Drive (3 page)

This was what got me in trouble. Instead of being smart, and seeking out a sensible partner, I acted out of desperation sometimes. But no more. With any luck, this new column idea would save me from myself.

Niko

My muscles tensed with nervous energy. This was it – my first practice with my new team. I was so ready for this and scared shitless at the exact same time.

There was no room for fear. My parents were behind on loan payments for their deli, and the money I now made was their only hope. I was wiring them cash this afternoon from my new seriously higher salary. I had to be good enough to stay on this team, no matter what it took.

Ryke nodded at me from across the ice, Luke next to him. I was a lucky bastard to already have friends here. They were on a different line, but if I fucked this up royally, they’d be honest with me about it.

Price’s whistle sounded and I fell into the reflexive mode practice brought out of me.
Same pucks, same sticks, same game,
I reminded myself.
Just playing it with a bunch of guys who’ve got fat bank accounts.

But that wasn’t the only difference. This team was polished. The guys were faster, stronger and more precise than I was used to. Surprisingly, it felt good. Their strength brought out my A game.

Price only screamed at me once, which was better than a lot of the other guys. I’d been hoping to survive this, but as I stepped out of the shower in the locker room and wrapped a towel around my waist, I decided I’d done a little better than just survive it. I fit in okay here.

“Hey Niko,” Luke called from a few feet away. “You wanna come over for dinner tonight?”

“Yeah. You cooking?”

Luke grinned. “No, Dell is. So have a big snack before you come.”

“I heard that,” Dell’s sharp voice said from somewhere. I couldn’t see her until she stuck her head around a row of lockers. “You love my vegetable lasagna.”

“I’m teasing, baby,” Luke said. “Course I love it.”

I hadn’t had a home cooked meal in a while, so it wouldn’t have to be that great to impress me. I spent the afternoon lifting weights and finally shopping for the furniture I needed in my apartment. I hadn’t brought much of anything from Rockford because I didn’t have much.

After a slow afternoon on my own, I knocked on Luke and Dell’s door that evening. They’d moved into a nice downtown apartment after they got married. It was large and comfortable, but not pretentious. The toys scattered on the floor and the comfortable furniture were reminders that a family lived here.

“Hey, man,” Luke said when he opened the door.

“Hey. Was I supposed to bring anything?”

“Just your pretty self, asshole,” he said, leading me into the kitchen. My gaze went right to Sadie, who sat at the table with Dell’s son Kyler on her lap. They were coloring something with crayons, and she was smiling and stroking a hand down his shaggy brown hair.

I hadn’t known she’d be here, and it was a very pleasant surprise.

Damn, was she beautiful. I was just as starstruck as I’d been that day at the hotel bar. Her big brown eyes sparkled with amusement. Her long, dark hair was wrapped into a bun at the nape of her neck, drawing attention to her flawless face.

“Niko!” Kyler cried when he saw me. He slid down from Sadie’s lap and wrapped his arms around my waist in a hug.

“Hey Ky, you’re getting tall,” I said.

“You’re staying in Chicago, right?” he asked, looking up at me.

“Yep. As far as I know.”

“Ryke and Kate and Melody and AJ are coming over, too,” he said. “And this is my Aunt Sadie.”

“I met Sadie at the wedding,” I said, locking eyes with her. She didn’t look happy, but she also didn’t look like she wanted me dead, which was an improvement.

“What are you guys coloring?” I asked, looking over at the papers on the table.

“Aunt Sade’s drawing magic animals and I’m coloring them,” Kyler said. I arched my brows, impressed by her depiction of a winged horse.

“Nice,” I said. “The scarf’s a good touch.”

“All magical horses wear scarves,” she said, a smile touching her lips.

“You wanna color, too, Niko?” Kyler asked.

“Sure.” I sat down and sorted through the dozens of crayons on the table. We worked in silence for about five minutes, until Kyler slid down again when a girl about his age burst into the kitchen.

Everyone got absorbed in conversation, leaving me and Sadie looking at each other in silence.

“Still mad at me?” I asked.

“It’s hard to be mad at a man who’s coloring,” she said wryly.

I glanced down at the red crayon in my hand. “I’m secure enough in my manhood to admit I like coloring.”

“Is this another one of your moves? Sweet and disarming?”

I leaned just a little closer to her. “Depends. Are you feeling disarmed?”

“Not at all.”

“There it is, then. You’re immune to my moves, so you’ll get nothing but straight-up Niko.”

“I bet just the name is enough for some women.” She looked down at the rabbit with a snout she was drawing. “Say it with the Russian accent.”

I grinned. Like hell she didn’t like me. “Nikola Vereshkova.”

“Nice. You have any brothers?”

“Two of ‘em. One’s got a girlfriend and the other’s 17. You into that?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Eww, no.”

“Then I’m the only Vereshkova open for your consideration.”

“I’m pitching a column idea for 60 days without dating to my editor tomorrow, and that’ll include mindless hookups,” she said softly, though the kids were on the other side of the room. “Sorry.”

“You think I’m only good for mindless hookups?”

She looked up and our eyes met. “I think you only
want
mindless hookups.”

I couldn’t argue with her there. I liked shit simple when it came to women. That usually meant one night only. I didn’t envy my teammates who were constantly dealing with jealous girlfriends.

“Sixty days of celibacy sounds like torture,” I said, changing the subject.

Sadie shrugged. “It’s been more than sixty now and I’m good. There’s nothing a man can do that I can’t do better anyway.”

My lips parted and my cock stirred to life. Was she telling me that she …?

“Dinner’s ready,” Dell announced.

Everyone started moving toward the dining room, and I lingered behind Sadie so I could admire her tight, round ass. I needed to get this woman out of my system. Every time I saw her, I wanted her a little more, and sex was the only way to resolve that. I’d have to either wait 60 days or crack her resolve to last 60.

Given how much I wanted to scoop her little body into my arms right now and shove her into the nearest wall to kiss her until she was gasping for air, I already knew which one it would be.

Sadie

Miranda Carrison was my professional idol. She’d made her way to the top spot in a newsroom in her early 40’s. Journalism was more progressive than some fields, but the management positions were still dominated by men.

With shoulder-length blonde curls and dark reading glasses, she didn’t have the cutthroat appearance some people expected in a managing editor. She looked like a mom, and since I’d lost my mom, I figured that was one of the things that drew me to Miranda.

She was tough when need be, and the woman did not like hearing the word ‘no’. She’d been reminding me of it for five full minutes as she tried to convince me to expand my weekly column to twice a week.

“Miranda.” I gave her my
I’m serious
look – brows arched, mouth set in a thin line. “I have magazine work lined up. Work that pays more. And it’s a struggle to sound like a thriving single woman some weeks. One of the main reasons I tried Internet dating was so I could write about it. And you read in my column how that went.”

Her lips turned up in a grin. “That’s what I’m talking about! More of those types of columns. Our readers love it. You’re helping us pull the 20-somethings in, and that’s not easy these days. I saw something in our Events section you can try.” She thumbed through the newspaper on her desk. “Speed dating.”

I rolled my eyes toward the ceiling. “No. I did it once, and that was enough. One man in an evening is bad enough, I don’t need a dozen weirdos.”

“You won’t find Mr. Right with that attitude.” She gave me a knowing glare.

“I’m over it.” I waved a hand. “That’s actually why I wanted to talk to you. I want to pitch a new idea.”

Her face brightened. “Is it something that would work as two columns per week?”

I ignored her persistence. “Sixty days without dating. I want to write about single people having full and complete lives, and not feeling like there’s something wrong with being alone.”

“But you’re a serial dater.”

“I am not,” I said, a little too defensively.

“This doesn’t sound as catchy as your adventures in dating, though.”

“My adventures are eroding my optimism. I can’t handle another man who lies, only wants sex or is secretly married.”

Miranda snorted and laughed lightly. “How
is
that guy?”

I glared at her. “How would I know? Like I’d ever talk to a snake like that again.”

“I don’t know, Sadie …” She tapped a pen on her desk, considering. “I hate to mess with a concept that’s working so well.”

“Let’s compromise, then. I’ll write this column twice a week for 60 days. We can re-evaluate after that.”

Miranda looked at me silently. After a few seconds, the lines in the corners of her eyes appeared as she smiled.

“Did you just use the Number One Miranda Carrison negotiation tactic? Make the other person think they’re getting what they want when in truth, you are?”

I smiled back at her. “Is that where I learned that?”

“Alright, Sadie. We’ll give it a go.”

“Thanks.” I rose from my chair, eager to get out of there before she changed her mind.

“We’d love to have you over for Thanksgiving.”

A knot of anxiety formed in my stomach. I’d never met Miranda’s husband and kids, but I knew spending the holiday with them would bother me no matter what they were like. Being around a traditional family always reminded me of what I’d lost.

“Thanks,” I said, avoiding her gaze as I slid my coat on. “But I’ll spend it with my friends.”

“Do you need some extra time to get this first column in? A few days to contemplate life without dating?”

“Nope. My first one’s already written.”

I waved at her and left, making my way through the quiet activity of the newsroom. A tingle of excitement stayed with me as I rode the train that let me off two miles from my apartment. I considered my new situation as I walked, bundled against the brisk wind. It was a relief to be unable to date. No pressure. No feeling like a failure for not even trying.

After finishing a query for a story about traveling in Ireland, I did a load of laundry, folding the last of it as Kyler came bounding in my front door.

“Hey, Aunt Sadie.” He went right to the markers and paper I kept on my kitchen table for him.

“Hey,” Dell said, sticking her head in the door. “I’ll see you after the game?”

“Yeah. I can bring him home so you guys can go out tonight. I’m officially not allowed to date anymore, so I don’t need to go out.”

“Your editor said yes?”

“Yep. If I didn’t wear shorts to the gym, I could quit shaving my legs until next year.”

“I’d rather come home with you tonight than go out,” she said. “I’m tired.”

“We can decide after,” I said. “Have a good game.”

Kyler and I hung out and made his favorite dinner, cheesy spaghetti. He was bouncy with excitement about the game for the entire train ride to the arena. We got to our seats right before the puck dropped.

“Yeah, Luke!” Kyler cried, jumping out of his seat. “Hit somebody! Kick some ass!”

“Kyler,” I said tersely. “Watch the language.”

He looked at me, wide-eyed. “Luke says it.”

“He’s a grown-up.” Hopefully that was a good enough reason for a kid, because it sounded kind of weak to me.

I felt a rush of excitement when Niko skated onto the ice. He moved so smooth and fast that I found myself mesmerized. Try as I might to watch anyone else out there, he was the one my eyes kept wandering back to.

The seats Luke had set us up with were amazing. We were so close to the ice that I could see Niko’s dark eyes when he flew into the wall with another player, fighting for the puck. They battled, shoving each other and trash talking angrily. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it definitely looked like trash talk.

When Niko took the puck, I grabbed Kyler’s knee with excitement. I was just a fan of Dell’s team, not a fan of Niko. Well, maybe a little bit of a fan. Only of his hockey playing skills, though.

We were in celebration mode when our team won 3-1.

“Let’s wait for your mom and Luke so you can say goodnight before I take you home,” I said, ruffling Kyler’s hair.

“I want to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa,” he said. “Grandma always goes to the same door we meet Mom and Luke at and she’ll say yes. Mom said it’s okay with her if it’s okay with Grandma.”

“Okay.” That left me free to ride the train home and write for a few hours.

I zipped Kyler’s coat to keep out the chilly late-fall air as we stepped outside. He was yawning, and I was sure he’d be asleep before his grandparents had even pulled into the driveway to their house. I wrapped my arm around him and he leaned against me, staying still until he was swept up into Luke’s arms.

“Hey, Ky,” Luke said, grinning at him.

“Great game!” Kyler cried, now wide awake. “You were on your man the whole time.”

Luke laughed and put him down so Dell could hug him. Her mom was standing off to the side. I glanced at her for just a second before my attention was stolen by the tall, dark-haired man in a navy suit who was heading our way. Holy hell. Niko cleaned up even better than I remembered from the wedding. And I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Two women stopped him before he made it all the way to where we were standing.

“You’re coming out with us,” Dell said, grabbing my arm.

“No, I’ve got work—”