The Inside Edge, page 6
“Trial and error,” Kaden said, reaching for his mojito. “Hey, you got a picture of your closet?”
They swapped pictures for a few minutes. When Aubrey swiped past a photo of his last trip to the Caymans, Kaden slapped his hand down over Aubrey’s.
“Hey, go back to that.” He tilted his head toward the phone, which let him look up at Aubrey from under long lashes. Aubrey wondered if Kaden knew how flirtatious that seemed.
“What? I thought we were sharing home organization pics. Me at Seven Mile Beach is a lot less interesting.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” Kaden flashed a little half-smile, head still tilted coquettishly. “Can I see?
Yeah, that’s flirting, consciously or not.
Aubrey pulled up the gallery from the trip and handed his phone to Kaden. Aubrey had gone with two other skaters from Team Canada, so Bianca and Marie-Laure were featured prominently in the pictures. He was curious at what Kaden would have to say about the two beautiful, scantily clad women in the photos.
Turned out, not much.
“Wow, you get really tan!” Kaden stopped and squinted at a photo of a sun-kissed Aubrey in bright yellow swim briefs. “Looks good on you. I mean, not that you look bad without.”
Definitely consciously. That was flattering as well as unexpected. It would be easy to respond in kind. Aubrey liked when handsome guys flirted with him, and he liked flirting back. He also liked when he could sense how easy it would be to whisper, Want to get out of here? and get a smile and a nod in return.
It was almost as if Kaden had a blinking sign over his head that said I’ll say yes.
For a moment Aubrey considered it. Kaden was hot and willing, and not giving any sign that he was going to get hung up about hooking up with another guy.
Add to that, the only action Aubrey had been getting lately was his own right hand. Or his left, when he wanted to change it up a little. He looked down at said hands.
Kaden passed the phone back, but his smile had changed. He’d noticed Aubrey’s hesitation in flirting back, but he didn’t seem disappointed. “Maybe I’ll head out that way at the All-Star Break. You can give me tips on where to go.”
Where to hook up with other guys, Aubrey heard, and smiled. “Yeah, for sure.”
From there the conversation drifted to the show—how Aubrey had ended up subbing in at the last minute, his charged first meeting with Nate, the ups and downs of it since then. Then the server swung by to ask about the next round and the conversation lulled.
“How’s he doing, anyway?” Kaden asked, and Aubrey belatedly realized he’d been staring at Nate down the table as he and Bones talked. Had to be interesting, whatever it was, to get Nate looking like that, like he was squirming.
Aubrey would like to make him squirm like that.
Aubrey had apparently had enough alcohol tonight. Maybe he should’ve told the server he wanted to pay his tab. “I’m sorry?” he said, trying to get his head back in his conversation with Kaden.
“Nate,” Kaden said. “I remember what it was like when he and Marty first separated. He was like a zombie, man. He seems a lot better now that the paperwork’s all signed, but… you see him every day. What do you think?”
“What do I think?” Aubrey echoed as Kaden’s words reverberated in his seemingly empty skull.
“Yeah. I mean, he looks happier now than he did for a long time even before he and Marty split.”
Before he and Marty split.
Nate was divorced.
Nate was divorced?
“Thank fucking God,” Aubrey said. Then he realized he’d said it out loud and glanced sidelong at Kaden. “I mean, it seems like it was a long time coming, but yeah. He’s come a long way in the time I’ve known him.” Totally true. Oh shit, no wonder Nate got so pissed when Aubrey said he needed to get laid—could Aubrey have said something more insensitive?
“I’m glad.” Kaden flicked his gaze down the table, and Aubrey’s stomach tightened uncomfortably. Oh no. “Do you know if he’s seeing anyone?”
Fuck Aubrey’s entire life. “No idea,” he managed. “We don’t really socialize outside of work.” Nate had kept things between them professional most of the time. But he’d slipped on enough occasions that Aubrey wondered, and he’d seen the way Nate looked at him sometimes. Maybe he should push his luck. Sure, he’d more or less just admitted to himself that he wanted something more lasting than a roll in the sheets… but he could put that on hold long enough to satisfy a mutual curiosity.
Right?
Chapter Six
“ANYWAY, THANKS for coming in,” Jess said, reaching out to shake Jackson’s hand. “It’ll be a good segment to run during the game coverage tomorrow.”
Jackson smiled back at her. “Sure, it was fun.” He elbowed Aubrey in the side, lowering his voice to a tease. “The guys’ll be jealous I got to watch part of the show in person.”
“You were part of the show,” Aubrey pointed out, rolling his eyes. With the Kraken in town to play the Hawks, they’d taken the opportunity to have Jackson come in to pretape an interview with him and Nate.
Jackson turned a facetiously patient smile on him. “I was a prop to use in your ongoing banter war,” he corrected, “but that’s all right. I had a good time, and I think I even helped Donut take you down a peg or two.”
“You try fighting a battle on multiple fronts,” Aubrey faux grumbled.
Jess laughed and waved them off as she disappeared down the hall.
“But seriously,” Jackson said once she’d gone out of earshot, “is it always like that between the two of you? Because you give off enough sexual tension to power a small country.”
Aubrey twitched and automatically checked over his shoulder. Kelly had snagged Nate the second the interview was over, and Aubrey didn’t want him overhearing anything. “Shut up,” he hissed. Then: “How would that even work?”
Jackson opened his mouth to reply, but as they passed a conference room, a high-pitched giggle cut him off. He raised an eyebrow at Aubrey, who shrugged.
Together they peered into the conference room, where Nate was sitting—still in his suit—next to a dark-eyed toddler who had two hands over his mouth.
“I don’t believe it,” Nate said. He had one of the old-style interview mics they never used anymore and was using it as a prop, Aubrey guessed, to interview the kid. “Tell me really. What’s your mom’s favorite sport to watch on TV?”
“Pillow fights!” the kid exclaimed through his giggles.
“That’s not a sport!” Nate protested.
“Yes!” said the kid, nodding emphatically now. Apparently he didn’t like to be called a liar. “Her favorite is Shady Godiva.”
Shady Godiva. Aubrey watched Nate mouth the words and come to the obvious conclusion that the kid hadn’t made that up.
“I have obviously been watching the wrong sports all my life,” Jackson murmured.
Aubrey stepped on his foot. “Don’t be such a horndog.”
In truth, he was impressed he managed to say anything. His brain was still stuck on how cute this was.
“What about you?” Nate finally asked, recovering from his shock. He didn’t seem to have noticed Aubrey and Jackson yet. “Do you have a favorite pillow fighter?”
More emphatic nodding. “Lynn Somnia.”
Jackson had his phone out. “I don’t know whether I should be recording this or googling ‘pillow fight league.’”
Actually, recording it probably wasn’t a terrible idea—they could save it for a show with an unexpected break… assuming they could get this kid’s parents to sign off on it. The problem, of course, was that in order for Aubrey to suggest that, he’d have to reveal himself to Nate, and….
Jackson looked up from his phone, glanced at Aubrey, and winced. “Dude. Literal heart eyes right now. Take it down a notch, you’re at work.”
“I can’t help it,” Aubrey hissed furiously, very tempted to clutch his face.
“Lynn Somnia, of course,” Nate repeated, completely engrossed in this fictional interview. Aubrey wanted to die. “She sounds pretty great. Do you have any pillow-fighting tips?” He held the mic to the kid’s face.
Before the kid could respond, a voice from behind Aubrey made him jump about three feet in the air. “Oh, hey, Aubrey, have you seen Nate—”
Aubrey whirled around, his finger instinctively to his lips. Kelly was behind him, wearing a bemused expression.
“What?” she said quietly.
Aubrey jerked his thumb toward the door.
Kelly peered around it, smiled, and retreated. “My kid’s a natural, huh? Takes after me. Born to be on camera.”
That explained where he’d come from. “That’s Carter?” Aubrey asked. “He’s cute.”
“He’s a charmer,” Kelly confirmed. “He sure has Uncle Nate wrapped around his finger too.”
“Uncle Nate,” Aubrey repeated aloud, completely without meaning to. That just fucking figured. His crush had been bad enough before Uncle Nate turned out to be a natural dad type. Aubrey had never been into that in his life.
This personal-growth shit was for the birds.
“Mama!” Carter exclaimed, and whoops, time to put on his game face. Aubrey schooled his features as Nate looked up and smiled at them.
“Thanks for looking after him,” Kelly said, swinging Carter up into her arms and then smacking a wet kiss to his cheek. “I take it everything was fine?”
“Of course. We’re looking forward to our next guys’ night, right, Carter?”
Guys’ night, Aubrey thought, dying a little inside. He wondered if Nate babysat when Kelly and Caley needed an adult break.
“Yeah,” Carter said, but he looked pretty content in Mom’s arms too.
Kelly and Carter said their goodbyes, leaving Aubrey, Jackson, and Nate without an obvious conversational direction. Shit.
Floundering, he said, “So… dinner?”
Only after the words were out of his mouth did he realize that he’d have to include Nate or else risk being unforgivably rude. He forced his face into a smile and raised his eyebrows in question.
“I’ve been wanting to try that place you talked about—what’s it called again? Sharky’s?”
Nate looked at his watch and shook his head. “Not without a reservation.”
Jackson blanched. “Even on a Wednesday?”
“Two-for-one appetizers,” Aubrey and Nate chorused.
Aubrey’s ears went hot.
“They do takeout, though,” Nate offered before the silence could get too awkward. “My place?”
“Hell yes.” Jackson grinned. “Just don’t tell my nutritionist.”
IF SOMEONE had told him after their first meeting that he would willingly invite Aubrey into his apartment for dinner, he would have laughed in their face. Yet here he was, unlocking the door for his guests, feeling only the slight hint of butterflies because he was an idiot who wanted to sleep with his coworker.
Honestly. He hardly recognized himself.
Both Aubrey and Jackson took their shoes off by the door—most of Nate’s Canadian teammates had habitually done the same—and followed him into the apartment.
Jackson whistled. “Nice view.”
Nate had a clear line of sight to Lake Michigan, with the Shedd Aquarium and the Fields Museum in the background. “Thanks.”
Aubrey, on the other hand, presumably had a similar view, so his attention focused… elsewhere. “Oh my God,” he said, staring at the vase on Nate’s living room table.
Ah. Well, Nate couldn’t blame him for taking issue with that. Though he wished he’d realized they might come back here. He’d have hidden the damn thing if he’d known he was going to have to explain it.
Aubrey walked closer to stand next to the sculpture. “I know it’s a stereotype that we homos all got the interior-decorating gene,” he said seriously. “But this”—he gestured expansively—“is not the way to fight the stereotype, Nate.”
Two weeks ago Nate wouldn’t have been able to laugh at that either. It was uncomfortable—nobody liked bringing up their ex to people they were sexually interested in—but he made himself behave normally. He decided to have a little fun. “Marty and I bought it on our honeymoon,” he said coolly.
Gratifyingly, the color went out of Aubrey’s face, and Jackson made a poorly concealed noise of amusement at his friend’s misstep as Aubrey opened his mouth to backpedal. “Uh, I mean… taste is so personal,” he offered pathetically. “Just because something’s not really my style….”
Nate finally grinned, shark-sharp, putting him out of his misery.
Aubrey sagged. “Oh, you asshole. You had me going. Seriously, why do you have this?”
That was a fair question, actually. “I don’t know. Haven’t gotten around to buying something else. Plus I don’t know if you can just recycle something that big.”
“I don’t think Goodwill would take it,” said Jackson.
Nate rolled his eyes for real this time and raised the bag of takeout. “Are we going to critique my interior-design choices or are we going to eat while the food’s hot?”
It turned into a nice evening. Jackson made a good buffer, keeping dinner from feeling like work or its opposite, a date. With the pressure off, Nate could relax.
But relaxing became a problem of its own when, on his third glass of wine, he found himself unable to tear his eyes from the smudge of sauce at the corner of Aubrey’s mouth. Aubrey had a nice mouth, plush pink lips that perpetually hid the hint of a smirk. It shouldn’t have been attractive, but then again, Nate’s libido had just woken up after a long nap, apparently.
Nate should tell him about the sauce, probably. But then he’d be admitting he was looking at Aubrey’s mouth. Out loud. He didn’t want to do that.
“You’ve got a little something,” Jackson said for him, motioning.
Nate expected Aubrey to reach for his napkin. He’d never shown anything less than perfect table manners, whatever other trespasses he committed.
But maybe the wine had loosened him up too, because he swiped at it with his thumb and then sucked it off.
A strangled noise attempted to escape Nate’s throat. He covered it with a cough and reached for his wineglass to wash down a phantom tickle.
Jackson glanced at him sidelong. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” Nate rasped, blinking rapidly so he could pretend his eyes were watering.
WHEN THE wheels touched down in Winnipeg, the sky had already taken on a foreboding iron-blue hue. Aubrey shivered as the driver put his carry-on in the back of the SUV next to Nate’s. Winter here seemed to be a few strides ahead of Chicago.
“Hope you brought your snow boots,” the driver commented as he pulled into traffic. “Forecast calls for six inches by tomorrow morning.”
Aubrey automatically opened his mouth to make a joke, then second-guessed himself. He’d already crossed the line with Nate before, and that had gone badly.
On the other hand, if that didn’t call for a dick joke. And he didn’t have to make it about Nate. “Well, maybe we’ll get lucky.”
A subtle dick joke. Nate probably wouldn’t even get it.
Maybe he did, though—and maybe he was starting to relax, because he raised a hand to his mouth and stifled a fake-sounding cough.
So he wasn’t made of stone. At least when the cameras weren’t rolling. But before Aubrey could prod him further, Nate dropped his hand, and just like that, he was all business. “We should look over the notes Jess sent. We’ve got points to cover for our interviews.”
Aubrey sighed a long-suffering drawn-out huff. “All work and no play makes Nate a dull boy. But fine. Hit me with it. Who’re the targets this time?”
Nate had stopped trying to avoid Aubrey and focused, at least when they were working. They finished their show prep in Aubrey’s hotel room, Nate sitting at the small table and taking notes on his tablet, Aubrey on the bed, spitballing as he stared up at the ceiling. He was in the middle of a breakdown of everything that was wrong with the New York Rangers’ defense when Nate made a surprised noise at the table.
Aubrey looked over. “What, you don’t agree? Wow, I’m so surprised.”
Nate spitted him with a look. “First of all, quality D-men don’t grow on trees. There’s nothing wrong with farming out the labor to Syracuse via trades from Tampa Bay—”
“It’s cute that you think that’s what’s happening.”
“—but actually I was looking at the weather report.” He held up his phone. “Weather system’s delayed. Maybe no snow. Or maybe we’ll get nailed tomorrow morning instead.”
“If only,” Aubrey murmured. “Uh, the Senators flew in today, right? We’re not going to end up with a canceled game?”
“This morning, I think. They’re on their Western Canada road trip. So we’re good there.” Nate’s face held an actual expression—was that amusement? The man should let himself smile more. Then again, Aubrey barely had a handle on his professionalism as it was. Who knew what would happen to his self-restraint if Nate started smiling regularly. “Although it’s almost too bad. A friend of mine recommended a small-plates restaurant downtown that I’ve been meaning to try out, but they’re closed for a private event tonight.”
“Oh, Chez Sono?” Aubrey perked up, then deflated again, because damn. He’d have liked to try it too. “My cousin loves that place. Although she’s more into the cocktails.”
Nate lifted an eyebrow.
Aubrey felt judged. “What?”
He lifted the other eyebrow.
Aubrey got it. “Oh, everything’s an innuendo with you. Cocktails. That’s what it takes? You weren’t going to jump on expecting six inches, but cocktails—that gets you?”
Nate lifted one shoulder. “I’m gonna blame low blood sugar. It’s past dinnertime.”
Startled, Aubrey glanced at the bedside clock and found it had ticked over to past eight. Their shooting schedule meant he usually ate early. Nate probably did too. “Huh. Room service?”
