“I still haven’t agreed to this,” she muttered.
“Trust me, this won’t be such a big deal. People casually date all the time, and it doesn’t have to mean anything more thanthat. You want your ex to acknowledge you’ve moved on but words aren’t working. Maybe pictures will.”
“I know. It’s just…” She took another bite of the cookie rather than finish the sentence.
“Just what?” I was starting to get frustrated; I just didn’t get it. This was a simple solution, and it’s not like I was that awful to hang out with. At least, I hadn’t gotten any complaints before.
“I hate the attention.”
“You kissed me first.”
“And you implied that we wake up in bed together every morning,” she pointed out.
“Okay, fair point. He riled me up, but I shouldn’t have reacted like I did. I know that the last guy you dated being a hockey player and me also being one isn’t great, and you can’t even believe how sorry I am about what I said to him, but honestly, I’m a nice guy otherwise. I don’t have ulterior motives. My friends and family all love me if you want some character references or something.”
She chuckled. “No, I’ll take your word on it. But why are you so determined to help me? For the record, I’m not going to sleep with you.”
“Like I said before, I don’t expect anything from you. I’m just trying to make it up to you since I made this messier. Please, just let me help you get Jensen to leave you alone for good.”
I’d never tried so hard to convince someone to hang out with me. I was a gem of a guy, dammit.
“Okay, fine, let’s do this. A few dates and I’ll go to a game or two.”
I grinned. “I’ll get you my jersey. Hey, maybe you can come to our last preseason game Sunday night.”
“Maybe. Do I have to wear it?”
“You going to fight me on everything?”
“No.” But there was that twinkle in her eyes again. She liked pushing my buttons.
“You’re going to have to kiss me when we’re out,” I said, taunting her right back.
“Hmm. I guess.”
“We should practice.”
Her lips parted. Was she thinking about our last kiss? Had she thought about it as much as I had in the last few days?
“I think we already proved we can kiss.” She squirmed slightly in her seat, and I would have given anything to taste her lips at that moment.
“Thinking about it?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“What? No. Okay, yes.” She took another bite of her cookie and I kept my smirk on the inside.
“Don’t be annoying,” she muttered after she took a drink of her coffee.
“It’s one of my finer qualities.” This time I did smirk. “I’m kidding.”
“Just for that, I’m not saving any of this cookie for you.”
“I wasn’t even going to ask for a bite.”
She sighed. “Look, I know I’m being testy, but I guess thanks for doing this. I mean, you seem nice and not a dick.”
“Glad you noticed. But speaking of, has he tried to contact you at all? He wouldn’t show up at your office, would he? I can get you a picture of me for your desk if that’d help.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m good. And no, I haven’t heard from him. I did block him everywhere, and luckily he hasn’t shown up in person. Maybe he’s moved on and we don’t have to do this.”
