Trade Off (7 page)

She returned his smile. “Your parents are great, and you know it. How are they, by the way?”

“They’re doing well. Dad retired from Titan a while back and Mike took over his position. Mom’s semi-retired, so they have a lot more time to travel. They bought a place in Mexico a while back… Mayan Riviera. They go there a few times a year.”

“That’s nice. I’m surprised you didn’t ask Lexi to help you find a place.”

“Dad’s takin’ her away on a cruise next month, so she’s busy plannin’ for that. How ’bout your family. How’re they doin’?”

“They’re good. They’re both retired too, but they’re kind of homebodies, so they don’t venture too far. I wanted to send them on a cruise for their anniversary last year, but they said they’d heard too many horror stories about cruises.” She rolled her eyes. “You know how they are. They’re not as adventurous as your parents.”

“Yeah, I remember.” He grinned. “I miss them.”

She looked uncomfortable when she said, “They missed you too, Aiden. For a long time. I shouldn’t tell you this, but my dad’s favorite team has been Vancouver for the past eight years.” She winked. “The traitor.”

Aiden threw his head back and laughed. “He’s a good man, your dad.” Mr. Clarke was his math teacher for three years in high school, and they’d always had a unique relationship born of mutual respect. Aiden was never the kind of student to coast because he knew his future was set in stone. He worked hard to achieve good grades in the classroom, and Mr. Clarke and his other teachers always appreciated his effort.

“I’ll tell him you said ‘hi.’ He’ll be thrilled you’ve joined the home team.”

He knew this would be a good time to ask permission to visit her parents, but things were going so well between them, he didn’t want to say or do anything to upset her again. “Does he get out to many games?”

She shrugged. “A few.”

“Neil hasn’t set him up with season tickets?”

Sela grimaced. “Let’s just say my husband and my parents don’t always see eye to eye.”

He wanted to ask the reason for the conflict, but he knew he’d cross some unseen boundary if he tried to delve too deep before they’d re-established their friendship. When he came home, he had no idea where things would go with Sela, but after spending some time with her, he realized how much he’d like to re-build their friendship. He knew it wouldn’t be easy, given his hatred for the man she’d married, but having her back in his life again would be worth the effort.

“I’m sorry to hear that. It must make it difficult for you, bein’ caught in the middle like that.”

“Not really. They’re rarely in the same room together, and we’ve agreed the topic of my marriage is off-limits. It seems like the only way to keep the peace.”

“Still, it doesn’t sound ideal.”

She looked him in the eye. “No, ideal would be if they loved my husband as much as they loved you, but I quickly realized that wasn’t going to happen.”

If she was trying to make him feel guilty for earning her parents’ affection, it wouldn’t work. No matter how many years passed, he’d always consider them two of his favorite people. They couldn’t help it if their daughter had captured his heart as a teen and ruined him for other women.

“Um…” She slid the document across the desk. “I hope you don’t mind signing this? It’s a buyer’s agreement. It just states that I’m working on your behalf to secure a property, I have your best interest in mind, first and foremost when negotiating the terms of the sale, and you won’t look for anyone else.” Her cheeks flamed. “I mean, you—”

He held his hand up as he reached for a pen. “Sela, if I thought I could replace you, I would have, years ago.” He shook his head. “But if having a written agreement makes you feel better, I have no problem with that.” He looked up when he scribbled his signature at the bottom of the page. “You gonna tell
him
about this?”  

“I, uh, don’t usually keep secrets from Neil, but in this case…”

“You think it might be for the best?”

“Yeah, are you okay with that? I mean, you don’t plan to tell him we’re working together, do you?”

“Your husband, your decision.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that, Aiden.”

Sela had insisted they take separate vehicles to the showing. Aiden assumed it was her not-so-subtle way of ensuring their time alone together was limited, but he wasn’t in a position to bargain for more. After years of living without her, he was willing to take what he could get, for now.

He hated the lingering sadness he saw in her eyes, as though none of her old dreams for the future had come to fruition the way she hoped they would. He knew she probably saw the same hint of regret lurking in his eyes when she looked at him. Remorse, especially when staring into the face of the one person you once wanted above all else, was an unforgiving ogre that served as a constant reminder life did not offer a rewind button.

He pulled into the driveway of the sprawling two-story home in Brentwood just behind her. The homeowners had left the intricate iron gates ajar, obviously awaiting their entry. When she put her little Audi in park, he cut the engine and hopped out of his vehicle.

She was standing there, looking up at the house, when he approached. “It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?”

“It sure is.”

She rolled her eyes and smiled when she caught him staring at her instead of the house. “Focus on the objective, Cooper. We need to find you a house, unless you’re content to live with mommy and daddy forever.”

“Bite your tongue.”

He grinned, surprised to realize just the sight of her gorgeous smile had the power to lift his sagging spirits. It had always been that way. When they lost an important game, she was the one to remind him he would play a hundred important games in his career and it was time to put this one behind him so he could plan for the next one.

Aiden reached for her hand, hoping he wouldn’t lose sight of her pretty smile by pushing her too hard. “Hey, I just wanted to thank you for doin’ this for me.”

She looked down at their clasped hands a moment before she withdrew hers. “I should be thanking you for trusting me to help you find the right house. I know there are lots of other agents you could’ve chosen, and given our history—”

“You were the only one I wanted.” He knew touching her was against the rules, but he couldn’t help himself when a silky strand of hair blew across her glossy lips. He gently tucked it behind her ear and let his hand linger against her face as her eyes drifted closed. “God,” he said, taking a step closer. “You don’t know how much I want to kiss—”

She pressed her palm against his chest and took a step back. “No! We can’t go there.” She turned around and started walking toward the house.

“Damn it,” he whispered, wishing he’d had the self-control to keep his feelings for her in check. Inviting her back into his world, knowing she belonged to someone else now, was a fool’s mission. He knew that, but he still loved her enough to accept the few stolen moments she seemed willing to offer.

Careful to stand a safe distance away from her on the portico as she punched a code into the lockbox and fit the key into the burnished Baldwin lock, he took a moment to imagine how this moment might have been different if she were
his
wife and they were looking for their own dream home.

“Hello,” she called, stepping the spacious foyer. “The homeowners aren’t supposed to be here, but I just wanted to make sure.” She reached for a glossy brochure listing the home’s features on a gilded wood table in the entrance. “Okay, shall we get started?”

Aiden knew this was an important decision, but he couldn’t tear his eyes off the gentle sway of her hips in her form-fitting grey dress as she led him into the formal living room.

“What do you think?” she asked, looking up at the ornate plaster molding decorating the twenty-three foot ceilings. “Impressive, don’t you think?”

He shrugged. “I’ve never been big on formal rooms. They’re a waste of space if you ask me.”

She whipped out her phone and he watched her fingers glide over the keypad.

“What’re you doin’?”

“Just making some notes about what you do and don’t like in the properties we see today. It’ll give me more insight into what you’re looking for.”

“Sela…”

She looked up at the sound of her name on his lips. “Yes?”

“I haven’t changed. I’m still the same simple guy I was when we were together. They may have added a few zeroes to my paycheck, but I don’t need the fancy address to impress people. I just wanna find a house where I feel at home, ya know?”

“Why don’t you tell me about your home in Vancouver?”

“It was just a place to hang my hat.” He crinkled his nose, making her laugh. “What’s so funny?”

“I can’t believe you still do that.”

He’d picked up the habit as a kid, and despite his mother’s admonishments, he was never able to let it go. “I keep tellin’ you I haven’t changed, sweetheart.” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, waiting for her to reprimand him about keeping their relationship professional, but he was pleasantly surprised to see her smile.

“I’m glad to see that money and fame hasn’t changed you, Aiden. Not that I thought it would… It’s just nice to know you’re still the same sweet, down-to-earth guy I remember.”

He was caught off guard by her unexpected praise. “Thanks.”

“You were always so modest, the first one to downplay your accomplishments. Everyone would call you a hero for single-handedly winning some tournament because you’d scored a hat trick in each of the games, and you’d brush it off, telling everyone it was a team effort.”

He walked toward the floor-to-ceiling windows bordering the wall facing the street. If he didn’t put some physical distance between them, he knew he was at risk of saying or doing something that would cost him the friendship they were starting to rebuild. “You win as a team or lose as a team. I’m only one guy. I sure as hell can’t do it alone.”

“Is it going to be weird for you, stepping into the captain’s role this year?”

“Why would it be? I’ve worn the ‘C’ before. Why should this year be any different?”

“I don’t know; your relationship with Neil is so tense. I hope he doesn’t give you a hard time.”

Aiden laughed. “He will, and I’ll give him a hard time, but we’re not kids anymore. We’ll find a way to work it out. We don’t have a choice. The team is paying both of us a lot of money to put our personal feelings aside.”

“I’m worried about him,” she said, quietly.

He tried to quash the feelings of bitterness and resentment those words evoked. Neil was her husband, she had every right to express her concern for him, but Aiden knew he would never be able to come to terms with the fact that her heart belonged to someone else now. “Why’s that?”

“He’s been feeling down lately. He says it’s getting harder to compete with the rookies.”

“He’s still young. If he takes care of himself, he’ll have another ten or twelve years to play the game.” As a physical defenseman, Aiden knew Neil would be out of commission long before he would as a goal-scoring center, but he’d seen a lot of players out-play the average, especially in recent years.

“I have no idea what he’ll do when he’s forced to retire,” she said, slipping her phone back into her over-sized designer purse. “Hockey’s been the only thing he’s known his whole life.” She shuddered. “You hear so many horror stories about players who lose it when they don’t have the game anymore.”

Aiden could not feel an ounce of sympathy for the guy who had stolen his life. “He’ll figure it out. Guys like Neil always come out on top.”

“I don’t know. He hasn’t been himself lately, and nothing I say or do seems to make a difference.”

He laughed. “Neil-here-for-the-party-Michaels is battling depression? That’s hard to believe.” His best friend was always the guy who started and ended their keg parties back in high school, when they were all too young to drink and not yet old enough to know better.

“He’s not the same guy you remember, Aiden. The years have made him more cynical. He’s angry—”

“He’s angry?” Aiden shouted. “He’s married to you, and that son of a bitch thinks he has the nerve to complain about the hand he was dealt? He always was a self-absorbed—” He stopped when he realized she was shutting down in the face of his tirade. “You know what? Forget it. I don’t want to talk about him anymore. Let’s just look at this place so we can get the hell outta here.”

The tension between them had been palpable ever since Sela mentioned the challenges her husband faced. She wished she could hit rewind and start this afternoon over. They’d been talking, laughing, having fun together again, and remembering how she felt when she was blessedly young and carefree. Being on the arm of a gorgeous, talented man who thought the world began and ended with making her smile was so nice.

Aiden had always made her feel like the center of his universe, and she forgot how much she missed feeling important, as though her happiness mattered to someone. For years, Neil had been so focused on his career and staying ahead of the curve that he barely noticed she was there most of the time.

They were wandering through the last house on their list when her cell phone buzzed. She glanced at the screen, trying to conceal her reaction. It was no surprise to her that Aiden could still read her as easily as an open book.