“Sorry,” I muttered, trying to regain my balance.

“No problem.” The girl with beautiful dark waves and bright bluish-purple eyes said to me.

Bluish. Purple. Eyes.

“You must be Kacie? Blaire has told me so much about you.” She smiled with rows and rows of perfect white teeth. “I’m Kendall.”

I whipped around to face Blaire who’d walked up behind me. “What the hell?”

“She texted me and asked me to come meet you,” Kendall answered for her. “She said you had some questions about Brody and last weekend.”

“I don’t have any questions.” Anger grew in me and seeped out of my pores as I glared back and forth between the two of them. “You two are insane.”

“Calm down, drama queen. I just wanted her to confirm that she did see him last weekend. Didn’t you, Kendall?”

“Mm-hmm,” she purred. “He’s such a sweetie and a great kisser too.”

“Face it, girl. You’re nothing but a summer fling,” Blaire hissed into my ear. “The only thing he’ll ever really love is hockey. Once the season starts, you’ll be in the rearview mirror crying in your fake designer purse. He’ll move on … and you can focus all your efforts on making cupcakes with your kids.”

I rushed past both of them and headed straight for an emergency exit opposite the ballroom. I needed space. Once outside, I sucked in the cool, crisp air as fast as I could, begging my pulse to slow to a normal rate.

What am I supposed to do now?

I could go flying into the ballroom and start screaming and yelling at Brody like a lunatic, embarrassing both him and myself and making Blaire and Kendall squeal with delight in the process. Or … I could tuck my tail between my legs and wait. Wait until we were alone. Wait until I had time to think about the things Blaire had said. Wait until I could distance myself from him enough emotionally so that all of this wouldn’t hurt so much.

That’s what I would do. Wait.

“Everything okay?” I stood as Kacie came back to the table. “You were gone a long time.”

“I’m … fine,” she stammered, delivering the fakest smile I’d ever seen on her perfect face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“I went looking for you and ran into Blaire. She said you two were chatting in the bathroom. What did she say?”

“Nothing. I just needed air for a minute. I’m fine.”

“Okay.” I reached for her hand, but the second I touched her she tensed up.

There was that damn word again. Fine.

We limped our way through dessert, barely talking. She seemed to purposely ignore me and chat up Dina who was sitting on the other side of her, while I talked half-heartedly with my other teammates.

The CEO of the Wild Kids Foundation gave his closing speech and the crowd started to thin out. “You wanna hang around and have another drink?” I asked Kacie, hoping she’d say no so I could get her out of here and rip that dress off her with my teeth.

“Nah, I’m really tired,” she answered dryly.

“Okay, well then you might be happy with the surprise I have for you.”

Confusion swept across her face as she just stared at me.

“I talked to your mom earlier about watching the girls overnight tonight and booked us a room in the hotel across the street. A suite, actually.”

“Oh.” Her face was unreadable. “Would you mind if we didn’t stay? I’m really tired and want to sleep in my own bed.”

Disappointment weighed on my shoulders. I knew there was something more going on in her head than just being tired.

“Kacie, what’s going on? You’re acting so different.”

“Nothing, this night has just been a little overwhelming.” She smiled tightly. “It was just another reminder of how glaringly different our lives are, Brody.”

“Okay, but why is that a bad thing?”

She swallowed and thought for a minute. “I just have a lot to think about.”

“I don’t get it. I thought you were okay with the differences and that we were going to slowly work on blending our lives.”

Her phone rang and she pulled it out of her purse. “It’s my mom, I’ll be right back,” she said as walked away to hear.

What the hell happened in that bathroom?

“Blaire,” I called, walking up behind the blonde bimbo.

She turned and glared at me. “Yes, dirtbag.”

“What did you say to Kacie? She’s acting weird.”

“Nothing, we fixed our makeup and chatted about how yummy dinner was.” A sneer crossed her face. “Maybe she finally realized what a loser you are and decided to get out while she still can.”

Andy nudged her and shook his head.

“Just remember what I said…” I warned. “If I find out you were a bitch to her again, you’re gonna be driving a Kia instead of a Range Rover.”

I turned to go find Kacie when she spat from behind me, “Don’t threaten me, dick.”

Not turning around, I called over my shoulder, “It’s a promise.”

The limo dropped us off and before I could consider locking her in and forcing her to talk to me again, she hurried out of the limo. Once we got inside, the brush-off continued. She tried to race off to bed right away, but I caught her wrist and pulled her into my arms. She relaxed into my chest immediately, almost like my hug was a relief. I held her tight, hoping that she’d open up and tell me what was really going on, but as long as she wasn’t pulling back away, I would just hold her there as long as she wanted.

My chin rested on top of her head and I brushed her hair with my fingers. When she didn’t pull back, I ran my hands softly up and down her bare arms, smiling slightly as her soft skin broke out in goose bumps under my fingers. She lifted her head and looked up at me; something was different in her normally sparkly green eyes.

Sad.

In that moment, I had a new goal of taking her sadness away. I hooked my finger under her chin, raising her face higher. I ran the tip of my nose along hers, testing the waters to see if she would push me away.

“I’m gonna go kiss the girls goodnight and crawl into bed.” The words came out of her mouth, but she didn’t move. The electricity between us was off the charts. We were playing an emotional game of chicken, waiting to see who would budge first.

“Can I go with you?” I asked quietly.

She inhaled sharply. “Brody, we’re at my house. I told you I don’t want the girls to know anything.”

“Is that really the reason you don’t want me to go with you?”

“Yes.”

I didn’t sleep much. I kept replaying the night’s events over and over, looking for anything that could have set her off. Had Dina said something about life with a hockey player being hard? Is that why she was thinking twice now?

Diesel woke me early to go outside. After he was done with his business, I was in no hurry to go back to the couch, so I decided to relax on the deck overlooking the lake. As soon as I sat down, Diesel curled up in a ball and went right back to sleep.

“Some companion you are.” I glared at him as he peeked one eye at me.

Just as my body relaxed and I finally started to drift off to sleep, the French doors opened, startling me.