Anna Sugden - A Perfect Distraction

Though she’d have preferred a brighter color and a less severe cut, Maggie was still trying to find a style she felt comfortable with. All she knew for sure was it wouldn’t be anything Lee found suitable. She shrugged off her jacket and laid it across the backseat, then gathered her bag and turned.

Jake stood behind her. His rigid stance said he was glaring at her behind his Ray-Bans. “This one doesn’t feel right, either.”

Resisting the unexpected urge to snap at him, she forced a polite smile. “Shall we take a quick look, anyway? We’ve learned a lot from the other places we’ve seen, and it’s all helping us narrow down what you’re after.”

“Let’s get this done.” He nodded sharply, then strode up the path to where Mimi waited by the front door.

How on earth did the older woman maintain her immaculate appearance? Not a silver hair out of place nor a wrinkle in her mint-green pantsuit. Even her smile looked as fresh as it had first thing this morning.

You can do this, Maggie told herself fiercely as she followed him. Inside the foyer, she stopped. Her stomach dropped to her midheeled Marc Jacobs sandals.

Jake was right. The house was awful.

Though normal on the outside, the Dutch Colonial was a nightmare of rooms painted in eye-popping acid colors. Any original features had long since been stripped out. Someone must have doctored the pictures on the property sheet.

“They’ve ruined a great old house.” Mimi shook her head sadly as she led them past the sunken fishpond in the living room to the narrow kitchen with lime-green appliances. “No wonder they dropped the price.”

Maggie stopped by the rear stairs. “Let’s call it a day. We can meet again in the morning when we’ll have other properties for you to look at.”

Jake fixed his ice-blue gaze on her. “This isn’t working. We’re getting nowhere.”

Did that mean he was going to fire her? The internal voice sneered again. Useless.

She injected a cheeriness she didn’t feel into her voice. “I know today’s been disappointing, but there are plenty of other available houses. I’m sure we’ll see something suitable tomorrow.”

“We said at the beginning it would take time to find the perfect place,” Mimi added.

Jake ignored the real-estate agent. “We’re chasing our tails. Nothing we’ve seen has come close to being right.”

Maggie tamped down her irritation. He made it sound like they hadn’t tried, when he was the one who was so hard to please. The mocking internal voice grew louder.

“We understand your frustration,” she said soothingly. “But we’ve come a long way in a day and a half. Give us a bit longer.”

“How much longer?” He crossed his arms over his broad chest and glared at her. “Training camp is around the corner. Once that starts, I need to focus on my play, not where I’ll be living.”

“You will,” she promised calmly, even as desperation clawed at her insides.

His arched eyebrow said he doubted it.

She couldn’t lose this contract. He had to give them another chance. “Why don’t we meet tomorrow and go through the properties on the system together? That’ll speed up the process.”

“Great idea. I’ll head to the office and get started.” Mimi shepherded them toward the front of the house.

Jake shrugged, then indicated Maggie should go first.

She walked ahead of him down the hallway, aware of his brooding presence behind her. Far too aware. Her body clearly wasn’t on the same page as her brain. His attitude should have had the same effect as the proverbial bucket of cold water. Why hadn’t it?

Jake’s arm brushed hers as he reached past her to hold open the door.

Maggie’s pulse skipped. She willed her body to toe the line. A few more steps and they would be out of this monstrosity.

There was still the drive to his parents’ place. Enclosed in the confines of the car. Inches away from a pissed-off athlete.

Maggie shivered, then told herself to stop worrying. He’d done nothing to suggest he couldn’t control his temper. Still, when his hand touched the small of her back, she flinched.

Jake dropped his hand, his expression stony.

She waved goodbye to Mimi, then got into the car. He joined her and instantly the interior seemed to shrink as his scent—raw, male and hot—filled her nose. His lean, powerful body crowded her, putting his muscular thigh mere inches from hers.

Neither of them said anything. Forget cutting the tension with a knife, an axe would barely make a dent.

They’d almost reached his parents’ place when nerves got the better of her.

“Look—”

“You know—” They both spoke at once.

They stopped, then glanced at each other. The implacable set of his jaw said he’d reached a decision. One she wouldn’t like.

“Go on.” She licked her suddenly dry lips.

“Ladies first.”

She tried to clear the tightness in her throat, but it sounded like a squeak. “I’m sorry we haven’t found anything suitable yet. I’d be grateful, if you’d give us one more chance.”

“Knock yourself out.”

Maybe it was his patronizing tone that sparked off a long overdue show of defiance. Maybe it was that incessant internal voice that had reached deafening levels. Maybe she was just sick of taking arrogant behavior on the chin for the sake of a quiet life. Regardless, before she could censor her words, she snapped, “Grow up.”

“Excuse me?” The chill in his voice sent a shiver skating down her spine.

Instead of being frozen into submission, she seemed unable to stem the flow of angry words. “You’re as bad as my seven-year-old. ‘I want it and I want it now.’” She mimicked one of Emily’s rare tantrums. “I know sports stars are used to instant gratification, but that’s not how this works. If you genuinely want a place to call home, you’ll have to be patient.”

She didn’t know who was more shocked by her outburst.

His eyes widened a fraction. If his jaw hadn’t been so tight, she was sure it would have dropped. “I see.”

Maggie tried to get her runaway mouth to apologize, to say anything that would rescue the situation. But, having done the damage, it seemed her lips were glued shut. The heat of anger gave way to the pain of misery and defeat.

She’d just cost Tracy the Ice Cats’ contract.

CHAPTER THREE

IT WAS THOSE damn buttons.

Why else would he be behaving like a complete jackass?

Jake knew he’d been out of line all day. He’d never been a prima donna; his parents hadn’t tolerated that kind of behavior and the Jelinek brothers had kept his ego in check.

He was frustrated because the day had been a bust and he was ticked off by the lies in the property sheets. He felt cheated. That last place had been the worst, but every house they’d seen had sugarcoated the truth. He hated liars and cheats.

Jake was also nervous about tonight, when he and Tru would start skating and working out at the Cats’ practice rink. The countdown to training camp had kicked up a notch and for the first time since his rookie season, he was nervous. Questions had buzzed around his brain all last night. What if he’d lost it? What if he was no longer good enough to stay in the NHL?

He’d been giving himself a lecture about working harder and sticking to his plan of no distractions when the biggest damn distraction had walked up his parents’ path.

Today’s ridiculously dull dress was beige. Or biscuit. Or whatever the hell they called pale brown. Her short-sleeved jacket left the lightly tanned skin of her arms bare and emphasized her trim figure. Matching beige-slash-biscuit sling-backs covered her toes.

His pulse had raced faster than a player trying to beat an icing call.