Melting The Ice (19 page)

Chapter Thirty

“Why the hell would you want to watch something like that?” Cian asked in an angry, bewildered tone while Ava cackled like a loon.  He looked at her as if he were worried about her mental health and shook his head. “That had to be the most depressing damned thing I’ve ever seen…that wasn’t a good movie!  It was horrible!”

She lay weakly against the pillows, unable to stop laughing at him.  He had gotten involved in the movie and when he figured out what was going on, had been absolutely horrified that Ally had succumbed to Alzheimer’s.  He was like a little boy that had discovered there was no Santa and she found it unbearably cute.  Finally able to stop laughing, she lay there looking at him with a grin on her face. “You can pick the next one.”

“I picked that one!” he practically shouted.  She snickered earning herself a quelling look.

“How about you pick a movie you like this time…something real manly with lots of spitting and scratching in it.” She teased, earning her a smack on the ass before he went back to the movie collection.  After quick bathroom breaks, she situated herself beside him to watch his choice.  She snickered when she saw he had chosen
The Gladiator
but since she was definitely down with Russell Crowe in a metal skirt, she didn’t complain.  It was after midnight before Russell Crowe died a valiant death and she was half asleep on top of Cian when the credits rolled.  He yawned hugely and rolled out of the bed to start cleaning up their mess.  Beer bottles, Pepsi cans, potato chip bags, candy wrappers and the empty Dibs box were scattered around the bed.  She half-heartedly helped before brushing her teeth and slipping under the covers.  She heard Cian moving around and drifted off for a few minutes before she felt the bed dip with his weight.  Her eyes fluttered open to see him in his boxer briefs, sliding under the covers and turning off the bedside lamp before pulling her into his arms and dropping a kiss on her cheek.

“Good night, Baby.” He whispered and seemingly without any hesitation whatsoever went out like a light.  She lay there for a long time, listening to his deep, even breathing behind her, one heavily muscled arm under her head, the other draped over her waist.  She couldn’t remember the last time she had been in the bed with a man, snuggled together to actually sleep, and perfectly content to be so.  He had surprised her when he had shown up at her house.  She knew all the guys had went out to a strip club the previous night and had tried really hard not to be jealous or even wonder about what Cian had been doing.  It had taken everything inside of her not to interrogate him.  She was quite proud of herself for refraining.  Figuring he had shown up to have sex with her after a couple days without any and knowing where he’d been the night before, she had been instantly irritated at the sight of him.  He had shocked her when after telling him they couldn’t have sex; he kicked his shoes off and snuggled in to watch movies with her.  Poor thing,
The Notebook
had really upset him.  Watching him being all manly, refusing to admit the movie touched his heart had been so…cute.  Not that she hadn’t already been impressed with him prior to tonight; seriously, what wasn’t to like? But she had never seen the sweet, affectionate side to him before and oddly enough, that had made her own feelings toward him softer. 

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 sometimes 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!”