Chapter 21

I paced around my house nervously. Jordan was going to be over in a little while. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was nervous about. I just knew that I was nervous. I’d never broken up with anyone before. Sure, I’d left Corey, but I hadn’t really broken up with him. I’d disappeared instead. There was a knock on the door and I opened it to see Jordan standing on the other side.

“Hey, Hun,” he said throwing his arms around me. I hugged him back.

“How was your trip?” I asked him after a kiss. I closed the door as he made his way into the house.

“It was fine. The usual. How has everything been here?” Hm, where to start.

“Kind of crazy,” I told him. Hey, I wasn’t lying.

“That’s what happens after filming a pretty major movie.”

There was a kind of awkward pause between us after that. I was struggling to think of how to breach the topic. Even as I did so I could tell that something was a little off with Jordan as well. Something was definitely up with him too.

“Can I ask you something?” he finally asked, breaking the silence.

“Sure, what’s up?” He cleared his throat before saying anything.

“How do you see things going between us?”

I jerked my head up in surprise. I hadn’t seen that question coming. I paused for a minute trying to figure out what he meant by asking that. Was he trying to elevate the relationship or did he want to break up too? I decided that honesty was definitely the best policy in this case.

“Truthfully, I kind of see us as being more friends than anything,” I told him. He let out a deep breath.

“You have no idea how happy I am to hear that.” I smiled at his response. In any other situation I probably would have been offended, but not this time.

“You feel the same way,” I said. It wasn’t a question. He nodded.

“Things have just been so hectic. You filmed a movie and weren’t around. Now I’m filming and won’t be around. I don’t know when it happened, but at some point we reverted into just being friends.”

“I completely agree.”

There were no hard feelings. I wasn’t in love with Jordan, and he wasn’t in love with me. I also didn’t hold any grudges or regret anything that happened between us. There had never been a major fight and we weren’t fighting now. Those were really signs that we were truly only meant to be friends.

“Well, I promised you a nice dinner when I got home. Still up for it?” Jordan asked. I smiled and laughed.

“Definitely.”

“I’ll pick you up at 7.”

He stood up and gave me a hug before heading to the door. He turned back one last time and smiled at me before leaving. When he was gone I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I don’t know what people were so nervous about. Breakups weren’t that hard.

I thought about calling Corey right away and telling him, but when I looked at the clock I realized that wouldn’t be a good idea. It was the middle of the afternoon and it was a game day for him. While I didn’t know for sure, I figured his game day routine was still relatively similar to what it had been in London. That meant he’d kill me if I called and woke him up from his nap right now.

Instead I called Brianna and told her the news. Even she sounded a little relieved to hear it. When I got off the phone with her I decided to go for a run. I’d skipped my normal workout that morning because of my nerves and now I felt guilty. I changed and grabbed my iPod before heading outside.

Almost an hour later I was back at the house showering and getting ready for dinner with Jordan. It was a little strange to be getting ready to go to dinner with him as just a friend. When he picked me up he greeted me with a kiss on the cheek. It wasn’t any different than when we’d been together.

We sat down to dinner and there was never a lull in the conversation. Before when we’d been dating there had always been pauses. Now it was just one flowing conversation. I couldn’t explain it and neither could he. We talked about his prep work for the film and about the interviews and photo shoots I’d been doing. I’m sure to anyone in the restaurant it looked like we were still together.

When he dropped me off he gave me another kiss on the cheek and said he’d call to catch up soon. Based on how dinner had gone, I believed him. I even hoped that he would. We’d always been close, and I didn’t want to lose that just because we weren’t together anymore.

I changed into pajamas and checked the score of the game. I smiled when I saw that the Ducks had won. I wondered if I should call Corey but then remembered Ileana was going to be home tomorrow. I decided to just leave him alone for the night. He’d call me later when he’d finished talking to her. I got into bed and fell asleep with a smile on my face.










Corey groaned when his alarm went off the next morning. He was dreading today. It hadn’t been easy talking to Ileana the last couple of days on the phone knowing that he was ending things with her when she came home. It especially wasn’t easy knowing she was probably going to throw something at him when he did.

He finally pulled himself out of bed and grabbed some breakfast before heading to the rink. He went through his usual routine before practice. He was a little distracted on the ice. He played it off to the guys like he was just tired from the night before. For whatever reason he just didn’t want anyone to know about what he was doing until it was done.

He passed on offers from some of the guys for lunch, choosing instead to just go home. He needed to think about what he was going to say to Ileana and how he was going to say it. They’d been together for about a year at this point. He felt he owed it to her to not be an asshole about the whole thing.

He turned his phone on and saw he had a voicemail. For a second he wondered if it was Amelia. Jordan was supposed to be back yesterday. He wondered if Amelia had talked to him yet and if so, how she’d gotten through it all. He was tempted to call her and check, but decided to just worry about himself right now. He clenched his teeth when he heard Ileana’s voice in his voicemail.

“Hey, sweetie. I just landed and I’m back in town. Can you come over as soon as you get out of practice? I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever. Love you!”

He cringed at the last couple of words. She always said that to him. He’d never said it back. Did that make him an asshole? He didn’t think so. It’d be worse if he lied to her and did say it, right? He’d gotten around it by saying “you too” or something along those lines. Okay, maybe he was a bit of an asshole. Nothing he could do about it now.

He took a deep breath before starting up his car. When he did he decided it was best to just head over to Ileana’s like she wanted. The longer he put it off, the more he was going to psyche himself out. He pulled up and got out of the car. He’d hardly knocked on the door when it was pulled open. She flew into his arms with a squeal and he felt bad all over again.

“Thanks for coming right away,” she said as she followed him into the living room. He just smiled and nodded. He wasn’t good at this whole pretending thing.

“How was your flight?” he asked, trying to be polite. It was also just him trying to gain the courage to get this over with. He realized he was kind of scared of her.

“Ugh, it was awful. Turbulence the whole time. I thought I was going to be sick,” she complained as she fell down next to him on the couch.

“I’m sorry,” was all he could manage to say. She just shrugged.

“How was practice?” she asked.

“It was practice.” God, he felt like someone had cranked the heat up to 150. Come on, Corey, just get it over with.

“I need to talk to you about something,” they said in unison. He looked at her in surprise. She gave him the same expression back.

“You go first,” he insisted. Hey, maybe she was going to break up with him. Wouldn’t that make things easier?

“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “My grandmother’s dying. I’m going to be in and out of town for the next little bit. They don’t know how much time she has left.”

He felt awful. He felt guilty. Was this really happening? He couldn’t break up with someone who had a family member dying. He realized she was looking at him strangely when he didn’t respond.

“I’m really sorry, Ileana,” he said. He couldn’t even form words right now. All he could think was that Amelia was going to kill him.

“The doctors said it could be weeks or it could be months. They’re just kind of taking the wait and see approach. Basically all they can do now is try to make her as comfortable as possible.” He nodded because he didn’t know what else to say.

“I’m so sorry,” he said again, lamely, a few minutes later. She curled up on him, laying her head on his shoulder.

“I know what you can do to make me feel better,” she whispered in his ear.

He squeezed his eyes shut. This was not happening, he told himself. Sure enough, when he opened his eyes she was giving him that look. He knew what that look meant. He should tell her no. He couldn’t do that to Amelia. It was bad enough that he’d decided he couldn’t end things with Ileana because of the situation with her grandmother. He couldn’t sleep with her too.

Of course, how was he supposed to stay with Ileana and not sleep with her? He seriously wished that he’d be struck by lightning, or that something, anything, would happen to him right now. Ileana grabbed his chin and forced him to turn towards her. She kissed him and he wished that Amelia would somehow find a way to understand as he kissed Ileana back.

Chapter 20

I woke up with a pounding headache. I rolled over to look at the clock expecting it to be just before dawn based on how dark it was inside the room. I groaned when I saw that it read 9:30 pm. The day came back to me and I cursed myself for downing almost a full bottle of wine by myself in 20 minutes. I pulled myself out of the bed in Brianna’s guest room and made my way out to the living room. She looked up at me with a smile.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“I can’t say I’ve ever had a hangover at 9:30 at night before,” I told her. She laughed and I narrowed my eyes at her.

“There’s water in the fridge if you want,” she suggested. I made my way into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle. I chugged half of it in one gulp. The other half quickly followed. I grabbed another one and made my way back into the living room.

“Sorry I took down that bottle earlier,” I apologized. She shrugged.

“It wasn’t one of my better ones, thankfully,” she replied. We watched TV together for a bit before I decided to head home and sleep off the hangover.

The next day I woke up to my alarm and another interview. Thankfully I felt much better as I got out of bed and didn’t need to take any Tylenol like I was worried I might. We did the interview over lunch and I cringed every time the journalist took a sip of her glass of wine. I was going to be avoiding alcohol, and especially wine, for a while now.

When the interview was over I made my way across town for some promotional stuff. I somehow managed to make it through the day without thinking about Corey or what I was going to do about him. All I knew was that we needed to talk and figure something out. I went home when I was done, grabbing a salad with grilled chicken on the way.

When I was done eating I jumped onto the treadmill and began to run. As I ran I thought about how to approach Corey and what to say to him. Should I just come out and tell him that I still love him, or should I wait to see what he says? Did I want to end things with Jordan to give it another try with Corey? Would Corey even take me back?

I got off the treadmill nowhere near closer to a solution. I hopped in the shower and let the hot water rinse away any and all thoughts from my brain. Feeling much more relaxed after a workout and a shower I put on a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt. I thought about vegging out in front of the TV but decided on something else.

I pulled up in front of Corey’s, not even sure if he was there. I took a deep breath before gathering up the courage to get out of the car. I figured it was best to get this talk over with. I wondered how Corey would respond to what I had to say. Just as I was about to knock on his door it flew open and he nearly ran into me as he started to walk out.










Corey went home after lunch with Getzy and thought about what he should do. No matter what the outcome was, he knew that he and Amelia needed to talk. He waited until after practice the next day to do anything about it. He picked up his phone to call her, but remembered that she had said that she had interviews and promos all week. She probably wouldn’t even be able to answer right now.

Instead he popped in a video game and focused on that for a few hours. It was nice to do something brainless for a while and not have to think about how complicated things were right now. When he tired of the game he turned it off and grabbed his car keys. He got into his car and started to drive towards Amelia’s.

He decided just showing up probably wasn’t the best idea and drove back home. About 20 minutes later he was back in his car on the way to her house again. This is how most of his evening went. He kept getting into the car only to turn around and go back home. On the last time he actually stopped and picked up some food for dinner.

He sat at his island eating the take out order and debating what to do. As he finished the meal he decided to just get in his car and go to Amelia’s. The worst case scenario would be that she was home and she’d tell him to get lost. At least then he’d know, right? He grabbed his car keys and walked out his front door. He nearly ran into someone standing in front of it.

“Jesus Christ!” he heard a voice yell. He jumped back as well. When he looked he saw Amelia standing there with a hand over her heart. “You scared the shit out of me!’

“Ditto,” he responded catching his breath. He stepped back through the door and held it open for Amelia. She followed him in. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh boy. Cor, we need to talk. Seriously this time,” she said. He nodded and sat down on his couch. She chose the chair as far away from him as possible.

“I was actually on my way to go see you for the same reason,” he told her.

“What did you want to talk about?” she asked. He paused and tried to think of how to start.

“You drove here. You start,” he said. He was pussying out and he knew it. She sighed.

“That’s not fair. I asked you first.” Fuck, were they going to argue over who should talk first?

“I told Ryan about what’s been happening,” he said. Amelia’s head jerked up. There was a momentary flash of anger in her eyes, but it faded quickly.

“I told Brianna,” she told him. They both sat there in silence for a few minutes. He finally decided to just get it going.

“I’m not over you. I never was.” There, it was out. Sort of, anyway. He stopped short of telling her he’d fallen in love with her all over again in case she didn’t feel the same way.

“I’m still in love with you too,” she replied. He let out a breath he hadn’t even known he was holding.

“So what do we do?” he asked her. She shrugged.

“Well, whatever we decide, I’m ending things with Jordan.” She lifted her feet off the floor and curled them underneath her in the chair. He could never figure out how she was comfortable when she was contorted like that.

“Meels, there are really only two options in my mind right now. Either we give this another shot or we can’t be around each other. I know we’ve said that before, but seriously this time,” he said. She nodded.

“I agree. So which is it, Cor? Who do you love more?” she asked. The answer to that was a no brainer.

“I’ve never loved Ileana,” he responded. He saw tears fill Amelia’s eyes and her mouth twitch. He’d seen that before. She wanted to smile, but was holding it back.

“Does that mean?” She didn’t dare finish the question. She wanted him to say it.

“I love you, Amelia. I don’t ever want to be away from you again,” he told her. She sprung out of the chair and ran into his arms, pressing her mouth on his.










A million and a half thoughts ran through my mind as I kissed Corey. He still loved me. He wanted to try this again. I knew this time it would be different. There wasn’t the possibility of achieving a dream hanging over us anymore. We were both where we’d always wanted to be, and now we could just focus on each other.

“We probably shouldn’t be doing this right now,” I whispered as I pulled away from Corey.

“Why not?” he asked, resting his forehead against mine.

“We’re technically still with other people,” I replied. He groaned and pulled back, but kept his arms wrapped around me, holding me on his lap.

“You’re right. We need to end things with them before we do anything else.”

“It’s the right thing to do,” I said. He nodded and released me. I got up off of his lap and settled into the couch next to him. “Jordan comes home in a couple of days. I don’t want to do this over the phone. I feel I should at least do it in person.”

“It’s the same with Ileana,” Corey responded. I nodded.

“Well, I’m going to go home. I don’t think I can stay here and keep my hands off of you,” I told him. He smiled up at me as I stood up.

“And I wouldn’t be able to keep mine off of you.” He stood up and walked me to the door. I turned and gave him one last kiss, because I couldn’t resist.

“I’m really busy until Jordan gets home. I’ll try to call, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to.”

“It’s okay. Do your best. Otherwise let me know when it’s done.” I smiled, turned and walked out the door and got into my car. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d ever been so happy.

Chapter 19

I walked out of my interview and headed back to my car. I’d been distracted during my photo shoot and then the interview, which wasn’t good. I couldn’t stop hating myself. Now that I was out of the moment, I was regretting absolutely everything that went on between Corey and me. Last night I didn’t care. Today I was upset.

I began to drive towards home but changed my mind. Instead of getting off at the highway exit leading to my house, I got off at the next one and drove to Brianna’s. I was almost positive that she was there and was relieved when I saw her car in the driveway. I needed someone to talk to. Badly.

“How was the interview?” she asked when she pulled open the door. I tried to find words, but couldn’t. Instead I just started crying. “God, Amelia, what’s wrong? What happened?”

I still wasn’t sure how to tell her so I walked into her kitchen and opened a drawer. I pulled out the corkscrew and walked over to where she kept her wine. I grabbed a bottle without checking what it was and stuck the corkscrew in. Then I grabbed two glasses from the cupboard and poured almost overflowing glasses. I took an enormous sip before noticing that Brianna was just watching me.

“I’m an awful person,” I said through my tears.

“Sit down and tell me what’s going on,” she ordered taking her glass and sitting at the dining room table. I took another large gulp before starting.

“I think I’m still in love with Corey,” I choked out. She didn’t look surprised.

“Okay, there’s more to the story than this,” she said when I didn’t say anything else. I took another sip before continuing.

“I told him why I left him in Maine. I felt like I owed it to him. It made everything so complicated.” I paused and took a breath before finishing off my glass of wine. I avoided meeting Brianna’s eyes. “We kissed.” I wasn’t done, not even close but I needed to take steps, so I refilled my glass. I noticed that Brianna had only taken a sip or two of hers.

“So you kissed your ex that you’re still in love with. That doesn’t make you an awful person,” she assured me.

“No, but sleeping with him does,” I corrected her. I could tell she wasn’t expecting that. I rested my forehead on my arms. The tears were still coming and I couldn’t make them stop.

“When did this happen?” she questioned. I looked back up.

“Well, he kissed me about two weeks ago. Then the night you and Ryan fought he came over to apologize and it just sort of happened.” Her jaw dropped but she was quiet for a moment. I took the opportunity to finish off half of my second glass of the wine.

“Does Jordan know?” she asked quietly, as if he’d overhear us. I shook my head.

“No. I didn’t want to tell him because I thought it was just this big mistake that would never happen again,” I replied. She nodded in understanding.

“Well, you’ll just have to make sure that it doesn’t happen again then.” I made a face and took another drink. “Amelia…..it didn’t?”

“Last night,” I groaned as I covered my face with my hands. I looked up to see her shaking her head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“Yes you do,” she said. I looked up at her in confusion. “You already said you think you’re still in love with him.” I let out a deep breath and took another drink.

“What the hell am I going to do? Obviously I need to stay away from him, but I can’t just stop feeling, you know?” She shook her head at me again.

“Are you that dumb?”

“Excuse me?”

“Amelia, you’re in love with him. Just tell him. He obviously still has feelings for you too since you’re sleeping together.” I finished glass number two and poured a third. At this point I didn’t care anymore.

“Right, and what about Jordan and Ileana? It’s not like there aren’t other people involved. I need to take them into consideration,” I sighed.

Down went half of drink number three. Wine was not an easy drink to chug, but after gulping down two of them already, it got easier. Brianna made it all sound so simple, but it just wasn’t. Was it worth it to end things with Jordan and take the chance on Corey? Did I talk to Corey first and see if there were mutual feelings on the subject? And worst, what if he didn’t choose me over Ileana?

The last part made me finish my third glass while Brianna answered a phone call. I dumped what was left from the bottle into my glass. I knew that I needed to talk to Corey again, but I wasn’t convinced that a lot of talking would get done. All I knew was that I was still in love with him and I’d be crushed if he didn’t feel the same way.

“All I can tell you is to talk to Corey and see where he stands on all of this. And for fuck’s sake, don’t sleep with him again unless you break up with Jordan and Corey breaks up with Ileana!” There went glass number four.

“You’re not doing anything tonight, right? Because I definitely can’t drive right now,” I responded. She rolled her eyes at me and tossed me a bottle of water from the refrigerator.










Corey wondered what exactly he was going to do with this whole Amelia situation. He’d woken up this morning bummed about her not being in bed next to him yet it was hard to keep the smile off of his face when he thought of last night. As those thoughts entered his brain he let out a yell of pain when he felt something hit him.

“Perrs, wake the fuck up! I just asked if you wanted to take some shots before you got off!” Giguere yelled at him. He looked down and saw a puck lying at his feet.

“Jesus, Giggy, I didn’t hear you!” he yelled back rubbing the spot on his calf where the puck had hit.

“No shit,” he commented as he skated off the ice apparently no longer in the mood to take any shots.

“What’s your problem?” Getzy asked skating over.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Corey told him as he stepped off the ice.

“Bullshit you don’t. You were off in some other world all practice. I can’t play a game with you like this. Just fucking talk to me.” Corey sighed and knew that he really did need to get this all off his chest.

“I’ll tell you over lunch.”

Corey got out of his gear and showered. When he was dressed he met up with Ryan and they walked out of the locker room. They both stopped to sign a few autographs and take a few pictures before agreeing on a location and getting into their cars. When they were seated and had ordered Ryan began to stare at him waiting for him to say something. Corey didn’t know how to start.

“So, are you going to make me beg?” Ryan asked.

“I slept with Amelia. Twice,” Corey said. He figured the direct approach was best. Ryan almost choked on his soda.

“Jesus, Perrs. When did this happen?” he asked.

“The first time was when I had her phone. The second was last night.” Ryan laughed.

“I knew that breakfast line was bullshit. I just had a feeling you fucked her.” Corey glared at him.

“Nice, Getzy.” Ryan rolled his eyes at him.

“So you broke up with Ileana then,” Ryan assumed as their lunches were brought over.

“Yeah, about that,” Corey started but didn’t finish, instead choosing to take a bite of his wrap.

“Fuck, Corey, you’re in Pronger territory,” Ryan joked.

“Not quite, but thanks for the support,” Corey said sarcastically.

He continued to eat his lunch not really sure what else to say. He definitely wasn’t as bad as Pronger, was he? No way, he wasn’t married to Ileana and he’d hardly call sleeping with Amelia twice an affair. Nope, he wouldn’t be run out of town like Prongs was from Edmonton. Although Amelia’s a little more famous than the reporter up there is.

“So what are you going to do? Keep sleeping with Amelia behind Ileana’s back or end things with Ileana?” Ryan asked.

“I notice you didn’t throw in the option of staying with Ileana and no longer sleeping with Amelia,” he commented.

“Come on, Perrs, be serious. If it came down to it every person in the world would choose Amelia over Ileana. It’s a no brainer. And not just because she’s hotter,” Ryan scoffed.

“It’s not that easy. I don’t even know what’s going on with Amelia. As far as I know those two times were it.”

Corey tried not to roll his eyes at himself. If he were to see Amelia again, there would be no way he could keep his hands off of her unless Ileana was in the room. Even then it would be difficult. He was ridiculously attracted to Amelia but he was still trying to figure out if the attraction was just physical, or if he was falling for her all over again.

“Then talk to her,” Getzy suggested. How did he make it sound so easy?

“I guess I have to. No way around it,” Corey agreed.

“Try not to fuck her before it gets figured out, eh?” Corey groaned and threw a french fry across the table at him.

Chapter 18

I walked out of the hotel restaurant and gave valet my ticket. I pulled my sunglasses off of the top of my head and put them on while I waited for my car. The valet opened the door for me and I got in, handing him his tip. I smiled at him as he thanked me and got into the car.

I’d just finished an interview for the following month’s Glamour. I was on the cover and was doing the photo shoot for it tomorrow. I sighed as I thought about it. I hadn’t exactly been motivated to do much lately, which was a problem considering the buzz about the movie. I heard my phone ringing and checked the call ID.

“We’re good,” Brianna said to me when I picked up the phone.

“What’s the story?” I asked with a smile. She sounded so happy.

“Well, apparently Ryan’s ex was a bit of a psycho. She didn’t allow him to have any female friends. Thanks to her he was terrified of telling me that a friend from home was coming to town and wanted to go to a game if they were playing while she was here. He just panicked when he found out I knew it was a girl on the phone. She’ll be here this weekend, and I’ll be meeting her, so there really isn’t anything to hide,” she explained.

“Good. See, I told you that there would be an explanation for it. You told him you’re not that insecure, right?” I checked.

“Of course. I could care less if he has female friends. That just means that I don’t have only guys to hang out with when I visit him this summer.” I laughed.

“Exactly.”

“So how did the interview go?” she asked.

“It was pretty good. Basic stuff. You know the drill,” I told her.

“Good to hear. As far as I know the shoot is still at 10 tomorrow morning. Then there’s another interview set up at 2 about the movie. I’ll get you the details later.” I groaned.

“Alright, thanks.”

“Is something bothering you? You’ve been kind of weird since yesterday,” she commented. Yeah, something’s bothering me. I cheated on Jordan with Corey and I still have feelings for him.

“I’m just still tired, I think. You know it takes me forever to adjust to a normal routine after filming,” I responded.

“Yeah, I guess. Okay, I’ve got some phone calls to make so I’ll talk to you later to confirm everything.”

“Sounds good.” We hung up and I drove home.

I sat down on the couch and put in a movie. I began to think about Corey again. How could I possibly have done what I did? I wasn’t like that. I’d never been like that. I told myself it was just a one time mental lapse in judgment and tried to leave it at that. Unfortunately my brain kept conjuring up memories of the feel of his hands and his lips on mine.

I groaned and covered my face with a pillow as if that would block the images. I forced myself to think of Jordan. Those memories just didn’t seem as good. I shook my head and looked back at the TV screen. The movie was almost over. Had I really been thinking about Corey that long? I suddenly knew what I needed to do to end all of this. Either I had to avoid Corey at all costs, which wasn’t exactly practical since Brianna was dating one of his best friends, or we had to find a way to be around each other.

I grabbed a jacket and a purse along with my car keys. I locked up and got into my car. Brianna called to confirm everything for the next day. By the time I was off the phone I was pulling up in front of Corey’s. I wasn’t positive that Ileana wasn’t back, but I was hoping she wasn’t. I had something to prove to myself. I walked up to the door and rang the bell. He answered it with a shocked expression on his face.

“Amelia, what are you doing here?” he asked stepping aside to let me in.

“Experimenting,” I replied walking into the living room and sitting down.

“What does that mean?” he questioned.

“Is Ileana here?” He shook his head. “I need to prove to myself that we can be around each other and not let anything happen. I need to know that we can just be friends and nothing more.”

“Okay, sure,” he said not sounding at all convinced. I shrugged and saw that he had the NHL Network going on the TV.

“You never change,” I joked. He laughed.

“I was just about to make dinner. Interested?”

“You cook now?” I asked in shock. He made a face.

“I can put pasta in boiling water and pre-cooked chicken and vegetables in pasta sauce. Then I can combine them. Oh, then there’s the whole opening a bag of salad. That’s the most difficult part.” I shook my head and rolled my eyes as I laughed at him.

“Game tomorrow?” I checked. He nodded.

I got up from my spot on the couch and walked into the kitchen with him. I helped him prepare dinner and my smile grew as I worked. Maybe we could do this. Neither of us had made a move for the other and it didn’t even feel awkward. We made it through dinner without a problem and I began to load dishes into the dishwasher.

“You don’t have to do that,” he told me. I looked at him over my shoulder.

“Yeah right. These dishes would probably sit here until you ran out, crusting over. I’m putting them in.”

He laughed and carried dishes to the counter as I put them in. We chatted as I added the pile of plates and silverware that had already been sitting on the counter into the dishwasher as well. He cracked a joke that caused me to laugh just as I reached for a knife. I laughed so hard I stabbed myself.

“Shit!” I yelled as I saw blood immediately start flowing from my finger.

“Are you okay?” he asked rushing over.

I stuck my finger underneath the water flowing out of the faucet and began to look around for a towel or something to put over it. Corey was one step ahead of me and handed me one that he’d grabbed. I put pressure on the cut for a minute before checking to see how bad it was. Luckily it wasn’t deep and was already starting to stop bleeding. I let out a breath, happy that I wouldn’t need anything more than a bandage to put on it. Corey handed me one and I put it on.

“You’re still as accident prone as I remember,” he joked. I glared up at him, but couldn’t stop the smile from forming.

“It’s your fault! Stop being funny!” I yelled at him. He laughed.

“I can’t help it. Let me see it,” he said grabbing for my hand.

“You’re not going to see anything now,” I told him. Even so he studied my already bandaged finger.

“It doesn’t look like it’s going to bleed through at all. You’re lucky. You really could have done some damage,” he said, his tone taking on a more serious note.

“I’m fine. I always had a high pain tolerance,” I insisted. I looked up at him and our eyes locked. I noticed that he was still holding my hand.

“Why are you here?” he asked.

“I told you. I wanted to make sure that we could be around each other without anything happening,” I responded. I noticed that we had moved closer to each other.

“Right, your experiment. How’s that going?” My heart was pounding now.

“It was going well until now.”

I barely had time to get the sentence out before his lips were on mine. I didn’t make a move to pull away and neither did he. I felt one of his hands cup my face while his other hand, which had never let go of mine, gripped it even harder. I wrapped my free hand around his waist and pulled him closer to me. So much for being around each other without a problem.

I wanted to pull away from him. I thought of 100 different excuses I could use to get out of there right now but my brain didn’t seem connected to my body. I gave up and just gave in to what I was feeling. We stood in the kitchen with our lips locked together for what seemed like an eternity. We only stopped when we heard his phone ring.

“Is it important?” I asked as he looked over my shoulder at it.

“Not at all,” he replied as he hit ignore.

I caught sight of the name on the screen and saw that it was Ileana. I should have felt terrible, or guilty, or something, but I didn’t. Instead I followed Corey into his bedroom. I pushed him back onto the bed and crawled on top of him. He smiled as I pulled his shirt over his head and ran a hand over his chest. He reached up and pulled my shirt off as well. I straddled him and kissed him hard.

“What are we going to do?” I whispered into his ear.

“I’m not sure what you’re confused about,” he joked, kissing my neck.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know. We’ll worry about that later.” I agreed and focused only on how good he made me feel. I curled up to him after and kissed him.

“I have to go,” I told him. He turned his head to look at me.

“Just stay here tonight,” he offered.

“I can’t. I have a photo shoot and an interview tomorrow. Otherwise I would,” I declined. He pouted but nodded. I got up and got dressed and he did the same. He followed me to the door as I grabbed my stuff.

“Do you have the right phone?” he joked. I smiled and held it up to show him that I did.

“When does Ileana get back?” I asked.

“Sunday. Why, you want to get together again before?” I shook my head ‘no’ but smiled despite myself.

“I’ll talk to you later.” I stretched up to give him a kiss. Then I turned and walked out to my car. I was a terrible person, and right now I just didn’t care.