Back Check Part 18

"Yeah, I'm fine. Few bruises, that's all."

She picked up his hand to examine it, and then couldn't resist lifting it to her mouth to kiss it. "How about your teammate? Ryan Kirby."

Tanner's face tightened. "He has a concussion. He'll be out for a while."

"Oh no."

"Yeah. I can't stand the guy, but I wouldn't wish that on anyone." His eyes s.h.i.+fted and he looked uncomfortable.

"You can't stand him?" Her mouth dropped open. "But you fought for him?"

"Yeah." He shrugged.

She continued to stare at him. She shouldn't be surprised by this, she supposed. She'd always known Tanner was intensely loyal to his team. But it made her heart do a little flip in her chest that he'd gone after the big a.s.shole who'd hurt his teammate, a guy he didn't even like.

"We should go." He glanced at his watch. "We have a reservation for seven."

"Right." They stood in her apartment, where he'd just arrived to pick her up for their Monday night date.

She was going on a date with Tanner.

Even though she knew him so well, it felt like a date with a stranger. She'd been rus.h.i.+ng around her apartment in a tizzy to get ready, waxing, shaving, rubbing scented lotion all over, indecisive about what to wear...A c.o.c.ktail kind of dress? A casual dress? Jeans and boots?

She'd settled for a slim-fitting black sweater dress and her flat black boots, adding a handful of long gold necklaces. This would work for either a dressy or casual place.

He held her coat for her and she slid her arms into it. Then she grabbed her purse and keys and they left the apartment.

"Where are we going?" she asked in the elevator.

"Warwick's."

"Um, wow. That place is expensive."

He gave her a steady look. "You're worth it."

She lowered her chin and gave him a look up through her eyelashes. "You charmer, you."

He grinned. "Thank you."

"And c.o.c.ky a.s.s. I see that hasn't changed."

"You love my c.o.c.k and a.s.s."

She burst out laughing and fell against the wall. "Oh my G.o.d."

He moved closer and set his hands on her waist. "Admit it."

"Mmm. Okay, I admit it." Heat gathered low in her belly.

"You can love my c.o.c.k and a.s.s more later."

"You wish."

"Oh, I definitely do."

She shook her head, smiling, as she walked out of the elevator ahead of him.

On the sidewalk, he took her gloved hand in the frosty evening air and they walked to where he'd parked his car. "Warwick's is near my condo." He opened the pa.s.senger door for her. "I thought we'd drive to my place and leave my car there, then walk to the restaurant."

"Sounds good."

"Did you enjoy the game last night?" he asked as he pulled away from the curb. "Other than the fight."

"Yeah, other than the fight. You know I never liked fighting." She didn't want to tell him how upset she'd been, afraid he could be hurt.

"Unlike other bloodthirsty hockey fans, who go crazy for it."

"There has to be less fighting these days, right? With the worry about injuries? Especially concussions."

"Yeah, there's less fighting. And I really don't fight much, even though the very first game you come to, it happened." He glanced at her. "I'm a lot more careful these days about how I hit. I don't know if you heard about my suspensions."

"No. I told you, I haven't followed hockey at all."

"Well, a few years back I elbowed a guy in the head. It was an accident. I was way taller than him, but it was a hard hit and ultimately I'm responsible. He ended up with a concussion and I felt like s.h.i.+t. I was suspended five games for it."

"Oh no." Her heart squeezed with sympathy-for the guy who'd been hurt, but also for Tanner...because even though he was a physical player, she knew he would never intentionally hurt someone and would feel terrible about it.

"That really blew. I messaged the guy that I never meant to hurt him and hoped he was okay. But it still sucked. And then once you do something like that, you get a rep. The other teams are all watching you, the refs are watching you. I swear after I came back, they were giving me two minutes for breathing hard."

Katelyn huffed out a laugh, although it wasn't really funny.

"I got another suspension when I came here. It probably wouldn't have been a suspension but because it was my second time being reviewed..." He shrugged. "So I've really been trying to be more careful. Not take dumb penalties, especially stick infractions."

"You're a great player, Tanner."

"Yeah." Then he laughed. "Don't bug me about being c.o.c.ky. I know I'm good. But I don't want to be a liability to a team either. At least last night I got a goal and an a.s.sist too."

"Gordie Howe hat trick," she murmured.

"You remember that?"

"Yeah. It was surprising how much came back to me last night. I remembered most of the rules. At first it was hard to follow the play, but I got better."

"You don't really hate hockey. You said you did."

"I did? Oh. Right." She sighed. "No. I don't really hate hockey. I just didn't want to be reminded of you."

He parked his vehicle underground at the building he lived in, a stunning high-rise, and they walked the short distance to Warwick's. The attractive blond hostess showed them to a table away from the crowded bar while checking Tanner out. Katelyn rolled her eyes.

Tanner took her coat for her and hung it on an oak and bra.s.s coatrack near their table, adding his.

"You look gorgeous," he said as he took his seat across from her.

"Thank you. You look good too." He wore a black turtleneck sweater over charcoal dress pants. Along with the beard stubble and the bruise on his cheek, the black sweater made him look very bada.s.s. Gorgeously bada.s.s.

She glanced around the restaurant, taking in all the stainless steel and dark wood. The atmosphere was vibrant, with pop music and the hum of voices coming from the bar, but they were far enough away to be able to talk. "This is a cool place."

"Yeah. I like coming here in the summer-they have a great patio. It's really nice at night, with the view of the buildings all lit up. And they have tons of different craft beers."

"I didn't think you were around much in the summers. Don't you go to your log cabin in Minnesota?"

"Yeah, but I'm here some of the time. I do a charity golf tournament for Big Brothers in June, and there are a few other things I come back for."

"Ah."

Their conversation was paused as their server approached. Tanner ordered a bottle of Pinot Noir. He didn't ask what she wanted-but then again, he knew she liked wine. What he ordered was probably five times the price of anything she'd ever drunk back in college, of course.

"I a.s.sume you're going to order beef," he said, when the server had left. "I thought a nice red wine would be good."

"You're so sophisticated these days."

He leaned forward. "Just catching up to you, babe."

"Oh, please." She rolled her eyes. "So...why Big Brothers?"

"What? Oh, the golf tourney. I'm a big brother. I do some other fundraising work with them."

"You're a big brother?"

"Yeah. Why are you asking like that? You think I can't be a mentor to a kid?"

She considered that. "I...it just surprises me."

He shrugged and moved a fork on the table. "I liked having brothers and sisters. Except I barely ever got to know them, and then our parents split up and I never saw them again."

Katelyn felt like a band was tightening around her chest. "So now you have a little brother."

"Yeah." His eyes lit up. "His name's Jaivon. He's a good kid. Mom's raising him alone. I play hockey with him and do other stuff."

Pressure rose in her throat. For some reason she felt like crying. She picked up her gla.s.s of ice water and took a sip. "That's awesome, Tanner."

"I took him to the eye doctor today. Turns out he needs gla.s.ses." Tanner shook his head. "I wondered why his shot was so horrible."

She sipped more water, her throat even more constricted. "And you paid for that?"

"Of course." A crease appeared between his eyebrows. "His mom can't afford optometrists and gla.s.ses. I don't know if she noticed he was having trouble seeing, but it's possible she did and just couldn't do anything about it. The kid was kind of stubborn too, insisting he didn't want to wear gla.s.ses and look like a dork."

"But you convinced him."

"Yeah. Told him I used to wear gla.s.ses."

"You don't anymore?"

"Got laser surgery a few years back. Done with all the gla.s.ses and contacts."

"Wow. I've thought of doing that, but I'm afraid."

"You still wear gla.s.ses?" He leaned forward almost eagerly.

"Um, yeah, sometimes."

"I liked it when you wore your gla.s.ses. All studious and hot."

She burst out laughing. "I don't know if I've ever heard 'studious' and 'hot' in the same sentence."

He grinned. "You're always hot. But your gla.s.ses made you extra hot."

"Have you got some kind of schoolgirl fantasy thing?"

"Maybe so." His eyes narrowed speculatively. "You don't happen to have a schoolgirl outfit, do you?"

"No." She paused. "I do have a Tinker Bell costume."

"Tinker Bell?"

"The fairy from Peter Pan. No fairy fetish?"

He choked. "Um. No."

She grinned. "Ah well."

"Does the costume involve cleavage and a short skirt?"

"Of course."

"I'm in, then. Uh...why do you have that?"

"Oh my G.o.d, one year Daniel wanted us to go to a Halloween party dressed as Peter Pan and Tinker Bell."

Tanner covered his eyes with his hand. "Please don't tell me you had kinky s.e.x after."

"No. That was the night we broke up."

"Ah." He removed his hand and sat back as the server arrived to pour their wine. When Tanner had tasted it, given his approval, and their gla.s.ses were full, he said, "Tell me about these three yahoos you were engaged to."

"Yahoos?" She gave her wine a little swirl, inhaled the bouquet, and then sipped. "This wine is amazing."

He lifted an eyebrow.