In the Zone (Portland Storm 5) (14 page)

It was around lunchtime
now
, though, and his phone was still off. I had no way of knowing how much longer it would be, and I had to get to the studio. I made my way to the front door, three dogs at my heels acting as though they wanted to go for a walk. Once I was there, I dug my coat out of the hall closet, put it on, and headed outside. There wasn’t a way for me to lock his door behind me, though. He only had a dead bolt, and I didn’t have a key. Still, I pulled the door shut so the dogs wouldn’t run out.

As soon as I turned around, an amazing sight met my eyes: the Willamette Shore Trolley had pulled to a stop pretty much right at the end of Keith’s driveway. And its initial boarding place was within a couple minutes’ walk to my apartment building. It was like God had answered a prayer that I’d never uttered.

The passengers were climbing down to take a look around in the few minutes it would be stopped here. This had to be the end of the line before the trolley turned around to go back because I knew there was only one stop. I’d looked into taking it for a ride, but I hadn’t yet gone

I rushed to the trolley door, digging in my purse for some cash.

The conductor looked at me like I was crazy when I got to him. “We only board at the station, miss. You have to buy your ticket there.”

“I know, but I have cash.” I finally fished a five-dollar bill out of my wallet and waved it toward him. “I only want to take the trolley one-way, but I’ll pay the full fee.”

He was already shaking his head no.

“Please,” I begged. “I have to get back to my place, and I don’t have time to wait for a cab. There’s a medical emergency.” I was probably exaggerating that last part, but sometimes a little embellishment was necessary.

He let out a sigh and scowled slightly. “You’re getting off at the station? That’s the only place we’re stopping. I can’t let you out anywhere else.”

“The station is perfect,” I said, climbing up into an empty seat, still holding the five out for him.

He grudgingly took the bill from me and shoved it into his pocket. “All right. But not a word about this to anyone. It’s against policy and I’m not willing to lose my job over this.”

“My lips are sealed.”

The other passengers got back on board after taking a few minutes to look around the wooded area and the fancy houses in Keith’s neighborhood. This neighborhood had some of the biggest houses I’d ever seen, which was probably why the trolley was stopping here until they finished repairs on the line and went farther. It gave people something to
ooh
and
aah
over. Now that I was seeing it in the light of day, it seemed even more impressive and imposing.

When we returned to the Lake Oswego station, the conductor gave me a sidelong look. “Remember. Not a word.”

I nodded my agreement, climbed down, and raced home so I could shower, change, and get out the door. There was a bus leaving in fifteen minutes and I intended to be on it.

M
Y FRONT DOOR
was unlocked and Brie was missing when I got home. Not a good sign. It was as though she’d run away. Again.

I tried calling her, but after her cell rang a few times, I got her voice mail. “Hey, it’s Keith,” I said after the tone. “Just want to be sure you’re all right since you’re not at my place. Call me when you get this so I don’t worry about you, okay?”

I hung up and went into the kitchen to fix myself some lunch. I needed a big meal since I wouldn’t eat again until after the game, other than a snack a couple of hours before the puck dropped. Pasta, tomato sauce, chicken, and a huge salad was my go-to pre-game meal. It’s what I typically ordered when I went to Amani’s with the guys, so that’s what I made. By the time I’d cooked, eaten, and cleaned up, she still hadn’t returned my call.

That
really
wasn’t a good sign. Even if she’d been getting herself ready for work when I’d called, she should have had time by now to have listened to my message and responded.

Had I fucked up with her last night without knowing it? I’d thought the night had been amazing. Good conversation. Fun event. Insanely good sex. It had been the best fucking date I’d been on in a long time, and it was all because I’d been with Brie. But maybe she didn’t feel the same?

I didn’t want to be pushy if she wasn’t into me, but I
did
want to know she was all right, that I hadn’t done something to inadvertently hurt her. Or at least that was what I told myself as I dialed the number for the dance studio.

“Rose City Ballroom Dance Academy. Tanya speaking. How can I assist you today?”

“Tanya, it’s Keith Burns,” I said.

“Hi, Keith.” She sounded a little too happy to be talking to me. “What can I help you with? Need to schedule another class?”

“Not exactly, no.” Although, taking more of Brie’s classes didn’t sound like a bad idea if it meant getting to spend more time with her. At least, if I hadn’t messed up my chances with her already. “I was wondering what time Brie’s supposed to be in today is all.”

“She’s already here,” Tanya said. “One of our other instructors had a sick kid, so I asked her to come in early and cover some classes.”

Just like that, I felt a lot better. “Okay. Good deal. Thanks, Tanya.”

“Anytime, hon. Is there anything else I can do for you today?”

The best answer I could give her would be no. I should’ve thanked her for her time and assistance and hung up the phone. That’s not what I did, though. “Actually, yeah. I was wondering if she seemed…all right…when she got there.”

“She seemed
amazing
when she got here. You could come see for yourself. She’s got a short break between classes in about half an hour.”

“Yeah? Thanks. I might just do that.”

“Mmm-hmm. See you soon.” She clicked off the line, and I headed for the door, despite the fact that I should be headed upstairs for my pre-game nap—particularly since I hadn’t gotten enough sleep and Bergy would kill me if I had a bad game tonight.

I made one stop on my way to the studio—the florist. I’d never been the kind of guy to bring a girl flowers before, but it seemed like the right thing to do today. I picked out an exotic looking arrangement with flowers the woman called leopard lilies, verified that they weren’t toxic for cats, and traveled the rest of the distance to the studio.

T
ANYA LOOKED UP
from her computer and smiled when I came through the door. “Gorgeous. And the flowers are, too.” She winked.

“You’re going to get me in trouble.”

“Not a chance. Brie already knows my pet name for you.”

While I was definitely curious about what she called me, I wasn’t curious enough to ask. Something told me I was probably better off not knowing. “Should I wait in here?” I asked.

“Yeah, grab a seat. She should stop in any minute.”

I sat in one of the chairs near the window, and Tanya returned to the computer. Then I tried not to become impatient while I waited, but I really, really, really needed to see Brie again, with my own eyes. Just to be sure I hadn’t screwed anything up without meaning to.

My eyes stayed glued to the doorway until she finally walked through it. She was in another outfit much like the one she’d worn on our date last night—a shapeless skirt that brushed the floor even with her heels on and a boxy top, both in drab, dark colors. She’d pulled her hair back into a messy bun. Some of it had come loose, so she pushed it back behind her ear as she crossed over to Tanya, guzzling from a bottle of water.

“You’ve got company,” Tanya said, nudging her head in my direction while her eyes stayed on Brie.

I stood up as she turned to face me and held out the flowers. “I wanted to make sure you were all right.”

“I…” She tucked her hair behind her ear again even though it hadn’t come loose this time. “Hi,” she said, a whoosh of air coming out with the word, making her sound breathy and sexy.

“And that’s my cue to go check on… I don’t know. On something,” Tanya said as she scooted past Brie and out the door, winking at me over her shoulder before she disappeared down the hall.

“Hi,” I said once Tanya was gone. “Sorry you got stranded at my place without a ride.”

“It’s all right. I convinced the trolley conductor to let me get on and ride back to the station.”

The trolley? Christ. She hadn’t even called a cab.

I made a mental note to leave money for a taxi the next time anything like that happened. The bus stop nearest to my house was kind of a hike. But…well, leaving money was probably not the best idea, either. She might think I was paying her for spending the night with me. Maybe I’d better scratch that one.

“I’d thought about waking you before I had to leave to see if you wanted me to take you home then,” I finally said, “but I figured you needed sleep, after… And you’d said you didn’t have to be at work until the afternoon.”

She had started blushing like crazy as soon as I hedged around the reason she’d needed sleep. Her blush was fucking sexy as hell. I couldn’t understand how I could find this woman so insanely gorgeous and yet she was constantly trying to cover herself up, to hide everything about herself.

She took a few steps, closing the distance between us some. I met her in the middle, and she dipped her head to smell the flowers. “They’re beautiful,” she said. “Thank you. And thank you for last night, too.”

I took advantage of her proximity and kissed her. When I traced the seam of her lips with my tongue, she rocked forward on her toes with a sigh, letting her lips gently part. I kept it brief, since we were in her place of business, but I couldn’t keep myself from doing at least that much.

When I broke it off, she took the bouquet from me and moved to a cabinet along the wall. After digging around in it for a minute, she pulled out a clear vase and set to work arranging the flowers in it.

“I hope we can have a lot more nights like last night.”

She gave a noncommittal, “Hmm,” and put another stem in place.

I moved in behind her, putting my arms around her waist and easing her back against me. She flinched when I splayed my palms against her belly.

“Why are you always trying to touch me?” she asked.

“Because I like touching you. I like looking at you, too. You’re beautiful, Brie.” I kissed the back of her head while she continued positioning the flowers. “Why do you try to hide yourself?”

“I’m not hiding. I’m right here.”

“You don’t look at me when I look at you. You wear clothes in plain colors that don’t fit—”

“These fit,” she interrupted. “They aren’t too tight.”

“No, they aren’t too tight. They’re hanging off you.” If I wanted to, I could easily gather several inches of fabric in my hands and tug to prove my point. I got the impression that she didn’t even know what size she should wear, or maybe she didn’t care as long as it was something that hid her body, and that made me more furious at Val, a man I’d never met, than I already was. He’d better hope I never met him, too.

She took her time placing the last few stems in the vase. “They don’t make clothes in bigger sizes that can make a body like mine look good.”

“You look good in anything. Or nothing. And every place in between.”

Brie spun around and stared up at me, her blue eyes as dark and intense as I’d ever seen them. “Maybe to you, but no one else needs to see all my rolls. I don’t even like—”

She cut herself off, but I could easily finish that sentence for her. She didn’t even like letting me see them. That much was painfully obvious. I wished I knew how to help her see herself the way I saw her. How to show her how beautiful she was, how her body wasn’t something to be ashamed of.

“I’ve seen plenty of women in all shapes and sizes in clothes that flatter their bodies,” I said. “Maybe you haven’t found the right brand or something. We could go shopping.”

“Yeah. Maybe.” She didn’t sound as though she believed such a thing were possible. “I don’t know about going shopping with you, though. What do you know about finding clothes for women?”

She had a point, there. I didn’t know the first thing about it—only that there had to be something. “I just wish you would believe in yourself more,” I said after a long moment of silence.

“I need to go put water in these, and then I have another class to teach.”

So that was the end of that. At least for now. I backed up a step so she could turn around more easily. She grabbed the vase and headed for the open doorway. “Thanks again for these. They’re really beautiful,” she said, looking over her shoulder from beneath the doorframe.

Not half as beautiful as she was, despite her efforts to become invisible. “You’re welcome. I should go, too. I’ve got that game tonight.” And I really needed to get at least a short nap before it. “Can I call you after, or will that be too late?”

“You can call.” Brie gave me a shy smile, and then she hurried away.

I was still standing there, staring at where she’d been, when Tanya came back in the room. “I haven’t seen a smile like that on her since she came to Portland,” she said to me. “So that means not only do I like to look at you, but I’ve decided I like you, too.”