Back Check Part 19

"They were nice guys."

"Nice guys. Huh."

"Do you think I would want to marry someone who wasn't? Honestly, they were all great. Successful, smart, fun."

"What was wrong with them, then? Why didn't you marry them?"

She dropped her gaze. "I didn't love them enough to marry them. I thought I did. I wanted to." She sighed. "But I couldn't go through with it."

He regarded her thoughtfully across the table, nodding.

She wanted to change the subject. "So! Next week I'm doing a party for Sidney. Jared's, uh..."

"Baby mama?"

She laughed. "Yeah. It should be good. She redesigned the drinks menu at Belmondo. I went over to her place last week to meet with her. She handed over a bunch of information, things she'd already done, and I'm taking over planning the party for her. She has another one coming up I'll probably do too."

"That's great."

Dinner was lovely. The food was great, the wine delicious, and she and Tanner talked and talked about all kinds of things-memories from college, people they both knew, even a little politics, which they'd argued about in college. Surprisingly, it seemed now that Tanner made more money, he'd become more economically conservative and they had similar views, though she liked to push his b.u.t.tons about taxation.

"Do you still like figure skating?" he asked.

"Yes." She grinned at him. "Do you still hate it?"

"Yeah." They'd argued about that in college, when she'd wanted to watch figure skating compet.i.tions, loving the artistry, grace, and strength of the skaters. "It's not a real sport if you win by being judged instead of scoring. Guys twirling around in jumpsuits with a sock stuffed in them. Doing all those ridiculous moves, like camel toes."

She choked on her wine. "Not camel toes! Flying camel spins."

"Whatever." He waved a hand, but his lips twitched. "Actually, we had a figure skater come and work with us. It's not that easy."

Tanner had also changed his views on same-s.e.x marriage. Back in college, they'd argued more than once about that, and now they were on the same page.

"Are there any gay hockey players?" she asked him.

"Sure there are."

"Who?"

He gave her a crooked smile. "I don't know."

"Then how do you know there are some?"

"There has to be...right? There are over six hundred players in the league. The law of averages says there has to be."

She smiled at him. "Is this the same guy who told me there could never be gay hockey players?"

To her surprise, his cheeks flushed a little and he dropped his gaze. "Yeah, well, I was young and stupid. Okay, in all seriousness, there are guys I know are gay. They're not out, and n.o.body talks about it. But we know."

"Why aren't they out?"

He shook his head slowly. "Much as the league has tried to change the culture and other pro athletes have come out, their experiences doing that haven't necessarily been positive. It's a tough thing. And I don't think it's necessarily h.o.m.ophobia. I wouldn't have an issue with it and I'm pretty sure every guy on the team would say the same thing. But you know...the dressing room is a different kind of place. The guys are talking about women and hookups, and someone who's into men isn't gonna feel completely comfortable talking about boning the hot dude he's seeing."

Katelyn smiled but nodded. "I get that."

Yes, Tanner was the same guy she'd fallen in love with back in college, but some of his bad-boy att.i.tude and hard edges had softened with maturity. And she liked that too. A lot.

Their walk back to Tanner's condo was leisurely, the evening relatively mild for February. Inside the lobby, he paused and looked down at her. "Come up?"

She nodded wordlessly and they entered one of the elevators. He pushed the b.u.t.ton for the thirteenth floor.

"You live on the thirteenth floor?" she asked as they ascended.

"Yup. That's why I bought this condo. Lucky thirteen."

He unlocked the door and let her enter first, flicking on a light. She stepped into a short hall.

"I'll take your coat."

She handed it to him, removed her boots to reveal her opaque black tights, and moved farther into the condo in stocking feet, cautious on the slippery hardwood floor. City lights glittered through the big windows on two walls, since it was a corner unit. A big sectional sat in front of the windows, with a thick rug beneath it, two chairs creating a square seating area. Tanner turned on a tall lamp in a corner, and then picked up a remote control and the gas fireplace flared to life.

"This is beautiful."

"Have a seat. What would you like to drink?"

Somehow she'd envisioned heading straight to the bedroom and she smiled at his courtesy. "I don't really need anything." But she sat on the couch facing the fireplace. "I was curious about where you live."

"Do you want a tour?"

"Um, sure." She stood again and followed him into the kitchen-with dark wood cabinets, stainless-steel appliances, and black countertops-and dining area-a dark wood table with eight chairs arranged around it. "This kitchen doesn't look like it gets used much."

He grinned. "Sure it does. Check this out." He pulled open the fridge door and she saw neatly arranged produce, milk, yogurts, and cheese. And beer.

"So you're just very neat, then. Funny, I don't remember that about you."

"I have a cleaning lady who comes in once a week. She was here today."

"Ah."

He led her down a hall to the bedrooms. "Here's one bathroom. That's the laundry room. And there are three bedrooms," he said, showing her one that was nearly empty, a second that was minimally furnished, and then the master suite, which was ma.s.sive. "This one's mine." A king-size bed sat against one wall and overlooked another big window. A padded bench at the foot of the bed had clothes lying on it, a pair of Nikes beneath it. "And the other bathroom's in here."

She followed him into a bathroom tiled in s.h.i.+ny beige stone. A big tub sat next to more windows, and the shower was huge too.

"That's my closet." He nodded at another door.

"Your master suite is as big as my whole apartment."

"I'm a big guy. I need s.p.a.ce to move around."

"It must be amazing having a bath in that tub." She gestured at the sparkling city view. The soaker tub had taps on the long side of it and was big enough for two.

"I don't know. I've never had a bath in it."

She gave him a mock horrified look. "What? That's terrible. What a waste."

"I'm more of a shower kind of guy." He moved closer to her and slid his hands over her hips and around to her a.s.s. "But I could be convinced to try out the bathtub."

A soft breath escaped her, and her belly did a little flip, imagining them naked, together, in that tub. She dragged her tongue over her bottom lip and Tanner's eyes darkened, watching her.

"You like that idea," he murmured.

"I do."

"Do you have to get up early?"

"No. I have a meeting at one o'clock. You?"

"Optional skate at noon. Then we leave for Minneapolis."

"I didn't bring much with me..."

"What did you bring?"

"My gla.s.ses. And my toothbrush."

"Katelyn." His lips lifted into a wicked smile. "Did you actually think you might be staying overnight here?"

"I was hoping."

"Well, I have to say I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you."

She laughed. "Bulls.h.i.+t."

"Okay, okay, I admit, I planned to keep you here all night. And do dirty things to you."

"Oh thank G.o.d."

Chapter 15.

"It's not that late." Tanner released her and turned to the tub. He cranked on the taps. "We have lots of time for a bath and a gla.s.s of wine. Be right back."

He strode to the kitchen, where he pulled out two winegla.s.ses. The bottle of red wine in the built-in wine rack had a screw cap, so it was quick and easy to fill the gla.s.ses. He paused to grab the bag of kettle chips he'd picked up, remembering they were Katelyn's favorite.

In the bathroom, he handed her a gla.s.s of wine and proffered the open bag of chips. She grinned as she dipped her hand into it. "Yum! My favorite."

"I know."

She ate another chip. "Do you have bubble bath?"

"f.u.c.k no."

She laughed. "Somehow I didn't think so."

"We can do this, though." He grabbed a bottle of body wash from the shower and dumped half of it into the tub.

"Oh my G.o.d that smells good." She took the bottle from him to peer at it. "Bvlgari?" She raised big eyes to him. "How much money did you just pour in the tub?"

He shrugged and pulled his sweater off over his head. Yeah, that distracted her. Her hand dropped to her side and her gaze moved over his chest and abs. He lifted his chin at her. "It's getting steamy in here. You better take off that dress."

She smiled and set the bottle of body wash and her gla.s.s of wine on the vanity. She removed the gold chains from around her neck and dropped them beside the winegla.s.s, then sat on the closed toilet and worked off the tights she was wearing. Standing, she pulled her dress up and over her head, to reveal a tiny black thong and a black lace bra that was so low cut her nipples nearly showed.

Tanner gulped. All that smooth golden skin made his hands tingle and his d.i.c.k hard. "Jesus," he said hoa.r.s.ely.

"Do you have an elastic band or something I can use to put my hair up?"

He grimaced. "Uh...maybe in the kitchen. Hang on." He strode bare-chested and painfully erect back out to the kitchen and dug around in a drawer, where he found a rubber band that had come with a bunch of asparagus. He held it up to her as he entered the bathroom.

She took it and grinned. "It'll work." In seconds she had her long hair up on top of her head in a pile of messy loops.

He reached for her and set his hands on her bare waist. He could almost close his big hands right around her. "You are so f.u.c.king gorgeous," he said, his voice husky.

She set her hands on his pecs and slid them down. "You are too." She reached for his pants and opened the fastener at the top. Then her hand dipped lower and cupped his c.o.c.k. "Mmm. Wow."

He throbbed against her palm, through his boxer-briefs and dress pants. A groan rose in his throat. She caressed him with a firm touch that had sweat beading on his forehead, then she drew down the zipper and reached into his clothes.

Her touch on his bare, aching d.i.c.k nearly made him explode with pleasure. Every nerve ending jumped with the onslaught of pleasure.

"Beautiful," she whispered, stroking him.

"Ah, Christ..." He reached over to turn off the water, the tub now full of fragrant bubbles. "Get in, Katelyn."

She smiled and released him. He shoved his pants and underwear down and took his socks off along with them while she unfastened her bra and slipped it off. She dropped it onto the vanity and then s.h.i.+mmied out of her panties with a wriggle of her hips and a shake of her t.i.ts that had l.u.s.t slicing through him.

She stepped into the tub and slowly lowered herself into the water, bubbles surrounding her up to her chin. "I don't know if there are enough bubbles. A little more, it would probably be over my head."

He grinned and handed over her winegla.s.s. "Smart-a.s.s."

He joined her in the tub, facing her, his legs on the outside of hers. She leaned back against the tub and their skin slid together in the hot water, glimpses of her nipples teasing him through the bubbles. He watched her sip her wine, her green eyes glowing.

"This is really decadent," she murmured.