Author: Jaci Burton

“Maybe you could start by singing in front of your family.”

Her eyes widened. “No. I can’t.”

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t think you’re giving your family enough credit. They seem really supportive.”

“Yeah. They’re incredibly supportive. That’s the problem.”

He frowned. “I don’t get it.”

She rubbed her temple. “I know you don’t.”

“Then explain it to me. Your parents seem to love all their kids. I don’t think it would matter what they did. Either way, you have to start somewhere. How else will you achieve your dreams? What do you want to do?”

“I’ve told you before. I’m already doing—”

He put his fingers to her lips. “No, really. What are your dreams? Be straight with me. What would you really love to do with your life?”

Jenna was about to brush Ty off with another lame excuse, but they’d really gotten into a deep and heavy conversation tonight, and he’d opened up to her about some of his own fears. It was only right to be as open and honest as he’d been.

“Honestly, one of the things I’ve often thought about is opening a second Riley’s, only this one for singing. Like the karaoke club we went to that night. But this one would be different. Instead of an occasional open mic night like they had, it would always be open mic night. And we’d bring in live bands instead of using a karaoke machine. Just a music bar. With no television screens.”

He laughed. “Obviously you’ve given this a lot of thought.”

She shrugged. “Now and then.”

“I think that’s a great idea. You’d have Riley’s Sports Bar and Riley’s Music Bar.”

“Yeah. It’s a pipe dream, though.”

“Why?”

“Who would run it? I run the sports bar. My mom and dad are mostly retired now. They hardly ever show up at Riley’s, and they never work the bar anymore. I run it single-handedly. I’m responsible for the bar.”

“Does it have to be a family member running the sports bar? You have a couple assistant managers, don’t you?”

“It’s kind of a family tradition that the bar is owned and operated by family, so yes. That’s always the way it’s been. And I do have assistant managers, but they’re not family. I would never think to ask Mom and Dad to turn the operation over to them. They’re not family members.”

“I think you’re too wrapped up in this whole family thing. The main focus is on the bar and how it’s run. If you have people who run it efficiently, who cares if their last name is Riley or not? Your assistants run the bar on your nights off.”

She lifted her chin. “That’s different. It’s not on a permanent basis and our regulars know that a Riley manages the bar. That’s what they expect. That’s what my parents expect. What my dad expects. After his heart attack last year, I don’t want him to think he needs to come back to work just so I can open another bar.”

Ah. There it was. “So again, your dreams are on hold.”

“Not on hold. I have my path and I’m living it.”

“You put way too much pressure on yourself to be what everyone else needs you to be, instead of what you want to be. Why can’t you have what you want?”

“Because I can’t, and that’s just the way it is.”

It sounded more to him like she was afraid to ask for what she wanted, afraid to take that step forward to grab her dream.

And there wasn’t much Tyler could do to push her. Jenna was going to have to take those steps herself.

DAMN TYLER FOR PUTTING THE IDEA OF A SECOND BAR in her head. It was all she could think about now.

A crazy idea, one that would never, ever happen but now that it had been dredged up from the dark recesses of her dreams and fantasies folder, she couldn’t shove it back down again.

She’d started drawing up plans for a new bar a week ago. Ty was out on a road trip again, so when she wasn’t working, she had idle time on her hands. Her mind wouldn’t let the idea go.

Talking to him, really opening up to him about her childhood and what had happened, and singing for him was doing strange things to her. She’d never told anyone about her childhood. She’d never told anyone about Europe.

Why had she used Tyler as her personal confessional? Because he knew all the right questions to ask, or because he’d made it so easy to tell him? She had no idea. Admittedly, it was kind of nice. But she knew better than to stake any kind of permanence on their relationship. It was nice for right now.

Funny how things had changed so quickly now that she was sort of kind of seeing Tyler in a not really dating, but no longer just sleeping together kind of way.

When he was on the road, he texted and called her every day. She got used to hearing from him and missed him when he traveled. He told her on the phone that the next time the Ice played in Chicago she was going to have to go with him so she could meet his parents.

She told him she was horrified that their relationship had progressed to “meet the parents,” and no way in hell. He laughed at her and told her he’d kidnap her in the dead of night and throw her on a plane, but she was going to Chicago with him.

Truthfully, she was curious about his family and she was already anticipating his next game with Chicago to see if he was serious about that or not.

Today she was meeting Tara and Liz for lunch, something they tried to do at least once a week. They were eating at a midtown restaurant since Liz had a client meeting in a couple hours and Tara had an event that night she had to rush off to prepare for after lunch. Jenna had a few hours before she had to be at the bar, so this was going to be a relaxing lunch for her.

“Now that you’re married, it’s a wonder Mick lets you out of his sight,” Liz said to Tara after they ordered.

“I won’t see him at all when camp starts up in the summer. I’ll be a widow like you are now,” Tara said.

Liz nodded. “I know. This is miserable. The week down in Florida was amazing, though.”

“You are nice and tan,” Jenna said. “I’m jealous.”

“As tan as someone with my fair skin can get after I lather up with a fifty-plus sunscreen.”

“And how is my brother doing?”

Liz sighed. “Your brother is spectacular.”

Tara laughed.

“Gag. TMI.” Jenna made a face. “Not the information I was looking for. I meant at spring training.”

“Oh, his stats are great. In and out of the bedroom.”

Tara snorted.

“Is that all you think about?” Jenna asked.

“When you aren’t getting it regularly, yes. It’s all I can think about. If I wasn’t so damn busy with my own job I’d be parked at the beach house in Florida, naked and spread-eagled, ready for him after every game.”

Jenna laid her head in her hands. “I give up. I should stop coming to lunch.”

“Speaking of people getting it regularly, how’s it going with Ty?”

Her head shot up and she caught sight of the surprised look on Tara’s face, followed by the smile.

“Oh, you’re still seeing Ty? Details, please.”

“Again,” Liz said to her. “Not a big secret, right?”

“I guess not now that you’ve spilled, you blabbermouth.”

Liz shrugged but didn’t look at all apologetic, so Jenna turned to Tara. “Yes, I’m still seeing Ty.”

“And?” Tara asked.

She sighed. “It’s good. Nice. We’re having fun. That’s all.”

Tara took a sip of water. “Hmmmm.”

Liz waved her fork at Tara. “That’s exactly what I said. But let me tell you, the sparks that ignited between the two of them after the last hockey game I took her to nearly set me on fire. So I think there’s a lot more than ‘nice’ going on between the two of you.”

She swallowed a bite of food and laid down her fork. “He asked me to go to Chicago with him to meet his parents.”

“He did? Oh, my, that is big.” Tara looked to Liz, then back at Jenna. “That sounds serious.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. We’re not serious. It really is just a fling.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought it was between Gavin and me,” Liz said.

“I thought the same thing about Mick and me,” Tara said, flashing her wedding ring. “And look what happened.”

Jenna laughed. “We are not getting married. We aren’t in love. It’s just sex.”

“Honey,” Liz said. “If a guy is casually fucking you, he doesn’t bring you home to meet his parents. He’s serious about you.”

“You think so?”

“Definitely,” Tara said. “The question is, are you serious about him?”

“I don’t know. No, I’m not. He’s not my type.”

Liz snorted. “Yeah, there are so many things wrong with him.”

“So true.” Tara lifted her fingers and started counting on them. “He’s ugly. Poor. Bad job. Zero personality.”

“Horrible hair. And that body…ugh,” Liz continued. “That smile is wretched. No sense of humor. He’s so unfriendly that kids and dogs run screaming…”

“Oh, shut up, both of you. You know what I mean. He’s not the kind of guy I would have chosen for myself.”

Tara let out a soft laugh. “They rarely are. But they sneak up on you and surprise the hell out of you, and suddenly, you’re head over heels in love and there’s a not a damn thing you can do about it.”

Was she falling in love with Ty?

God, she hoped not. This was not in her plan at all.

NINETEEN

JENNA WAS ON A DAMN AIRPLANE HEADED TO CHICAGO.

How the hell had that happened?

She blamed Liz and Tara for this. Somehow, over lunch that day, they had convinced her she might be falling in love with Ty. Or if not love, then something that at least required she stay checked in to this relationship for a while longer. So when Ty actually made good on the offer to go to Chicago and meet his parents, she hadn’t run screaming in the other direction.

Ty had arranged everything, including a first-class ticket on the flight. She decided she was going to look on this as a mini-vacation away from her responsibilities at the bar, and nothing more.

The flight landed and she was met at baggage claim by a gentleman holding a placard with her name on it. He escorted her by private car to one hell of a luxury hotel. She had club seats for the game tonight, where she’d be seated with some of the Ice players’ wives and girlfriends who had also traveled up for the game.

She had just enough time to shower and dress for the game when it was time to meet the women downstairs to take the car over to the event center where the Ice would be playing Chicago tonight.

Admittedly, she was excited. She’d talked up Crista and Leslie on the plane, so she sat next to them when they got to the center. Leslie was married to Jeff Lincoln, the other center on the Ice, and Crista was engaged to Ruddy Meyers, one of their wings.

Leslie was a pistol, as full of fire as Jeff was cool and reserved. She was tall, statuesque, and built with an amazing body, with raven hair that fell straight down her back. She looked like a Victoria’s Secret underwear model when in fact she was a middle school math and science teacher. Jenna could well imagine the pubescent boys fantasizing about Mrs. Lincoln.

Crista was a beautiful blue-eyed blonde. Jenna found out Crista was a librarian, and so smart Jenna felt inadequate. But Crista’s knowledge level was so damned amazing, Jenna couldn’t help but ask her a million questions since she’d all but grown up in libraries as a kid, so they shared their love of books and had talked nonstop on the plane.