Page 43 of Last Fall

11

ERIK

Mind IfISit?

ImetZoe outside the arena so I could escort her up to our box anddamndid she look good. Blue jeans that hugged every curve I wanted to touch, a practical pair of sneakers for walking, and a blue Mantas t-shirt.

Sexyasfuck.

“Thanks forcoming.”

She shrugged. “Happytohelp.”

“It’s good to see you. I missed youthisweek.”

She nodded as we walked inside the building and over to a private elevator. “Two wins and a loss. You’re still looking good for theplayoffs.”

The fact that she knew that made me want to do very dirty things to her. To me, the perfect woman was sexy, sure. I mean, what guy doesn’t dream of sexy women? But looks only got me hot. To keep me hot and bothered, I knew I wanted more. A woman who knew sports, who had smartmouth?

Damn... “Did you watch thegames?”

“I had them on in the background while Iworked.”

The elevator started moving with a jerk. “You want help putting that on?” I waved at the jacket inherarms.

“Oh,sure.”

I held it up while she slipped in. The elevator doors opened. “This way.” I led her down the corridor to our box. It was just a scrimmage game so the arena wasn’t full and everything was fairly relaxed. Every step we took I was more and more aware of the silence, more aware that I was fuckingnervous.

And if I was nervous, then she probablywastoo.

So I stopped her outside the door. “Did you have agoodweek?”

“Yeah. I wrote a lot. Writing helps when I have a lot onmymind.”

It was unnatural that we had two feet between us. I didn’t like the distance at all. Now, more than ever, I was positive that once Zoe and I bridged this gap I was never letting her go. We would hold hands, I would put my arm around her, we would kiss and hug and grosseveryoneout.

It was just the way it was going to bewithus.

So even though I wanted to pull her against me so I could wrap her up, even though I knew a hug and a kiss would relax her, I didn’t have that right yet. So I kept my hands to myself. “I thought about you a lotthisweek.”

“I thought aboutyoutoo.”

Oh thank god. “I wished I could call you, but since we hadn’t talked about that, Ididn’t.”

Her cheeks turned red. “You wanted tocallme?”

“Yeah. I like talking toyou,Zo.”

She looked down at our feet. “I think maybe next time you shouldcallthen.”

I couldn’t help myself. There was only so much restraint I could have around her. I cupped her cheek and gently urged her to look back up at me. “Then next time I’ll call.” All the blood in my head surged south.Painfullyso.

She leaned into my hand and I about lost it. My mind. Mycontrol.

Myload.

“You know, as scared as I am about how I feel around you, I was even more scared you wouldn’t want to see meagain.”

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