Faceoff (14 page)

“Holy shit,” he gasped moments later. His thighs quivered. Sweat dripped from his forehead and he swiped an arm across it before slowly withdrawing from her body. He collapsed onto the seat beside her, the vinyl hot under his ass, and reached for her hand. She too fell onto the seat, and, half sitting, half lying, they stayed there holding hands, the softly rocking boat echoing the lingering pulses of ecstasy in his body, lulling his sated mind and body to near sleep in the hot sun.

“Now I can say I’ve had sex in a boat,” Kyla murmured.

He smiled without opening his eyes. “Me too.”

“Like you’ve never done this before.”

“I haven’t. And seriously, Kyla…about all those girls…there aren’t any.”

“A couple of years ago I heard you might be getting married.”

He lifted his head and looked at her. “You heard that, huh.” He stared past her out at the never-ending surface of the water, stretching all the way to the horizon, pure and blue. “Well, I thought I might be getting married too. It didn’t work out.”

“Why?”

“Let’s eat lunch.”

“You brought lunch?” She sat up and reached for her bathing suit. He plucked it out of her hand. “Hey!”

“Stay naked a little longer. This is seriously sexy.”

She grinned. “Fine. But I can’t believe you remembered food, but not condoms.”

“I can’t believe it either. Let’s move up front.” He spread out a blanket and they reclined on it in the sun. He reached into a small cooler bag. “Pastrami on rye. Lemonade. And…” He pulled a bag of potato chips from a plastic grocery bag. “Old Dutch chips. You have no idea how much I miss these living down in the States.”

“Well, there’s one more benefit of being back home.”

“Definitely.”

“So tell me why you didn’t get married.”

Damn. She wasn’t going to let that go. He sighed. “Her name was Jovannah.”

“She’s from Phoenix?”

“Yeah. She manages a clothing store.”

“Mmm.”

He looked at her. “I know what you’re thinking.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do. And you’re right.”

She laughed and picked up the bottle of lemonade. “Blonde bimbo with big boobs? Really? I’m right?”

He couldn’t help it, he laughed too. Maybe Jovannah wasn’t such a sore spot any more. “She wasn’t really a bimbo. But definitely not as smart as you.”

She tossed her hair back and took a bite of her sandwich.

“We were together a couple of years. I thought it was pretty serious. Then I had that knee injury…don’t know if you heard about that.”

“I did.” Her eyes regarded him solemnly, attentively. All her focused attention on him made his chest go hot.

“I had to have surgery. I…well, it was stupid, the surgery went fine, but I was a little freaked out about it and worried that my hockey career was over.” He bent his head and studied the potato chip in his hand. “I don’t know what I’d do if that happened.”

She didn’t say anything.

“So,” he continued. “I guess that kind of freaked Jovannah out too. Because it turned out my career was just as important to her as it is to me. In fact, more important than
I
was. She screwed around on me with another guy on the team. I guess she was making sure she had a backup plan if I ended up done playing hockey.”

“Bitch.”

He lifted his head. She met his eyes and she wasn’t even smiling.

“Yeah,” he agreed, and tipped the lemonade bottle up to drink deeply. “It was hard because I felt stupid. I should’ve known that’s what she wanted. I learned that lesson a long time ago.”

“What lesson?”

“That women were only interested in me because of what I do for a living.”

After two seconds of silence, she burst out laughing. He frowned. “What?”

“That’s not why women are interested in you! Are you kidding me?”

“No.” His frown deepened.

She leaned forward, now apparently oblivious to her lovely nudity. “You’re smart, gorgeous, funny. You’re fair-minded and ethical and loyal and trustworthy. Yeah, you’re…um…gorgeous…and super talented, but you’ve apparently never let that change who you are inside.
Those
are the reasons you have women all over you.”

He stared at her, the heat in his chest becoming a swelling softness. “Ah…” For a moment he had a weird sensation, like being high, like he was floating out of his body and then plummeting back to earth.

“And you have mustard on your chin.” One corner of her mouth lifted.

He grinned and swiped at his chin.

Chapter Eleven

The rest of the week passed quickly, with time spent talking to her mom and dad and to her brothers. Kyla got to know her little niece better and got to hold baby Caleb and play with him. She watched Tag and Scott, best friends their whole lives, reconnect and spend guy time together. She even spent time with Remi and Jess talking about girl things—and it wasn’t so bad.

And she spent every night in the tent with Tag.

The hardest times were when she and Tag were together with their families. She tried her best to ignore Tag despite the heated haze of lust that surrounded her every time he was near. And sometimes when he wasn’t. It was nearly impossible. Their gazes would catch and hold, sparks sizzling through her veins every time, her stomach doing a slow roll of lust, heat expanding around them. She’d thought they were doing a good job of hiding it though, even the sneaking into the tent every night, until Saturday afternoon, the day before she was supposed to leave, when she ended up in the Heller kitchen alone with Laura, helping prepare dinner to barbecue that night. Remi’d been helping them but had just gone to buy more wine.

“Okay, I have to ask you something,” Laura said. “It’s kind of personal, but don’t be upset.”

Kyla’s stomach tightened. What was this about?

Laura smiled at her. “You and Tag…is something going on between you?”

Heat swept from Kyla’s chest to her face and she knew she was blushing. Dammit. “Er…why do you ask that?”

“Just a feeling I have. You two have been spending a lot of time together this week.”

“Um…well, we all have.”

“I haven’t seen you disappear with Logan or Matt in the boat for hours to go fishing. And then come home with no fish. Or taking long walks on the beach. Or…” Her smile deepened. “Come to think of it, I’ve never seen Tag actually lie on the beach. But he has this week. With you.”

Kyla bit her lip and bent her head to the chicken breasts she was trimming, letting her hair fall over her face. She couldn’t lie to Laura. Was Laura upset about this?

“You know I’ve always thought of you as the daughter I didn’t have,” Laura continued, whisking up lemon juice and Dijon mustard for the marinade. She gave a little laugh. “Doug and I kept trying for a girl and look what we ended up with. Four boys.”

Kyla lifted her head to give Laura a smile, her words making her chest feel warm. “You love your four boys.”

“I do. But having you as almost part of the family was so nice. I liked having a girl around. Even though you wanted to be one of the boys.”

Kyla gave a choked little laugh. “I tried. I don’t think I ever really was.”

“That’s not a bad thing,” Laura said. “Clearly Tag doesn’t see you as one of the boys. Or even a little sister.”

Kyla paused. “Does that bother you?” Her body tensed, waiting for Laura’s reply. She couldn’t bear it if Laura was angry about this.

“No!”

Kyla’s gaze flew up to Laura’s face.

“Not at all! I think it’s wonderful.” Laura studied her and Kyla’s insides twisted. “I love you, Kyla, and if you and Tag…well, I’d love that too. So much.”

Oh no. This was worse than Laura being upset. This was Laura getting the wrong idea and getting false hopes about something that was never going to happen. Kyla dropped the knife and slumped against the counter. “Oh. Well, I’m not sure how to say this but…neither Tag or I are looking for any kind of relationship.”

“Oh.” Laura’s smile drooped a little. “I thought…”

What could she say? How could she make this better? How could she tell Tag’s mom they were just having hot tent sex every night, naked public sex in boats and long make-out sessions on the beach when they could get a moment alone?

They were also having long talks, sharing hopes and fears, talking about their futures…but never a future together. Kyla’s heart thudded slowly in her chest. “Laura. We’re both adults. Whatever this is…it’s going to end tomorrow when I head back to Winnipeg and…” Her voice got stuck, her throat suddenly thick and swollen. “And…” To her horror, tears sprang to her eyes. She met Laura’s gaze with an appalled silence.

“Oh no. Oh Kyla.” Laura immediately moved toward her and drew her in for a hug.

“I can’t…touch you…chicken hands…” She’d just been handling raw chicken and couldn’t touch anything. Laura gave a sniffly laugh and squeezed her, then drew back. She touched Kyla’s cheek.

“Are you okay, Kyla?”

Kyla nodded. “Of course! I’m fine. I never cry! This is so stupid. I don’t know what came over me.”

Laura grabbed a tissue and dabbed at her wet cheeks for her. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. “You probably don’t want to talk to me about it,” she said. “I’m his mom. But you could talk to your mom. Or even Remi. She likes you and she’s a very good listener.”

“I don’t need to talk to anyone.”

“Or maybe you should talk to Tag about it.”

Kyla’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “No! There’s nothing to talk about. We both knew what we were getting into…” Well, there. She’d pretty much just told Laura they’d been boinking their brains out all week. She swallowed. “We’re just having fun, Laura.”

Laura nodded. “Okay.” But Kyla didn’t miss the disappointment that crossed Laura’s face.

Damn! She’d always thought their parents would be horrified if something like this happened. She’d never in a million years thought that maybe Laura
wanted
her and Tag to get together! Dear god, that was crazy.

Her insides churned as she returned to the chicken breasts, trying to focus on them. Just then Remi returned from the store. “I’m back!” she called cheerfully, setting the bags of wine bottles on the dining table. “They don’t have a big selection at that little store, but I got something anyway.”

But Remi apparently had instincts as good as Laura’s and she looked back and forth between Kyla and Laura as she unpacked the bags to put the wine if the fridge. Kyla forced a smile. “Great.”

“How’s the food coming? What can I do?”

“You can snap this asparagus,” Laura said with a smile as bright and forced as Kyla’s.

Damn.

* * * * *

It was their last night all together. Kyla and Tag were both heading back to the city on Sunday. They both had work obligations they had to get back to. So the two families had planned a big barbecue on the MacIntosh deck.

After they’d cooked and drank wine and eaten, they all sat on the deck. A blanket of pale gray obscured the sky, meaning rain was likely coming, but the evening air was still soft and warm. Then Kyla looked up to see her dad standing on a chair. “Dad! What are you doing?”

“I’m making a speech.”

She slouched back in her chair, waiting. She smiled and sipped her wine. Her dad was used to public speaking in his role as CEO, often traveling all over the world to give business presentations, so had no reservations about standing on a chair in front of the family to make a speech.

“I just want to say a few words while we’re all together,” he began. “It doesn’t happen very often anymore that all our kids can be home at the same time. Now our family is growing with Jessica, and grandchildren. The Heller family is growing too, with Remi here.” He smiled at Remi. “And maybe I’m not supposed to mention it, everyone has been tiptoeing around this all week, but Doug and Laura are going to be grandparents too.”

Everyone exchanged uneasy glances. Jase’s ex-girlfriend’s pregnancy wasn’t something anyone felt very comfortable talking about. Trust Dad to put it out there.

“That’s the truth, and even though it may not be ideal circumstances, I know Jase is going to be a great father and we’ll have another little one running around here soon. That child will be as welcome here as any. Just wanted you to know that, Jase and Remi.”

They both nodded, Jase’s mouth tight, Remi’s eyes bright.

“You all know that our family’s been through a rough time over the last year with Jenn’s cancer diagnosis.”

Another subject no one really wanted to talk about, another elephant on the deck, so to speak.

“So that just makes us extra grateful for this time together and for everything we have.” Dad paused to take a sip of his drink and Kyla suspected he was feeling a little emotional. “Having our whole family around us this week has been an incredible gift. That includes you Heller boys too,” he added with a smile. “All of us…Doug and Laura, Jenn and I…are so proud of all you kids. Not kids anymore. Grown adults, all of you successful and bright and happy. That means so much to us.”

Kyla looked around. There was Tag, Logan and Jase, big hockey superstars, and Matt just drafted into the NHL in the first round. There was her brother, VP at a big bank, the one who’d given her parents their first grandchildren, and Michael the tech entrepreneur making money like crazy.

And her. She looked down at her drink. This would have been the perfect time to celebrate her making partner. Her stomach tightened. It wasn’t a competition. She knew that. But she felt like the least successful of all of them in terms of her career.

Hell, her life overall wasn’t any better. She’d sacrificed so much working for the partnership, she didn’t have a husband or children or even a boyfriend. She sighed.

“So,” her father finished. “We just want to thank all of you for making the effort to be here, even though some of you have other obligations. When it comes right down to it, family is the most important thing and we know we’ve raised all of you right at times like this. So let’s drink a toast―to family.”

That old guilt nudged her again, at the fact that she’d almost missed this. Kyla lifted her drink in the toast and smiled and caught Tag’s eye. Heat speared through her again. Their eyes met and held and she gulped her wine. Family. She remembered the things they’d talked about this past week, his tough questions about her job and her future.