Page 93 of Tight Spot

“I’m flattered, really, and I feel so bad I didn’t notice earlier.”

“Yeah, well, you didn’t know I played with Tuevo either, so I’ll cut you some slack on being aware of what’s going on around you.”

I chuckled, cheeks on fire. Isaac was attractive. Strange with his cats sometimes, but in another world, another day….

“I’m sorry,” I finally said. I was, too. He was a great guy, and he’d gone to so much effort to get to know me. I could see it now, in hindsight. The questions he’d so casually ask about what restaurants I liked, what kind of flowers he’d buy his, now, nonexistent sister.

His lips pressed down into a frown, and he turned, studied a small, pink jewelry box I’d distressed because little girls would bang it up anyway and tilted his head in my direction. “Guess that’s a ‘not interested,’ then, huh?”

“I think that my heart sort of recently ran away from me before I could stop it, and until I get my head on straight again, it’s best I don’t do anything to complicate it further.”

At his feet, Jelly the Cat meowed, a sad sound while staring at me with her soul-sucking eyes. She was either feeling sorry for her owner or plotting my murder. Possibly both.

“Hey, Isaac!”

He nodded at my brother, coming in from the back, mask pulled down beneath his chin, sandiest all over his Slipknot T-shirt. “Hey, Charlie. You’re still in town?”

“For a while, yeah. Wanna get a drink?”

“Love to.” Charlie headed straight to the restroom and Isaac turned to me then. “We’ll see you around?”

“Yeah.” And for some stupid reason, my heart squeezed a bit inside. Almost like I was losing someone else important to me. “You know, you can come in and say hi sometime without being forced to buy things.”

“Will do. Some time.”

But probably not for a while.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Anything, Hailey.”

“Well, um. You’ve lived here for a while now.”

“And I’ve paid my rent on time every month like a good boy.”

This guy. Funny. Sweet. Attractive. Was there something wrong with me? I always fell for the wrong guy. The emotionally unavailable one. The cheating one.

That was a question for a late-night session with alcohol and Charlie, perhaps.

“If you play professional hockey, why do you live here? In this apartment, I mean.”

“You realize that’s the first personal question you’ve ever asked me?”

“What? No. It can’t be.”

He chuckled and shook his head again. “That should have probably made things clear for me earlier, huh?”

“Isaac—”

He lifted a hand, palm out. “No worries. Honestly. I took a shot, and it went wide. It happens. And to answer your question, I live in your apartment because I like the town feel, like being around it when I’m in town. I bounced around a lot of teams for the AHL before finally getting my shot last year. A part of me still fears I’ll lose it and get sent back. So…until I’ve proven myself, I’m here. If that’s all right.”

“Of course. As long as you bring Peanut Butter next time, too.”

My phone pinged in my pocket, and Isaac heard. “I’ll let you get back to work. Take care, Hailey.”

“Thanks, Isaac.”

“And Dawson’s a dumb shit for letting you get away. I hope you know that.”

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