“Shoot,” he said with a grin, leaning against the island.

Audrey turned for the sink and smiled, “Where do you see yourself in a year?”

“A year?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s a short amount of time.”

“Humor me!”

Tate laughed, nodding his head as he thought. “I guess I hope to still be playing with the Assassins. I have a meeting with Eleanor Adler about that in a couple weeks,” he said. He was nervous, but his agent was pretty confident that they were going to sign him as a regular, not an interim goalie. “I would like to be married or at least have a girlfriend.”

“So early? You don’t want to live life as a single hockey player? I heard it's all the rage,” she said with a giggle.

Shaking his head, he said, “It really isn’t, and no, I don’t. My dad got married early, and it worked for him. I want that. I want the wife and the kids, early. I don’t want to wait.”

Tate couldn’t help but notice Audrey’s hands pause before reaching up into her hair, pulling it into a pony tail. Her mouth was slightly parted and her eyes were wide as she said, “You want kids?”

Tate asserted, “Oh yeah, a lot of them.”

“Early?”

“Yeah, why? You don’t want children?”

Surely that wasn’t true. She loved kids; he had seen her with all kinds of kids. She was spectacular with them.

Audrey swallowed loudly, shrugging her shoulders, “Of course I do, I’m just surprised you do, being so young and all.”

Tate watched her for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t think age matters. It’s all about what you want and what makes you happy. I don’t want to be some single hockey player with no one to share my accomplishments or triumphs with. I want that person who will be there with me through thick and thin, who will love me all the time.”

Audrey looked up at him, and Tate noticed the sadness in her eyes, “I do too. So let’s hope we both find that person huh? I know you’ll find yours and she’ll be one hell of a lucky woman.”

Tate’s brows came together, confused. Was he missing something?

“So hey, I’m more tired than I thought, I’m gonna go to bed.”

What? What the hell just happened?!

And why did he feel that her walls were back up?

Shit!

Chapter 13

Sweat coursed down Audrey’s back and it wasn’t the happy sweat she liked either. It was the sweat from the four miles of her run that she had already completed. Her feet hurt, she couldn’t breathe, and she was pretty sure she was never baking another cupcake in her life.

Goodness me.

Pushing herself, she rounded the corner and headed into Centennial Park. It was cold as shit out, but Audrey was burning up. She could see the fog bubble of her hot breath as she pushed herself a little harder.

Only two more miles.

She would blame Tate for this. The guy could eat a whole platter of cupcakes and feel like a billion bucks. Tate could win hockey games, wear the same size jeans, be a happy little cupcake eating guy, while Audrey put on a pair of her favorite black and red tights and saw the dreaded cellulite.

Hence the morning torture, she was putting herself through.

Not only did she hate working out, because it’s gross but she hated it because it always made her think more than she liked. For example, Audrey had rethought all of her and Tate’s interactions for the past two weeks: Every conversation, every touch, every glance, everything. She couldn’t help it. She had to understand why she still wanted him even though she was aware that he wanted kids and she couldn’t give them to him. Was she really that selfish?

She couldn’t be though; she had always been very considerate and caring of other people. She helped Fallon out countless times. Helped Piper whenever she needed something. Hell, she would do just about anything for anyone. Even with guys, she would give her heart every time in every way possible. She was just that way. She was pretty sure if someone asked for her soul to get a slice of pie, she would do it. Maybe she cared too much. But that’s just who she was. So why wouldn’t she give up this guy when she couldn’t give him everything he wanted? She knew she was crazy for thinking about the future like this so early in the relationship, but that’s what she wanted. She didn’t want another round in bed. She wanted her Happily Ever After.

Hating herself for being borderline psychotic, she turned the corner, picking up the speed. Her chest was burning and she wanted to stop but all she could think of was Tate running his hands down her thighs and saying ‘What the hell is this bumpy stuff on your legs?’

Ah, the horror!

“I’m surprised you don’t run in heels.”

Audrey quickly glanced over and saw Tate grinning at her. Crap! She was sweaty and not the fun sexy sweaty either! But, she didn’t have time to freak out about her awful appearance, because at that moment, her face was introduced to a pole and her butt and head got acquainted with the ground.

“Shit! Audrey! Are you okay?”

Audrey fell back onto the concrete holding her head. She felt like she had run into a steel wall. The coldness from the sidewalk was helping but not much.

“Ow…my head hurts,” she moaned, pressing her hand against the swollen spot as it pounded underneath her hand.

“Um yeah, I bet it does, you ran dead into that pole,” Tate informed her.

“Damn pole came out of nowhere,” she muttered. Tate chuckled as he moved her hand out of the way to reveal a bump. She opened her eyes, and came face and face with him. For the love of God! He was hot even with sweat dripping from his face and breathing heavily. Damn it! She probably looked like a stout pig!