Faceoff (17 page)
Authors: Kelly Jamieson
Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Contemporary, #Romantic Comedy
“Tag Heller!” A man stopped beside them. Kyla didn’t know him, but Tag did.
“Hey, Norm. How are you?”
“Great! Just wanted to say hi and tell you how happy we all are the team’s back in town.”
“Thanks.” Tag’s smile held charm and enthusiasm. “Glad to be here. It’s going to be an exciting year.”
“Yeah, definitely.” The man glanced at Kyla.
Tag introduced them and Kyla shook hands and smiled.
“Great turnout this year,” Norm said.
“Definitely.” Tag grinned. “The team moving back brought a lot of attention to our little golf tournament. I think we raised a good chunk of cash for Children’s Hospital today.”
“Sure hope so, it’s a good cause. Nice to see you again. Good luck this season.”
“Thanks.”
And Norm moved on.
“I wish we could get out of here,” Tag muttered, sliding his hand around her arm. “But I have to stick around for a while.”
“I know.”
Their eyes met and held again in a connection of heat and longing. “I know what we said,” he murmured, his face so close to hers she could see the glint of whiskers on his jaw, the flecks of gold and cinnamon in his eyes. She could breathe in his scent, that fresh clean scent. “Up at the lake. How neither of us was looking for a relationship.”
She nodded, holding his gaze.
“I wasn’t looking for one,” he added, touching her cheek, fingertips grazing her jaw. “But I think it found me.”
A tremulous smile tugged at her lips. “Oh yeah?”
He bent and touched his nose to hers. “Yeah.”
“Well, I wasn’t looking for one either. Didn’t have time. But this week…I seem to have freed up some time in my life for other things. Thanks to a very smart man who annoyed me with some tough questions.”
He smiled. “That’s good.” He paused. “I’ve been burnt a few times, Kyla. I kind of have a hard time trusting women.”
“Me?” she asked quietly.
“No. Not you.
Never
you. That’s why…I―”
“Jesus.” Someone slapped Tag on the back and Kyla looked up to see Logan standing there grinning. “Would you two get a room?”
Heat scorched her cheeks, but she smiled back at Logan. His grin held warm affection.
“Shaddup,” Tag said mildly. His hand slid down Kyla’s bare arm until it clasped her hand in a warm grip.
“Or should I say a tent,” Logan added with a wicked little lift of one eyebrow that reminded her of Tag.
“Uh…” Bereft of words, she looked at Tag, who was grinning broadly. He shrugged as he met her eyes. Logan moved away to talk to someone else.
“I said nothing,” he murmured in her ear. “I can’t help it if people noticed things.”
“Like your mother,” she added. She bit her lip. “Tag…”
“I know. I’m not taking this lightly, Kyla.” He regarded her seriously, turning to face her, holding both her hands with his. Once again, he seemed to know what she was thinking.
“Your mom talked to me,” she said. “Up at the lake. I felt horrible because she thought there was something between us and she was all happy about it. I had to tell her it wasn’t really anything. If we mess this up…”
“I know. I hear you. I’m picking up what you’re putting down.”
She laughed reluctantly. “Seriously, Tag.”
“I am serious. As serious as a game misconduct. No, as serious as a full-season suspension. I know what this means. I know the consequences of things going wrong, believe me. But Kyla…I need you.” He paused and she saw the vulnerability in his eyes, the same as she felt. “I never thought I’d say this. I want a relationship. It’s true, I wasn’t looking for one, but…well, I want one with you.”
The vulnerability she saw somehow reassured her and made her want to reassure him. “Oh me too,” she said in a rush. “I never realized what it would be like…”
They were both dancing around it, like two players squaring off for a fight, both knowing it was too soon to be talking about love and forever, but knowing they both felt it.
“This isn’t the place to be talking about this stuff,” she whispered.
“Kyla.”
“What?”
“Wanna go on a date with me?”
A bubble of joy rose up inside her and made her laugh. “A date?”
“Yeah. You know. Like a couple. Maybe dinner. I know this really cool place on Portage, across from Assiniboine Park. Tiny little place, great food. Tomorrow night.”
She lowered her eyelashes, breathed in the smell of him, absorbed the warmth of his body. “Oh. A date.” She smiled and tipped her head back. “I’d like that. But just so you know…I don’t put out on the first date.”
He laughed and brushed his mouth over hers. “We’ll see about that.”
About the Author
Kelly Jamieson is the author of several sexy romance novels. Her writing has been described as “blisteringly sexy” and “a spicy delicious read”. If she can stop herself from reading or writing, she loves to cook. She has shelves of cookbooks that she reads at length. She also enjoys gardening in the summer, and in the winter she likes to read gardening magazines and seed catalogues. She also loves shopping, especially for clothes and shoes.
But her family takes precedence over everything else (yes, even writing). She has two teenage children who are the best kids in the world, not that she’s biased, and a wonderful husband who does loads of laundry while she plays on the computer writing stories. She loves hearing from readers.
Kelly welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her
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www.ellorascave.com
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