Page 10 of Hockey Player Seeking Fan (Billionaires Seeking Wives Club #2)

He did not just do that, did he? I blink and rub my eyes. I stare at him, waiting for him to laugh and tell me he was joking to see my reaction, but he's grinning like he thinks he's Brad Pitt, and I realize that he is 100 percent serious.

Darren thinks he is hot shit.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" I hold my purse tighter to me. "I think you've got the wrong idea here, Darren. I'm not that sort of girl."

"So what, you're Miss Frozen tonight."

"What does that mean?"

"I mean, when we met yesterday, you were all over me."

"No, I wasn’t!" I say, aghast. "What are you talking about? We were having a normal conversation, and then my friend came. At what point was I all over you?"

"I can read between the lines. Your eyes were telling me a lot." He flicks his tongue.

"My eyes were telling you nothing, Darren. Trust me."

"What about when you were licking that lollipop?" He smirks. "With those deep-throated sucks..." He slobbers, and I nearly throw up.

"You're delusional and not the..."

"That's not true," he says slowly. "But I'm still willing to continue this date if you are open to seeing where this goes. I've even invested in this date."

"What do you mean you’ve invested in this date?" I'm about to open my wallet and give him the ten dollars for his subway ticket.

"I mean that certain things don’t come cheap. I've decided to invest in..."

"Invest in what?" If he's about to say that buying me a burger is him investing in this date, I'm going to go off.

I know that I don't live in the olden days where men delight in treating women, but this is ridiculous.

Is it too much for me to expect a gentleman to court me and want to take me on a date?

A lightbulb hits me. Maybe this is a good idea for the podcast: Has the age of courting died?

"I'm just saying that I'm sure that neither one of us wants a kid anytime soon."

"A kid? What are you talking about?"

"What do you think I’m talking about?"

"I thought you were talking about buying me a burger, and now you’re mentioning kids? I'm so confused."

"I'm not getting trapped. Just because I'm..." He pauses and bites down on his lip.

"You’re Darren, right?" I raise an eyebrow. "What is going on here? Are you okay?" I take a step closer to him and look into his eyes. "Are you high? Are you on something? Do I need to take you to the hospital? Are you insane?"

"Am I insane? No. Why would you say that?"

"You're acting crazy. That's why."

He shakes his head. "Look, I think possibly we’re—" He frowns as he looks behind me. His eyes widen, his shoulders stiffen, and then he lets out a sigh. “Oh, hey, what are you doing here?”

I freeze, nervous that I’ve been set up and put in a bad situation.

"What’s up, Elliott?" The voice is instantly recognizable. It's Tyler. What the hell is Tyler doing here?

Darren's face goes bright red. My heart races as I look behind me and see Tyler Kane standing there.

"What the hell are you doing here, loser? Are you stalking me? Are you so upset over my date with Darren?"

"Yeah, why are you here?" Darren asks him and then frowns. "Wait, you know Samantha?"

Tyler stares at the two of us. He bursts out laughing and shakes his head.

"I don’t believe this. This cannot be real." He points at both of us. "I don't know a Darren, nor do I know a Samantha."

"Wait, what did you call Darren?" My shock had made me pass over the fact that he'd called Darren a different name.

"I called him Elliott." He grins. "And I called him Elliott because that's his name."

"Elliott?" I blink and stare at Darren. "What?"

"Yes, my name’s Elliott. I’m sorry, Samantha, but I was protecting myself from golddiggers, and you did look like you were in need of some gold."

"You what?" My jaw drops.

"Oh, you don’t have to apologize to her." Tyler opens his big mouth again. "Her name’s not Samantha."

"What?"

"My name is Erica, and I'm not a golddigger."

"You lied to me?" He looks pissed. "You frigging lied to me?"

"You also lied to me." I roll my eyes and look over at Tyler. "You knew he was my date?"

"He’s a rookie on the team, and he was telling me about the date." He nods slowly. He does have enough respect to look slightly embarrassed. "I had a feeling."

"If I’d known you were a hockey player, there’s no way I would’ve met up with you." I point at Elliott. "Yuck."

"But you would have accepted his engagement, not knowing his job?" Tyler starts laughing, and I burn in shame. Why was he bringing up the ridiculous I’d been talking about earlier. I feel like a fool.

Queen of the fools. That is what they will call me.

Erica Carrington, queen of the fools, died of embarrassment in front of Tyler Kane. That is what the headline will read.

"What are you talking about?" Elliott frowns.

"What engagement?" He turns to me. "Did you tell him we’re engaged?

Look Samantha, Erica, Elsa, whatever your name is.

I just met you yesterday, and we're not even close to anything like that.” He looks like he wants to throw up.

Poor idiot really thinks that I want him badly.

I bite down on my lower lip. I don’t really know what to say. This has gotten out of control, and I feel absolutely ridiculous. I glare at Tyler.

"What are you doing here? I didn’t ask you to follow me." Let me turn it back to psycho Tyler, who seems to be enjoying this far too much.

"I realized that you were going on a date with Elliott and that he may not have the best intentions, and... well, when I heard you going on about getting married in Vegas and possibly meeting the love of your life, I just wanted to make sure that tonight wasn’t too much of a disappointment for you, because Elliott here is not exactly on that page. "

"Hell no, I’m not looking to get married. I don’t even know you!" Elliott sounds disgusted.

"I’m not looking to marry you either, creeper," I say, huffing and puffing. "Imagine considering buying a burger an investment."

"I bought condoms, bitch. I wasn't going to pay for the burger."

"Enough." Tyler's voice is sharp, and he heads over to Elliott. He grips his shoulders hard, and I watch as Elliott cringes. "I think you owe the lady an apology."

"She's the?—"

"Like I said," Tyler's face is a block of ice. "You owe the lady an apology. We don't call women bitches."

"Sorry," Elliott mutters, and Tyler lets go of him.

"I’m going home." I take a few steps back and turn around. My mind is a haze of confusion and ideas.

Elliott turns to Tyler. "Shall we go looking for some hot women who wanna play?"

"Elliott, I think you need to go home and get some rest. You have practice tomorrow. I’m going to escort the young lady here home safely."

"I don’t need you to do anything. I can get home by myself."

"I want to make sure that you get home safely. I’m not going to let you deter me from that."

"You’re not going to let me?" I glare at him. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," he says, grinning. "Now, do you still want that ice cream?"

"What the hell?" Elliott stares at the two of us and shakes his head. "I don’t know what’s going on here, man. This is crazy. But... peace."

I watch as he walks away, and I can feel shame burning in my face. I’m an idiot having had this happen right in front of Tyler.

"So did you guys discuss your vows before it all went south?"

"Shut up. That’s not even funny." Though I can't stop my lips from twitching.

"Did you at least ask him to take you to Tiffany’s to look at rings before the wedding?" He’s chuckling.

"Shut up," I say, pushing him slightly. I can’t stop myself from giggling either. "You are having way too much fun with this. It’s not even funny."

"I’m trying not to laugh." He leans against the light post. "Actually, I was going to get you a good wedding present if I had been invited to the wedding."

I glare at him and don't respond.

"Too soon for jokes? Does it hurt too much? Are you feeling absolutely depressed at the ending of the most magical relationship known to man?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I just want to make sure that your heart isn’t broken."

"Of course, my heart’s not broken. I just met the dude yesterday."

"Yeah, but the way you were going on was like he was the one, your soulmate."

"Fine. Obviously, I was wrong." I glare at him. "Now, are you going to get us an Uber to go home?"

"Ooh, are you inviting me to your home?"

"No!" I say quickly. "That’s not what I meant." I take a deep breath. "Obviously, I’m not inviting you anywhere."

"Not so obvious to me."

“You think you’re so smug, don’t you?”

“Not really. I just wanted to ensure you were safe. And I want to see you home safely, if that’s okay.”

“Fine. I feel like you won’t just go, so you can escort me home, even though I’ve been going home by myself for donkeys years.”

“That’s a lot of years.” He offers me a wide, devastatingly handsome smile, and I wonder if he knows how many hearts melt when he does that.

I immediately want to slap myself for that thought.

It is apparent to me that he definitely knows.

The twinkle in his deep, warm brown eyes is magnetizing, and I can’t help but smile back at him.

Tyler makes it really hard to be annoyed with him.