Page 9 of Hockey Player Seeking Fan (Billionaires Seeking Wives Club #2)

Chapter Five

E rica

Heart racing: check.

Stomach churning: check.

Brain going a hundred miles a minute: check.

Tyler Kane living rent-free in my head while I wait for Darren to show up: check.

Ugh, I hate that the man has gotten under my skin.

And I hate that he’s so smug and gorgeous while doing it.

It should be illegal to be so hot and built.

And those dark eyes of his seem to hold so many secrets.

Secrets that I have no interest in learning about.

I am here for Darren. The possible future love of my life.

I want to cringe at all the crap I spewed in the bar when I tried to make Tyler feel bad.

I saw the look on Sabrina’s face when I mentioned possibly flying to Vegas and getting married.

She thought I’d lost it. And Tyler obviously thought I was insane.

Though it was his fault. Being around him drives me irrationally crazy.

I’m not crazy, though. I don’t actually intend on becoming engaged to Darren, not that I think there is even a possibility of him asking me.

Pigs would fly before that happened.

I giggle as I imagine pigs flying and Darren and me standing in some small chapel with an Elvis impersonator asking if we wanted to be married forever.

My parents and both of my brothers would absolutely kill me, and I quite like my life, so that isn’t really something I want to happen.

But it is a good idea for a podcast episode.

How explicit can you be about how serious you want your relationship to be at the beginning of the dating ritual?

I whip out my phone and make a quick note so I don’t forget.

“Samantha, hey.” The familiar voice is right next to me.

I look up quickly and smile as I see Darren.

He’s as cute as I remember, but for some reason, he reminds me of a puppy dog.

He’s handsome, but he has a young look. Unlike Tyler Kane, who is very much a man.

A jerk of a man, but I can’t deny how hot he is, nor how much he makes my blood boil.

"Darren, so good to see you again." All of a sudden, I feel awkward being in his presence.

Not because I'm overwhelmed by how hot he looks, but more so because I feel embarrassed at my big talk at the bar.

If Darren knew what I'd been saying, he would definitely think I was a psycho.

I cringe as I think about the conversation I'd had with Tyler Kane.

"It's really good to see you again, as well, Samantha." He looks me up and down and then opens his arms so that I can hug him. I don't necessarily want to hug him. I don't know him well, but I let him hold me close to him for a few moments. He kisses the side of my face and then steps back.

"You smell really good," he says, sniffing like he is some sort of professional perfume sniffer. Which, by the way, is not a turn-on and doesn't feel like a compliment.

"Thanks." I smile at him awkwardly. I'm not really sure what else to do in that moment. Say he smells good, as well? Even though he doesn't really.

"I'm really glad you could meet me. I wasn't sure you were going to respond to my text," he says, looking boyish, and I don't know if I believe him. He's hot. I'm sure he can get almost any woman he wants.

"Oh? Why?"

"I don't know. I know girls like to play hard to get. I was hoping that you weren't going to do that."

"Weren't going to do what?"

"Play hard to get." He winks. "So, you want some ice cream? Or maybe a burger? Or fries or whatever?"

"Sure. That would be cool. Thanks. Where are we going to go?" The dreaded question. My heart races as I wait for a response.

"Well, I was thinking we could possibly go to this little place I know, not far from here." He reaches for my hand, and I flinch slightly. That's way too much, too soon.

"I don't know that I want to hold your hand. We just met..." I say, giggling nervously. "I hope you don't mind." If he gets upset, I will leave. I am not that desperate.

"Hey, no worries. We've got more than enough time for that later," he says, grinning, and I wonder what he's thinking. For some reason, I don't think the later he's talking about is the rest of our lives.

"So, are you hungry?" He looks over at me, and his eyes seem to be asking me a rather different question.

I want to groan. I feel like he's asking me if I'm hungry for something that is not PG, but I'm going to play dumb because I want to believe that he's interested in something other than getting into my pants.

Especially after I was going on and on to Tyler about the fact that he could be the love of my life.

"I'm a little hungry. I could definitely go for a burger," I say quickly, because it's likely that we'll go to a real restaurant if I say I want substantive food as opposed to ice cream.

I really don't want him to bring up going to his place again.

And he doesn't look like the sort of guy who's going to go all gourmet and offer to make me something from scratch.

"Okay, like a cheeseburger or fish sandwich?

I mean, we can go to a burger joint and see what options they have.

" He doesn't sound enthused at the prospect.

It suddenly occurs to me that even the best-looking men lose their magnetism when their personalities suck.

It's unfortunate, but Darren, though handsome, is definitely not the man of my dreams. Not that I would tell Tyler that.

In fact, I feel like texting Sabrina and telling her to let Tyler know that my date is going amazingly, and maybe he'd like some lessons in romance from a true gentleman.

I mean, it's all a lie because Darren seems to be sucking more ass than a horny dude at a strip club, but it's not like I'm going to pass that message on.

"Maybe some onion rings," I say, and I see his eyes widen.

I hide a smile. He has to know, just like I do, that if I want to have onion rings, it's because I'm not planning on kissing him tonight—or anything else for that matter.

He seems the sort that would be delusional.

He's in for a shock if he thinks he's getting a blowy from me tonight. No way, Jose.

"Onion rings?" He wrinkles his nose, and I'm not surprised to see the disappointment reflected in his irises. Poor fool. "What about french fries?"

"Yeah, we can get them, as well. And maybe some mozzarella sticks."

"You like to eat, huh?"

"I guess I am a human being, huh?"

He blinks at me, and I just shake my head. He doesn't have a great sense of humor, but I suppose that wasn't why I was initially interested in him. I wonder if Tyler would've laughed at my comeback. I thought it was pretty witty.

Stop thinking about him , my inner voice hisses at myself.

I am not interested in Tyler Kane. I'm not interested in Tyler Kane whatsoever.

I have to remind myself over and over again, because the last thing that I want to do is develop a crush on my brother's friend.

I will not allow myself to go down that road.

Especially given how cocky he is. He really thinks he's all that, which he kinda is, and I know for a fact that he's probably got more women after him than any other man in the city, perhaps in the country. Even more than my brothers, and they are super eligible.

I know, thanks to my brother, that Tyler is the number one hockey player in the country.

And as such, he's on the news all the time.

He's on ESPN andin the papers, and he's even been listed as many women's number one potential boyfriend on TikTok, which makes me want to gag.

I only know because I was dumb enough to put his name into the TikTok search engine and saw a billion videos show up of women swooning over him.

Why do women have such poor taste in men? Not that mine is that great.

Obviously. Seeing as I’m here with a guy who is already getting on my nerves.

The one positive of growing up with two brothers is that I know how a good man should treat you and how respectful they would be if they liked you.

And Darren has already shown me that I am not someone he wants for more than a couple of nights.

Which would have been fine, if I were that sort of gal.

"So, what do you think about that?" Darren asks, and there's a glint in his eyes that makes me think that I should have been paying closer attention to what he was saying instead of being in la-la land, thinking about stupid Tyler.

I realize I didn't hear a word that he said, and my heart sinks. If I'm already tuning him out, this relationship is a non-starter.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about the fries." I rub my stomach and lick my lips. "The saltier the better." Better to admit to thinking about food than to have him think I was thinking about another man. Though from the look in his eyes, he's not impressed.

"Uh, okay." His phone beeps, and he pulls it out eagerly. "Do you mind if I answer this?"

"Not at all." I pause, as he's no longer paying attention to me. "Let me make sure that I check in with my friend, because I did tell her I was meeting you tonight," I mumble as he types away. I watch as he looks around and then types something else.

"Your roommate or something? Did you tell her not to wait up?"

I stare at him for a couple of seconds, waiting for him to make eye contact and explain his comment, but he does neither.

I contemplate walking away. I could go and get my own fries, maybe call Suki, see if she wants to meet up, grab some drinks, maybe even fly out to Vegas just for fun.

I have a credit card, and while I don't have access to my trust fund yet, I can still come and go as I please.

"No, I didn’t tell her not to wait up. Why would I say that?"

"Well, if our date goes well, it could be extra long..." He offers me another wink, looks down, and gyrates his hips.