Breaking Through The Ice Ch. 05

Mina didn't get a chance to see Drew again for several days. He called her the day after their aborted make-out session at her apartment and they talked for over an hour. He made her laugh like no one else and she'd almost been sad to hang up but she'd been called in to work again that night.

"I leave tomorrow," Drew said before they hung up.

"I know." Mina smiled at his dejected tone. For someone who loved his job, he sounded disappointed to be heading out of Washington to do it. "We'll see each other soon."

Drew laughed and the deep rumble of it warmed Mina all the way down to her toes. She squeezed her eyes shut and had to turn away from the mirror in her room. She couldn't face herself when her infatuation for Drew got the better of her.

"I'll be back on Friday night."

Mina scoffed. "Oh yeah? How late?"

"Probably after one in the morning."

"Hmm, so technically you'd be home very early Saturday morning then?"

"I guess. What's your point? You won't be waiting up for my call?"

Mina laughed. "Actually, I probably will be up. I'll have the dinner shift at the club and Friday nights always go pretty late."

"Awesome. Then I'll come over when I'm back."

"Hilary will be home."

"Oh, right." He paused and then cursed under his breath. "And Carter will be home."

Mina stifled a laugh at his annoyed tone. "Why don't we go to the museum on Saturday?"

"Which museum?"

The Museum of I Want You Bad. Mina grinned and shook her head at her thoughts. "I don't care. I just want to spend time with you."

"I want that too." He blew out a noisy breath. "All right. We'll figure something out. I should let you finish getting ready."

"All right. Have a safe flight."

"I'll call you when I land."

"OK. Bye."

"Bye."

Mina was smiling as she hung up the phone and got ready for her shift at the country club. She had hoped to have more time to acclimate before being thrown to the wolves, so to speak. She was happy to have something other than her confusion over Drew to occupy her mind.

"Oh shoot." She met her own gaze in the mirror and frowned. She'd forgotten about the birthday dinner for her dad. She still had a couple weeks but she always liked to have something planned ahead of time.

"Everything all right?" Hilary poked her head in the doorway.

"Yeah. I was just thinking about my dad's birthday." Mina faced her roommate. "I still don't have a plan for his dinner and I don't know what to get him."

"I thought you just cooked him his favorite dinner every year?"

Mina laughed. "Yeah. I cook a variation of mac and cheese every year. I always try to sneak something more healthy past him too."

Hilary grinned. "Well, grind up some cucumber and throw it into the cheese sauce. He probably wouldn't even notice."

Mina wrinkled her nose at the thought and moved out of the bathroom. Hilary followed her into her bedroom and fiddled with her belongings on top of her dresser.

"So how are things going with you and Drew?" Hilary asked.

Mina looked over and fought the blush, to no avail. "Fine. We're just hanging out."

Hilary rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh please. Mark and I saw the way you two looked at each other last night. That's not just hanging out."

Mina looked away, shaking her head. She felt foolish denying it since she and Drew had talked it over last night. She told herself it was just too new and she wasn't ready to hash it out with Hilary yet. "We're not...it's not like that."

"Mina, look at me."

Mina forced her eyes up to her friend's face. Hilary was smiling and didn't look like she was judging Mina at all.

"It's OK if you like Drew, you know. It's OK if you spend time with him and kiss him and even sleep with him."

"Hilary!"

"I mean it. You were hurt, Mina. That's not a reason to give up all hope of a happy ending."

"I haven't." Mina scowled and reached for a pair of her work pants. "I just...I don't think I should be rushing into dating someone else."

"Why not?"

Mina sighed and faced Hilary as she pulled the pants on. She outlined the same reasons she'd given Drew the night before and Hilary was frowning at her when she was done.

"Don't take this wrong way, because you know I love you, but that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"Excuse me?" Mina straightened to her full height and stared at her friend.

"It's dumb. You think you like Drew because you're on the rebound? And that it won't work because Lawrence cheated on you?" Hilary scoffed and flicked her blond hair over her shoulder. "Believe me, no matter how much it hurt, only you will keep yourself from being fully invested in a new relationship."

Mina opened her mouth, ready to argue the point when she remembered Hilary's past heartaches. Her friend was right and Mina knew that, but that didn't erase all her doubts and past insecurities. It wasn't just the fiasco with Lawrence. Mina had always had self-esteem problems and being cheated on had just made her feel all over again that she wasn't a catch.

"I have to finish getting ready for work," she mumbled and turned away from Hilary.

"I'll be home later if you want to talk," Hilary replied and walked out of the room.

Mina let her breath out when she heard her roommate's retreating steps. She finished changing her clothes and swept her hair into a tight knot at the back of her head.

All through the rest of the night, her mind was torn in two directions. She knew she should be giving all her concentration to her work but she couldn't stop picturing Drew's face as they'd talked last night. Then her mind would turn to the way he'd looked at her and touched her.

Focus! she ordered herself and moved around the other employees in the kitchen. She finished up the entree before her and moved on to the next task.

Somehow, she managed to get through the rest of the dinner shift and before she knew it, she was wiping down her work surface. Tendrils of hair framed her face and she knew she was flushed from the heat of the grills and ovens.

Cleaning her work space took minimal concentration so she let her thoughts turn to Drew. She figured he must be done with his game now and might even be relaxing in his hotel room. She smiled and she glanced at the clock on the wall, wondering if he'd still be up when she got home. She wanted to call and tell him all about the marinara sauce that had just about painted her from head to toe.

"Good job tonight, Mina," a voice broke into her thoughts.

Mina turned to see the general manager of the clubhouse walking towards her. She smiled as the man stopped before her and reached out to shake her hand. "Thanks, Mick."

"I'm glad you've been fitting in so well here." Mick glanced around at the few kitchen employees helping Mina clean up. "I'm sorry you've been thrown right into the thick of things the last couple days. I know we'd discussed you picking up the rotation this Thursday."

"It's all right." Mina shrugged and continued to wipe her surface down. "I like working and I was glad to get a jump on things here. Even if I am just going to crash the second I get home."

Mick laughed and clapped her on the shoulder. "Good for you. I promise, I won't call you in tomorrow. Jerry says he'll be back to a hundred percent so you're off the hook."

"Great. So back to the plan then? I'll come in for the lunch hour on Thursday?"

Mick nodded. "Sounds good. I'll see you then."

"Thanks. Have a good night."

"You too."

Left to her task, Mina finished up quickly and headed home. Hilary was asleep when she walked into the dark apartment and Mina crept around as quietly as she could. She located the phone and washed up before going to her room.

Once alone in bed, Mina bit her lip and rubbed her thumb over the numbers on the phone. She wondered if she should try calling or if she'd just be waking Drew up. After another minute of stewing, she called him.

If he's sleeping, he'll have his phone off, she told herself.

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's Mina." She blushed even though he couldn't see her.

"Hey! What's up? Are you all right? You don't usually call so late."

Mina giggled at his concerned tone. "I know. I just got home and wanted to see how your game was. I missed it tonight. It was a crazy dinner!"

"Oh, well, we won," Drew replied. "I didn't score but the win still feels good."

"Oh gawd, are you always this subdued when you win so close to the playoffs?"

"How do you even know about our schedule? Aren't you a self-professed hockey snob?"

Mina gasped in mock indignation. "I never said I was a hockey snob! I just didn't watch it growing up. And I've learned enough just from living with Hilary and spending so much time with her and Lena."

Drew chuckled. "I bet you get pretty sick of them talking hockey."

"No, they're not so bad. Mostly they talk about whatever boneheaded play Obie or Mark tried to pull."

Drew hooted with laughter and Mina giggled with him, trying to stay quiet. "That's awesome. I'm going to bug Mark about it tomorrow."

"Oh, leave him alone, Drew."

"I'll go easy on him."

A moment of silence settled and Mina turned her cheek to the cool edge of her pillow.

"I'm glad you called, Mina."

"Are you? I was afraid I'd wake you up."

"No. Our game was done about an hour ago and I was sitting up with some of the guys for a while." He paused and Mina heard some rustling noises.

"Where are you now?" she asked.

"In my room."

"Who's your roommate?"

"I don't have one this trip."

"Oh. I thought you always did."

"Not always. Usually I room with Tolya but we all got shuffled around a bit and there were a couple extra rooms. We drew straws and I won."

"Lucky guy."

"You have no idea. Tolya snores like a broken tractor."

Mina laughed. "That reminds me of–" She cut herself off when she realized where her train of thought had taken her. Lawrence snored, that's what she'd been about to say.

"Reminds you of what?" Drew asked.

"Uh, this one roommate I had at Maryland." Mina struggled to change the subject. "So shouldn't you be getting to bed?"

"I am in bed."

That left Mina unable to speak for several seconds. She heard Drew's soft chuckle and wished she could crawl through the phone to lie in bed with him.

"Mina? Where are you?"

"I'm at home."

He laughed and warmth flooded her. "Well, obviously. I meant, where in your apartment."

"Oh." Stupid, simple Mina, she thought and wanted to smack herself. "In my room."

"In bed?"

"Yeah."

There was a pause and Drew laughed again. "You're not really good at this, you know that?"

"At what?"

"Phone sex."

"What?!"

"Phone–"

"I heard you!" Mina all but shrieked and then clamped a hand over her mouth. "I can't believe you just said that."

"What's wrong with phone sex? It's perfectly safe, I assure you."

Mina couldn't help but giggle. "That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

Mina sighed and rubbed her eyes. "We...we haven't even..." She trailed off, unsure of how to word it. She was burning with embarrassment and she was very glad that Drew wasn't in the room with her.

"I know we haven't," Drew said. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I was just...it's late, and I was thinking about you before you called. My mind just went there automatically."

"Of course it did. You're a guy."

"I'm glad you've noticed."

Mina laughed and slid beneath her bed covers. "I noticed. I just don't think we need to do that."

"What? Phone sex?"

"Stop saying it!" Mina hissed but she was struggling not to laugh.

"Phone sex. Phone sex! Phone, phone, phone, sex, sex, SEX!"

Mina gave up trying not to laugh and just muffled the sounds in her pillow. "You're impossible."

"It's probably best that you accept that now."

Mina rolled her eyes and settled back against her pillow. "I suppose you're right. Lucky for me, you're not here right now so I could just hang up if you keep teasing me."

"No, don't hang up."

Mina was surprised by his urgent tone, as if he was worried that she would end the call.

"I...I like talking to you." He sounded so adorably hesitant that Mina's insides turned to jelly. Then he spoke again. "Even if it's not about sex."

"Good night, Drew."

"No! Mina, wait, don't go!" He laughed.

She relented and told him to change the subject.

"Ah, all right. I'm in a really nice hotel."

"Are you?"

"Yeah. It's good, as far as hotels go." He paused and Mina could picture him looking around, appraising. "Comfortable but not cheap."

"You'd be the best judge, I guess. Always traveling and staying in so many different places."

"You don't travel much?"

"I haven't." Mina shrugged one shoulder. "I've always wanted to travel to Europe and especially Italy, to research."

"Oh yeah, that'd be an awesome trip."

Mina laughed. "Sure, but I'd probably come back weighing an extra thirty pounds."

"Naw. All the traveling would keep you slim."

That's assuming I'd be slim before going, Mina thought but didn't say out loud. She didn't need to let all her insecurities out around Drew.

"What about Asia? Would you ever want to go to China or Vietnam to see how they really prepare their food?" Drew asked.

"I guess. I spent more time learning about French and Italian food than Asian though."

"I'd love to see how American versions of certain things differ from the real deal."

"Really? Not a lot of people think of that."

"Oh yeah. I mean, even here, we travel to all these different cities and I love trying the independent bistros and restaurants instead of the big chains."

"Me too." Mina smiled and rolled to her side as she pulled the covers up over her shoulders. "I love discovering new unknown places. I feel like the Indiana Jones of food."

Drew laughed and Mina drank in the deep sound. She couldn't believe how much she enjoyed talking to him. The phone sex thing had thrown her off but now she could spend hours on the phone with him. She would have, and he might have as well, but both of them started yawning a few minutes later.

"I guess we should get some sleep," Mina said. "You've got another game tomorrow night, don't you?"

"Checking up on me, are you?"

"No! I just, Hilary said something..." she broke off when she heard Drew chuckling. "Jerk."

"Oh come on, I'm not teasing you about sex anymore."

"That's true."

"I could go back to that, if you want."

"Good night, Drew." Mina ignored the heat in her face and shifted to turn off the phone.

"No! Mina?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for calling. I missed you."

Mina smiled and kept on smiling even after the call ended. She slept, dreamt and woke in the morning, all with the same smile on her face. Apparently, it was never going to go away.

****

Drew had never been so fidgety on a flight before. Anatoli kept giving him sideways glances and Drew tried to laugh it off but it wasn't working. He wanted to land so he could call Mina. It had only been two days since they last spoke but he missed the sound of her voice, the cadence of her laughter and the way she comforted him.

Jeez, when did I become such a sap? He turned to look out the window.

He'd spoken to Carter every day and worried that his brother had been home each time he'd called. There'd been no tell-tale noises of a party in the background and Drew had to remind himself that Carter was trying to be responsible. It didn't make Drew stop worrying about leaving Carter alone so much and Mina was the only one who seemed to be able to alleviate his fears.

As if reading his mind, Anatoli pulled his ear buds out and looked at Drew. "You worry too much."

"What?" Drew looked over at his friend.

"Your brother, he is good."

Drew smiled. "Yeah. He's a good kid."

"Then why you worry?" Anatoli started to wind the cord of his ear buds around the iPod. "He is good but you think he is doing something wrong?"

"No. Well, not exactly. I just..." Drew shrugged and rubbed the side of his neck. "I don't like leaving him alone so much. He's very young."

"He is nineteen, no?"

"Yeah."

"Is old enough."

Drew laughed. "Old enough for what?"

Anatoli shrugged and tucked his iPod into his backpack. "Old enough. He is not kid anymore."

"That's true."

They fell silent for a moment. Then Anatoli nudged him with an elbow and when Drew looked up, the Russian was grinning.

"How is Mina?"

Drew nodded. "She's good."

"You miss her."

"I guess. We've been spending a lot of time together."

"Is good, Drew." Anatoli nodded. "I like her."

Drew raised his eyebrows and Anatoli laughed.

"Not like her like that! She is nice. I like her with you."

"She is nice." Drew glanced down at his hands that itched to dial her number. Had they really only known each other a couple of weeks? He'd already forgotten how he spent his days off before he'd met her. All this time he'd been so eager to find someone to spend time with, like all his teammates and now he had her, he was afraid of letting go.

How lame is that? He shook his head with a rueful smile.

"What?" Anatoli asked.

Drew looked up and shrugged. "Nothing. Mina is nice. She's better than nice. She's great. I don't know..."

Anatoli's eyebrows lifted. "You don't know?"

"I don't know if she thinks I'm great too."

Anatoli smirked. "You ask?"

"I can't ask her that."

"Why not? You tell me to tell Sara how I feel. You do same."

"This is not the same thing." Drew shook his head. "You and Sara...you'd been together for a long time. Me and Mina, we just started hanging out."

"Hanging out?" Anatoli shook his head. "You not hang out. You like her, you tell her."

God, he made it sound so easy. Maybe it was, but Drew reminded himself of the knots Anatoli had worked himself into just a month ago over Sara.

"Can we talk about something else?" Drew grumbled.

Anatoli laughed and nodded. Their conversation moved on to the upcoming game versus New Jersey. After that, they'd be heading home to D.C. for a couple nights before their next game in Philadelphia. Drew was already planning how he could spend the time in between practice and meetings with Mina. He reminded himself that her schedule might not allow the same time off but he was pretty sure they could get together at least once.

The plane landed in New Jersey and the players boarded the bus to the hotel. Drew called Mina as soon as they were all sent to their rooms to settle in.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mina."

"Hi, Drew."

Heaven help him, but she sounded excited to hear from him. "What are you doing?"

"I'm just unpacking the groceries. Where are you?"

"I'm in my hotel room in New Jersey."

"Ah. Right, Hil said something about your game."

Drew scoffed. "Don't act like you weren't following my schedule yourself."

Mina laughed, the sound the very thing Drew had been aching to hear for hours. "You'd be wrong there but you'll be happy to know I watched your entire game last night."

Drew groaned and covered his eyes with one hand. "I wish you hadn't."

"Oh, one loss doesn't mean I'll stop liking you."

His heart rate spiked. "What about two losses?"

She laughed again and Drew felt his blood surge to every extremity in his body. "Hmm, maybe after four losses we'd have to talk."

"I'm so glad to hear it." He was a bit relieved to hear her tease him. After their last conversation, when he'd freaked her out with the mention of phone sex, he'd been worried she wouldn't want to talk again. "Are you working tonight?"

"Yeah. Then I'm off tomorrow and working the lunch shifts over the weekend." She paused and Drew heard some clattering noises as she moved things around while unpacking. "When are you back?"

Drew grinned. "I'll be back home late Friday night, remember?"

"Oh yeah. You mean early Saturday morning."