Free Thawing Ava by Selena Illyria Page B

up, stretched, and carried her things to the kitchen. She rinsed the plate off and started work on hot cocoa—heating up the cream, using his gourmet cocoa powder, and adding a bit of cinnamon sugar.
    He climbed up on a stool at the counter area. “Okay, what about whipped cream?”
    She shook her head. “Too much sugar will keep you up. Besides, there isn’t any left. You didn’t have much to begin with. I like whipped cream with my coffee, and I forgot to get some. ”
    “You gonna go grocery shopping during practice? It’d be okay, and I have too much to do tomorrow; the interview and a visit to the middle school team and then I want to come back and watch some old footage to study my game.” He ticked off his to-do list with his fingers.
    She’d gone over his schedule with Davis and Alexi to figure out which games she could attend and which ones she’d have to stay home. The team couldn’t spare the expense of flying her out since she was a temporary employee. As much as management wanted to keep Brice in line, the other owners didn’t want to spend money they could be using for next season’s player cap or salary negotiations.
    “If Davis can cover for me, yes, I’ll go shopping. Write down anything you want me to get, and I’ll make a quick trip.” She poured the heated milk into mugs already containing a scoop or two of chocolate mixture, stirred, and handed one to him. “Thanks for making dinner. I really appreciate it.”
    He shrugged. “Just taking care of my woman.” Brice downed his beverage and handed his cup to her. “Thanks, honey.” He yawned and headed to his bed.
    She smiled; a glow filled her. Again, he’d been sweet and a bit flirty but didn’t push things. Ava wondered if he’d forgotten all about seduction and decided to just go slow with her. Part of her hoped he would give her space to accept his stance; the sex-starved-nymph part wanted the sexually aggressive, say-what-he-means-and-wants man from day one. She appreciated that he was up front with what was on his mind. He was worlds better than past boyfriends and especially in comparison to Perry. That much was clear. She just wanted a little time to get used to all this attention.

Chapter Six
    Brice watched the delivery guys settle the furniture down. The building interior designer had already taken away his old stuff. Ava was too busy to direct the traffic; she was putting things away from her run to the grocery store. Every so often he’d glance over at her in the kitchen and admire her ass or breasts. He wasn’t the only one who appreciated the curves, but he decided to ignore the delivery guys in favor of getting them out of there ASAP. He had to get to practice as soon as this was done, and he only had ten more minutes before they had to go. After practice it was an interview and then a talk with the peewee league.
    His cell phone rang, and he answered it. “Douglas.”
    “Brice, it’s Alexi. I’d like to work on a few new plays? Just you and me, so Ava doesn’t need to come with you.”
    Brice let the words hang between them, torn between leaving this cozy scene of domesticity and getting in some extra rink time. He looked over at Ava; she had the ingredients out to make a beef broth. He smiled. She was taking such good care of him and putting up with so much, from driving him around furniture shopping and his nightly masturbation sessions. She deserved a break, and he wanted to show Alexi that he was there when the team called.
    “Sure. Let me tell Ava, and I should be there in ten minutes, fifteen with traffic.”
    “Okay.” Alexi hung up with no good-bye.
    Rather than call over, he strode into the kitchen and stopped next to her. For a moment he watched her chopping a bunch of onions. Her movements were quick and clean. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to be that fast and not end up in the ER.
    “What’s going on?” She paused to brush back a strand of hair and wipe away sweat before she put down her