Page 79 of An Irresistible Force (Vancouver Vice)

“And speaking of that night, how is Chris?”

“He’s fine. He’s back working with the Millionaires now so I don’t see him as much.” As in, at all.

“I can’t believe you’re going out with him now. It’s like your dream come true. Remember we used to have sleepovers and talk about guys all night? He was always your dream man.”

“I’m not going out with him,” I said firmly.

Cynthia stopped and stared at me. “But the two of you at the gala were so tight. I could tell he was really into you, and I know how you feel.”

I shook my head. “You don’t know how I feel. You know how I felt in high school.”

“Listen to yourself, you’re completely in denial. Look me in the eye and say, ‘I have no feelings for Chris Lucazek.”

“It’s pronouncedluke-zack,” I corrected her automatically. But I ignored the rest of her comment.

She jumped on that omission. “See! You can’t do it. And he’s so hunky. I can’t imagine what it’s like to sleep with him.”

I began to blush. It was something I knew all too well, and I had thought about every single night since it happened.

“You’ve done it already! How was he?”

“I can neither confirm or deny your speculation,” I said primly.

“Let me understand this. You work together and go to hockey games and stuff like that. You went to the gala and seemed to be having a wonderful time. And you’ve been having sex. But you’re not going out with him. I don’t believe it.”

We were at the café now. As Cynthia reached for the door her eyes widened. “Oh no! I get it now. He won’t commit, right? What a total jerk. I knew that hockey players were trouble. That’s exactly what I said to JoJo—”

“No,” I interrupted her. “It’s my decision. I just think that it won’t work out in the long term, so why bother trying?”

Cynthia nodded. “I can see that, of course. No point in going out if it’s going nowhere.”

It wasn’t until after we’d gotten our tea—and cookies—that she brought up the subject again. Cynthia had a very one-track mind.

“Why won’t it work out?”

I hesitated. Everything that Uncle Thomas said had been reverberating in my head. While I knew that he was being cruel and vindictive, I also felt that there was truth in what he said.

“Look at the kind of women he usually goes out with. They’re all glamorous and gorgeous.” Like Julie Quimby, that woman at the auction. She was sex on a stick.

She sat back in her chair and gave me the distrustful Delia look. “So you think you’re not good enough for a hockey player?”

I lifted my shoulders. “Well, a superstar like him.”

Cynthia shook her head. “I’m going to have to call you on that. You have always had the most confidence of anyone I know. You had the poise to question our teachers, politely of course, when we were only in grade four. Why would you suddenly think you’re not good enough for someone?”

I frowned. She was right. It wasn’t a matter of self-assurance but actually trust. “I’m just not sure why he’s interested in me. Is it for me or something else?”

“Well, we know it’s not money. What else could it be?”

I didn’t really believe that Chris would deliberately go after me for the sake of getting the deal done. But it might be a subconscious factor. It was hard to trust a man—especially one who seemed to be too good to be true. “It could be any one of a million things.”

“I feel like this is exactly the same conversation we had a couple of months ago—except reversed. You were saying that my baby sister should trust a hockey player who had a D.U.I. and put her in the hospital. But you won’t trust a hockey player who’s rich, successful and does tons of charity work. Does that make any sense at all?”

“No.” I made a face at her. “But it’s not easy for me to trust anyone.”

“That’s not true. You trust me, your family, all your girlfriends, the people you work with. It’s only guys who want to go out with you who you don’t trust.”

I made an even more horrible face.

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