Common Goal (Game Changers #4)- Rachel Reid Page 0,28

place to live alone.

There was a canvas hanging by itself on one wall that had caught Kyle’s eye earlier. It was hard to miss, really: an enormous abstract oil painting that was full of frantic angular scrapes of dark brown, indigo, black and stark white. Scattered in a few places were dots of eye-catching fuchsia. Kyle lost himself in it for several minutes.

“Powerful, isn’t it?” Eric’s hushed voice rumbled behind him. Kyle hadn’t heard him approach, so he turned quickly, startled. Eric held up his hands. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay.” He turned back to the painting. “This is really beautiful.”

“It’s called Guardian. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it, but the name really sold me.”

It took Kyle a moment. “Because that’s your job. Guarding the net.”

“Right.” Eric was standing so close that Kyle would only have to lean back slightly to feel Eric’s chest against his back. He had to close his eyes for a moment to fight the longing to have Eric wrap his arms around him from behind. For him to kiss Kyle’s neck and nibble his ear. For Kyle to press his ass against Eric’s crotch, and feel him grow hard against him.

These were all bad thoughts. Kyle took a step forward under the guise of wanting a closer look at the painting. “I love the energy of it. You can feel the artist’s urgency.”

“Urgency?”

“In creating the guardian. Blocking out whatever it is they feared or hated.”

“So the guardian is good, you think?”

Kyle turned to him. “You don’t?”

Eric frowned at the painting. “I’m not sure. I thought maybe the guardian was an obstacle to something better. The pink spots”—he pointed to a couple of them—“might be the good trying to break through.”

“Huh.” Kyle considered this perspective. It did make sense. “Then that makes you the bad guy.”

“In a way, I am. I keep people from scoring goals. From winning. I stand between them and victory.”

“Or you protect your own teammates from defeat.”

“Perspective is important,” Eric agreed with wry smile. “I’m glad you like the piece. When I showed it to Carter, he said it should be called Rectangles.”

Kyle laughed. “At least he knows his shapes.”

“It’s a start.”

The smile faded from Eric’s lips at the same moment Kyle felt his own heart seize in his chest. He couldn’t miss the way Eric’s gaze had landed on Kyle’s mouth.

What would happen if Kyle leaned in, just slightly? Would Eric kiss him? Would he back away? Was Kyle misreading the desire he was sure was darkening Eric’s eyes?

Footsteps pounded up the stairs, and Eric turned quickly away from Kyle. Kip, followed closely by Scott, came into view, pausing in surprise when they saw Eric and Kyle.

“Oh, hey guys,” Kip said. “We have to head out.”

“Early morning tomorrow,” Scott said apologetically.

“Right,” Eric said. His calm voice didn’t suggest that he’d almost been caught kissing Kyle, so maybe Kyle had been imagining things. “I remember. Thank you for coming. Let me get your coats.”

“Already on it,” Kip said, holding up a finger before returning to the basement. Scott crossed his giant arms in front of his massive chest and smiled at Kyle and Eric.

“What?” Eric asked.

“Kip and I have been trying to get you two together for months.”

“What?” Kyle sputtered.

“Together? Why?” Eric asked, much more smoothly.

“We thought you guys could be friends. Y’know. About art and stuff.” He nodded at the painting.

So maybe Kyle’s sputtering was unwarranted. He turned back to the painting to hide his embarrassment while Eric said, “It is nice to talk about something other than video games and fantasy football.”

Kip emerged from the basement wearing his coat and carrying Scott’s. “There are at least three guys playing Fortnight on their phones down there. I’m going to write a tell-all about how uncool pro hockey players are.”

“You’d better not,” Scott teased.

“Oh, I’m going to have a whole chapter about your love of word search puzzles.”

“They’re relaxing!”

Kip threw his arms around Eric. “Happy birthday, buddy.”

“Thanks.”

Kyle was hugged next, which was always an exercise in not nuzzling Kip’s neck. It was easier to resist with Kip’s fiancé looking on. “Goodnight, Kip.”

“I’m glad you came out tonight. Have fun, all right?” He gave Kyle an extra squeeze, then released him. Kyle could still feel Kip’s arms around him as he watched Kip take Scott’s hand and lead him out the front door.

When Kyle turned back to Eric, he saw that same sympathetic look on his face that he’d seen the night of Kip and