Page 31 of Coaching Prince Charming

Even so, I had to talk to him about sensitive things. We couldn’t do it in a bar or in front of the rink. I wouldn’t use him again until I drew some firm lines we couldn’t cross. I didn’t mean to use him, I thought apologetically, but I knew that things simply didn’t work that way. My intentions were irrelevant when the facts were what they were. Fame and wealth could easily blind an inexperienced person. The momentary attraction could look like something more to someone so young.

We drove in companionable silence. The old rock music from my speakers filled the car, and Carter occasionally said how much he liked the song that came on. Each time, he surprised me. I would have imagined these songs being totally foreign to him. And if he wasn’t humming and mouthing and even singing along, I might have suspected he was only saying it to give us things in common. By the end of the ride, I knew without a doubt that our tastes in music were a match.

“It’s timeless,” Carter pointed out when I expressed my surprise. “Besides, these songs are twenty years older than you, and you like them.”

I had to laugh.

“They are,” he said. “You keep pretending you’re old, but you were a kid yourself ten years ago.”

“I was twenty-eight ten years ago,” I said as we walked through the underground garage in my building toward the elevator. “And at the height of my popularity.”

“Not true,” Carter said. “You peaked in the last couple of years, according to every source I ever read. We’re not talking about those shitty online blogs, by the way. Just this morning, The Metropolitan Observer published a piece questioning if your retirement had come too soon. I don’t know if you’re paying attention, but your old team isn’t doing so great.”

I hadn’t been paying attention. It hurt too much to know what was happening. It hurt that I was out if they were losing, but it hurt the same if they were winning without me.

“You’re a real little stalker, aren’t you?” I accused him as we entered the elevator.

He shot me a pout. “I’m not little.”

My eyebrows moved up and down playfully before I could stop them, and Carter easily read the suggestion off my face. He was little in one particularly delicious way. And the closer we were to total privacy, the harder it was to keep that out of my thoughts.

“And I’m not a stalker,” Carter said, his voice a little more airy and his face flushed. “I’ll admit, I have all the magazines with you on the cover, but how’s that different from any other pop star or actor or sports celebrity?”

It was different in that he had slept with me, but I didn’t say it. I was stunned that he had those as much as by the fact that he would so readily admit it. “Even the…”

“The underwear ones? Hell yeah.” His heated tone and pink cheeks revealed more than he planned, I was sure.

The elevator dropped up in the elegant hallway that led to my spacious apartment. We walked there, and Carter observed how nice the building was. I hadn’t exactly paid much attention to where I lived. I owned properties across the country, vacation homes, luxury apartments, office spaces, and more. Those I lived in from time to time were all the same to me. I’d spent most of my life on the go, living in hotel rooms. Before that, I had been dirt-poor and sharing one small room with my big brother.

I unlocked the heavy door and pushed it open, letting us into my apartment.

“You weren’t kidding” were the first words from Carter’s mouth.

“About what?” I asked before I remembered.

He simply gestured at the apartment. “It’s like those viewing models. Very clean.”

I chuckled. “You’re getting cheeky.”

“I take liberties after sixty-nining someone,” he replied with a guileless shrug.

His words made me heat up, but I hurried into the kitchen to get us something to drink. Carter followed me all the way to the fridge, where I searched for Coke. When his gaze grew too heavy, I pulled a can out and set it on the island, finally turning to look into his eyes. He was patient, but there were expectations in that look.

“I want us to talk about things,” I said.

He pulled his lower lip between his teeth. “After you kiss me.”

My heart thumped so loudly that it felt like it had climbed into my skull. I took a step forward and cupped the boy’s cheek, looking into his big, warm eyes. He was daring, far braver than I had ever been, and the desire to be kissed was painted across his entire face.

It lured me in so easily that I didn’t even consider not doing it.

When my lips grazed against him, he sucked in a shallow breath of air, then pushed himself up onto his toes. He rose and pressed his mouth against mine just as I leaned in a little lower, kissing him deeply and carefully as if I would never get another chance.

When I pulled away from him, he had that glazed look in his eyes and a silly smile on his lips. After a moment, he blinked and nodded. “That’s better.”

My chest was tight with all the feelings I wouldn’t let run wild. Even if we talked and found a way to see one another, he was still nearly twenty years younger. I couldn’t let myself feast on all the good things he made me feel. I couldn’t do that to him.

I stepped away, keeping my hands busy by putting ice into two glasses. Carter filled his with Coke, and I searched for something stronger for myself.

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