Nate, p.8
Nate, page 8
part #10 of Las Vegas Sidewinders Series
“I don’t want to lose my job, but if I do this, I’m going to be exactly what your friends warned you about.”
“Don’t worry about me—I don’t give a shit about that—but you have to do what’s right for you, for your career. If this paper is so sleazy, why not find something else?”
“I’ve been trying, but so far no one is hiring a fledgling journalist with five minutes of experience. And I have car payments, insurance, gas, my phone…I can’t just quit.”
“What about freelancing and doing something else part-time like waiting tables or something?”
“I’ve been thinking about it,” she admitted. “I didn’t want to do that. I want to have a career not flit from job to job like a lot of my friends.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I think…” She blew out a breath. “I think I’m going to do the story I was originally going to do, talking about juggling a large, mixed family with hockey, being the oldest player active in the NHL, and the excitement of possibly playing with his son in a year or two. I’ll ask about his oldest son’s mother, getting shot at his wedding reception, and stuff that’s public knowledge, but I’m not mentioning the KGB or anything ridiculous like that.”
“That sounds reasonable.” He paused. “And if you get fired?”
“I live at home.” She shrugged. “I can get a job waiting tables. I don’t want to, but I can and I will if Teddy decides to be a jerk.”
“Then I guess you have your answer.”
“Yeah.” She leaned across the seat and rested her head against his shoulder. “Thanks for letting me vent. I’ve had a rough time since graduating.”
“How come?” He bent his head and pressed a chaste kiss on the top of her head.
“Just everything. Job-hunting, having to move back home, the break-up with my ex wasn’t a simple thing—it went on forever. He showed up at graduation to tell my parents that he wanted to marry me, but I was being stubborn because he made one little mistake.”
“Cheating on you was a little mistake?” Nate asked in surprise.
“Exactly. My parents loved him, though, and they were so disappointed when I told them I would never trust him again. It’s been one thing after another, and now this.”
“I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do.”
“You’re doing it—listening. Jen, my best friend, listens to too much, and my parents just don’t understand. They think it’s all my own doing. If I’d just married Ben, I would be living in his nice house, getting ready to have a baby…” She shuddered.
“No interest in kids?”
“Not yet. Geez. I’m only twenty-two. I assume I’ll be a mom someday, but I don’t think about it a lot. Too much else I need to figure out before I can handle a kid.”
“I hear that.”
“So now you know my sad, boring story.”
“We all have sad, boring stories. Trust me.”
“You have one too?”
“You could say that.”
“But you’re not going to tell me, I guess.” She didn’t seem surprised or upset about it.
“It’s a long story, and it’s late. We can talk about me another day.”
“Okay.”
“You want to get a drink before I take you home?”
“Sure.” She slid her hand into his and warmth flowed through him even as a touch of anxiety whispered in the back of his mind.
This was dating.
They were dating.
And he’d never dated anyone he liked this much.
Just like the other night, unease mingled with excitement and he struggled to come to terms with such disparate emotions. Mostly, he wondered if he was ready to open up to someone about the demons in his past.
14
Chelsea was in a better mood the next day, determined to do a good job on this story, even if it cost her the job she so desperately needed. If nothing else, the story would give her credibility if she had to start sending out resumés. She’d been up half the night doing research, learning anything and everything about Anatoli Petrov, his brother, and his oldest son. While the events that had unfolded at his reception seemed a little sketchy, the police had determined that one of his teammates had been in love with the girlfriend of another teammate and had shown up at the wedding armed and ready to kidnap her. Toli had simply gotten caught in the crossfire. The man with the gun had been killed, and she couldn’t find any link at all to the KGB.
Teddy had been a beat reporter in Washington, D.C. for much of his career, so he often looked for dirt where there was none. She’d heard others at the paper mention it once in a while, and he had some impressive tear sheets autographed and framed on the walls of his office, but she hadn’t thought about it in the scope of her job now. Maybe that’s why the paper had hired him to be the managing editor, but if she’d wanted to deal with stories like that, she wouldn’t be working for this nothing paper that forced her to continue living at home.
Since she was meeting Toli at his house, she didn’t bother going to practice and got to his place right at one o’clock, which was when he’d said he would be home. She was a little nervous about interviewing him at home, but Tessa had made it seem like it was easier, so she was on board for anything that would make this simpler for all of them.
Grabbing her purse, she paused to straighten her clothes before knocking on the door. Tessa answered right away with a bright smile.
“Hey there. Come on in.”
“Thank you.” Chelsea walked in and was immediately assaulted by myriad sights, sounds, and scents. Something was in the oven—or had been in there recently—because the house smelled heavenly. It was a combination of garlic and something spicy, and it made Chelsea’s mouth water. The house was huge, with tall ceilings and windows on almost every wall, making everything seem even bigger.
Before she could take in the large, homey kitchen, a child’s squeal of laughter reminded her where she was and she smiled. “Something smells wonderful.”
“Thanks. I’ve got chili in the crockpot for tonight. It’s finally getting cold enough to feel like eating that kind of thing.”
“Hi, Chelsea.” Toli looked up from his laptop, closing it and rising to greet her. “Thank you for coming. This makes my life so much easier, and I can be home with Tessa and the kids. I try to be home as much as I can if we’re not on the road. With two babies and another one on the way, it’s a lot for her.”
“Would you like something to drink?” Tessa asked. “Lemonade? Soda?”
“A glass of water would be great.” Chelsea nodded. “Thank you.”
“Let’s go into the family room,” Toli suggested. “The boys are going down for naps soon, so we’ll be able to concentrate.”
“Sure.” Chelsea followed him, marveling at the beautiful furnishings, despite the smattering of toys on the floor, a makeshift hockey net set up in front of the TV, and a box of diapers on the side of the couch. It was a nice combination of elegant and homey, something she hadn’t been expecting for some reason.
“So what do you want to know?” Toli asked as they settled in.
“Everything.” She laughed.
“I don’t think we have time for that.” He grinned. “Maybe narrow it down?”
“I think I’ll start with the obvious since we touched on that last time we spoke—what’s it really like being the oldest player in the NHL?”
“I don’t know what else to say,” he replied. “I’ve been playing hockey for as long as I can remember. It’s all I’ve ever known and as long as I’m healthy, I can’t imagine quitting.”
“Is it hard on your wife, having two kids under the age of three, a school-age child, and being pregnant?”
He hesitated, his blue eyes softening as he appeared to think about how to respond. “I’d say yes. She doesn’t complain, but I think this pregnancy has been harder on her than the others. Alex is a toddler and into everything. Andy isn’t even a year yet, so he’s still clingy and needy. She doesn’t get enough sleep. She can’t spend as much time as she’d like with Raina, and we certainly don’t have much time together.”
“You haven’t been married that long, have you?”
“A little over three years.”
“So how do you balance your love of hockey with your love of your family?”
“I don’t know that I do,” he replied thoughtfully. “Tessa doesn’t ask it of me, so I don’t have to worry about balance. She knows that between September and April or so, I’m going to be focused on hockey. It’s not intentional. If something happened with her or the children, I’d be there in an instant, but in general, she handles everything, so I don’t have to worry about it.”
“But now that she’s pregnant? Doesn’t that shift a little?”
“Of course. Don’t get me wrong, nothing is more important to me than my family. Maybe it doesn’t sound like it, but it is. Hockey is my career, and how I support us, but Tessa knew what she was getting into. When I’m home, I get up with the kids, take Raina to school, and make sure the car is gassed up. I do whatever I can when I’m here, but we have an amazing support system with the other wives and girlfriends. She’s never truly alone.”
“That must be nice.” Chelsea wanted to ask something harder, something that would make her boss happy but wouldn’t upset Toli or push her moral compass. She just didn’t know how to turn the conversation in that direction, and Toli wasn’t giving her openings that invited different questions. He’d obviously done this a few times and knew better than to give her too much, which was both impressive and annoying.
“Daddeeee!” Alex came bounding into the room as fast as his little legs would carry him, vaulting himself into Toli’s arms.
“There’s my big boy.” Toli laughed. “Isn’t it nap time?”
“Yes.” The boy buried his blond head in the hollow of his father’s shoulder. “But I wanna stay with you.”
“I’ll be here when you get up, promise.” Toli kissed the top of his head. “Now go lay down with Mommy.”
“Okay.” Alex gave Chelsea a shy smile then turned and hurried out of the room.
“He’s adorable.”
“He’s a handful at two and a half and keeps us on our toes.”
“I can imagine.” She fiddled with her notes, trying to decide what to do next.
“What is it you want to ask?” he asked after a moment. “You seem nervous, so I figure it’s either about my ex-girlfriend, me getting shot at my wedding, or something to do with who my oldest son’s mother is.”
She shook her head. “No, not exactly. You’ve just had such an interesting career, with a fairly well-publicized personal life, but I don’t want to ask you the same questions every other journalist asks you and anything I might consider interesting borders on invasive.”
He laughed. “I’m a public figure, so to speak. You can ask anything you like. I may not answer some things because my family deserves a modicum of privacy, but you can ask. If I don’t want to answer, I won’t.”
“Okay. Tell me about wanting to play long enough for your son to get to the NHL…”
They talked for nearly three hours until the kids had woken up from their naps and Raina came home from school. Tessa invited Chelsea to stay for dinner, but she declined, anxious to get home and transcribe her notes. Once she and Toli had started talking, she’d stopped being nervous, and he’d opened up about a few things she hadn’t read anywhere else. Hopefully, she had enough of a scoop to appease Teddy, but either way, she was brimming with ideas for the story. She also wanted to call Nate and tell him about it since he’d asked her to.
“Hey, how’d it go?” he asked when he answered.
“I was there all afternoon. I felt bad, like I was keeping him from his family, but he seemed happy to talk and I had a zillion questions.”
“Toli loves to talk, that’s for sure.”
“What did you do all day?”
“Called my friend Whitney, did some laundry, picked up my dry cleaning.”
“Sounds exciting.”
“Well, it has to be done.”
“Do you live alone?”
“I do. Rented a nice apartment not too far from the arena.” He paused. “You want to come over? We could order takeout, maybe watch a movie?”
“Um, sure.” She had so much work to do, but he would be on the road again soon, and she wanted to see him.
He gave her the address and she knew right where it was.
“I’ll see you in ten minutes,” she said, disconnecting before she could change her mind.
She drove into the apartment complex and parked, taking a minute to check her makeup and put a dab of gloss on her lips. She’d almost forgotten what it was like to want to look pretty for someone in particular or to seduce them, but doing it for Nate felt natural. She’d wasted two years beating herself up over the loss of her boyfriend, wondering what was wrong with her, what she’d done to drive him to cheat. Her intelligent mind knew better, but her heart battled with it constantly and it was tiresome.
Nate was single, sexy and sweet—the three Ss of dating, according to Jen. Maybe it was time to listen to her for once. Doing it her own way hadn’t seemed to work at all.
15
“Hi.” Nate was waiting at the door as she came down the hall and he reached out to lightly brush his lips across hers.
“Hi.” She kissed him back before walking into his apartment ahead of him and he shut the door behind them.
“It’s small,” he said as if he needed to explain. “But I figure I don’t need to spend a lot of time or money on a place when I’m not here that much and mostly all I do is sleep.”
“A comfortable bed, lots of hot water, and a refrigerator are the essentials,” she agreed.
“I even have a fancy gas stove.” He laughed. “Unfortunately, I don’t know how to use it. Whitney flew down at the start of the season and helped me pick this place, but she didn’t have time to teach me how to cook.”
“Who’s Whitney, exactly?” she asked, trying to keep her voice casual. “You mention her a lot, but I don’t know who she is to you.”
“Just a friend,” he said, sinking into the couch and patting the spot beside him. “We met in Boston this past spring and hit it off. We’re both originally from Dallas and come from money, so we have that in common, but there’s nothing between us. She’s the one who’s a nanny in Alaska now.”
“How come there’s nothing between you? You seem really close.”
“We’ve always just been close friends,” he said. “I promise, I’m completely single.”
“Since I had that bad experience of being cheated on, I guess I’m a little cautious now.”
“Totally understandable.” He pulled out his phone and pushed a few buttons. “So here are all the places that deliver. What are you in the mood for?”
“Oh, I’m easy. You pick. I’m sure you need to eat a certain way during hockey season, so you pick what works for you and I’ll find something.”
“Chinese?”
“Okay.” He found out what she wanted, placed an order and wondered what to do next. Damn, he wasn’t any good at this dating stuff. What happened now? Was he supposed to make small talk until the food came? Should he kiss her? Offer her a beer? Something else? He hated to show weakness, but he’d never invited a date over to his apartment before, not even in college, so this was all new to him.
“My interview with Toli went better than I expected,” she said, filling the silence as if she sensed he needed her to. “He talked about his oldest son a lot and gave me a bunch of stuff about him that I don’t think he’s told anyone else. Like we talked about his son’s skull fracture a few years ago and how it almost derailed his future in hockey, and how scared he’d been when he got the call that Anton had been hurt. There was a lot of raw emotion in there, which I think will resonate with readers, even if they’re not hockey fans.”
“That’s good stuff. What else?”
“How hard it was moving back to Russia for his ex when he just wanted to stay in the U.S. and be close to his son.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Like I said, great stuff for me to write about. Hopefully, it’ll be enough to keep my editor from bringing up all the KGB stuff again.”
“When do you have to have it done?”
“Usually within a day. We turn everything around pretty quick to keep it fresh, but since this is a feature, I’ll have a few days. Transcribing the interview alone will take me hours. I’ll be up all night doing it.”
“Is there software that can transcribe for you?”
“Yeah, but it’s expensive. and I can’t afford it right now. But it’s okay. It’s not like I have anything else to do. Well, not usually.” She flushed as if realizing what she’d said.
“Hopefully our spending time together won’t put you too behind in your work.” He slid an arm around her shoulder and drew her in for a kiss.
This one was slow and sensual, exploring each other’s mouths and lips as if for the first time all over again. Her arms moved up and closed around his neck, and he reacted by unconsciously coaxing her into deepening the kiss, his mouth tender against hers. He tightened his grip, keeping her face tilted at just the perfect angle to continue to enjoy her delightful lips. Kissing her was amazing, like no one he’d ever kissed, and for the first time, he wasn’t thinking about stopping.
By the time they pulled apart something had shifted between them. Her eyes glittered with arousal, and she didn’t move. Her arms were still wrapped around his neck and he traced the line of her jaw with his thumb, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do next. She was expecting more, he sensed it, but he wasn’t ready. Not yet. They needed more time together. He did anyway, but he didn’t know how to explain that to her without making her feel rejected.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered softly.
“Nothing. I just don’t want to rush into anything. We’re still getting to know each other, you know?”
