Chapter 3

Steve

I sigh as I slide into my regular seat at Joe Fortes, across from my friends Davis Martin and Michael Khalili, who beat me here this evening. I motion to Nancy at the bar. We’re around often enough that she knows what I’m drinking, and she soon walks over a highball glass with two fingers of Johnnie Walker Blue.

I take a sip and thank her. It’s so smooth, my favorite.

“What has you all worked up?” Davis asks.

I sigh again.

“Uh-oh. Does Stevie have girlie problems?” Michael teases.

“Just because you talked Nadine into marrying you doesn’t make you special,” I snap at Michael.

Davis turns to Michael. “He’s cranky. He must have had a woman shut him down. It’s hard when that happens. Of course I wouldn’t know.” He makes a face.

I can’t help but smile at that. “Shiiiit. You followed Paisley around like a lost puppy dog. You don’t fool me. But yes, it is a girl.” I take another drink for courage. “She’s Tom Rourke’s daughter.”

Davis snorts. “Well, there goes your job with the Tigers.”

I sit up straight. “Says who?”

“You’re peeing in the executive-level sandbox,” Michael notes helpfully. “You can’t fling your typical shit there.”

Griffin and Jack arrive and settle in.

“Stevie here is having girlie problems,” Michael says, catching them up.

“Stop it already.” He knows I hate when he calls me Stevie, but that’s why he’s doing it.

“He’s taken the bite of forbidden fruit and wants to go back for more,” Davis adds.

Griffin’s eyes go wide. “I have to report you to the police if she’s underage.”

“She’s not underage,” I whine.

“How do you know? Did you ask for ID?” Michael asks.

I slap my hand on the table. “Look, she’s my boss’s daughter. She’s over the age of consent. The problem is, rumor has it old man Rourke is giving her the team. She’s worked for the NFL and for one of the NFL franchises. She was living somewhere abroad and is back to take over—or so I’ve learned.”

“You learned this after you slept with her?” Jack asks as Nancy places a drink in front of him. “Thank you,” he tells her.

“I asked around,” I say without answering the question.

“She must be hot,” Griffin says, smiling as Nancy sets a glass in front of him as well.

I roll my eyes. “How’s it going with that nurse you’ve been seeing?”

“She got a little too clingy. I’ve moved on.” Griffin takes a deep pull on his Macallan. “But don’t change the subject. Tell us more about this woman.”

I look at my glass and debate what I want to say about her. These guys are my closest friends. We’ve known each other since we were kids. Our fathers are friends. I take a deep breath. “She left while I was asleep.”

Jack claps me on the back. “She ran away before you could?”

I nod. “Yep. And I think the only reason I’m hung up is because I wanted another round in the morning.”

“Since when do you spend the night?” Jack asks.

“I spend the night,” I protest. “Sometimes, I spend the weekend. I just don’t do repeats. And Friday night, I knew I’d be drinking at the team party, so I had a room at the Pan Pacific.”

“You could have taken a rideshare home if you didn’t want to drive,” Griffin points out.

“I know, but I thought it would be a nice change. Plus, Denise is in town, and I didn’t want to see her.” I can’t look at the guys. Denise is not one of my prouder conquests.

“Which one is Denise?” Michael asks, knowing full well who she is.

“She’s the flight attendant for British Airways,” I mumble.

“Right,” he snarks. “The one that likes you to spank her and asked you for a threesome for her twenty-fifth birthday.”

“We had fun, but she’s not someone I want to explore anything further with.”

“What’s her number?” Griffin teases.

“I have no problem giving it to you if you want it. She’s up for just about anything. She’ll particularly like the number of dollars in your bank account.”

Griffin shakes his head. “No. No sloppy seconds for me.”

“Says the guy who had a woman show up at our parents’ house.” Davis snorts.

“Wait,” Griffin says. “I had never met that woman before in my life.” He shakes his head. “Mom read me the riot act. She was not happy to have that woman sneaking around the property, setting off alarms. That brought the police with full sirens and really irritated their neighbors.”

“Did that make the papers?” I ask innocently. Yes, it did . “And didn’t she tell everyone she was pregnant with your baby?”

“Yes, which also pissed our mom off.” Davis smiles over his glass at Griffin.

“You’re for sure the favorite these days because you married Paisley,” Griffin laments.

Davis bounces his eyebrows. “Well, what can I say? I’ve always been the favorite.”

I am happy to watch these two spar as I think about Eliza. I like all women. I don’t care about the color of their hair or skin, if they’re chubby or thin, if they’re short or tall, or their religion. I just like them smart. Eliza was smart.

And she was fucking hot.

I think about what she looked like when she reached her pinnacle, and I quickly have to change course and think about my mom and my sister, so I don’t grow a giant woody. These guys would never let that slide. Going shopping with my mom and sister while they look through hordes of clothes at The Bay.

Yep, that did it.

“I don’t know what to do,” I tell the guys when I notice their attention has returned to me. “I’m sure if I had one more time with her, that would get her out of my system.”

“Then just ask her,” Michael says. “Did you exchange contact information?”

“No. But I looked her up on the company intranet and got her cell number.”

“I would track her down at work, rather than call her,” Davis warns.

Steve and Griffin nod in agreement.

“I’d text her the address of the Pan Pacific with your hotel room number, and then you can get your clean getaway after you’re done,” Michael says.

I think I like that idea.

“If you value your job, you won’t treat her like a quick lay,” Jack adds.

I let my head roll back and look at the ceiling. “I love my job with the Tigers. I don’t want to put that in jeopardy.”

“Go see her at the office and make sure she’s good with everything that went down,” Jack suggests. “Maybe invite her to lunch and see where it leads.” He drains the last of his drink.

I nod. “We have practice tomorrow before we fly out to Winnipeg for the game this weekend. I’ll be back in the office early next week.”

“Where is the team practicing?” Davis asks.

“The same place as always—in Surrey at the practice facility. The guys should be working out all morning.”

We talk about the team and their prospects this year until Paisley, Davis’s wife, and Nadine, Michael’s wife, join us.

“What’s the hot gossip today?” Nadine asks as she joins Paisley with an Italian soda.

“Steve is hung up on a girl.” Davis smirks at me.

“Does that mean Paisley and I will have someone new to pal around with?” Nadine smiles.

“No,” I’m quick to tell her. “She’s not going to be a long-term thing.”

“I don’t know,” Michael offers. “She’s beautiful, and you work with her. There might be no escape.”

I roll my eyes.

“Didn’t you sleep with Amber Jensen when she was head of your department at the hospital?” Griffin asks.

I did, and I don’t want to talk about it. She was thinking wedding bells from the minute I got inside her, and that made for a miserable two years with her as head of the department. She’s the reason I stopped using the hospital as my dating pool.

Nancy walks over from the bar, and several of us order a second round of drinks.

“What’s different about this one?” Paisley asks.

“Honestly?” I ask.

She nods.

“I don’t know. ”

“I do,” Davis volunteers. “She snuck out on him, taking all the control away.”

“Has she reached out to you?” Paisley asks.

“We didn’t exchange numbers.”

Paisley’s eyes go wide. “So she’s playing it cool with you instead of the other way around. You’re the chaser, not the runner.”

“I don’t run,” I say, almost indignantly.

“Sure you do,” Nadine counters. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Michael was the same. He was used to women returning his calls right away, or more often, initiating the calls. I wasn’t doing either. He had to work it.”

I sit back and think about what Nadine and Paisley are saying. They’re dropping truth bombs. I can’t believe it, but they could be on to something.

Now, what am I going to do about it?