“I believe!” Killian cried again as they all huddled close.
“We will win!” the others belted out.
“I believe!”
“We will win!”
“Flyers!” they all yelled together.
The room was charged with testosterone. I no longer felt like the female team owner, but rather a woman with raging hormones. Hearing them shout was so sexy and hearing Killian lead the team in that chant made me want to go directly home and break out my vibrator.
The guys started leaving the locker room to head for the tunnel. I studied Killian’s tall, wide body and the way his sweater fit him. Since college, I’d only dated men who wore suits to the office every day. Investment bankers, entrepreneurs, entertainment agents. But that hockey uniform was damn sexy. And he was about to get it all sweaty when he hit the ice, which made it even sexier.
He turned to me and we locked eyes, his icy blue gaze full of meaning. The moment passed quickly as he left the locker room with his team.
I wished I’d worn a Flyers t-shirt and jeans instead of the dark green suit I’d chosen tonight. I was hot, and it wasn’t just from the locker room temperature. I gathered my hair into a ponytail and held it, fanning my neck. It was time to head up to my box and watch the game. I needed to get out of here. The locker room still buzzed with Killian’s masculinity.
Keri and Nicole were already sitting in the owner’s box when I walked in.
“Ms. Stahl, may I get you anything?” a young man asked, his voice breaking nervously. He wore the black vest of arena concessions staff.
“Do you have wine?” I asked, unbuttoning my suit jacket.
“No, ma’am. Only beer, soda, water and lemonade shakeups.”
“A beer would be great. You guys want one?”
Keri and Nicole nodded.
“Three beers, please,” I said to the server, who bowed slightly and scurried away.
“Did he just bow?” Nicole whispered.
“It was cute,” I said, hanging my jacket on the back of a chair and sitting down. “I didn’t miss the puck drop, did I?”
“No,” Keri said. “But you missed the introductions.”
“How was the locker room?” Nicole asked. “Did you get to see any of the guys naked?”
“Of course not. I’m not a voyeur. I just talked to them for a bit.”
As we waited for the game to start I went through my mental to-do list, sure I’d forgotten something. Relocating to Fenway, Indiana from New York City had me feeling out of the loop. I could no longer take part in the day-to-day operational meetings of Stahl Investments, my real estate company, and I hoped I hadn’t missed anything.
“Did the final contracts on the North Point deal get notarized and sent off?” I asked Nicole.
“I don’t know,” she said, shrugging. “You’ll need to ask Barb.”
Nicole had only been my assistant for a few months, and we still hadn’t fallen into a groove. I still missed my first assistant, Andrea. But she’d been overqualified for the job and I’d hired her to close deals for Stahl Investments instead. She was rocking the new job. But Nicole often acted as if she was my paid friend instead of my paid assistant. She was the daughter of close family friends and I was beginning to have second thoughts about having hired her.
I texted Barb about the contracts.
“God, he’s hot,” Nicole said softly as she stared out at the ice.
I followed her gaze to Killian, who was hovering and waiting for the puck drop. When the ref let it fall, Killian lunged forward and hooked his stick around it, sliding it to Liam.
Though I’d been watching hockey games my whole life, this was the most exciting one I’d ever seen. This was my team. For me, the action was faster and the crowd was louder. Killian was on fire, his line executing every play just right. When Bennett slapped the puck into the net and the deep horn sounded to signify a goal, I jumped up from my seat, throwing my arms in the air.
The new second line wasn’t bad. Not as good as the first line, but better than what we’d had a few weeks before. I was on the edge of my seat, following every play, and it wasn’t just knowing Killian was out there that got me all excited.
“Where’s the puck?” Nicole asked for the third time since the game had started.
“Right by the net,” I said. “Ashford’s trying to get it.”
She looked down at her nails, not interested in the game.
“I need to find a good manicure place here,” she said.
I ignored her, too engrossed in the game to think about her nails.
Our goaltender was named David Shuck, but everyone called him Shuck. And I said a silent prayer that Shuck would block the puck as the clock counted down its final seconds. We were up 3-2 and I didn’t think my heart could take overtime.
“Come on, Shuck.” I pressed my knuckles to my lips nervously. “Block. Oh, crap … no.”
I cringed. The puck had sailed toward the net and I assumed the worst. But when the black disk fell from Shuck’s glove I jumped up from my chair.
“He got it! We won!”
The guys were all on the ice, sticks in the air. My eyes scanned the jerseys, landing on the one that said ‘Bosch’. His wide, happy grin reached straight to my heart.
“That was fun,” Keri said. “I wouldn’t mind watching a game from closer to the ice sometime, just to see the difference.”
“Sure, we can do that,” I said, my attention still focused on Killian.
He looked up at the box and even though I couldn’t be sure, I felt as if he was looking at me. He raised his stick back up in the air and pointed it at the owner’s box. My box.
My attempt at a cool smile came out as a giddy grin. This guy was sex on skates, and he wasn’t the least bit intimidated by me. It was a powerful combination. I needed to keep my guard up and remember the big picture.
Giving in to my attraction to Killian would probably lead to a night of incredible sex, but then what? The fallout would be damaging to both of us, personally and professionally. As the team’s owner, it was my job to set a high standard. I couldn’t do that by screwing a player, no matter how good he made me feel.
Killian
That night the locker room wasn’t just full of guys who were happy, it was full of guys who were hopeful. And, damn, that felt good. We were finally stringing together some wins and holding our own.
I’d just finished my shower and was putting on my tie when Liam approached, his dark suit and blue tie already in place.
“Wanna share a cab?” I asked. “I already know I’m not driving home tonight.”
He smiled and looked away. “I’m not going out tonight, actually.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, confused. “You got somewhere better to be?”
He gave a slight nod. “I kind of do.”
I grunted with realization. “Give it to her good, brother.”
He said nothing, which was unlike him. Strange. Liam was like me. He’d never had it bad for a woman.
I left the locker room, planning to find a way to run into Sidney. It didn’t take any effort since she was waiting in the tunnel, talking to a reporter who had a microphone in her face.
She was so pretty, but none of her striking features compared to her confidence. It was written on her face and in the way she held her shoulders. In her wide, perfect smile.
Women who felt empowered by the way I looked at them? That was fucking awesome. But this one, who was empowered all on her own? She was irresistible.
I stood to the side, watching as she finished the interview. And then my night got about a hundred times better when she looked at me, smiled, and walked over.
“Hey,” I said, grinning at her.
Her glistening green eyes sent a charge of arousal through my body. I liked to fuck after games – especially when we won. And tonight there was only one woman I wanted.
“You’ve gotta come out with us,” I said. “Have a drink with us to celebrate.”<
br />
And then come home with me and get fucked senseless.
She wanted it, too. I could see it in her slightly pink cheeks and the way she bit her lip nervously.
“I don’t belong there,” she said. “That’s for the team. But thank you for the invite.”
“Of course you belong there.”
She slid on her dark wool coat and buttoned it. “Not really. Even though I’m wearing a skirt, I’m still a suit.”
I took a step closer to her and lowered my voice so only she could hear. “I want you there. Come with me.”
She took a step back, her eyes widening. “I can’t. You’re positively dangerous in that suit, Killian. The uniform was enough, but now … I need to go home.”
Her refusal sparked my temper. We were two consenting adults who wanted each other, and I couldn’t figure out why she was being so damn stubborn.
“Walk with me,” I said, leading the way to a vacant hallway. “You’ve got a boyfriend, don’t you?” My bitter tone was laced with anger.
“No.”
“Then what’s the fucking problem, Sid?” I eased closer and this time she didn’t move back.
“If you don’t know why it’s a problem, then you’re not as smart as I’ve given you credit for.”
“We don’t have to make our personal lives public. I don’t kiss and tell. Do you?”
She shook her head and narrowed her eyes at me. “You think I can get in your car, go to a bar and have a drink and then leave with you and no one will talk? Are you kidding me?”
“Fine,” I said, shrugging. “I’ll take someone else home later. It’s all the same to me.”
“Fuck you, Killian.”
“Not tonight, baby.”
With an icy glare, she turned and left. My high from the win had dissolved. Now I was just pissed off.
I walked to my Jeep and got in, hoping the drive to the bar would mellow me. Instead I kept a death grip on the steering wheel the whole way and was even more exasperated by the time I parked. All I could see was Sid. The way she’d looked at me in that last second before I’d left the locker room had lit a fire in me that burned through the entire game. Seeing her button her long, conservative coat made me want to unbutton it and slide my hands beneath it.
She was smart and sexy and really fucking stubborn. But she was also full of integrity, and damned if that didn’t make me like her even more.
Brewster’s, our team’s favorite post-game bar, was jammed when I walked in.
“Killian Bosch!” someone yelled. “Fuck yeah, man!”
I raised my hand in a half-hearted wave and made my way to the table in back where the guys were starting to gather.
Bennett elbowed me as soon as I walked up. “The fuck was that with you and Sidney in the hallway after the game? She’s got no right being pissed off about that game.”
I took the shot from his hand and tipped it back. It was Jack, and it burned going down.
“I needed that more than you did,” I said. “It was nothing. We just rub each other the wrong way, me and her.”
“I’d rub her any way she let me.” His smirk made me want to shove him, but I instead I grunted and pulled out my wallet.
“Will you get me another shot and a new one for you?”
“Sure,” he said, not taking the money I offered.
I was about to sit down when arms encircled my neck.
“Amazing game, Killian,” a female voice squealed. Her heavy powder scent reminded me of a stripper.
“Thanks,” I said, easing myself away.
“We need to hang out.” She slid into the seat next to the one I’d been about to sit down on.
Fuck. I wasn’t feeling social. Before I could think of an excuse to get rid of her, more of my teammates showed up and a couple of the woman’s friends were close behind. I took my shot from Bennett and sat down, still thinking about Sid.
She could’ve been next to me right now instead of this random brunette. But she didn’t want to be. She was too worried about what everyone would think to even give me a shot.
Liam handed me a beer and I drank it, warming to the brunette’s affections with every sip. Sidney thought she was too good for me. Hell, I thought so, too. The woman next to me was what I preferred anyway. Simple and easy. No arguing or working for it.
I slid my hand around her waist, letting my fingertips wander beneath the waist of her jeans. Her hip was slight, almost bony.
She pressed her body against mine, my simple encouragement making her shameless.
“You’re so sexy,” she said, her lips finding my neck. She was so short she had to climb into my lap to reach me. And once she was there, I wanted her off.
“We’ve still got drinking to do, sweetheart,” I said, easing her back into her own seat.
And did I drink. I lost count of how many I had, but it was enough that I couldn’t even walk straight at the end of the night. Bennett tossed me into a cab and rode beside me, trying to keep me upright. I’d barely gotten the cab door open before I puked all over the sidewalk in front of our apartment complex.
We couldn’t figure out which of my keys opened my apartment, so I ended up crashing on Liam and Bennett’s couch. I dreamed about a woman with auburn hair who let me slide my fingertips beneath the waistband of her jeans while she kissed my neck.
Sidney
Our offices at the arena were beginning to take shape. The furniture was all in place. We’d managed to create separate offices for me, Keri, Barb and Nicole in what had started out as two large empty rooms. The rest of the Flyers office staff worked across the hall in another space, allowing us to be close, but still have space for our Stahl corporate work.
We were only waiting on the arrival of the double glass doors that would lead into our office. For now, we just had a big opening.
And today, finally, our drink station—a carved cherry buffet—had been installed. Now we had a coffeemaker just like the one in our New York offices, and we had a small refrigerator and an icemaker.
I was pouring myself a cup of coffee while Barb organized the sugar packets and stir sticks. I could hear Nicole telling Keri about the scarves she’d ordered online.
“It’s so damn cold in this place,” she grumbled. “I’m going to start wearing a jacket and scarf all the time.”
“There’s an ice rink downstairs,” I reminded her. “It has to be cold.”
“It’s worth it to have a hockey team…”
Nicole was interrupted by Keri, who let out a scream so loud and shrill that I dropped my coffee, spilling it all over my white V-neck sweater.
“Dammit,” I cried, pulling the hot, wet sweater away from my skin. “Keri, what the—”
“A mouse! A giant one!” she said frantically, jumping up onto Barb’s desk. “I hate mice.”
She was near tears, and Barb and Nicole had moved to stand behind the desk. They all looked at me.
“It’s probably gone,” I said. “You probably scared the heck out of it, Keri.”
“It’s under there!” She pointed at the drink station. “I saw it run under there! I’m sorry about your shirt, Sid, but I am seriously scared of all rodents.”
Just saying the word seemed to make her shudder.
“You girls okay?”
One of the janitors stuck his head through the open doorway, looking at Keri, who was crouched on the desk.
“Sid!”
The male voice calling my name was accompanied by pounding footsteps in the hallway. Killian appeared with Liam close behind.
“You alright?” Killian asked, coming into the office. His pale blue eyes were locked on me.
“We’re okay. There’s a mouse—”
“A mutant mouse!” Keri cried, her eyes wide with terror. “That thing was the size of a kitten.”
Killian blew out a breath, looking relieved. “Probably a rat. We get them in here on occasion.”
“I might have a trap downstairs,” the janitor suggested.
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“It’s under there,” I said, pointing to the drink station.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t come down from here until it’s gone,” Keri said.
“We’ll get rid of it,” Liam said, looking at Killian. “You take one end and I’ll take the other. We’ll chase it out and then catch it.”
“With your hands?” I looked at them, horrified. “It might bite you or something.”
Killian glanced around the room. They both wore their practice pants and t-shirts, and Liam pulled his t-shirt over his head.
“We can trap it in my shirt,” he said, walking to one end of the drink station.
“Be careful,” Keri said in a small voice. “That thing might gnaw your face off.”
Liam gave her an amused glance. “We’ve got it, don’t worry.”
One of Liam’s arms was covered in a dark sleeve tattoo, and his skin glistened with moisture. All three of my employees were staring openly.
Killian pulled his t-shirt over his head, and I couldn’t help staring myself. He had several small tattoos on the top of his chest. Every one of his arm and chest muscles was defined with sweat. I swallowed hard and forced my eyes away.
They both took a goaltender’s stance at the ends of the drink station, and I couldn’t resist a small grin. This puck was going to be fast and furry, but hopefully it wouldn’t be flying through the air.
The janitor swept a broom handle beneath the reclaimed buffet and a blur of gray emerged out Liam’s end. He jumped on it, covering the rat – which was enormous – with his shirt. He enclosed it and picked it up.
The bundle in his shirt was squirming and squealing, and I looked over at Keri. She was pale and looked on the verge of passing out.
“Get it out of here,” Killian said.
“I’ll take it to the alley.” Liam walked out the doorway and a collective sigh of relief sounded around the room.
“Barb, can you call an exterminator?” I asked. “We need to have this place treated.”
Killian went to Barb’s desk and offered Keri a hand. She took it and he helped her down.
“I’m so sorry, Sid,” she said.
I waved a hand dismissively. “It’s nothing. You alright now?”
Killian Page 4