Page 7 of The Defenseman

4

Eric

Eric tried to take off as quickly as he could. After the game's hit, the media liked to make him recount what was going through his head and whether he thought the penalty he took was worth it. Since the Stars didn't score, he always said yes. Of course, the penalty was worth it. Preventing someone from scoring was necessary to ensure that his team had a better chance of winning. Just because it was the beginning of the season and there were lots of games to win and lots of points to accumulate, Eric always made sure he left it all out on the ice. He never knew when his last game would be, and he never knew who the general manager was looking at to potentially trade and make the team even better.

When he stepped into the nearly empty parking lot, he glanced up at the dark sky. There was a heavy charcoal color to the clouds—the sky wasn't clear—but there wasn't any rain just yet. He knew Alexa was probably at his place, waiting in her car, no doubt reading on her Kindle app. He smiled at the thought and shook his head. He had no idea why this girl cared about being sexy or seducing men. He was sure it had to do with the fact that her boyfriend dumped her, but she didn't really explain and Eric wasn't going to ask.

He got home ten minutes later, and sure enough, she was sitting in the dark, her eyes intent on her phone. When she saw him pull into the driveway, she clicked off her phone. Eric parked the car in the garage and waited for Alexa to come inside before he closed it. She seemed nervous—she kept curling and uncurling her fingers into fists—but she was here and she had yet to run away.

Eric led her through the garage down a hallway and back into the living room.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" he asked. "Coffee, maybe? Tea?" He thought he remembered Dan saying something about her liking tea, but he couldn't be sure.

"Um." Alexa bit her bottom lip and Eric narrowed her eyes at the simple gesture. He felt his body stiffen at the sight of it, which caused him to frown. Alexa wasn't trying to get a response out of him, and he most definitely had no intention of reacting to her. At least, not yet. And then she did something like that, something she wasn't aware of doing in the first place, and he couldn't help himself. "Sure. Tea would be great. Thanks."

Eric was glad for the chance to disappear into the kitchen and get his head on straight. He went to his cabinet and pulled out a box of green tea he kept around because it was his mother's tea of choice, and placed it in a glass before filling that glass up with water and sticking it in the microwave. If his mother was here to see him make tea like this, she would have lectured him profusely about the proper way to make tea—especially since he was making it for someone. However, considering he wasn't thinking straight at all and he wanted to get her the tea as quickly as possible, he didn't mind so much making it this way.

"I didn't thank you for the night before," Alexa said.

Her presence startled him, causing Eric to jump. Things never got to him, even if he wasn't expecting them. She had a way about her—quiet, stealthy. She was the sort who would sneak up on you and create havoc, even if it was unintentional.

She was dangerous.

"For letting me in," Alexa clarified. "I'm sorry I came across like such a mess. I don't even know what I was doing or saying. I can drop your clothes back off to you tomorrow, by the way."

"It's fine," Eric said, waving away her concern. "Keep them."

Alexa opened her mouth as though she was going to argue before pressing her lips together to stop herself. She took the offered cup of tea and brought it to her face, letting the steam sink into her pores. She took a deep breath before bringing it to her lips.

Eric watched her, fascinated by how she drank her tea. Something as simple as that could somehow be turned into a sensual gesture. It amazed him.

Alexa looked up at Eric and moved toward the dining table. She sunk into the seat, the mug between her hands and looked up with a shy gaze, like she knew what she had to say but wasn't sure exactly how to put it into words.

"So," she said.

"So," he repeated. He took a seat across from her and crossed his arms over his chest. He leaned back in the chair, looking at her with a level gaze, and waited. He wasn't sure if she expected him to say something first or if she needed to collect her thoughts. "I guess we should probably start with the first lesson in this little education you want to receive."

Her cheeks turned red at his even mentioning it, and Eric wondered how they were going to get through an entire lesson if she couldn't sit through a simple conversation.

"The first thing you should probably know is that experience isn't everything," he said. "In fact, a lot of women with experience sometimes try too hard and that can be a turnoff."

Alexa scoffed, causing Eric to shoot his brows into the sky.

"What, you don't believe me?" he asked.

"It's not that," Alexa said quickly, folding her hands in her lap and turning her head so her long, blonde hair fell into her face. "It's just…I guess it's just hard for me to believe. Would you ever have sex with a virgin?"

"Well…" Eric let his voice trail off. He hadn't actually thought about having sex with a virgin, if he was being honest.

"See?" Alexa said. "Maybe coming on too strong is a turnoff, but so is not knowing what the hell you're doing."

Eric felt his lips tug up into an amused grin. He reached for Alexa's hands and pulled them from her lap so he could hold them himself. Her hands were cooler than most, but soft, and his thumbs began tracing patterns on the back of them. He had no idea why he was doing this, but it caused Alexa to pick her head up, to look at him with such surprise, that he couldn't help but continue the gesture, even if it wasn't something he typically did.

"You're overthinking it," Eric told her, his voice soft. "It's not that I wouldn't have sex with a virgin. I would just have to make her understand that just because I would be her first, there's a good chance I wouldn't be her last. A lot of the time, women are virgins because they're saving themselves for marriage. They have this romantic idea about giving something to their husband they've never shared with anyone before. And while that is romantic, a lot of those women make exceptions regarding premarital sex if they believe their partner will eventually marry them. Does that make sense?"

"I think you're making a lot of assumptions about virgins," Alexa said, looking down at her hands in his. "Maybe there are some virgins who are saving themselves for marriage, but what I know, the reason I am a virgin, is because I have high expectations and I want to make sure I'm with the right guy before I do something like that."

"Weren't you with your boyfriend for a year?" Eric asked.