5. Luke

Chapter 5

Luke

T he idea of Keke following me around, keeping tabs on my every move, doesn’t sit well with me.

I don’t like being watched. It’s why I didn't follow in my parents’ footsteps. During my brief stint as a child actor, I never got accustomed to the limelight, and it quickly became clear that I had no acting talent. Being the center of attention on the ice is one thing, but it is quite another to have eyes on you in an actor’s setting.

Hockey is in my blood and they had no other choice but to accept it.

After practice, I get a text from Whitney explaining the deal. If I behave for a month, she will loosen the leash. She didn’t elaborate on what that means. I guess this is better than dealing with Whitney directly. I respect her, but she has a reputation for being cold and calculated, the kind of woman who would put your balls in a vise and smile while doing it. Dealing with her directly is not my preferred option.

So, I’ve decided to cooperate. Getting Keke fired on the first day for doing her job means that I will no longer have a nanny. If I can get her to screw up she has no one to blame but herself. It’s the perfect plan, if a little thin on the details.

Unfortunately, I didn’t see her next move coming.

After practice, I hit the showers then linger for a bit in the locker room, hoping to shake my shadow. But Keke is eagerly waiting in the hall, ready to continue the first day of her new job.

Lucky me.

We walk side by side to the parking garage in silence. Our cars are parked fairly close, and when we reach hers, she gives me a stern look with strict instructions to not lose her as we exit and head back to my place.

The good news is I had replaced my Lambo with another, and her old sedan could not keep up as I pour through traffic making my way to the bar. When she vanishes from my rearview, I grin. The race with Lucas might have come to a draw, but at least I win this one.

Or at least I think I did.

I didn’t expect her to realize I had double backed to go to Smokey’s, so when she walks through the door, a growl of annoyance comes out under my breath.

Alek hears it. “Is that your new girlfriend?”

“Shut up.”

Seeing as Whitney had so graciously announced my new nanny in front of everybody, they know who she is. I didn’t need any flak from them about her. It wasn’t as if I had a choice in the matter. I'm just glad Lucas turned down the invitation to join the team for after-practice beers. I certainly don't need him to see this, too.

That race should have been mine. It still grinded my gears that Coach thought it was smart to leave it as a tie. He should have let me put the kid in his place, but he chose the more diplomatic route. Either that or he was trying to rub my nose in the fact that I had to earn the win. Whatever the reason, I didn’t like it.

But that was Coach. He didn’t do anything unless it was for the good of the team. Maybe letting them see me tie with the kid was the right call.

Self-doubt is a bitch.

Apparently, shut up was the wrong thing to say to Alek. He beams, eager to teaseme. “Can’t go anywhere without the old ball and chain, eh?”

Last year, I had gotten him a book of American idioms he could pepper into his English. Though he's Russian, he has a decent understanding of the language because he grew up on American television. But sometimes, the meanings of idioms escaped him. I realize now giving him that book was a mistake.

I elbow his ribs hard enough to make him flinch but not hard enough to hurt him. “That’s enough outta you.”

I had not expected Keke to follow me to the bar although I should have known better. Whitney was nothing if not thorough, so of course, she had told her about our post-training ritual. Not to mention this is where Keke and I first met. She was a smart girl, she would have figured it out on her own regardless.

But Smokey’s was practically sacred and this was going too far.

She sits in the corner trying to look casual with her book, but she is clearly there for one reason only—to keep an eye on me. And to make matters worse, she gives me a cheeky little wave whenever our eyes meet. She’s clearly enjoying this way too much.

“Go to her, Loverboy.” Alek makes kissing sounds and the other guys chime in.

This shit is not going to fly.

I have two options. I could either let Keke ruin my night by getting pissed off about having a babysitter-slash-stalker, or I could deal with her directly.

Option two sounds way more satisfying.

I grab a bottle of Jack and two shot glasses from the bar before making my way over to her table. She watches as I approach, her eyebrows lifting in mild surprise when I sit down across the table from her, placing the bottle of whiskey and shot glasses between us.

“You are really enjoying this, aren't you?” I ask, pouring us each a shot.

“Just doing my job,” she replies and sets her book aside.

I raise the shot glass to my lips, watching her over the rim. “How about you clock out?”

“Thanks, but no thanks.”

“Come on. You don't want me to get bored, do you?”

“I believe I explained earlier that I am not here to entertain you.”

“What if I end up entertaining you?”

Keke rolls her eyes. “You rich jocks are all alike.”

I lift a shoulder. “Might be. I don’t know. Haven’t met that many. What I do know is thatI will do all kinds of things to amuse myself. And that might get you in trouble.”

“Are you blackmailing me into taking a shot?”

“Not blackmailing. Incentivizing.”

She rolls her eyes again but this time adds a smirk. “Remarkable how they sound exactly alike, too.”

I nudge her shot glass toward her. “Besides, we should get to know each other, shouldn’t we? Won’t it make your job easier if you know how to manipulate me? That’s all PR is, isn’t it? Manipulation, lies. You might as well learn the best way to do that with me.” Not that I was going to tell her anything useful.

“I already know how to do that.”

“Prove it.”

Her unmanicured fingers drum on the table momentarily before she reaches for the glass, surprising me. She lifts it in a mock toast. “To responsible drinking.”

I laugh, and we clink glasses before downing the shots. To my surprise, she didn't wince at the burn. “Are you a whiskey drinker? Might make me actually like you.”

“Not really. But I'm making an exception for you. I doubt you can shoot vodka.”

Gauntlet thrown. “Not my usual drink of choice, no. I can, thanks to my job being peppered with Russians, but I appreciate the consideration. We’ll stick with Jack if that’s alright with you. So what do you want to know about me?”

She purses her pouty lips as she thinks. Not fair. It’s impossible to see her do that and not think of those lips wrapped around my dick. But that thought gets wiped out a moment later.

“Why didn't you press charges?”

“Press charges for what?”

She tilts her head, eyes narrowing slightly. “Wait, if you had to ask that, then how many other people are there that you would consider pressing charges against?”

I snort a laugh before realizing how blunt she’d just been. She was bold, which I liked. “I assume you mean press charges against my ex for setting my car on fire. It was a misunderstanding. She's a good person. She just… snapped.”

Keke raises an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. “Did you not hear yourself say she set your car on fire?”

I wave a hand in the air. “Yeah, yeah.”

“Seriously, how are you taking this so lightly?”

“It's not as bad as it sounds?—”

“I saw the newsfootage. Your Lamborghini was completely engulfed in flames. She’s lucky the fire didn’t spread to the other player’s cars. I’m pretty sure that means that it is as bad as it sounds.”

“Mara was upset because there was a misunderstanding between the two of us. I didn't want to make it worse by dragging the cops into it. Unfortunately, the news crews like to hang out at the rink, so they got firsthand footage.”

“Okay, what kind of misunderstanding leads a girl to lighting a car on fire? I have got to hear this.”

I shrug. It wasn’t my finest moment but if Keke was going to be handling my press, she needed the details. “We had gone out a few times, nothing serious. Or, at least, I didn’t think it was serious. I didn’t know she had made a dupe of my housekey, and I definitely didn’t know she was going to let herself into my place while I was in bed with another woman?—”

“What?”

“Yeah. I was mid-stroke with this other girl, and Mara got mad, thinking I was cheating on her. Understand, we never said we were exclusive. I don’t do exclusive. At least, I haven’t found the right woman yet for that kind of commitment. Anyway, it was just a misunderstanding. No reason to press charges on anyone.”

She stares at me for a moment then bursts out laughing. “You're way too kind. She made an illegal duplicate of your housekey, broke into your house, and then set your car on fire. If that were me, I would have pressed charges against her so fast her head would’ve spun.”

I grin, leaning forward. “So are you saying you date women? Is that why you didn't kiss me the other night?”

She rolls her eyes, but I catch a hint of a smile. “No.”

“Why not, then? Were you already on the job or something?”

She shakes her head, that red ponytail bouncing. “I don't go for the charming playboy, golden retriever type.”

“What is your type?”

“The kind that doesn’t ask too many questions,” she says sharply.

“Golden retriever, huh?”

“Pretty sure you’re a dog, but I thought I’d pick the nicest one for comparison.”

I laugh at that. “What makes me a dog?”

“You’ll hump anything that moves.”

“You sure you don’t like golden retrievers?”

She hesitates for a moment, her eyes flickering to my lips before she pointedly looks away. “I’m allergic.”

I chuckle, feeling the tension between us starting to shift to something different. “We'll see about that.”