You and everyone else.” Tedi rolls her eyes.

“Hey now, there’s no reason to be so snippy about him loving me. Don’t we want the best for one another?”

Paisley puts her hand on Imogen’s shoulder. “Of course, sweetie.”

We get through the round of introductions and Trevor seems thrilled by the prospect of meeting all the hockey players at a barbeque this afternoon, though I’m trying to give him a look that says I want to do anything but. Imogen gives me her address and tells us we can follow them to the house.

After we say goodbye and I get in the driver’s seat, I put the keys in the ignition and look squarely at Trevor. “We’re not going. If I happen to see any of them at some point in the future, I’ll just say we got lost.”

“We are not skipping a party with the Florida Fury.” Trevor turns to me with wide eyes as if I’m crazy. “Plus, what’s up with the lie about me being your boyfriend? I’m clearly gay.”

I shrug. “You can do straight.”

“Just because I know hockey does not make me seem heterosexual.” He crosses his arms and stares out the front window.

He’s right. Now I feel like an ass.

“Listen, I hooked up with Cory at that resort. I was there with my friends to try to forget about my last boyfriend, who’d cheated on me. Met Cory, we hooked up, and I thought there might be the potential for more. Turns out I was just a puck bunny who got lucky because I got him to myself for a week.”

“That man still has something for you. He couldn’t stop staring.”

A blush heats my cheeks. I shake my head. “He probably just wants to get laid.”

“Whatever you say, but you owe me. We’re going to a private party at Warner Langley’s place.”

I put the car in drive, and he reads me the directions, shooting question after question at me about Cory. There isn’t much to tell, other than his persona doesn’t match what’s coming out of his mouth most of the time. He told me I was some rare attraction he doesn’t usually indulge in. In reality, I’m just the girl he wanted on that trip, and I made it easy for him to have me. But silly me believed him.

“I can’t wait!” Trevor claps like a toddler. “We should’ve brought wine. What did you buy?”

“Salad.”

“All I got is the meat, but that should do. They’re all big muscular hockey gods, right?”

“What about your date?” I ask and glance at him.

“Just canceled. What are the chances that a blind date will be better eye candy than a roomful of professional athletes?”

I pull down a long driveway and park behind a bunch of other vehicles. Trevor is out of the car in a shot. Before he can grab the meat, Saige rushes over to us as Imogen walks up to the door of the luxury beach house.

“Come on, Warner planned a surprise engagement,” she says in a hushed voice.

“Shut up!” Trevor says and turns to me with incredulous excitement on his face.

Saige smiles and nods. “Yep, so we have to go around the back of the house to get there before Imogen.”

Trevor sprints around the house. By the time I catch up to him, we’re directed to stand in a line that Imogen is walking down the middle of toward Warner, who is waiting for her at the end. God, I’m so uncomfortable with us being here when we don’t belong.

“May I remind you, you’re only here because of me?” I whisper into Trevor’s ear.

“And I plan on being the best pretend boyfriend ever!”

Warner grins at Imogen when she reaches him and starts in on his speech.

Feeling someone’s gaze on me, I look over and see Cory’s watching. I offer a smile and slide my hand down Trevor’s arm to hold his hand. He squeezes to tell me he’s here, but I probably picked the worst guy to try to sell as my boyfriend. I know all this man candy will be a distraction for Trevor. Hell, it’s a distraction for me.