Shit, I’m stupid.

Shit, shit, shit.

Another sigh, this one not so quiet, and I cap the marker with a heavy feeling on me. I hand it back to the woman, mumble some shit about I need to get going, and then turn away from her. Instead of heading toward the elevators, which would take me right by Gray and Ryker, I move in the opposite direction to the open bar area of the lobby.

I take a seat at the mostly deserted bar, order a beer, and then pull my phone out of my pocket. While the bartender pours my draft, I type a text to Lexi.

Just had some woman ask me to sign her jersey. On her chest. I freaked, blanked, and then did it because I didn’t know what to say. Gray saw me. She looks pissed. Figured you might hear from her about it so wanted to give you a heads-up. Now in the bar and having a quick beer. Will call you soon.

I hit Send and set the phone down on the bar. The bartender slides my beer to me, I fish a ten-dollar bill out of my wallet and hand it to him.

Just as I finish my first sip, I see Lexi’s return text pop up. Picking up my phone, I smile as I read her response.

Poor baby. Must be hard to be so sought after by the ladies. Enjoy your beer. Talk soon. XOXO

Damn, she’s like the fucking perfect woman and I’m not sure what I did to deserve her. I’ve not had the best track record when it comes to treating women right, so karma seems a little out of whack in my opinion, but I’m not going to turn my nose up at the gift of Lexi that’s been given to me.

“Well, that was an awkward moment,” I hear from behind me. I don’t turn around because I recognize Ryker’s voice.

He takes a seat on the stool next to me and the bartender approaches. Ryker waves him off and says, “I’m not staying.”

I take another sip of beer, this one bigger, and stare down into the amber liquid, hoping that maybe Ryker will just go away.

It’s not that I don’t like him, because I really, really do. He’s one of the all-time greatest goalies, and his performance is one of the major things that helped us secure the Stanley Cup last year. He’s a seasoned veteran with a good head on his shoulders. Nice guy too. All the guys look up to him.

About the only thing I might question is his sanity in getting involved with Gray Brannon, because she’s a woman that I just don’t understand or connect with, but whatever…to each his own.

“Sucks, buddy,” Ryker says, and even claps his hand on my shoulder. This causes me to turn my head to glare at him, but he just grins at me. “Having women throw themselves at you, even though you’re securely off the market.”

“What makes you think I’m off the market?” I growl at him, hoping he gets offended by my failure to reassure him that I’d never cheat on Lexi.

That just makes him laugh. “You’re off the market because guys who give their girls pink teddy bears wouldn’t consider dipping their wicks into some strange.”

“Would you speak English for fuck’s sake,” I grumble again, but I have to take another sip of my beer because I almost chuckled at his attempts to lighten the mood.

“Don’t worry about Gray,” Ryker says, and that piques my attention. I turn to look at him again. “She knows that’s part of the life…dealing with that crap.”

“But she doesn’t trust me to do right by Lexi,” I say grimly.

“She doesn’t know anything but your past reputation,” he counters. “Give her time.”

I stare at Ryker for a moment, and yeah…I really like this guy. But sadly, I can’t say the same for his wife, and I’m not sure I’ll ever get there. I don’t tell him that, though, as Ryker’s likely to throw a punch at me if I did. Instead, I say before turning to back to my beer, “Appreciate the advice.”

“Sure you do,” he says with a laugh, then claps me on the shoulder one more time as he stands from the stool. “And for what it’s worth, I’m glad to see you and Lexi together. She clearly adores you.”

I try to ignore the warm feeling that statement produces in my chest, but I do look up at him and smile. “Thanks. I’ll deny it if you repeat this, but I really like her too. I would never abuse her trust.”

“I know,” he says genially. “I could tell you were totally uncomfortable with that situation. Gray may not have seen it, but fuck…I’ve been in that situation, and it sucks balls.”

“What in the hell should I have done?” I ask, curious now that I know Ryker’s been through this.

“You just have to be ready for it, and when you’re asked to do things out of your comfort zone, learn to gracefully come up with a work-around. It will come more naturally to you the more it happens.”

“I don’t want it to happen,” I grumble. “In the future, I think I’ll just head straight to my room from the bus.”

Ryker laughs and shakes his head. “You’ll never do that because you don’t want to deprive the kids and legit fans. Just have a canned response ready. Something like, ‘Sorry…I don’t think my girlfriend would like that.’ That covers a wide variety of situations.”

Hmmmm…that does sound pretty simple, and I vow to myself I’ll do that the next time.

“Thanks for the advice,” I tell him as I stand from my stool. I pick up my beer, take one more chug, and put the half-empty glass back onto the bar. Turning to Ryker, I say, “Now, Lexi’s expecting my call, and while I enjoyed chatting with you, I’d much rather be talking to her.”

Ryker snorts and we turn to walk to the elevators together.

Chapter 25

Lexi

I look at the time on my phone again, then my texts to see that Roman still hasn’t responded to me, and with a frustrated huff, I look at Georgia, who is sitting at her desk doing paperwork. Pushing up out of one of the cheap secondhand guest chairs, I tell her, “I’m going to head home. I have no clue where he is or what’s going on.”

Georgia looks up at me with a sympathetic smile. “Oh, honey, I’m sure everything’s fine.”

And I hope that’s the case. Roman was supposed to pick me up here at The Grind when I got off my shift at 5:30 P.M.

That was over forty-five minutes ago.

I feel like we’ve hardly had any time together and I guess that’s something I need to get used to if I’m going to date a professional athlete. He was in DC last Saturday night for a game—the night we affectionately refer to as the “boob incident” game—only to come back for a day, before he headed out for games in Atlanta and then Nashville. The day he was back he had practice and I had to work that night, and thus our time together was him sitting in The Grind listening to me play my music. Well, that’s not true…he stayed at my apartment that night and it’s safe to say neither of us got much sleep, but then he was off traveling again.