I responded with a shrug, because what the hell did she want me to do? Convince her boyfriend that their relationship was over so he should leave? No chance of that happening. Besides, the mood was obviously murdered.
Ottavia didn’t protest when I stood. I slung my suit jacket over my shoulder. I had to make my way past Leo on the way out. I gave him some space, just in case he wanted to take a swing—not that I was worried about it.
He stared, tracking me as I walked past. “Who are you? You look familiar.”
“I’m Dakota.” I stuck my hand out for a handshake, because it seemed like the polite thing to do.
“Leo Lancaster,” he grumbled, but he didn’t take my hand. He merely glanced down at it, disgusted, as if I were beneath him.
To be fair, once I realized the hand I was offering him had just been stroking his girlfriend’s pussy a minute earlier, I was pretty glad he snubbed me.
“Wait a minute. I know you,” he said, a spark of revelation in his eyes. “You’re that hockey player, aren’t you? You’re the one who fucked the Sin over with his partying before Game Seven!”
“Yep … that’s me.”
He clicked his tongue. “Wow.This just keeps getting better.”
I unlocked my condo and walked in, my feet dragging. There was no dog or cat to greet me—a furry little guy was too much commitment for me. I kept an aquarium instead. My fish, darting to the front of the glass, were glad to see me.
“At least I got you guys.” I shook out a few flakes for them and promptly proceeded to the couch, which I flopped onto, sad and defeated.
With a deep sigh, I buried my face in my hands. That proved to be a mistake—with my hands on my face, an intoxicating scent hijacked my senses. Ottavia lingered on my fingers, a sweet but subtly spicy musk. Wanting more, I sniffed my hand like a damned hound—but all I managed to do was confuse the hell out of my body, with my cock stirring, but my heart crushing.
Sad boner. The worst kind of boner.
With a sigh, I gave up. I’d never felt this way about a girl before, but … I was actually a little bit, dare I say,crushed. Sure, I probably wasn’t anywhere near as crushed as Leo, but …
Crushed, yeah.
Because I really liked Ottavia. From our little Craigslist back-and-forth, to meeting her in person at the cafe, hell, even to that train wreck of a dinner—okay, not the dinner itself, but the drives to and from were really nice. I felt like we got to know each other a little bit. And I really thought we were clicking.
But how much did Ireallyget to know her?
Clearly, not all that much. On the way to dinner, I didn’t even find out her dad was Mr. Capuano. And on the way back to her hotel, I didn’t even find out she had a boyfriend.
The more I thought about it, the more I felt like I’d dodged a bullet. Yeah, it sucked that Ottavia was taken—but Mr. Capuano had warned me to stay away. And if I wanted to play in the NHL next year? Staying away from her was the smartest thing I could do.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I fished it out of my pockets. It was a text from Ottavia.
“I’m sorry, Dakota. I know that was really awkward, but I just wanted you to know that Leo is not truly my boyfriend.”
“Lol. You must think I’m an idiot if you think I’ll believe that.”
“Trust me, I don’t think that about you at all.”
“He had the key to your suite, walked right in, and acted all disappointed when he caught us. If that’s not a boyfriend, I don’t know what is.”
“I know how it looks. But my situation with Leo is … different.”
“So what are you, a swinger couple or something?”
“OMG. No way. But even if we were swingers, which we’re not, he’d still be my boyfriend.”
“Okay. I give up. If Leo isn’t your boyfriend, then what is he?”
“Well okay … he IS my boyfriend. But he’s not really, I swear.”
I replied with an eye-rolling emoji. “That makes no sense.”
