The Definition of Icing: A Dallas Demons Hockey Romance (Dallas Demons Series) (18 page)

My cell phone rings in my hand, and I flip it over.

It’s Nate.

I answer it. “Nate? Can I call you back in a few minutes? I’m dealing with a party crisis right now.”

“What’s that? Did CiCi forget to buy batteries?”

Okay, despite my crisis, I burst out laughing.

“No. But my passion fruit cupcakes are destroyed somewhere on Central Expressway in a rear-ending,” I explain. “And I need to have Amanda stop chopping fruit, run over to Central Market, buy whatever she can get her hands on and bring them back for the party.”

“I can do that,” Nate says quickly. “In fact, I’m about an intersection away from Central Market.”

What? Nate come up here? To the
passion party
?

Oh no. No, no, no, no.

“Um, Nate, that’s sweet of you, but it’s not necessary,” I say quickly. “This is out of your way.”

“And you don’t think CiCi is going to freak when she learns not only are her cupcakes smashed on Central Expressway, but that one of her
staff members
has to leave to do an assist?”

Crap. Nate does have a point. I’d been telling him all week how CiCi had been dictating to us like staffers about this party, down to suggested wardrobe for tonight.

She’s going to flip over the cupcakes, but sending Amanda on the mission is only going to make it worse.

“You have me on the phone
now,
” Nate continues. “I’m right next to Central Market. Let me do this for you, Bae. You’ll save time.”

“But, Nate, you’re going to meet my mother for the first time at a
passion party
? This is so many levels of . . . of . . .
wrong!
” I sputter.

“Maybe I’m trying to crash the party because I want to place an order,” Nate teases. “CiCi is going to have handcuffs, right?”

I groan, and Nate laughs.

“Nate, I can’t let you do this.”

“Oh, not only can you, but you
need
to,” Nate says firmly.

Suddenly I feel as though I’m being watched. I glance at the window and see CiCi’s face pressed up against the glass, a look of deep concern on her face.

I swallow. Nate’s right. He’s my best option.

“I’ll let you do this only if you let me make this up to you,” I say.

“Oh, I intend to send you a list of things that I’ll accept as a form of payment. Starting with a kiss.”

I blush from the sexy implication in Nate’s voice.

“Now tell me what you need,” he says firmly.

“Okay. If you can get 20 full-sized chocolate cupcakes, that would be ideal. If you can’t, ten vanilla and ten chocolate is Option B. If that doesn’t work, get anything you can without designs on it.”

“Got it.”

“Then go to the herbs in the produce section and grab some edible flowers.”

“
What?
”

I laugh at Nate’s repulsion. “They are fine to eat, Nate. Get at least ten packages if they have them.”

“Why would I want to eat a flower?”

“It’s not curry chocolate, why are you questioning this?”

“It’s a freaking
flower!
”

“I’m so going to get you to eat one.”

“No.”

I laugh at the abrupt way he says it. And just for that reason, I mentally add edible flowers next to curry chocolate on the things I will get Nate to try.

“That’s it. I’ll text you CiCi’s address, and then get up here as soon as you can.”

“You got it, Bae. I’m on it.”

“I know you are,” I say softly. “And I can’t thank you enough for what you’re doing. And I’m apologizing in advance for what you’re going to encounter tonight.”

“Come on, she’s your mother. How bad can it be?”

Right. Nate has
normal
parents. He has no clue what he is about to walk into this evening.

I say goodbye and hang up the phone. All I can hope now is that after this whole night—CiCi, bitter divorcees, a pleasure party—that Nate doesn’t run screaming in the other direction.

Chapter 25

Double Boiler: Two pans that fit together, with the bottom one holding water that is brought to a simmer. The top one is used so you can put something over indirect heat to cook it. I use them for melting chocolate
—
Kenley

“You did
what?
” CiCi screams in panic. “You invited
Nate
to come here?
Tonight?
”

I feel a headache building in my temples. “Mom, Nate is coming by to drop off cupcakes.
That’s it.
Then he’ll be gone.”

“Unless he wants to check out the goods,” Amanda quips, dumping the strawberries into an elegant serving bowl.

I shoot Amanda a look. “He’s not interested in the goods, I promise you.”

“Maybe I’m not talking about those goods,” Amanda says, raising her eyebrows at me.

“Both of you stop,” Mom hisses. “I’m the one who is mortified. You’re introducing me to your boyfriend, for the first time, during a passion party? Seriously, Kenley? What on earth made you think this was a good idea? How could you do this to me?”

Okay, now I’m getting pissed.

“Mom, I’m not doing anything but helping you. Nate isn’t going to stay. In fact, he’s going to come in, drop off the cupcakes, and then
leave.
He’s doing you a huge favor by getting them for you. He’s had a long day, with practice, an autograph session and a photo shoot, and you should appreciate him doing this for you, period.”

Mom dramatically tosses her head. “I would have rather not had cupcakes than to deal with this humiliation. I look like a desperate, sex-deprived old hag!”

I’m about to lay into her when Amanda beats me to it.

“I thought you were a mature woman seeking self-satisfying pleasure,” Amanda says pointedly.

“Oh, don’t be smart with me,” Mom snaps.

The doorbell rings, and I know it’s Olivia, the passion party planner, who is here to set up and go over the party with Mom.

“Well, this will be the worst coming out of divorce party in the history of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex,” Mom declares, striding toward the front door.

Amanda and I remain silent as we hear Mom’s heels clicking against the hardwood floor. We hear Mom open the front door, and then Mom shifts into perfect CiCi mode.

“Olivia, it’s so
wonderful
to see you,” CiCi coos. “Please, come in.”

I can hear Olivia talking excitedly about the party and how much fun it is going to be tonight, blah, blah, blah, when they enter the kitchen.

“Olivia, I’d like for you to meet Amanda and Kenley, my daughters,” CiCi says, her face fixed into one of motherly pride. And I almost lose it, knowing how she was ready to throttle both of us less than a minute ago.

“Oh, yes, Cecily has told me so much about both of you,” Olivia says, striding over to each of us and shaking our hands. Olivia’s dark eyes shift to me with interest. “And you own a confection consultation company, right?”

“I do,” I say, moving back behind the island and turning on a burner for the double boiler so I can make the fondue. “Confection Consultations.”

“And Cecily told me you did some themed take-home party bags for tonight?”

I nod. “Yes, I created a chocolate coconut bubble bath mix. It’s a mixture of dark chocolate cocoa powder, powdered milk, and a few other things. I put that in a packet and attached a small bottle of coconut shampoo with it, and when you combine them together you have an amazing sensual bath.”

“I
love
this idea,” Olivia raves. She opens her cross-body bag, rifles through it, and retrieves a business card. “Maybe we can talk about how you could provide some services to my clients hosting parties.”

Okay, all this crap with CiCi might be worth it if her friends want to throw parties and use my services.

“I’d like that,” I say, taking her card. “I’ll give you my card tonight, but I’ll follow up with you next week,” I say, smiling at her.

Olivia then sweeps Mom into the living room, where they begin setting up things for the party.

Amanda picks up her cutting board and knife and rinses them off in the copper farmhouse kitchen sink, and then slides up next to me as I begin prepping the chocolate for the fondue.

“So did you try out that sensual bath with Nate?” Amanda whispers.

“Perhaps I did,” I say smoothly.

Okay, that’s a lie. I totally tried it out with Nate.

And it was the sexiest bath
ever.

Amanda pauses for a moment. “You’re in love with him.”

I jerk my head up. “How . . . what?” I sputter. “How do you know that?”

“After what happened with
Asshat,
” Amanda says, as she refuses to say Chase’s name, “and how badly he hurt you, I knew you wouldn’t give yourself to another man unless you were close to being in love.”

“You can sleep with someone and not be in love,” I say truthfully.

“Yeah, but the look on your face confirmed it. You look so
happy,
Kenley. I’ve never seen this expression before, and it appeared when I was teasing you about having sex with Nate. You’re in love with him.”

I swallow hard and dump the chocolate into the double-boiler pan. “Well, it’s still early, Mand. Nate hasn’t said he loves me, and he’s firm on not rushing into this. So I just have to see where this goes.”

“I feel good about it,” Amanda says. “There are some things you get a feeling about. This is one of them.”

Suddenly her phone buzzes. Amanda heads over to the kitchen table and lifts it out of her purse. “It’s Ryan. Hold on.”

“Hey, Baby,” Amanda says.

I’m lost in my thoughts as Amanda talks to Ryan. I pray with all my heart that Amanda’s instincts are right. Of course, I feel that Nate’s falling for me, but it will take him longer to verbalize it. But having Amanda say she thinks the same thing makes me trust my gut that much more.

“Wow,” Amanda says, dropping her phone back in her bag. “There’s a serious production problem on the Dallas Demons crew.”

“Like what?” I ask, stirring my chocolate.

“Well, Ryan has always said the producer and the director hate each other,” Amanda says. “That’s well known inside Total Access Total Sports. But they came to blows in a conference room today.”

“Seriously?” I say, surprised.

“The producer has been suspended,” Amanda continues. “And Ryan is freaking out because he might have to produce opening night next Wednesday.”

I nearly drop my spoon. “No way!”

“Yes,” Amanda says. “Ryan knows hockey but not in the same way he knows baseball. If they fire Mark Haven, Ryan is going to have to fill in until they get a new producer in the chair.”

“Wait . . . Ryan will be producing Dallas Demons games?”

“Possibly. All I can say is they’d better get a replacement in there quick because I want him home now that baseball season is over.”

I nod. I know Amanda juggles it all so well when Ryan is on the road, and she does it because she loves him, but fall and winter have always been their time to be together.

“Well, Ryan will make that clear, right?”

“Yes. Or I’ll go down there and make it clear myself,” Amanda says, grinning. “But Ryan knows some guy in Seattle, a fill-in hockey producer, who is desperate to get a shot to produce his own package and he can suggest him. But in the meantime, Ryan can be our spy on the road. He’ll be traveling with Nate.”

I burst out laughing. “Okay, how did our planets line up so this would happen? I’m dating a hockey player. My brother-in-law will be the default producer for his team and will produce his games?”

My phone buzzes. I lean over and see that it’s Nate.

“Hello?” I say, picking up the phone.

“Okay, Bae, the good news is I have all chocolate cupcakes and those freakish edible flowers you wanted,” Nate says.

I brace myself. “And the bad news?”

“I’m stuck on the tollway. There’s an accident, and it’s bumper to bumper.”

My headache goes up another notch. “Okay. Estimated time of arrival?”

“At this rate? Seven.”

Shit. Nate will be walking in with the party guests, and CiCi will be in hysterics.

“I just wanted to let you know,” Nate says, interrupting my thoughts. “But I’m on my way, so don’t worry. You’ll have cupcakes. With edible flowers.”

Suddenly I don’t give a shit if CiCi freaks out or not. Here’s Nate, chasing down cupcakes and edible flowers and sitting in miles of traffic simply because it’s for
me.

I have a good man. One who, even if he’s not ready to say he loves me, obviously cares about me a lot.

And that’s what matters.

“Where is he?” CiCi hisses in my ear with a smile on her face. “Almost all of my guests are here.”

Mom ushers me back into the kitchen after circulating amongst her guests. Poor Amanda has been reduced to bartender now, taking drink orders and serving a giggling set of women who are ready to get their passion on this evening. Amanda is pouring drinks and walking around with a silver tray to serve, and if she were dressed in a white shirt and black pants it would be perfect.

“I thought you didn’t want him here,” I whisper back, a smile to match hers plastered on my face.

Once alone in the kitchen, Mom sighs and takes a big gulp of chardonnay.

“I was hoping to get him in and out of here before the guests got here,” Mom says.

“Well, your lady friends will have to suffer with looking at Nate for ten seconds if they want to eat a cupcake,” I snap, tired of my mom’s dramatics.

“Kenley!”

My phone buzzes again. I pick it up and see it’s a text from Nate.

Just pulled up. Will see you in a few.

“He’s here,” I say sweetly. “So your friends can have cupcakes to go with their vanilla
pleasure glide
lotion.”

“I’m ignoring you.”

“Why? It’s in the catalog.”

“Please, don’t be Amanda.”

“No, if I were Amanda I’d be serving drinks.”

Mom sighs. “You did tell him to come around the back, right? I can meet him in the driveway, and you can get the cupcakes.”

She’s got to be kidding.

“Nate is
not
your staff. Actually, you don’t have a staff, you have two daughters who are being treated like staff. And whether you like it or not, he’s not only ringing the front doorbell, but coming into this house as a guest. And if you don’t stop, I’ll have him stay for the party.”

Okay, that’s a totally empty threat because there is no way in hell Nate is staying for this, but I feel I can leverage it to get CiCi to behave halfway normal around him.

The doorbell rings.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to let Nate in. Please behave, Mom.
Please
. This means a lot to me that you treat him well. It’s important.”

Mom blinks. “You’re in
love
with him, aren’t you? Kenley! It’s too soon for that, what are you thinking? You don’t even
know
him.”

Panic overwhelms me when I realize what I’ve done. She could ruin this for me. I should never have let him come here, never!

“I’ll get the door,” Amanda calls out, casting a nervous glance over at me and mom.

I feel my chest draw tight. “Mom, I know what I feel—”

“How could you? You have no experience. And once he goes on the road, are you
kidding me?
”

A sick wave rolls over me. Damn it.
Damn it.
She could torpedo this, especially since she’s already had two glasses of wine. CiCi will say what she thinks and—

“Hey, Nate to the rescue,” Amanda says cheerfully.

Suddenly the living room goes silent.

I hurry around the corner, my heart in my stomach, and see Nate coming down the hall with Amanda, carrying a huge bakery box and grocery bag.

Nate stops in the living room, and all eyes shift to him.

And oh shit, since I had been busy in the kitchen I had no idea the coffee table was filled with lubricants, sex toys, feathers, and masks, and the women had already been giggling and passing them around. Now all of them are staring at Nate with shock on their faces.

Nate is so breaking up with me.

“Don’t worry, I’m not staying,” Nate says quickly.

Eileen Patterson, Mom’s best friend, cocks an eyebrow at Nate. “That’s too bad. Because I’d love to order one of
you
to take home tonight.”

Then the women break into hysterics, as apparently booze + chocolate + sexy toys + hot hockey player = women letting loose tonight.

“Everyone,” I say, moving into the room, “this is Nate Johansson, and he’s doing me a huge favor and delivering our cupcakes for the dessert table.”

“He can stay if he wants,” another woman adds.

“Agreed!” a third chimes in.

I watch as Nate grins easily at the women. “I think you all will have a great time without me. Nice meeting you.”

I go to take the box from Nate’s hands, but he lifts it out of my reach. “I’ve got this. Just show me where you want it.”

“Thank you,” I say.

Nate follows me into the kitchen, where CiCi is waiting.

“You can put it here,” I say, nodding to the open space I left for the box on the kitchen island.

“Okay,” Nate says, placing the box and bag on the granite countertop.

“Mom, this is Nate Johansson,” I say, my heart pounding with nervousness inside my chest. “Nate, this is my mom, Cecily Hunter.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Hunter,” Nate says, sticking out his hand. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

I bite my lip as my mom shakes his hand. “Likewise, Kenley talks a lot about you, too. It’s nice to finally meet you.”