Page 52 of Wildcat
“Okay. Ready.” I look at Leo and find his gaze on my chest.
“That’s what you’re wearing? You look… naked.” His voice is low and thick. He reaches over and tries to pull up the tank, but the power of cleavage and a great pushup bra is no match for the cotton material.
“I’m selling flavored vodka at a paintball bar. Looking like this is the whole point.”
I pour him a small shot and offer it to him. He sniffs, makes a face, but then drinks it. “Not awesome.”
“You have the day off?” I ask. Dad wasn’t home when I left, so I assume there’s something happening at the arena today, even though he told me not to worry about coming in.
The team has their first home game tomorrow. Mom calls the week of camp, and those next few weeks after it, blackout month because that’s how little we see my father at home. Even when practices are over, and the team is in town, he spends long days and late nights at the office.
“Sort of.” He checks the time on his watch. “I have until six, and then I need to get back to the arena for a meeting with Coach—”
“My dad?”
He smiles. “Yeah.”
It’s early still, that awkward time after lunch and before happy hour. Leo hangs by my side and even helps me hand out the free merchandise. He pulls the hat down low over his eyes like he wore it the other night.
We wander around passing out free shots, but that doesn’t take very long since the bar is so empty, and I find myself outside alone with Leo Lohan.
“Not a bad gig.”
“I’m just filling in. The girl who usually does it had something come up and needed a few hours of coverage. I still need to find something with more hours.”
“What about your photography? Any jobs there?”
“I’m not ready for that. I still have so much to learn. I signed up for a free online class, and I’m practicing when I can. Last weekend I went to Owlsen Park and shot photos of a dog birthday party.” I don’t know why I’m telling him all of this, but being with him like this—just the two of us—makes me nervous and babble, apparently.
He nods, crosses one leg over the other, and leans against the building. “I went to a wedding there last summer.”
“It’s beautiful, and there’s always something going on there. Birthday parties, weddings, families hanging out. It’s great for working with different lightings and elements.”
“Sounds nice.”
“How do you spend Saturdays?”
“Playing hockey, getting ready to play hockey, or on the road somewhere to play hockey.”
I roll my eyes and sample the caramel apple vodka. Interesting, but not as bad as I expected. “What about in the off-season?”
He’s struggling to come up with an answer, twisting his face up and bouncing his head side to side.
“This is truly pathetic. Do you like to do anything that doesn’t revolve around hockey?”
His heated gaze falls over my cleavage and down past my skimpy shorts. I would love to pretend I’m unaffected by it, by him, but I’m not. He places a hand at my hip. His fingers brush underneath the tank onto my stomach.
“You should get out more, broaden your horizons.” I pull away from Leo’s grasp. “Funny thing happened this morning.”
He slides his hands in his pockets. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, I went to pay for my car, and someone had already taken care of it.”
His lips twitch with a smile he doesn’t let free.
“You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
“Nah. Frankie loves working on Hondas, though.”
