Page 6 of Tempting the Goalie (Riverside U #5)

CHAPTER FOUR

L uc

“You’re being extra quiet,” I complain as we drive away from campus and head out to one of the side roads that leads to a secluded part of the lake.

“I don’t know what to say,” Izzy says, staring out the window.

“I shouldn’t have asked you to pretend to be my girlfriend. Just the thought is complicating things between us. I can tell,” I say, which is the last thing I want. Izzy is the one constant I have in my life. I know she will never let me down. I can’t screw that up.

“Why are we going to the lake? There’s no way I’m getting on a canoe with the water being so cold,” she states.

“I needed to get away from school. You’re the only one I can be myself around.

Things have been intense since that video leaked,” I confess, side-eying Izzy.

She shifts in her seat awkwardly and a weird feeling claws inside me.

I can’t explain it until I have a light bulb moment.

“Oh no, Izzy. Do not tell me you watched the video. I specifically asked you not to.”

“Don’t be angry.” I feel her gaze on me, the warmth of her chocolate-brown eyes watching me in a way that feels different. “I couldn’t help it. The way all those girls came up to you in the library made me curious.”

“Curiosity never helped anyone,” I mutter, gripping the steering wheel tighter.

“Don’t be like that. You’re so experienced with sex. I wanted to know what all those girls were craving.”

I shift uncomfortably. “You watching me having sex was the last thing I thought we’d be talking about today. I don’t know what to say. . .”

“You’re so good at sex, Luc. That isn’t something to be ashamed of,” she replies.

“Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?” I ask. “We don’t talk about sex. We sure as hell don’t watch each other get off.” It’s a red light so I come to a stop and look at her.

“Everything about you is sensual, Luc. You know what you’re doing. West wasn’t like that. He didn’t, uh, do the things you do.” She squirms.

I growl, “You’re actually killing me right now.”

“Why?” she asks so innocently.

I take a deep inhale, trying to cleanse the dirty thoughts I am having about my best friend from my mind.

I give my head a shake. “I wish you could erase what you saw.”

“I’m happy I watched it.” She holds her ground in usual Izzy fashion. I cut my gaze to her and watch her shift. She’s horny, I can read it on her. I know women, I can read them like an open book. My best friend is needy right now and this is not good.

“Let’s change the subject,” I encourage.

“Actually, I think we should stay on topic. You asked me to pretend to be your girlfriend, and I’m willing to do it,” she states.

“I didn’t like your condition though. I can’t be sexual with you. It’ll change our friendship and screw everything up. I need you in my life, Izzy. You know how important you are to me.”

“What are you going to do about your reputation? You’ve worked so hard to get to this point. You aren’t a man who gives up, and you’re so close to the finish line.”

I sigh a defeated breath. “Don’t I know it.” I pull into a small parking lot next to the forest. We’ll have to cross the road, but it gives us easy access to the lake.

“Elyna and Braden need your help,” she reminds.

My sister fell apart after Mom died. She acted out and didn’t get good enough grades in school to attend college.

Now she is working in our hometown, and she has a sweet little baby boy she’s responsible for.

I don’t have money to help her yet, but one of the first things I plan to do with my paycheck is buy her and my nephew a place to call home.

“That’s why I’ve worked so hard. To give her the future she can’t give herself.”

“I know, Luc. You’re a great brother,” Izzy says, reaching out she pats my thigh, and that small touch causes an awareness inside me I don’t like.

We’ve touched each other thousands of times.

We’ve shared a bed and secrets, but something has changed between us, and I need to put a stop to it.

I need everything to go back the way it was. Life was simpler.

“I’m clearly not. My shenanigans have caused me more trouble than I care to think about,” I reply and we leave the car. I pop my trunk and take out the bag of food I packed for us.

“Did you make us lunch?” Izzy asks with excitement.

“Don’t get too excited. I had some frozen bagels from back home in the freezer, and I picked up some Montreal smoked meat at my last away game.”

“You jerk. You know I love that stuff.” She smacks my shoulder playfully.

We cross the road and head onto a path that takes us to the lake.

It’s a little chilly outside, but I really needed this break from Riverside.

Girls have been hounding me all week about the video and wanting to have a go with me.

As excited as I was about threesomes, they have now lost appeal.

I fear the reason is standing beside me.

All five feet six inches of her. Her dark hair has grown longer and hangs over her shoulders.

She’s wearing a pair of skinny jeans and an oversized hoodie that hides her body, but I know what lies beneath.

I’ve seen her in a bathing suit more times than I can count.

Back home we have lots of trails with waterfalls, and in the summers, we’ve done plenty of swimming together. I blink to clear my thoughts.

“Why do you like to sleep with multiple girls at once? Is one not enough?” she asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

I groan, “How did we go from not speaking about sex at all to you asking me such an open question?”

“Don’t be like that, Luc. The cat’s out of the bag. Now explain yourself,” she insists.

We take a seat at a picnic bench. We both sit next to each other so we can look out onto the water.

“I got bored, Izzy. Do you really want to hear how screwed up I am?” I reply, defeated.

“You’re not screwed up,” she insists. “You’ve been let down. You’re hurting.”

“I don’t know how you always see the best in me.” I sigh.

She takes hold of my hand. “It’s easy. You’re a good guy. You’ve always been there for Elyna and me. Now stop dodging the question. I’m curious as to when your tastes changed. You were always a one girl kind of guy in high school.”

“You’re being a brat. You don’t need to know this.”

“I do, I can’t erase that video from my mind,” she says.

I rub at my eyes in frustration. Feeling too many things. I want my best friend, and I won’t tell her that because I will lose her, and nothing is worth losing her. “I don’t know what you want to hear.”

“The truth,” she states.

“Fine,” I counter, frustrated. “If you must know, ever since I came out to Riverside, I’ve had girls falling all over me. That’s how it is on the hockey team. I indulged the lifestyle because, why not?”

“Did none of those girls ever arouse feelings inside you that made you think you’d want to settle down in a relationship with one of them?” she asks.

“No, I never felt like that,” I say. I’ve only ever wanted her, and she is more off-limits than the Mona Lisa. “The lifestyle got boring for me. It all felt like the same old until I started to experiment. There, are you happy? Now you know how messed up my head is.”

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting more,” she says, surprising the hell out of me. “I always wanted more too. Even when I was with West. Things didn’t feel exactly right. I couldn’t you know. . .” She swallows hard.

“Orgasm,” I deadpan.

She nods. “But it was more than that. There wasn’t an emotional connection, and I wanted more of it. I didn’t understand how I could feel so close to you without having sex and feel so far away from him while I gave him a piece of myself.”

The way her brown eyes bore into me with such na?vete, and honesty makes my heart twist. “We’ve been through a lot together, Mon coeur, and that creep wasn’t right for you.”

“Those girls you were with weren’t for you,” she counters. “That’s why you didn’t feel anything. It doesn’t mean you’re broken. You have the biggest heart I know. It’s perfect and pure.”

I laugh. “You still think that after watching the video?”

She pinches her lips. “In that video I saw a man scared to feel. That’s why you want more than one girl. It’s a distraction for you, isn’t it? A way not to give your heart to one girl.”

“You have my heart, Mon coeur. That’s all I have to give,” I counter.

“You’re so frustrating,” she growls.

“C’est la vie.” I shrug. That’s life. “ Let’s eat those sandwiches.”

We sit quietly and eat, watching the water. The cool wind whips at our cheeks but it is still nice to be out here and enjoy the peace and quiet.

“This is delicious. It tastes like home,” she says. Every time I’m with her it feels like home.

“It does,” I agree.

We enjoy our sandwiches and head back to campus.

“I hope Elyna isn’t going to drive your brothers crazy,” I note since they agreed to take her to work.

“She’ll be fine. Have some faith. She’s changed a lot since Braden was born,” she notes.

“Maybe a little,” I say. “She’s still a handful though.”

“My brothers know what they’re getting themselves into. Don’t worry about them. Besides, she needs the help.”

“She does, and I appreciate your family’s support.”

“We’re here for each other,” she replies. “Remember that, Luc. I’ll happily pretend to be your girlfriend, and I won’t pressure you into teaching me sexual things. I get that you aren’t attracted to me in that way,” she says as I pull up to the house she shares with other students off campus.

Her words make me choke on my own saliva. “My reasons for not wanting to teach you have nothing to do with attraction. I’ve been attracted to you ever since I learned about the opposite sex. I just know from experience that sex ruins friendships. I will never do anything to ruin us.”

“See, that’s why you should be my teacher because you care enough not to screw anything up, and now that I know how well hung you are, I can’t stop thinking about it. I always figured, considering…” She bites into her lower lip.

She wants to kill me. Dead. My eyes narrow to slits.

“What? It’s not like I haven’t seen you in a pair of boxers. Now my predictions have been confirmed,” she states, as if it’s no big deal for her to be analyzing my dick.

“Woman, stop talking that way,” I warn. She is pushing me over the edge.

She laughs and the sweet sound fills my car.

“Come on, Luc, chill out. You look like your face is on fire.” She giggles.

“That’s not the only thing,” I grunt. “Now, go do your homework or whatever it is you do on a Friday night.”

“I was thinking maybe I could go out with you. If you’re seen with me, then maybe it will give people something else to talk about,” she suggests.

“I’m going to a bar. We have a home game tomorrow night.”

“I can go to a bar,” she replies awkwardly.

“When was the last time you were in a bar?” I ask, knowing the answer is probably never.

“Doesn’t matter. There’s a first time for everything. I can ask Priya and Yuna to join me. And maybe I should come to your game tomorrow night,” she continues.

“Izzy, you don’t do hockey.” The last time she came to visit me during a practice she met West. I hated she was dating him.

He was all wrong for her and it pissed the shit out of me to see them together.

She didn’t attend his games either, and that part made me happy, even though he wanted to give her free tickets all the time.

“I know, but you need my help, Luc. I’m a good girl. I can clean up your image. And since you don’t want to get dirty with me, I guess we’ll be keeping things clean, which will only help your future. You need this, Luc. I’m going to help you clean up your reputation.”

She is killing me. I’m a good girl, Luc. I can just picture her in black lingerie saying that very thing. I blink and grip my steering wheel so hard I may dent it or break my fingers.

“Fine. I’ll take your help but only because my career is on the line. I appreciate your help, Mon coeur. It goes without saying, but if you ever need me, I’m here.”

“I don’t need reminding. What time are we going out?” she asks.

“Eleven.”

“That late?” she asks wide-eyed.

I laugh.

“It’s fine. See you at eleven,” she says.

“See you.” She closes the door, and I watch the sway of her ass as she walks toward her house.

This is a very delicate situation. I need to behave and make sure the guys on the team don’t hit on her tonight because if someone does, I might lose my shit.

I’ve always been possessive of Izzy. Maybe that’s why I’ve kept her away from the hockey guys all this time.

Now that my career is on the line, two separate parts of my life are colliding.

I just hope there won’t be any collateral damage.