Page 14 of Doc Defence

“What do you think, silly!” Her eyes danced with glee around the table, where most of his teammates were engaged in various levels of, to word it delicately, public displays of affection.

Star licked her lips seductively and pulled him further towards her. Frost’s gaze dropped to her lips, and he frowned. They looked… weird. Had they always looked weird? They were as full and pouty as usual. They were perfect lips. But now he stared at them, they didn’t seem quite right on her face.

He was about to ask if she had lip filler when those lips, slick with lip gloss—which he loathed—crashed into his. He kissed her back without thinking, like he had done a million times before.

When they first started dating, he lived for these kisses, had been addicted to them, addicted to her. But now it felt so clinical, and he tried to think of when it had all changed.

He had loved the chase with her and enjoyed the games she played to keep his attention, but now they were exhausting. She had him. She had followed him to Australia so they could stay together, and she still played games. And as her perfect pout moved over his lips, he knew he didn’t want to play games any more or be tested to prove his loyalty.

He also didn’t want to be with a woman so much younger than him, who was always looking for the hottest and latest club to go to. He was tired. He had lived his life at a million kilometres an hour since he had been drafted to the NHL. Now he was retiring from playing, he wanted a different life, a happy life.

Even though he was kissing Star, his eyes drifted over to the red-headed doctor. Frost frowned when a tall man walked up behind Hel. Who was that? What did he want?

Giving Star one last kiss, he pulled away.

“I need to go to the washroom.” He leaned in to give her another kiss on her lips, to mollify the sulk which would surely follow for him breaking off their ‘public display of affection’.

He shuddered as he thought the words. Despite his job, he was a private man, and he disliked his personal life being fodder for everyone else around him. He hated it when Star tried to post candid shots of him on her social media, and a few times he had forced her to take down photos of him.

The worst had been when she had sneakily done a getting ready with a hockey player story. Which had pictures of him having a workout in his home gym, pictures of him in the shower—with smiley faces covering his, um, manly areas—him in a towel, him getting dressed and then eating breakfast.

He had been furious, and maybe that was when the rose-tinted glasses began to fall away from his eyes, and he started to notice how problematic some of her behaviour was.

Frost walked towards the washroom and glanced around to see what the tall man who had approached Hel was doing. His shoulder sagged a little in relief when he saw the man holding hands with a brunette woman who appeared to be friends with Hel and Sadie.

When he returned to the table, Star was staring wide-eyed across at Hel and her friends. He tried to get Star’s attention, but she was fixated on something. Finally, after what felt like five minutes of silence, he leaned across, speaking quietly into her ear.

“Are you okay?”

Star nodded her head but didn’t look over at him.

Well, that was strange. “What are you looking at?”

“What town does Taylor Anderson’s fiancée live in?” Star snatched her phone off the table.

“I have no idea. I don’t tend to keep up with where Hollywood actor’s fiancée’s live. Didn’t you tell me she lived in Australia?” Frost shrugged and picked up his drink, taking a sip.

His eyes followed where his girlfriend was staring, and his eyebrows drew together. The man with the bushy beard did, maybe, kind of resemble Taylor Anderson.

Star thrust her phone triumphantly in front of Frost’s face, so close he had a hard time focusing on the picture.

“See. That’s her,” she hissed.

However, he had no idea why she kept her voice quiet as she literally pointed across the table at the brunette woman who was holding hands with the man who may or may not be Taylor Anderson.

“Okay.” He agreed, not understanding her excitement.

When he played in the NHL, he spent all his time with men who were as famous as Taylor Anderson. Actually, in the right circles, he would prove more exciting to people than an actor would.

“The Star-lifers will be so excited.” She clutched her phone and got to her feet, but she didn’t make it fully upright before Frost put a steadying hand on her arm.

“Star. Sit down,” he said firmly.

“I’m just—“ She tried to speak, but Frost cut her off.

“Patricia. Sit down.” He only used her actual name when he was being very serious with her. It was how he got across to her that she was going too far.

“I’ll take one photo. I won’t say where he is. But I need a selfie with him. It’ll get me so many views.” She tried to tug out of his grip, but he didn’t let go of her arm.

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