Chapter 6

Six

Tanner

It's been a week since our away game in Florida, and I've yet to set eyes on Maeve. I don't think she's avoiding me—hell, I never see her around during practices anyway. And no, I'm not headed to her clinic at headquarters because I miss her, I'm headed there because my shoulder is fucking killing me.

Maybe I shouldn't have wrestled her on the sofa at the hotel.

That makes me laugh. A little wrestling isn't what fucked up my shoulder. It's an old injury from my college years, and I'll be damned if I let it interfere with my game. Which, again, is the only reason I made an appointment with physiotherapy.

I don't look down, because yeah, it's possible my pants are on fire.

I pull open the door to her clinic, and it's late in the evening. Bethany, who I remember from before, is not at her chair behind the receptionist counter. The door to Maeve's office is open, and I peek inside to find it empty. I walk toward one of the vacant chairs, the sweet smell of vanilla from some diffuser plugged into the wall fills the air. I drop down into one of the cushy chairs, and dig out my phone.

Movement behind the closed therapy door, a chair scraping, lets me know I'm seconds from seeing Maeve and my pulse kicks into high gear. Maybe this is a really bad idea. I should probably be avoiding her, too. Christ, after the look her father gave the two of us when we exited the elevator last week, you'd think I'd be smarter. We both looked like something the cat dragged in. Okay, that's not entirely true. I looked like hell. She was as breathtaking as always. But it's possible her father knows her well enough to know something was off. Did he see me follow her to the elevator the night before after she'd texted me?

Fuck me.

My stomach tightens. Dammit, I don't want to do anything to jeopardize my relationship with Felix or to mess with our on-ice chemistry. He's been so good to me and we play so well together. I grip my phone tighter. I should leave. Yeah, my shoulder hurts, but there are other physiotherapists. Coach wants us to use the team's in-house services but, in this situation, it's better if I didn't.

I stand, just as the door to her room opens, and the second I set eyes on her, take in the dark circles around her eyes, my gut warns something is wrong. "Maeve," I ask quickly and walk toward her, recognizing the look of fear on her face. I'd seen it at the bar, when she scanned the place like something or someone was going to jump out at her. "Are you okay?"

She forces a smile. "Tanner. I hope you weren't waiting long." She waves one hand toward the receptionist's desk. "Sorry Bethany wasn't here to see you in. She fit you in for the last appointment when you called yesterday, but she had to run. She and her husband are celebrating their anniversary today."

I nod, fully aware that she's avoiding my question and is rambling a bit. "I just got here."

"Good." She angles her head, looking around my body toward the door, and I turn, to see if someone is there. "Am I not the last appointment of the day?"

She blinks rapidly. "Yeah, you are. I just thought I saw something."

"I didn't mean to keep you late. You didn't have to fit me in."

"I don't mind at all. I want all my players at their peak."

Maintaining her professional demeanor, she walks into her therapy room and I try not to notice the way her skirt hugs her backside. I clear my throat and follow her in. "Is everything okay?" I ask, and drop down into the chair near the treatment table. Shit, did her father warn her about me or something?

She opens my file on her laptop and offers me another forced smile. "It's just been a long week. Kate came for a visit, and I've had some late nights."

I relax. "Okay." I rake a hand through my hair. "For a minute, I was worried about your father."

She laughs a little. "We were just two adults doing what adults do. He never has to know because?—"

"It's never going to happen again," I blurt out, filling in her sentence.

She puts her hands on her thighs and exhales, her body relaxing slightly. "Tanner," she begins. "I just…ugh. I feel horrible."

"Hey." I shift my chair closer, taking one of her hands in mine. "What's going on?"

"Kate. I told her what happened between us. I mean I didn't give details, but she needed to know we were together, and I assured her it was a one-time thing."

"I thought you said no regrets."

"I did, but I guess I wasn't thinking clearly." I scrub my face and process that. Shit, I know this is my fault somehow. "I just…Tanner, I don't make good decisions."

"I'm sorry, Maeve."

"Wait, no. I didn't mean it like that. I don't regret what happened between us, T." Her smile is a bit wobbly. "I liked it. I just wish she hadn't said she liked you before I did."

"So, you do like me?" Christ, what a stupid thing to say and it should not be kicking my heart into overdrive either.

She laughs. "Of course, I do, I wouldn't have slept with you otherwise."

I run my thumbs over her wrist. "Technically, we didn't sleep together."

"Potato/po-tato, Tanner." She groans and stares at my hand. "No matter how you spin it, those two things sound like a whole lot of carbs and starch."

I soften my voice and tell her straight up, "I was never going to go out with Kate, Maeve. She didn't have any claim on me. Besides, she lives in Florida and I'm not into long distance relationships. I'm not into any relationship."

"Yeah, I realize that about you."

I swallow. I get it, she sees that I'm a loner, preferring quiet nights at home instead of partying, but the reason behind that might send her running. She is not looking for anything more from me and I don't want to scare her off, or piss off Felix.

"I get it, Maeve. Girl code."

She snorts out a laugh. "I was actually going to introduce you two at the bar that night."

I frown as my mind races. If she was going to introduce me to Kate, why the hell did she send the text inviting me to her room, only to change her mind? Her eye widens like she might have said too much.

"I just mean, she said she liked you. She called dibs."

I lean toward her, trying to put this all together. "You sent the text before she told you that?"

"Something like that?" She glances down, and taps her pen. "She called you a nice fat snack."

"Wow," I sputter and sit up a bit straighter. I've been called a lot of things before, but never a nice fat snack. "I've never felt like a slab of meat before." Maybe that's not entirely true.

"She meant it as a compliment," she explains quickly.

"Of course," I respond, not really offended. "How could it be anything else?"

Her lips quirk, her mood shifting. "When we were kids, when we wanted something, and didn't want to share, we'd lick it."

I tug on my collar. "Jesus, Maeve."

"No, wait. I didn't mean like we licked people." She gives a fast shake of her head and a few strands of hair fall from the clip holding it up. "I mean like if I had a chocolate bar, I'd lick it. Or like a potato chip, or a popsicle. Didn't you do that? You had five siblings. Surely to God you licked things to claim it."

My cock thickens. "Maeve."

"Yes."

I inch back as my pants tighten around my crotch. "Can you please stop talking about licking things."

Her eyes go wide. "Oh, right. Sorry." She waves her hand in front of her face. "Is it hot in here. I should check the thermostat."

Before she can get up, I lean toward her again and her warm scent fills my senses. "Are you and Kate okay?"

Her face softens. "We are."

"Why do I get the sense there is more going on here? Something is bothering you?" She curls into herself and it's all I can do to not to put my arms around her and just hold her until she feels nothing but pleasure. "You don't have to tell me." I reach out and lightly brush her hair back, loving the feel of her silky curls on my fingertips. "But if you want to, I'm here to listen." The warmth and genuine gratitude in her eyes draw me into a place I have no right going. I take her hand in mine again and entwine our fingers. Not to warm her, she's already warm. I just really want the intimacy. "Friends, remember."

She grins. "I like that." Her gaze strays to the big window, overlooking the streets of Boston. A moment of silence and then. "Kate is my oldest friend. I honestly don't have many. I was on the road so much with modeling. A few years ago, there was this guy she liked, and he liked her. We all ended up at the same party, and he broke up with her and I ended up dating him."

"Ah." I nod as the pieces fall into place. "You broke girl code."

"She told me it was okay, but there was always a small part of me that felt she hated it, and maybe never really got over the betrayal. I shouldn't have done it."

Betrayal. Fuck. I understand that all too well.

"Hey, the heart wants what the heart wants. If you two were attracted to one another."

"It's just…I don't have a good history when it comes to dating guys she liked first. Not that we're dating."

Our knees bump, and heat zings through me as I try to understand what she's saying to me. "You did it what, twice? That guy and me?" Is there more to this story?

"Yeah." Her face scrunches, and for a second, I see real pain. My muscles tense and I sit up a bit straighter. "Oh fuck." She blinks rapidly, her gaze searching my face. "He was the guy, wasn't he?"

She nods and leans forward, tugging on her hair to hide the scar over her eye. "He was the guy," she whispers.

"For the record, Maeve. You can't really pull history into this. What happened between you and him is never going to happen between you and me." I don't get the sense that she's afraid of me in particular. I just sense she's afraid of life and living. "I'm not a stalker. You can't lump me in with him and think the same thing is going to happen simply because Kate liked him first, and liked me first. Although I'm not sure she did. She just said it first."

Why do I feel like a damn juvenile, excited to find Maeve liked me?

She nods, but there's still a hint of worry in her eyes. "I know you're not a stalker."

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yes, of course."

Maybe the worry in her eyes is there for another reason. I glance toward the door. "Did you think he was here tonight?"

"No…I don't know. The fear, it never goes away, and lately I have the strangest sense that someone is watching me."

"Do you know where he is?"

"No. I only know he served three years, which was up a couple months ago. He shouldn't know where I am. I left modeling, went into physiotherapy, and moved here. I keep a very low profile. No pictures, no social media, and I go by Maeve Rose now, my middle name instead of Maeve Carter."

My instincts go on high alert. "Is Kate still with you?"

"No, she left today." Hope fills her eyes. "She's talking about moving to Boston and maybe finding work here. I think it would be so nice to have her close. She could even take some of my shifts until she found something, if management was interested in hiring her as casual."

"It would be nice for you to have her close." She nods. "Until then, if you ever feel unsafe, you call me, okay? I'll come right away. I live closer to you than your dad."

Her nose scrunches up. "How do you know where I live?"

I laugh. "I've spent time with your father. He talks about you non-stop, and worries about you." Which is why you shouldn't be messing around with her, Tanner . Then again, maybe her father told me where she lived with the hopes that I'd keep an eye on her. Jesus, talk about trying to justify my horrible reasoning. "He told me where you lived. The area anyway. It's possible I drove by your place once on my way home, just to check it out."

"How did you know which house was mine?"

"Your car," I admit, and when her eyes narrow, my stomach clenches. Shit, am I coming off like a stalker?

"Stalker much?" she teases, calling me out as she pushes to her feet to get our session started.

"Nah, just a harmless hockey player who was curious about a fellow hockey player's daughter."

"Curious, huh?"

"You know I like you, Maeve," I admit. Hell, it's not a secret.

"I like you too, T." She gives a resigned sigh because we both know what this is, what it isn't and what it can never be. "All right, get your shirt off, get that gown on and get up on my examination table so I can see what you're working with."

I arch a brow as her words come out wrong, or right, and it's easy to tell we're both thinking about last week when she said the same thing to me as she was removing my pants.

"I thought you already did that," I joke as her eyes go wide. Grinning, she shakes her head and more tendrils of hair fall. God, she is so beautiful and sweet.

"You know what I mean." She walks to her door and opens it. "I'll just be out here waiting for you to get yourself settled. I'll knock before entering."

Yeah, and I'll just be in here, on your table, trying to tame my damn erection.