Aiden was smiling when he walked into the locker room almost a week later. He’d easily convinced more than twelve of his teammates to try Lily’s service, which meant he didn’t need to sit in the strip club and watch men manhandle her night after night. And, more importantly, he didn’t have to see her. Didn’t have to be tempted by her.
His smile slipped a bit when he thought about how she’d starred in his fantasies every time he’d jerked off in the shower that week, but he shoved the thought aside. It didn’t matter. He wasn’t being tempted by the curse right now, and that was all that mattered.
“Hey, man. Thanks for hooking me up with Lily,” Jason Denali said, slapping Aiden on the back, making him freeze.
“What did you say?” he asked, spinning to glare at Jason, who raised his hands in the air in surrender.
“Whoa,” Jason said, backing away. “The food, man. I meant the food.”
Gage chimed in with a moan of pure appreciation. “Did she make you guys the pecan crusted chicken this week? God, that was heaven.”
Several of the other players nodded and grinned, all agreeing the pecan chicken was a favorite before they began shouting out other meals she’d made them that apparently rocked their worlds. They talked about her as though she came to their houses and cooked for them. And suddenly, he had images of her in his kitchen doing just that for him. Naked.
Why was she naked in his fantasy?
He shook his head. Of course she was naked. Half the time when he pictured her, she wasn’t wearing a thing. Well, maybe those red heels she’d worn at the Candy Shoppe Lounge.
Rafe was the first to notice Aiden wasn’t joining in on the conversation about Lily’s cooking.
“What’s wrong? You don’t like her food?”
Aiden shrugged and turned back to his locker, hanging his shirt up and grabbing his warm-up jersey.
“I haven’t tasted any of her food.”
He heard the laughter of the guys around him as they processed what he said, but it was Rafe who grilled him.
“Why didn’t you hire her? You got all of us to hire her.”
Aiden shrugged another shoulder but didn’t say anything. What could he say? I couldn’t stand the temptation of having her around? I didn’t want to risk getting caught in the curse so I’m avoiding the one woman I’ve met lately who draws me in like nobody’s business? He couldn’t tell any of them that.
He heard the guys slowly go back to getting into their warm-up uniforms, but Rafe stuck close to him. When the rest of the guys started to file out onto the field, Rafe leaned in.
“You like her. You had all of us hire her to help her out, but you didn’t hire her yourself. Only reason to do that would be to avoid her. And, the only reason to avoid her is because you like her.”
Aiden turned and leveled a look at Rafe.
“You’re making more out of this than it is. It’s not a big deal, Rafe. I just don’t think I need someone to cook for me.”
Rafe grinned.
“I dare ya.”
“What? Dare me to what?” Aiden asked, knowing he wasn’t going to like this answer. Rafe knew he wouldn’t back down from a dare.
“Hire her. Hire her to cook for you,” Rafe said, his grin wider than ever.
Aiden ground his teeth together and turned to grab his mitt from his locker.
“Sure,” he said, offering up yet another damned shrug to try to convince Rafe to back off. “I’ll hire her.”
But, as he walked from the locker room, Rafe’s laughter followed him, and he knew he’d just screwed himself. Screwed himself good.