Fire on Ice (Fire on Ice Series) (17 page)

I just couldn’t get past the idea of anyone not liking sports. It just didn’t make any sense to me. Hockey was my life. I lived and breathed it. How could someone not find any value in something I felt was so important?

I told Taylor I would pick her up at 11 o’clock so we could be to her parents’ house by noon. She planned on staying over and since I didn’t have a game until Saturday night, she invited me to stay over with her. So not only did I have to worry about making a fucking fool of myself at Thanksgiving dinner, I also had to worry about all day Friday as well.

I was in so deep I was nearly drowning and I hadn’t even set foot in her parents’ house yet.

As always, I stood outside of her building for like five minutes so I wouldn’t be too early. I was already second guessing the dress pants and the decision to wear all black but I didn’t have time to go back to my apartment to get changed so I sucked it up and made my way to her front door.

I only knocked once before she answered. When her mouth fell open at the sight of me, it seemed to confirm that my war
drobe choice really had been a big mistake.

“What?” I asked when her mouth still didn’t close.

“You look hot,” she blurted. “You need to wear dress pants more often.”

“I just bought them,” I admitted.
“And the shirt.”

She gave me a wicked little smile that instantly made my dick twitch.

She put her hands on my chest. “If I didn’t have to be good around my parents, I’d be all over you all day.”

“I’m good with skipping dinner,” I teased.

She shook her head. “Oh, no, Mr. Kavanagh. It took a lot of work to get you to agree to go to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving dinner. You’re not going to back out now.”

I leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “Don’t wo
rry,” I assured her. “I’m not going to stand you up.”

“You’d better not,” she teased. “I know where you live.”

“Come on,” I said as I placed her hand in mine. “I don’t want to be late. It would make a lousy first impression.”

***

I had seen houses as big as the Thompson’s but I had never actually been inside one. As we stood on the doorstep, it felt like a herd of butterflies had suddenly invaded my stomach. The place was huge. Like one of the houses you see on those
Real Housewives
reality shows.

“Ready?” Taylor asked as she turned to face me. Then she hesitated. “You’re as white as a sheet.”

“It’s just the black shirt.” I tried to play off the fact that I was so nervous my stomach was practically in my throat.

“It’ll be fine. I know my parents will love you.”

That was easy for her to say. She wasn’t the one trying desperately to impress them. I’m sure her parents already adored her. But who wouldn’t? She was adorable.

Taylor opened the front door and yelled, “Mom—Dad—I’m home.”

After a few seconds, a woman who looked to be in her mid-50s hurried into the foyer. She was taller and curvier than Taylor but she had similar big brown eyes and shoulder length wavy brown hair. It was easy to see where both Taylor and her sister got their looks from. In her day, Taylor’s mom was probably a knock-out.

“Hi, Honey,” Taylor’s mom said as she embraced her daug
hter in a tight hug. Then her mom’s gaze focused on me. “And who do we have here?”

“Mom,” Taylor replied. “This is
Kian.” The way Taylor said my name held so much love and adoration it made my heart swell.

“Mrs. Thompson,” I said. “Thank you so much for inviting me to Thanksgiving dinner.”

“Please call me Rita and my husband is Ted.”

I nodded.

“Come in,” Rita said as she turned and walked through the foyer.

It was an enormous foyer. The entire house was large. It was a little overwhelming. There was so much to look at
I didn’t know where to focus my attention first. There were knickknacks and pieces of artwork everywhere and what seemed like thousands of books. They had more books than the crappy library at my shitty high school.

We ended up in the kitchen, which was teeming with del
icious smells. I inhaled several times and my stomach actually growled in response.

“Hungry?” Rita asked.

“Starving,” I admitted. “I’m looking forward to a home-cooked meal.”

Rita frowned. “You don’t get home very much?”

I snuck a peek at Taylor and she grimaced. I guess she hadn’t revealed much about my background to her parents. Not that I blamed her. If my daughter dated a guy with a background like mine, I’d be furious.

My daughter?
Where the hell did that thought come from? I’d never given any thought to having a family of my own before. But I’d never met a girl like Taylor before either. Taylor was definitely the type of girl you married and had kids with, if you were ever that lucky. Right now, I just felt lucky to be invited to dinner with her parents.

“No,” I replied finally. “I don’t get home very much.”

“Your mother must miss you terribly,” Rita said.

I wanted to laugh and tell her I wasn’t even sure my mom realized I had moved out but instead I just nodded. She didn’t need to be bothered with stories about my shitty family.

“Where’s Dad?” Taylor asked and I was glad that she decided to change the subject.

“He’s practicing,” Rita replied. “Where do you think?”

“Do you need any help,” Taylor offered. “Everything smells delicious.”

“Why don’t you take your friend and show him around?” Rita suggested. I didn’t like the way she said friend. I considered Taylor way more than just a friend.

Taylor grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the kitchen. “Sorry about that,” she whispered when we were out of earshot. “I didn’t tell my mom anything about your family or upbringing. I didn’t want them to have any preconceptions before they met you.”

“Thanks,” I replied. I wasn’t sure what her mom thought of me. She was obviously being polite but I didn’t get the feeling she was overly impressed with me so far.

Taylor dragged me into a room that was filled floor to ceiling with books. “This is the library.”

“Have you read all of these?” I asked amazed at the sheer volume of the collection.

“Not all of them but I’ve read a lot of them.”

I pulled Taylor close to me and whispered in her ear. “Is it bad that I get turned on by how smart you are?”

She laughed and it turned me on even more.

“I think you’d better show me the rest of the house
,” I said. “Or I may have to take you right here in the library.”

She gave me a playful slap on the arm and grabbed my hand again. “Come on. Next stop is my mom’s office.”

Even though there was a
Warning: Enter at Your Own Risk
sign on the door, Taylor opened the door anyway and I was surprised to see a room that was completely cluttered with papers, books, and magazines strewn everywhere. It was in sharp contrast to the rest of the house, which was immaculate.

“This is where my mom spends most of her time. It’s a wreck and she doesn’t really want people to see it.”

“How many books has your mom written?” I asked. Something had to be going on in this room; it was in such as state of chaos.

She shrugged. “I don’t really keep count but I know it’s more than 30, maybe 35 or so.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of books.” Just another reason for me to be completely intimidated by Taylor’s family. I didn’t think I’d read more than 10 books in my life and her mother wrote over 30. I was farther out of my league than I thought.

Taylor pulled me out of the room and we headed down the long hallway. As we got closer to the next room, I could hear the
faint sound of music. We stood outside the door but Taylor didn’t open it.

“My dad is practicing in here,” she said. “I don’t want to di
sturb him. It’s his practice room.”

“I don’t want to disturb him either,” I admitted.

We turned down another hallway and ended up in a large den with a huge flat screen television, couches, a pool table and what looked like a fully stocked bar. “Entertainment room,” she said as we stepped inside.

“Do you play pool?” I asked. That was something I actually had some expertise in.

Taylor laughed. “None of us plays pool. My parents got suckered into buying it when they bought the house. I don’t think the previous owner wanted to pay to have it moved.”

As I got closer to the pool table, I notice
d that it was in nearly perfect condition. It didn’t look like the previous owners had used it much either. “I could teach you how to play,” I offered.

“I’m not sure I’ll be any good at it but we could give it a try,” Taylor said. “Let’s see the rest of the house first.”

“Lead the way.”

Taylor led me up a flight of stairs and there was another open area that looked like a smaller den with a smaller flat screen, a couch and a couple of desks with computers. Then we entered the largest bedroom I’d ever seen in my life.

“This is my parents’ room,” Taylor said.

The bed looked like it was straight out of a storybook, it looked like a sleigh. All of their bedroom furniture was heavy wood. It looked extremely expensive. On the side of the be
droom, there was a smaller room with a beautiful window and window seat and a sitting chair. I poked my head into her parents’ bathroom and I swear it was the size of my entire apartment. I could have fit my bed in their closet alone.

Then we went back through the small den to the other side of the stairs where there were three smaller bedrooms and another bathroom.

“This is the guest bedroom,” Taylor said. It was a nice sized room decorated in neutral colors.

The next bedroom was painted wall to ceiling in an array of various flower designs. It was different. I guessed it was Zelda’s room and I was right.

“She painted the walls and ceiling herself,” Taylor said. “My parents encouraged her to express herself artistically and this was one of the casualties.”

“It definitely looks like a Zelda creation,” I stated and Taylor laughed.

I couldn’t wait until we got to her bedroom because I needed to take her into my arms and kiss her. I needed the assurance that she was still mine.

Taylor’s room looked exactly as I expected. It looked like a room fit for a princess. It was done up all in various shades of pink and the bed had a canopy. I made sure to close her door behind us and I pulled her close so there was no space between our bodies. I wanted so badly to feel the heat of her body pressed to mine.

I think I caught her a little off guard when I thrust my tongue into her mouth but she quickly responded and deepened the kiss.

When I grabbed her ass and pulled her even closer, I could feel my dick get hard. God, I wanted to rip her clothes off and
fuck her on that canopy bed. There was a glint in her eye and I got the feeling that she was thinking exactly the same thing.

“Do you know how badly I want you right now?” I whi
spered in her ear.

“Yes,” she replied breathlessly. “But my mom will look for us if we don’t return to the kitchen soon.”

I sighed then shoved my hands in my pants pocket in an effort to get my dick under control.

Taylor leaned up and whispered in my ear. “Later,” she said. “I promise.”

I gave her a little smile. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

She gave me a sexy little grin in return. “I have every inte
ntion of keeping that promise.”

And I could feel my dick come right back to life again. Later could not come soon enough.

When we got back down stairs, Zelda burst through the front door like a tornado. A tall lanky guy followed. I was surprised to see he was wearing a white silk sweat suit. It looked like something out of a bad music video from the 1990s. Zelda looked just as strange in a black cat suit and black pumps.

“Were the two of you at rehearsal?” Taylor asked clearly as a result of what they were wearing.

Zelda rolled her eyes. “It’s Thanksgiving. We didn’t have rehearsal.”

Taylor looked uncomfortable but it didn’t seem to faze Zelda or her date one bit.

Rita came to the door and she had a huge smile on her face. “Zelda, dear,” she said as she hugged her oldest daughter. Then she looked at the lanky guy and said, “Robyn, it’s great to see you again. I’m so glad you could join us for dinner.” Then she gave silk sweat suit guy a big hug. If only I had gotten that kind of a greeting, I wouldn’t feel like such a fucking intruder. Or maybe imposter was a better word. Whatever the word, I clearly didn’t belong and everyone seemed to sense it but Taylor.

And what kind of name was Robyn anyway? It sounded like a chick’s name but it didn’t seem to bother the dude one bit. We were talking about a guy wearing a white silk sweat suit, though. Clearly he was very comfortable in his own skin. I kind of envied that.

“Your dad should be finishing up soon,” Rita said to the girls. “Why don’t you take the boys into the dining room and have a seat. I’ll start bringing out some wine and appetizers.”