I glanced at her again. But what a problem.
Her eyes were amazing. They reminded me of that famous picture of the girl from the cover of Time Magazine or maybe it was National Geographic. The exotic girl with the light eyes. My grandmother kept it on the table near her fireplace and though I’d seen the thing a hundred times, I’d never really given the picture much thought until now.
Because her eyes reminded me of Georgia’s. They were exotic. They were fantastic.
And they’d been avoiding me since Matt walked through the door.
“So, Lancaster,” Matt said as he relaxed in his chair and took another swig of his beer. He’d ordered Thai from a restaurant and we had just finished eating. “What are you looking to buy? You’re gonna be here a while so you don’t want to rush things.” His grin was contagious.
Damn straight. I’d just inked a ten year contract that was going to pay me a shit-ton of cash to do what I loved the most. Play hockey.
The truth of it was, the Flyers had always been my team. And this is from a kid who grew up near Toronto, where if you weren’t a Leaf fan, you were nothing. I’d been drafted in the first round by LA, third pick overall, and while the Kings were a fine team, the Flyers had always been my dream. When my contract expired it had been a no brainer and I had my agent push for a trade. Luckily, the Kings were in need of a goalie and some defensemen and we’d been able to broker a deal.
So here I was. What was I looking to buy? The fucking moon.
“Let me guess,” Georgia said softly. Her eyes were lowered and she fingered her now empty glass. “You’re looking for something similar to Matt’s, probably not far from here. Something close to the bars and the nightlife.”
Wrong.
“Actually I want something outside of the city. Preferably a place with a bit of property too. A fixer upper.”
She glanced up quickly. “Really.” She was surprised.
I liked that she was surprised. “Really,” I answered with a slow grin. “I like working with my hands.”
A heartbeat passed and her gaze never wavered. That heat in my gut curled something fierce. My cock twitched.
“I bet you do,” she finally replied.
Matt cleared his throat. “Did you find a real estate agent? I’ve got a few connections. The chick who helped me find this place is really good.”
I shook my head. “Nah. I did some homework. I’ve got a bunch of properties I want to check out, so I thought I’d take some time over the next few days and look myself before I approach an agent.” A thought crossed my mind and I frowned. “Unless it’s too much for you guys. I can go to a hotel.”
“No, it’s fine.” Matt shrugged. “As long as you don’t mind sleeping on the pullout sofa in the office. Georgia is crashing here at the moment and has the extra bedroom.”
“I don’t mind.” My gaze was back on Georgia and this time she didn’t look away.
“You’re Canadian,” she said.
“Yep. I’m a Canuck.”
“Your accent isn’t as pronounced as the others.”
“The others?”
She reached for her iced tea but it was empty, so her fingers slid along the top, nice and slow, trailing along the condensation that fell down the side. “The other Canadians on the team.”
I wondered which ones she knew and how well she knew them.
“My mother is American, which was one of the reasons I went to Bowling Green University in Ohio. That could have something to do with it.”
“Hmm, that’s probably it,” she said.
“And I try not to say, ‘eh’ in every other sentence”
“That’s too bad. I find it sweet.”
Sweet wasn’t exactly a word I’d use to describe myself.
Sweet wasn’t exactly how I’d describe the look in Georgia’s eyes either. I shifted uncomfortably and a slight smile drifted over her face, as if she knew I was sporting a hard on the size of a fucking football beneath the table.
I didn’t know what this was between us, but it was something and I realized it was gonna be hard to honor the ‘hands off’ thing. I also wondered how serious Matt was about it.