by Steph
Bliss didn’t seem to mind. Probably because they were talking about wedding stuff. A subject Shane had absolutely no interest in. At least, not at this point in his life.
No way did he have time for a wife or even a steady girlfriend. He had to concentrate on his game. Or he’d be ending his career sooner than he expected.
But he could listen to Bliss talk for hours. And then he wanted to spend a few hours with Bliss not talking.
“So, Shane, how’s it going?”
Shane turned with a smile for Lori, who’d sat on the arm of his chair.
“I’m pretty sure you know the answer to that already.” He grimaced. “I pretty much suck right now.”
“I know that’s not true.” Lori smiled that cool, mysterious smile that had reeled in Cary like a trout with a hook in its mouth. “I’ve seen you play. You’re just having a rough patch. It’ll pass. You need to get out of your own head for a while. Enjoy life a little and not always be so focused on work.”
If only it was that easy.
Nodding, he forced a smile for her. “You’re right. Cary’s always telling me to keep my head up. But when you play, your moves have to be instinctive. The game’s too fast to stop and think. I need to be able to see the move before it happens and react before I think about it.”
“Very true.” Then she leaned closer and her voice dropped to a whisper. “But the advice wasn’t only for hockey.”
Ah.
He might not be the sharpest blade on the ice but he was no fool.
Lori squeezed his shoulder but Bliss’s laughter grabbed his attention. She was still talking to the other girl, but now it was about veils and lace and some other shit Shane had no clue about.
Didn’t much matter, though, so long as he could listen to Bliss talk. The sound of her voice made him hard. Maybe he had been concentrating a little too hard on hockey lately, especially if he got a boner just listening to a girl talk.
As if Bliss had heard him thinking about her, she turned and smiled at him.
He nearly swallowed his tongue.
When the hell could they leave without looking suspicious?
Now. Ask her back to your place for a drink.
Yeah, all he had to do was open his mouth and get the words out.
But he kept getting distracted by the sight of all that red hair falling down her back in perfect waves and a pretty face that put some actresses to shame.
And her body… Christ, he was salivating. He wanted to put his hands on her breasts then slide them down her body to her gorgeous ass. Then he’d lift her so she could wrap her legs around his waist.
Naked. He wanted her naked and under him. Or over him. He wasn’t picky.
Lori made a soft sound, almost like a muffled laugh, and his gaze shot back to hers.
Shit. She knows exactly what you’re thinking.
“Have a good time tonight, Shane.” Lori stood, smiling down at him. “Tomorrow will take care of itself.”
Then she left, but not before ruffling his hair with her fingers. Like his mom would’ve done. Made him feel like a kid but not in a bad way.
Smiling, he turned back to Bliss and found her watching him.
“Are you enjoying yourself?”
Her question barely registered because her expression made every muscle in his body tense in anticipation and a strange hum sounded in his ears.
Then her adorable nose crinkled. “I know I’ve been monopolizing your time and—”
“Please.” His smile disappeared, replaced with deadly serious intent. “Monopolize me. All night. I’m begging you.”
Her smile faded but he saw the heat in her gaze increase.
Leaning closer, she put her hand on the cushion between them, almost touching his thigh but not quite. “I’m going to take you at your word.”
“I really fu—hope you do.”
Her smile returned, slowly, and with enough sexual heat to make his heart pound against his ribs.
“Um, I think my fiancé needs me.” The woman who’d been talking to Bliss also had a smile on her face as she rose to her feet. “Nice talking to you.”
Bliss’s nose wrinkled as the other woman walked away but did nothing to stop her.
And when she turned back to him, her lips had curved in a tiny smile that made his heart race.
Okay, maybe he really had gotten banged around at practice and this was a hallucination. And wouldn’t that totally suck.
Then Bliss put her hand on his knee and a jolt of electricity poured through him. Nope, definitely not a hallucination.
“So how many are on your team?”
Amazingly, he could still talk. “We’ve got twenty-two guys on the roster.”
“Does everyone get along? I can’t imagine that many guys spending that much time together and getting along all of the time. My brothers were always fighting over something and there were only four of them.”
“For the most part, yeah. We’ve got a good group of guys.”
And that was no bullshit. He really enjoyed the hell out of his teammates. At least, the ones who’d been around for most of the season. There’d been a few guys who’d been traded or moved up or down but mostly, they’d hung together. And were a stronger team because of it.
“Sounds like you enjoy what you do.”
“Can’t imagine doing anything else. Even when—” Shit. Probably better not to finish that sentence, especially to a girl he’d just met. She didn’t want to hear about all the gross shit guys did to one another in the locker room. “Even after we’ve lost three straight on the road and the coach is chewing our asses and we’ve got a seven-hour bus ride home.”
She laughed, low and soft. “You’re right. That sounds like hell.”
“Yeah. You don’t want to be in a locker room full of hockey players after a losing game. We’re barely human.”
Bliss laughed and Shane swore every guy in the room turned to look. He knew if he weren’t sitting here with her, he would have looked because, damn, her laugh made his gut clench with lust.
Shane was pretty sure he could fight off anyone who attempted to poach her. He was one of the biggest goalies in the league. He looked like a brawler and he wasn’t afraid to take a hit if he needed to.
And if he had to move someone out of his crease…
“I’m sure that’s an exaggeration. Some men look great sweaty.” Bliss leaned closer, her voice dropping into bedroom territory. “Makes a girl want to lick him. All over.”
Shane had to fight hard to swallow his groan, but he couldn’t do anything about his rock-hard erection. That bastard refused to stand down.
Staring into Bliss’s beautiful hazel eyes, he said the first thing that came to mind. “You can lick me anywhere you want.”
Jesus Christ, he hoped like hell no one else had heard that. Not exactly dinner party conversation.
Good thing Bliss didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he thought her gaze actually got hotter.
“Don’t be surprised if I take you up on that.”
Her voice had dropped to a husky whisper and her breath brushed against his cheek.
Oh fuck.
With one last, hot look in his direction, Bliss turned her attention back to her meal.
Since he couldn’t take his eyes off her, he watched as she slid her fork from between her lips. Moaning, she closed her eyes. The look of utter…well, bliss on her face made his lungs feel like they’d been gripped in a vise.
“Oh my gosh.” Her eyes snapped open. “This is amazing. Have you tried this?”
He had no idea what she was talking about because he had no idea what she’d put in her mouth.
“I can’t wait to see what’s for dessert.”
Shane seriously hoped he was on the menu.
Chapter Three
Half an hour later, Shane was ready to climb the walls to get to the door.
He’d spent the last half hour talking to Cary, who’d been true to his word. They hadn’t mentioned hock
ey once. Instead, they’d been tasting and discussing the new beers Lori was considering adding to the taps in the bar she ran.
Well, Cary was talking. Shane was pretending to listen but was really obsessing over Bliss, who was talking to Lori.
Until a few seconds ago when she turned to him with a smile as Lori walked in the opposite direction.
Now he fucking ached.
And beside him, Cary laughed under his breath, like he knew exactly what Shane was thinking. Bastard probably did.
“Have a good night, Shane.” Cary clapped him on the shoulder and gave him a little shove in Bliss’s direction. “Call me tomorrow and let me know you survived. I’ll let you know about the ice time.”
Shane held onto his manners long enough to say thanks to Cary before he walked to Bliss’s side.
When she looked up at him and her lips curved in a smile, he swore everyone else in the room vanished.
“Do you want to come back to my place for a drink?”
He wanted to smack himself on the forehead for just blurting that out but at least he hadn’t been stupid enough to add “and hot monkey sex” to the end of that question.
Yeah, it’s exactly what he hoped would happen but still. Three hours of foreplay had given him a massive case of perma-erection and he knew exactly how he wanted to lose it. Buried deep inside Bliss.
His hands itched to touch her and he practically had to bite his tongue so he wouldn’t lean down and kiss her. Like he’d been fantasizing about for the past hour.
And then he’d strip her down to her skin and—
“Would you like to leave now?”
Bliss’s quiet question and her slight smile hit him low in the gut and nearly made him groan.
Holy fuck. He wasn’t sure he’d make it all the way back to his place without embarrassing the hell out of himself.
This girl brought out something in him he wasn’t sure he could control. And he was all about control. It’s what made him a good goalie.
But he’d loosen the reins a little if it meant she came home with him.
“Or,” she continued, “we can wait—”
“I’m ready to leave whenever you are.” Damn but her smile slayed him. “Do you want to follow me?”
“Sure. That’d be great.”
He wanted to pump his fist in the air. “Great. Just let me say goodbye to Lori.”
She put her hand on his arm and his pulse thumped through his veins. “We can do that together. Let me get my coat and purse. Be right back.”
Ten minutes later, she followed behind his truck in her little red Jeep Renegade and he had to keep from speeding the entire way. The drive wasn’t long but he kept looking in the rearview mirror to make sure she was still there.
By the time they parked in the lot behind his building, Shane had clenched his jaw so tight, he was afraid it’d crack.
With his roommate home in Ottawa for the holidays, they’d have the place to themselves. Luckily, CJ was anal about everything and Shane had learned to be a little less of a mess while they’d been living together this season. So the apartment wasn’t in bad shape.
And he’d actually changed the sheets on his bed yesterday. How was that for blind dumb luck?
Stepping out of her car, Bliss shivered a little, tucking her hand around his arm as they walked to the building’s entrance.
“My car didn’t even have time to warm up on the drive,” she said. “You’re probably used to the cold, aren’t you?”
“Pretty much. When you spend as much time on the ice as we do, this is nothing.”
“When did you start playing hockey?”
He opened the door to the building and waved her in ahead of him. “Honestly, I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t on skates. My mom says I was born with them strapped to my feet. Where I grew up, you either skated or you spent a hell of a lot of time cooped up inside from November ’til April.”
“So you’ve played all your life?”
A short walk down the hall to his apartment and he had the door open as he answered.
“Never wanted to do anything else. I love the game.”
She slipped by him as he reached inside to turn on the light. “I don’t know much about the game.”
“I’ll teach you whatever you want to know.”
She stopped just inside the door as he continued into the living room, shrugging out of his coat so he could put it in the small closet next to the kitchen.
“My own personal player. Hmm, I think I’d like that.”
The husky tone in her voice made his head snap around to her and the amused light in her eyes made his muscles clench.
“What do you want to know? Ask me anything.”
“Well, now.” Her eyes widened. “That’s almost too good to pass up.”
The teasing note in her voice, combined with that private little grin, made another shiver run up his spine.
“What do you want to know?”
Her head tipped to the side, as if she were thinking. “Do you enjoy what you do?”
Too easy. “Love it. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”
“That’s amazing. So many people have jobs they hate just so they can eat. But you get to do what you love.”
Something in her voice made him ask, “Don’t you enjoy what you do?”
She shook her head as she unbuttoned her coat. “Oh, don’t get me wrong. I love working for my aunt. And I love what I do. It’s just…”
He walked back to take her coat, trying not to salivate as she stripped it off. “What?”
She shrugged, drawing his gaze down to her chest. Then he gave himself a figurative slap upside the head and dragged his gaze back up.
“It’s kind of isolating.” She shrugged. “It must be nice knowing you’ve got an entire team at your back.”
He laughed. Couldn’t help himself. “Well, it’s kind of like having this huge family of brothers. You spend so much time together that you get to know everybody really well. That also means you get to know them too well. We’ve got a good group of guys this season but there’s always a few, you know? The ones you want to strangle when they tell the same damn joke for the thousandth time. Or is always borrowing something and never returning it. And they all know just what to do to get under your skin.”
Her smile made his cock twitch. “That I totally understand. I have a big family and there are days I want to strangle them all and days I wouldn’t know what to do without them. It’s tough growing up with four older brothers.”
She seemed to want to say something else but never finished.
“Were you ever able to date? I figure with that many brothers, they’d scare off anyone who tried.”
He waved her toward the couch. She took the hint and sat, toeing off her shoes before curling her feet under her legs.
“My two older brothers were away at college when I started dating and my younger brothers… well, they had their own stuff to deal with. But my dad… He used to be a cop. Want to get rid of a guy fast? Have your dad tell your date he’ll throw his ass in jail if he dared lay a hand on me. Of course, when I told my mom, she read him the riot act. After that, he just glared at every guy I brought home and then my mom would do something to distract him. They’re pretty much the perfect couple. Always have been.”
Shane laughed. “Yeah, my parents were pretty freaking perfect, too. My mom worked at home so she was always there. Dinner on the table every night, homemade cookies after practice. My dad worked days at the paper plant so he coached all of my teams from the time I was five until I went to high school.”
“Sounds like the American dream.”
He grimaced at how perfect it’d been. “Yeah. I can look back on it now and know that, but back then… Man, it felt like I never had a minute to myself.”
She propped her arm on the back of the couch and rested her head on her hand. “Do you have siblings?”
“Younger brother and sister. Twins.”
But he’d been the focus of his parents’ lives for seven years before his mom had gotten pregnant again. And when it’d become evident that he had enough talent to actually make a career out of hockey, his parents had done everything they could to get him where he needed to be.
“My brother plays too but my sister spent most of her childhoods in hockey rinks and doesn’t play. She’s actually a damn good ice skater but…”
“But what?”
She sounded genuinely interested and he couldn’t not answer.
“Sometimes I think my parents invested a little too much time into me and my sister got the short end of the stick.”
“Has she ever said that?”
Bliss’s voice held a sweet concern that made him want to kiss her.
“No. But I still wonder.”
“Does she still skate?”
He shrugged. “Not a lot. She’s in college. Going for her veterinarian’s degree.”
He and his brother teased Giselle relentlessly about the fact that she was the only one of them to go to college. But he was damn proud of her.
“Sounds like a smart girl.”
“She is.”
“So if she’d wanted to skate, she would’ve found a way. Right?”
A grin caught him off guard. Giselle wasn’t the only smart woman he knew, apparently.
“Probably, yeah. She’s always known how to get what she wants. Guess she had to with two brothers.”
“What about you, Shane? Do you get what you want?”
He thought about how shitty he’d been playing lately, about how he was letting down his team. About the fact that she’d agreed to come home with him.
“Not always, no. But I hope I will tonight.”
And there was her smile again. “I don’t think you have to worry about that.”
Grinning, he shook his head. “I love that you’re not afraid to say what’s in your head.”
She shrugged. “No one should be.”
“You’re absolutely right. I’d much rather hear you speak your mind than not say anything at all.”
He swore he felt the heat of her smile as she leaned closer and laid her hand on his arm, muscles bunching at her touch.
“Then let me tell you how much I look forward to kissing you.” Her head tilted to the side. “And touching you. And…anything else that might come up along the way.”