I blinked, that panic that had been simmering under the surface boiling over now.
“No,” I said, but the admission was so weak not even I believed it.
“Oh, babe.” Livia leaned forward, wrapping her hand around my wrist on the table with a gentle squeeze. “Vince is not James.”
“He’s not that much different.”
That made Livia quiet, like she wanted to argue but wasn’t sure she had a leg to stand on. Because just like Vince, James had been an athlete. Just like Vince, James had been charming, and magnetic, and easy to fall for. And just like Vince, James was rich, from an affluent family, with certain expectations of who he should be with.
“He called me.”
“Who?”
I flattened my lips when I looked at her, but it was actual surprise on her face when she damn near choked on her cocktail.
“James? How? Didn’t you block his number?”
“He got a new one,” I said flatly. “Don’t worry — I blocked it, too. But not before he rattled me and gave me his unwarranted advice.”
“He what now?”
I sat up straighter, using my straw wrapper to make a mustache like the one James sported now. Then, in my best impression, I said, “Look, I understand how guys like him tick. I also know you’ve worked your ass off to get where you are.”
“No he did not—”
“I just don’t want you to jeopardize your career because he’s spinning all the right webs and saying all the right things.”
Just like mine had, Livia’s jaw hit the table, and she slow blinked twice before letting out a menacing laugh. She dabbed the corners of her mouth with her napkin before tossing it on the table. “Alright. That’s it. I hope that prick is enjoying breathing today, because he won’t be soon.”
She acted like she was about to stand and go find James, like she was my knight in shining armor. I tried to laugh, but it fell flat, and Livia frowned before reaching across the table to squeeze my arm again.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
I didn’t let myself overthink it before I was blowing a breath through my lips, shaking the whole thing off. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter. But in a way, it was a good reminder of what I already knew to be true.”
Livia’s lips pulled to the side, but she didn’t argue.
“And I’m going to show Vince that, despite him ignoring me every time I’ve told him, this is a professional relationship.”
“Oh, yeah?”
I nodded, smiling wickedly as I sat back and sipped my martini. “I have a date. Tonight.”
“A date?” Livia almost laughed. “With who?”
I waved her off. “I don’t know. Some guy from the apps. I swiped right a few times and got a match.”
“Let me get this straight. Your plan is to go on a date with another man, presumably let him pick you up at the condo where you’re currently staying, and for that to somehow make Vince Tanev realize you’re off limits?”
“Yes.”
“You think,” she said, slower now, like I wasn’t understanding. “He’ll see you leave with this guy and take the hint, that he’ll leave you alone and think to himself, ‘Well, I guess that’s that. Maven is clearly taken and not at all interested in me?’”
“Exactly.”
This time, she did laugh, shaking her head as she plucked the olive out of her martini and popped it into her mouth. “Oh, honey,” she said. “This is going to backfire right in that pretty face of yours.”
This Fucking Dress
Vince
“Man, I’m starving,” Carter said, rubbing his stomach like an old man waiting for Thanksgiving dinner. “I feel like I could eat a whole cow.”
“Maybe if you did, you’d be able to hit the puck better,” Jaxson said, pinching Carter’s biceps with his fingertips. “That wimpy shot you made in our scrimmage today is going to reverberate in my nightmares.”
“Fuck off. It was bar down.”
“It would have actually had to go in the net to be bar down,” Will grumped. “Not doinked off like a missed field goal.”
“It went in and you know it, Daddy P. You just don’t want to admit this rookie scored on you.”
“That’s because you didn’t, Fabio. And you never will.”
Carter and Will were still horsing around when we pushed through the front door of the restaurant. We were immediately greeted by five employees at the hostess stand, all of them eager to welcome us and see us to our table. There were more eyes on Will than the rest of us, mostly because Daddy P didn’t make public appearances often. He was usually home with his kid, where he loved to be. I was glad we’d managed to pull him out for an evening, even if just for dinner.
But that wasn’t my sole focus of the evening.
“You good?” Jaxson asked me, pulling behind a bit to walk at my side.
“Peachy.”
“That’s convincing,” he said on a laugh, and then he narrowed his eyes when he saw me searching the place as we were walked through the restaurant to a back room. “Who are you looking for?”
I didn’t answer him, but when I spotted Maven and her date at a table by the window, I stopped dead in my tracks.
She was so gorgeous it hurt.
Her onyx hair was blown out in a soft, wavy style that reminded me of the night we spent together in Baltimore, her warm brown skin glowing in the candlelight. The gloss on her lips was almost as enticing as the heels strapped to her delicate ankles, and even from a distance, I could see the slit in her velvet blue dress, could trace the lines of her legs that it revealed beneath the table.
I wasn’t sure how long I stood and stared before Jaxson’s laugh cut through the haze.
“You sly dog,” he said, shaking his head as he clapped me on the shoulder. “She know you’re here?”
“Not yet.”
He laughed again. “I’ll write a good eulogy for your funeral.”
He left me then, following the rest of the guys to our table as I stayed rooted in place. A few tables of diners began to recognize me, the chatter getting louder, and Maven must have picked up on it. Because she was in the middle of a beautiful, sing-song laugh that floated through the restaurant and right to my ears when she paused, turning toward the noise.
Her mouth went slack at the sight of me.
For a moment, I just stood there and stared at her, my heart hammering in my chest. A cocky smile slid on my lips easily, without me prompting it, like it was my natural state of being. Then, I slid my hands into my pockets and winked at her before turning and heading in the direction of our table.
I didn’t say a word when I sat down, letting the rest of the guys carry the conversation. Jaxson was watching me with a curious look over his menu, though — especially as my gaze stayed fixed on Maven across the restaurant. She was doing her best to ignore me, but when her eyes would flick to mine, I would always smile.
And she would always glare.
It was a good thing looks couldn’t actually kill, because I was pretty sure my life would be over.
Showing up here was a bold move. I knew as much when I decided to make it. Maven had politely told me after practice that she wouldn’t be around this evening, and when I asked her why, she hid a shy tinge of her cheeks with her hair when she said, “I have a date.”