Melting The Ice (21 page)

Chapter Thirty-Four

“I begged Cian to get help, long before our trip to Miami.” A tearful, but gorgeous Lani Mason cried delicately into a tissue, pouring her heart out to the over-the-top, trashy talk show host.  The host, looking appropriately sympathetic, placed his arm around Lani’s slender shoulders for a quick hug.

“I know this is hard for you, Lani, but can you tell me when you first found out your lover, Cian Secord, had a drug problem?” He asked, laying the sincerity on thick.

“I saw signs from the beginning but denied it to myself for months. “ Her voice caught on a sob. “When I found out, I tried to talk to him but he wanted none of that.  Cian loves a party and if you’re going to be with him, you can either party with him or get out.  I loved him so much…I made some really bad decisions trying to keep him.”  The large, grey eyes that had graced so many magazine covers stared soulfully into the cameras.  Cian hit the off button on the television remote and chucked it across the room, the phone still to his ear.

“I can’t believe this bitch…” He muttered in disgust.  He had known Lani was giving interviews, doing everything she could to make herself appear an innocent bystander.  He even kind of understood why she would go to such lengths to repair her public image.  But even after years of dealing with shallow people that didn’t care who got hurt as long as they got what they wanted, he was still stunned to hear a woman he had once made love with try to make him her scapegoat.

“I warned you it was bad.” His agent’s voice was weary. “She’s scheduled for several more appearances in the next couple of weeks, plus an interview with People.  Maybe you should reconsider filing that lawsuit against her, Cian.”

“Hell no, Craig! That will just make this three ring circus even more of a nightmare.” He said tiredly, setting on the edge of the bed beside the suitcase he’d been packing.  He braced his forehead in his hand and closed his eyes, feeling a headache forming.

“If we’re not responding, then you need to stay where you are.” Craig said irritation ripe in his voice. “There are reporters at your parents’ home, your apartment building, team headquarters, the arena and my office, just to name a few.  It’s your call, Key.  Stay where you are in peace or come back here and deal with the press.”

Cian snorted in disgust wondering where this so-called ‘peace’ was located because it sure as hell wasn’t at Ava’s.  It had been over a week and it was still like a nuclear winter in the Talbot household.  She barely acknowledged his presence, didn’t speak to him at all and made herself scarce from the premises.  She had even gone so far as to bring in a housekeeper to take care of him so she didn’t have to interact with him at all.  He’d tried to talk to her on several occasions, as had Max but she refused to listen to either of them.  He couldn’t believe how much he missed her.  He hadn’t been dumped since middle school and that had only been because the girl had beaten him to the punch.  Seeing her every day and not being able to kiss her, touch her or even talk to her was eating him alive and it just got worse as time crawled on.  He had halfheartedly considered moving back into the Barracks but hadn’t been able to work up any enthusiasm for it.  It was childish but he figured if he was going to be miserable and pissed off, Ava could join him. 

Max’s presence had helped some, though if he were honest with himself, he almost wished Max had never come for a visit.  Everything was fine until Max was spotted by that damn groupie at the bar.  He knew it wasn’t fair to blame Max but if he didn’t  blame Max, the only person left to blame was himself for being stupid enough to continue lying to Ava about who he was and why he was there.  He had discussed it with Jameson before coming to West Virginia and they had agreed not to tell Ava.  Jay said his mom did not like dealing with drama and especially other people’s drama that didn’t concern her.  She wouldn’t have allowed Cian to stay if she had known the possible repercussions.  That was all well and good until he had started sleeping with her.  He should have come clean with her then but he’d been too busy taking advantage of his good fortune in persuading Ava into bed.  He hadn’t planned to get attached.  So much for plans, he thought with self-disgust; now he was stuck in a house with a beautiful, sexy as hell woman that he had full carnal knowledge of and she treated him like a leper.  For six weeks, he had spent nearly every night in her bed and sometimes a lot of the days.  He’d become accustomed to sleeping with her against him all night and now he was barely sleeping at all.

“Are you listening to me, Key?” Craig asked when Cian failed to answer his question.

“Yeah, I’m listening.” Cian said scrubbing his hand over his face.  “I’ll stay put for the time being.  For the record, I don’t like it.” He grumbled.

“Yeah, well, welcome to the real world where people do things they don’t like all the time.” Craig’s words dripped sarcasm.  “You been working out and staying in shape?”

“Every day.” Cian responded shortly, irritation evident. “If anything changes, you’ll let me know.” Cian demanded.   Craig quickly agreed, wanting to placate his star client as much as possible.

“I know you’re tired of being cooped up, but it’s not for much longer.  One day you’ll look back on this and laugh.” Craig said with a tired sigh, wishing there were more he could do than offer trite clichés.  Cian laughed without humor.

“Somehow I doubt that.” He said before ending the call and flopping back onto the bed to stare at the ceiling.  He knew that day wasn’t coming any time soon.

Chapter Thirty-Five

“How come you’re swimming in our pool, Aunt Ava?” Seven year old, Madelyn Talbot questioned her aunt who was floating aimlessly on a float with her sunglasses over her eyes.

“She just felt like coming over to visit you, Miss Nosy.” Macy responded to her daughter, laughing at Ava’s uncomfortable look.
             

“But I wanted to go over to Aunt Ava’s and swim with Cian and Max.  Max is leaving in a few days and I won’t get to play with him anymore.” Maddie wailed plaintively, as if it were the end of the world.  Cian and Max had won Maddie over easily, especially Max.  Ava’s theory was Max was on the same wavelength as a seven year-old, being an overgrown kid himself. 

“I know, Honey, that’s why Cian and Max are coming over to swim with you.” Macy responded with a smile for her daughter.  Ava immediately flipped her glasses up to the top of her head and glared at Macy.  Macy glanced over at her and snorted. “Somebody needs to get over herself.”  Ava pulled the glasses back over her eyes and let out a sigh.  She hadn’t felt like herself since the night she’d broken up with Cian.  Broken up was really not the right term, she thought peevishly, since they hadn’t been
dating
.  They had been having sex and now they weren’t…only it didn’t feel like she’d lost a sex partner; it felt like she’d lost her best friend.  It had only been a week but it felt longer.  She wasn’t sleeping or eating much and her emotions were all over the place; something she hated.  She despised females that carried on like they couldn’t live without a man and here she was, not acting any better.  But no matter how much she preached at herself, she couldn’t seem to let it go and move on. 

She had never had any trouble moving on and it absolutely infuriated her that Cian had made her care about him when he was nothing but a liar.  To make matters worse, he had stopped even trying to talk to her.  The first couple of days, he’d repeatedly tried to explain but she wouldn’t listen to him.  She didn’t listen to Max when he came trying to change her mind either.  The last few nights, Cian and Max had taken off in the evenings and not returned until the early hours of the morning.  Max was still as charming as ever but Cian ignored her for the most part if they had to be around each other.  The last couple days he mostly avoided her. He wasn’t supposed to be avoiding her.  She was avoiding him!  Didn’t he know how this game was played? 

She wondered for probably the hundredth time if she had overreacted.  Cian had lied; she knew that without a shadow of a doubt, but should she have listened to his explanations?  She had been burned so badly by Patrick and his lies.  She had loved him and stubbornly stayed with him for years after she should have moved on.  He had cheated on her repeatedly, lied to her even more and had been emotionally abusive to her.  It had taken actually catching him with another woman for her to admit what she had known all along; he was not a good man and didn’t love her.  She had been like a drug addict in detox when she’d broken things off with him for good.  Of course, Patrick being Patrick, he hadn’t believed she could really be done with him.  At first, he’d set back waiting to see how long it would take before she came crawling back.  When he realized she wasn’t crawling back, he’d started trying to sweet talk her and bought her little gifts, but she’d refused to take his calls or see him and had returned his gifts.  None of that had stopped Patrick, though, as evidenced by the scene at the Greenbrier and the resulting video.  She had been split up with Patrick seven years and he still took every opportunity to unsettle her.  Not Cian, though, she thought with disgust.  A few days of the cold shoulder and he was out living it up with his buddy, not worried about her one way or the other.  It had been easy to delude herself into believing they were just having casual sex, despite there being nothing casual about sex with Cian.  Maybe if he hadn’t been staying in her home with her, she could have avoided all this attachment but he was in her house and daily proximity to him had lulled her into a false sense of security.  She hadn’t wanted to care about him at all; hadn’t wanted to like him as a person, enjoy his sense of humor or crave his body next to hers at night.  Apparently wanting wasn’t enough because all of that had happened and now she was miserable.  She slipped off the float and swam to the steps, grabbing her towel from a lounger and pulled on her cover up. 

“Where are you going or do I even need to ask?” Macy asked snidely. “Running from him again?”  Ava’s hands settled on her hips as she turned to glare at her best friend who was regarding her with raised eyebrows.

“I’m going in the house to get a drink.” Ava snapped, causing Maddie to turn to look at her.  Ava managed to put a smile on her face. “Would you all like anything while I’m in there?”  Macy chuckled and shook her head.  Ava stuck out her tongue and stomped into the cool interior of Macy’s house, heading for the bathroom.  She strolled back into the kitchen a few minutes later, having changed into a pair of cut offs and a t-shirt.   Cian stood there looking in the massive Subzero refrigerator with a beer in his hand.  She came to a sudden halt as he glanced over his shoulder and saw her standing there looking uncertain.  They stood there looking at each for long moments before Cian cleared his throat and held the beer out to her.

“Want one?” he asked warily.  She studied him for another moment before nodding her head.

“Sure, thanks.” She responded, crossing to where he stood to take the cold bottle from his hand.  Their fingertips brushed, sending an electric shock up her arm.  He jerked his hand back, looking at her searchingly before turning to get another beer from the refrigerator.  Twisting the cap off the bottle, she took a long drink.  She moved to lean against the counter, waiting for Cian to turn around and look at her.  When he did, his brows were drawn down with irritation.

“What do you want, Ava?” He asked his tone surly.  She looked at him closely, seeing not only the anger in him but the hurt as well.  Macy had been preaching at her for days about ending up a lonely old woman if she didn’t learn to compromise.  Ava had been cutting men off at the knees for years and it was hard to adjust to letting something slide from the first man she had cared about since Patrick.  If she didn’t, though, she was going to lose him completely and she couldn’t stand the thought of things ending like this between them.  She placed her beer on the counter and slowly moved towards him, watching for his reaction.  His eyes gave nothing away as she approached.  Her arms went around his hard midsection, her head against his chest.  He hesitated for a long moment, holding himself stiffly against her, before his arms folded around her and he rested his chin on top of her head.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered softly, nestling closer to him, loving being back in his arms after a long week without him.   She pulled back far enough to look up into dark eyes that were regarding her warily.  She smiled at that. “It was none of my business what you and Max…” His mouth captured hers, his tongue licking into her mouth in a hot, wet kiss that had any thoughts of talking spinning away.  Her knees weakened at the onslaught, only his tight hold on her keeping her from sinking to the tile floor.  She groaned into his mouth, her hands coming up to entangle in his silky hair, slanting her mouth across his to suck his tongue.   A growl rumbled from deep inside him as his hands slid boldly down her backside to grip her thighs; spreading her legs and lifting her to the countertop in the same motion.  She gasped into his mouth when he moved in to rub his erection against her center.  She locked her ankles at the small of his back, using the strength in her legs to pull him more tightly to her, finding a rhythm that had their breath coming hard and fast.  He tore his lips from hers to move across her cheek, his lips kissing their way to her ear.  She moaned helplessly when his wicked tongue teased the delicate shell of her ear before dipping inside.  Her hips jerked involuntarily against him, her moans becoming louder when his hand slid under her t-shirt to cup a breast, his thumb tenderly abrading the nipple to a hard point.

“Damn, Baby…” His breath left him in a rush when her teeth nipped at his throat. “I missed you so much...” His words were low and harsh, his mouth coming down hard on hers for another wet, open-mouthed kiss, their hands tearing at each other’s clothes.

“Not on my Quartz countertops!” Macy’s shrill voice broke them apart.  Cian turned so quickly Ava’s legs were still wrapped around his waist.  She squealed when she was abruptly jerked from the countertop, her hands grabbing frantically at his shoulders to keep from landing on the floor.  His arm slid under her rear, rescuing her from injury at the last second.  Macy burst into laughter at their identical disgruntled expressions.

“Macy!” Ava huffed out as Cian set her feet on the floor, his arm on her waist keeping her close, his hard erection pressing against the small of her back while they tried to get their breathing under control.

“Don’t ‘
Macy’
me…you were getting ready to do it in
my
kitchen, may I remind you?”  Macy snickered at them. “As thrilled as I am you two have made up, I must draw the line at allowing you all to
do
it
where my food is prepared.”

After Macy had left them alone in the kitchen again, Cian pulled her to him, his lips brushing hers in a tender kiss and rested his forehead against hers.  He was happy they had started making up but despite Ava saying it was none of her business, he knew the time had come for him to come clean with her; it was past time.  Over the last week, it had become very clear to him that he more than liked Ava; he thought he might
love
her.  And the only way for him to have a chance at a real relationship with her was to lay it all out for her, beg for forgiveness and hope and pray he could make her understand.  The way she was smiling at him right then gave him hope; like she just might love him back.  “Can we go to your house and talk?” he asked softly.  She gazed into his eyes for a long moment, some unnamed emotion shining from the deep blue depths before she kissed him quickly and reluctantly pulled away.

“Maddie will never forgive me if I take you away from her.  We’ll have to be patient for a couple of hours.”  He grinned broadly, being a full partner in the mutual admiration society he, Maddie and Max had going on.  “But after that…” she said, her voice low and husky, her tongue slipping out to taste him on her lips. “We can most definitely go to my house and…talk.”

He swallowed hard, knowing he would be hard pressed to keep his hands off of her long enough to carry on this dreaded conversation.   It had been a long seven days. “Okay, but when we get home, we
have
to talk.”  He stated, his eyes holding her gaze in an attempt to convey the seriousness of the situation.  She smiled up at him before rising on her toes to lightly rub her lips against his for a quick kiss. 

“Okay, we can talk.” She said against his mouth.  He laughed and smacked her on her rear before sliding his arm around her waist, their hips bumping against each other when he led back outside to rejoin their friends by the pool.  He pulled a chair out for her across from Macy, dropped a quick kiss on her lips and after whipping off his t-shirt, executed a perfect cannonball into the pool, drenching Max and Maddie who had been in the middle of a game of Marco Polo.  Maddie screamed as Max snatched her up, locating her easily thanks to Cian’s huge splash. Macy poured Sangria from the sweating crystal pitcher into a frosted tumbler for Ava, her grin knowing and smug.

“That was fast.” Macy commented idly, smiling as she watched her daughter wrap two big, brawny men around her little seven year-old finger. “They are so good with her.”  Maddie let out a squeal of delight as Max let her tag him and very dramatically declared Maddie a cheater.  She vehemently denied the charges, enlisting Cian’s support in her defense.

“Maybe...but I don’t care.” Ava sighed with pleasure, feeling all was right in her world for the first time in over a week.  Her eyes ate up the sight of Cian’s bulging pecs and washboard stomach; he was so ripped and sexy.  She couldn’t wait to get him home and let him give her body what it had been missing…after they talked.  Maybe they could
talk
later. 

“So all is forgiven?” Macy questioned, watching Ava intently.  Ava shrugged, not quite meeting the all-seeing eyes of her oldest friend, not wanting to dwell on any remaining doubts.  She had been too miserable the last week to even consider anything but compromise. 

“Why are you making such a big deal of this?” Ava’s tone was defensive, her expression turning brooding. “It’s not a big deal…”

Macy scoffed. “It is a big deal and you need to stop pretending otherwise.” Macy’s voice was pitched low for Ava’s ears only, her words not intended for any of the trio in the pool. “How many men have you dated since Pat the Rat?”