Common Goal (Game Changers #4)- Rachel Reid Page 0,75

and take a bite. He closed his eyes and sighed happily around his mouthful of grilled vegetables. He had flakes of pastry clinging to his lips that Kyle couldn’t look away from.

Eric swallowed and said, “God, that’s good.” The tip of his tongue darted out to remove the crumbs from his lips.

“Yeah,” Kyle agreed, even though he hadn’t even taken his empanada out of the bag yet.

“Are you going to eat?” Eric asked before taking a second bite. Kyle snapped out of it and reached into his own paper bag. He was, in fact, starving, but he was apprehensive about digging into his lunch in front of Eric. It seemed rude to cram his mouth full of beef in front of a vegetarian.

“I don’t mind,” Eric said, as if reading his mind. “Eat. Please.”

Kyle obeyed, sinking his teeth into the warm, buttery crust and then into the spicy, cheesy deliciousness within. He groaned a little more orgasmically than he’d meant to, but fuck, those empanadas were good.

He grabbed a napkin from the dispenser on the table and dabbed delicately at his lips. “I love these empanadas,” Kyle said sheepishly.

“I liked listening to you order them.” Eric’s eyes looked a shade darker than they’d been a moment ago. Kyle shifted in his seat.

“Yeah?”

“It was impressive. I speak very little Spanish.”

“Well, you know. I was young and had dreams of marrying Diego Luna.”

Eric studied him a moment with those sharp, espresso eyes, as if he wasn’t sure if Kyle was kidding or not. Then his lips curved up into that sexy hint of a smile he liked to torture Kyle with, and Kyle turned his attention to the last bite of his empanada. His safe, uncomplicated empanada.

“Your semester must be almost over,” Eric said.

Kyle swallowed his food. “Yeah. Next week.”

“You don’t seem stressed out about it.”

“It’s just one class. I have a term paper to hand in, but it’s pretty much done. Just fine tuning it.”

Eric was smiling at him again. “What?” Kyle asked.

“I’ll bet you’re a good writer.”

Kyle shrugged. “I’m all right. Fast, usually. I enjoy the research more than the writing.”

“I did too, when I was in school.”

“I think you’re the first Harvard grad I’ve met who says school instead of Harvard,” Kyle teased.

Eric grabbed a napkin and wiped his fingers. “I went there for hockey, not because I’m a genius.”

Kyle huffed. “Right. And did all of your teammates at Harvard graduate?”

Eric hesitated, then admitted, “No.”

“And how many NHL players have Harvard degrees?”

Eric balled up his napkin and set it on his empty paper bag. “Currently?”

“Sure. Or, hell, how many have ever had Harvard degrees?”

Eric’s lips twisted, then he said, “Just me, currently, I think. And maybe... I don’t know. Three? Five? Ever? I’m really not sure.”

“So we’re agreed then? You’re extraordinary.”

Eric shook his head, but his eyes sparkled. “I like to read. That doesn’t make me extraordinary.”

Everything about Eric was extraordinary. Kyle was struck with an overwhelming sense of disbelief that the man eating empanadas with him was really Eric Bennett. How was this Kyle’s real life?

They’d both finished eating, and Kyle found himself clamoring to come up with a reason to prolong their time together. “There’s a great café on the next block,” he said.

Eric gave him a warm smile that turned Kyle’s heart to mush. “I could go for a coffee.”

* * *

They decided to take the coffee to go and walk on the High Line. As they strolled along the trail, Kyle sipped his latte and hunched his shoulders against the cold. He’d been out of Vermont for too long, for the cold to be bothering him this much.

“So why aren’t you dating Jeanette?” Kyle asked. “She seems amazing.”

“She is,” Eric agreed, “but her wife wouldn’t like that.”

“Ah.” Kyle found he wasn’t too sad about that. “Did your ex get some of your art collection in the divorce?”

“We split everything fairly. There were a couple of pieces that she liked more than I did, so she took those. I let her have most of the furniture from our old house. I wanted to start fresh.”

“That must have been rough.” Kyle had never been part of a breakup that had stuff involved. He couldn’t imagine having that stress heaped on top of heartbreak.

“It wasn’t so bad. Holly and I are both pretty low-drama. She comes from money anyway, so the financial side wasn’t as big a deal as it might have been otherwise. I was pretty indifferent to splitting everything up.” He huffed. “I guess I was