Page 60 of Body Check

“No. Just a comment.”

“Okay.” Gavin dug through the tangle of clothes on the floor before he found his briefs and tugged them on.

“Ooh, gray,” Dakota said. “You were feeling wild tonight.”

Gavin tossed a handful of clothes at Dakota’s face in answer.

Dakota laughed, catching them. He let the shirt slip from his fingers to puddle on the rug again, but held up the tie, eyeing it speculatively for a moment before he looped it around Gavin’s neck.

Gavin glanced down to see Dakota had his fist wrapped around it. “Subtle,” he said with a lift of his eyebrows.

“What?” Dakota shot him an innocent look. “I have no idea what you mean.”

Gavin fought back a smile, but left the tie on. “C’mon, I’ll give you the grand tour.”

When they’d made their way through the entire apartment, ending in the living area, Dakota shook his head. “So … this is how the other half lives, huh?”

“It’s how I live,” Gavin said with a shrug.

“Is this a place you and your ex-husband bought or did you move here after the divorce?”

Gavin flinched. “Rory and I picked it out together. Does that bother you?”

Dakota shot him a confused glance. “No. Why would it?”

Shrugging, Gavin walked toward the kitchen. “No idea. Why’d you ask?”

“Trying to get a picture of who you are.”

“I’m pretty straightforward,” Gavin admitted. Except for, well, a lot of murky shit in his past he never talked about. He rubbed his face.Ugh.

“Gay, workaholic general manager and president of hockey operations for an NHL team, right?”

“More or less.” He cleared his throat. “Want something to drink?”

“Is there anything besides whiskey?”

Gavin shot him alookas he pulled open the refrigerator door. “Filtered plain water, energy drinks, and three flavors of seltzer water. Oh, and there’s fruit salad, if you want it. The nicechopped fresh fruit kind. Pineapple and strawberries and all that.”

“I thought you didn’t eat fruit,” Dakota said, leaning against the counter, surprise written all over his face and voice.

“I don’t each much. Butyoudo. And I wasn’t sure if you got snacky after sex. Oh, and there’s cheese. You eat that too, right?”

“You bought me fruit salad,” Dakota said, his voice sounding funny.

“I placed a grocery order earlier today and added it, yes.”

“But it’ll go bad if I don’t want it tonight.”

Gavin shrugged, irritation creeping over him. “So come over again in the next couple of days or take it home with you when you leave tonight. It wasn’t meant to be a bigthing. I was trying to be polite.”

“It was thoughtful,” Dakota said softly. “You just surprised me.”

“What kind of assholes have you been involved with?” Gavin asked.

“Your garden-variety ones, I guess.” Dakota’s voice was still soft but there was something hurt lingering beneath that made Gavin wish he could make it go away.

He didn’t think telling Dakota that would go over well though. He liked the guy, but he was starting to realize he had a lot of weird little touchy spots.

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