After pouring a drink, Brick stripped off his tie, dress shirt, and pants, wiping his face with a paper towel. Fuck, it was hot in here. Couldn’t Amelia at least turn down the heat before she went to bed?
He smirked at the idea of Amelia in bed, dark hair spread across the pillow, her naked body soft and pliant under his hands, her legs open and inviting.
Fuck. The temperature in the room raised another ten degrees.
He crossed to the thermostat, but movement on the couch caught his attention. There was a lump under a pile of blankets.
His brows shot upward, and wicked thoughts abounded.
Amelia?
He grinned and briefly imagined crawling under those covers with her. She’d probably knee him in the nuts. Yeah, no probably about it. His smiled kicked up a notch. He liked it when a woman made him the hunter. He couldn’t recall the last time that’d happened to him. He relished the novelty of the experience, which most likely explained why other women currently held no interest for him. He was going through a phase; the sooner he dived in and got over it, the better.
He studied the huddled form, walked over to her, grabbed the blankets, and pulled them off with one hard snap of his wrist.
A small, pink-haired hellion leaped to her feet, shouting obscenities and throwing punches. His quick reflexes blocked them easily. She wore a pink bra with matching panties. Tattoos covered a good majority of her compact but shapely body.
“Stop it!” Brick shouted as he blocked a lethal kick to his nuts. And here he thought he’d have to worry about Amelia. This crazy chick had to be a black belt in karate.
Ms. Pink backed up a few steps, unperturbed about her state of undress and his. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“I was going to ask you the same fucking thing,” he shot back.
“I’m Amelia’s friend, and I was too drunk to drive home.” She propped her hands on his hips and glared at him. For such a little thing, she had guts. He had a good fifteen inches on her in height. He glared right back. No one attacked him in his own home.
“Well, Amelia’s friend, I’m Brick, and I own this place.” He waited for his words to sink in, knowing she’d be groveling any minute now.
“Oh.” Her defiant expression faded as Amelia sprinted into the living room and screeched to a halt.
“Be quiet, you two. You’ll wake Macy.” With a shaking finger, she scolded them both, then did a double take. She blinked several times, looking from one to the other, noticing their state of undress.
“Are you…? Were you…?” She’d been rendered speechless, which Brick found immensely amusing.
Brick shot a sideways glance at Ms. Pink and caught her wicked smile.
“What if we were, Ammie? I told you I wanted to meet the hockey hunk.”
“What can I say? Instant chemistry,” Brick said.
“I—I didn’t know you knew each other.” Amelia was damn cute when she stammered.
Brick leaned against the nearest wall, crossed his arms over his chest, and watched the show.
“We didn’t until a short while ago.”
Amelia groaned and rubbed her eyes, as if hoping they’d both disappear. They didn’t, of course.
Brick had the distinct impression that Amelia’s friend was a wild one, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine her screwing some guy she’d just met, and his reputation pretty much sealed the deal.
Despite Ms. Pink’s state of undress, her very nice breasts, her belly button piercing, and her rounded ass, he didn’t feel a stirring of desire. Not the way he did when he looked at Amelia. She wore an oversized T-shirt with Tyee U on it. Her nipples pressed in two little peaks against the fabric. And those legs of hers—he wanted them wrapped around him as she screamed his name. Oh, fuck yeah, he wanted that.
Unable to contain herself any longer, Amelia’s friend threw back her head and laughed. “Seriously, Ams, I just met this guy. Nothing happened. He surprised me when he came in, and I went into attack mode. You know how I am.”
Amelia nodded slowly. “Yes, I do.” Her brow furrowed with skepticism.
“I’m Violet.” Ms. Pink turned to him and held out her hand. “Call me Vi. All my friends do.”
Brick grinned. “Now I’m your friend. Earlier you were close to castrating me.”
“That’s how I am.” She flipped shit right back to him. Brick liked her.
“She is,” Amelia confirmed.
“I see. Nice to, uh, meet you, Vi.”
Vi plopped down on the couch, still not bothering to cover herself, but Brick barely noticed. He was too busy attempting to keep his wayward gaze off Amelia and his dirty mind from diving in the nearest gutter. His dick had other ideas and was presently wallowing in the warm mud of that gutter.
“Got any more of that beer?” Vi asked.
“Yeah, sure.” Brick finished his off, grabbed three more bottles out of the fridge, and handed one each to the ladies with a flourish and a bow. “I aim to serve.”
“I wouldn’t suggest saying that around me. I might get ideas,” Vi teased.
“I like ideas.” Brick teased right back, unable to stop himself from sneaking a glance at Amelia. She was picking at the label on her bottle and ignoring them. He didn’t know what that meant. Women were so fucking hard to figure out. He’d been certain earlier that she hadn’t liked the idea of Vi and him together. But now she didn’t seem to mind him flirting with her best friend, and her best friend flipping it right back. The worst part was, Brick cared, and he wanted Amelia to care.
He didn’t understand this shit. A few months ago, he’d have had Vi beneath him in record time. Now, despite his coming on to her, he was just playing. That was all.
He didn’t want Vi. Nor did he want the women who slipped him their phone numbers when he walked from the team bus to his room or the ones who attached themselves to him when he was out with the guys.
He’d never been like this. He’d always sampled the local talent, along with the away talent, and any talent in between. Now he didn’t want anyone but Amelia. How fucking weird was that? He’d never in his entire life been a one-woman guy, not even when he’d been in grade school.
But then, he’d never been father material, either, but fate laughed in his face and gave him exactly what he didn’t want. He’d be shoved in over his head without any knowledge of how to swim. Unfortunately, swimming made him think of wet, mostly naked bodies, and how much fun it’d be to fuck Amelia in the water, maybe a warm Caribbean pool, or a swirling hot tub.
He groaned, and both ladies sharpened their gazes. Brick gulped down his beer and excused himself. He’d go to the privacy of his room and jack off. He wasn’t getting satisfaction any other way.
This shit had to stop. Tomorrow was Saturday night and a rare night off. He’d go out with Rush and party like a hockey star and drown his odd nanny obsession in alcohol and hot women.
There was one problem. He’d need a babysitter.
Chapter 11—Lighting the Lamp
The next morning, Amelia nursed her third cup of coffee and waited for Brick to rise and shine. He wasn’t a morning person. After too many glasses of wine last night, her head had a pulse, and her body was sluggish. Since it was Saturday, Macy didn’t have school and was currently sitting cross-legged in front of the coffee table drawing pictures of indistinguishable figures and shapes. Art obviously wasn’t her forte.
She’d approach Brick this morning about a live-in nanny job, a conversation she wasn’t looking forward to, but a necessary evil unless she wanted to stay in her car starting tomorrow. Living here signed her fate, but right now she was short on options and long on problems. She wanted to shake some sense into her brother, but she knew him too well. He’d have to learn the hard way. Considering her emotionally fatal attraction to Brick, so would she.
Brick shuffled into the kitchen a few minutes before 10:00 a.m. He was dressed in low-slung athletic shorts. He yawned, scratched his chest, and leaned a hip agains
t the counter. Amelia’s eyes were drawn to the trail of dark hair on his chest. Her already-fuzzy head spun, and her heart rate kicked up a notch. She put a hand on the counter to steady herself. Brick raised a brow but made no comment.
“You should put on a shirt.” She jerked her head toward Macy in the living room.
A slow, sexy grin slid across his face, and he rubbed his short beard. “I don’t think Macy is the real issue.”
He knew her too well.
Amelia ducked her head and turned her back on him. She couldn’t stop staring at Brick’s shredded body without salivating. He took pity on her and disappeared for a minute, returning with a tank top covering those pecs and abs. Such a shame, but a necessary one.
“Better?” He smirked and yawned again, crossing to the fridge to pour a glass of milk, which he guzzled. He set the empty glass on the counter.
“Dishwasher.”
Brick groaned but did as he was told. A second later, his hot breath feathered across the back of her neck as he peered over her shoulder. If her head had a pulse, her heart had its own marching band. God, she would never survive a day living with him before she was in his bed and under his body.
“Something smells good.” His voice dropped a sexy octave, indicating he wasn’t referring to the food.
“I-I’m making breakfast for us. Wa-want some?”
“Fuck, yeah.” His tongue slid along her jaw. She shivered and slipped to the side, needing to get away from him and his delectable body. Leveling him with a chastising glare, she pointed toward Macy.
“Oops. Sorry.” He didn’t appear sorry. His dark eyes shone with mirth and something far more sensual. He hazarded a glance toward Macy. “Good morning,” he said huskily.
“Hi.” Macy didn’t look up from her drawing.
Brick frowned, meeting Amelia’s gaze. He rubbed the back of his neck and stretched, covering up his distress, but she’d caught that telltale flicker of sadness in those brown eyes.
“You need to spend more time with her. You’re a stranger, and kids know when they’re in the way and not wanted.”
Brick snatched up a towel and wiped his face. He sucked in a breath and crossed his arms over his chest. He didn’t like his shortcomings pointed out so bluntly. Well, the truth hurt, and for Macy’s sake she refused to sugarcoat it.
The three of them ate in a tense silence. When Brick finished, he pushed back his chair. “I’m going for a walk down by the water.”
“Can I go?” Macy asked shyly.
Brick’s brows shot upward, and his mouth fell open. “Uh, yeah, I guess so. How about you, Amelia?”
“Sure, it’s a decent day out there.” She should’ve subjected him to Macy alone, but she wasn’t ready to do that to Macy yet. Brick needed guidance, and she didn’t trust him to watch the child properly when they were outside, especially near water. If she was being honest with herself, her reasons were probably far more selfish. She wanted to spend time with him, and with Macy.
Brick waited while they put on coats. He wore his shorts and now a tight black T-shirt.
“It’s fifty-five degrees out there.” Amelia pointed to his lack of proper clothing, wishing he’d covered up that body more for her sake.
“Perfect weather for me. If you haven’t noticed, my body runs about twenty degrees warmer than average.”
“Then why did you ever choose goalie as your position considering you wear the heaviest pads?”
“That’s a question for the ages.”
Amelia had to laugh. So typical Brick. Together they walked outside and down the block to the street that ran along the lake. Macy skipped ahead on the sidewalk, making Amelia nervous.
“Calm down. She’ll be fine.”
“What if she runs out in traffic?”
“Macy, this way,” Brick called to his daughter, and guided Amelia off the street toward a walkway along the water between a row of houses and docks lined with quaint houseboats. It was a different world down here, as if they weren’t in the middle of the city but in a picturesque seaside town. Seagulls called out to each other as they circled the water in search of breakfast.
Macy did a U-turn and skipped ahead of them.
“Is this better than being near traffic?” he asked.
“A little. Macy, don’t go too far. And stay away from the water.”
“Okay,” Macy yelled over her shoulder as she streaked toward the dock.
“Oh God, what if she falls in?”
Brick snorted. “She’s fine. Let her be a kid. Are you this bad with your day care kids?”
“Yes.” Amelia swallowed a lump in her throat. She’d never see those kids again.
“Did I say something wrong?”
She shrugged, and he was silent for a few minutes.
“What happened with your brother? I never heard the outcome of that story.”
“It’s not a story, Brick. It’s life. Real, honest-to-fuck life.”
“Watch your language.” His mouth twitched at one corner. He sat on a bench and pulled Amelia down next to him while Macy galloped her imaginary horse around a small grassy space near one of the docks.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have reacted so strongly. I’m just so frustrated with him.”
“I take it your talk didn’t go well.”
“He’s not kicking his cheating wife out. Instead, he kicked me out. I have until tomorrow to get my stuff out of there.”
“The fuckhead. I’m really sorry he can’t pull his head out of his ass. I never liked Ruby from the second I met her.”
“No one does but him. Love is blind.”
“I doubt it’s love that’s blind.”
So did she. Her brother couldn’t see beyond Ruby’s physical assets, or see through her countless manipulations to keep him under her thumb.
“Where will you go?” he asked.
“I was going to talk to you about that.”
“Me?” His innocent expression was anything but innocent, more like conniving. She could almost see those wheels turning as he calculated all the ways her misfortune might be his fortune.
“Yeah, is that nanny job still open?”
“Nope, I just hired someone.” He leaned back on the bench and laced his fingers behind his head, a satisfied smirk on his face.
“Oh.” She tried to conceal her dismay, even as panic grew inside her.
“She’s perfect. Macy has really taken a shine to her, and so have I. Maybe too much so for both of us, but I’ve never given much of a shit about doing the smart thing. I go with my gut.”
“I’m glad you found someone Macy gets along with.” Amelia’s raspy voice sounded as if she’d swallowed a hockey puck and it’d stuck about halfway down her throat.
“Sure did.” He grinned at her, giving her the distinct impression she was missing the punch line of a joke, and the joke was on her.
“I’ll miss her,” she said.
“Hardly.” He winked at her.
“Are you sane?”
“Fuck no, but that’s part of my charm.” He leaned back against the bench, watching Macy race tirelessly around the small green space. “When do you want to start? Would today work?”
“What?”
“I hired you, babe.”
She wanted to smack him, or maybe hug him, or even better, hug and smack him.
“Can you start tonight? I have a thing I need to go to.”
“A thing?”
“Uh, yeah, a thing.”
She guessed he had a date, which should be fine with her. His love life was none of her business as long as he didn’t bring women home in droves and expose them to Macy. His little girl needed stability, not a constant parade of witless women who only wanted one thing and sure as hell didn’t want a kid in the mix.
“I can start right now, after we negotiate my salary and days off.”
His slow smile sucked her in like cat hair into a vacuum. “I see.” He named a figure, which was three times what she made at the day
care.
“I guess that’ll do.”
“You want more?”
“No, that’s fine. I want two days off a week, depending on your travel schedule. If I have to work on my day off, I want overtime.”
He held out his big hand. “Deal.”
She grasped his hand to shake it, but he held it up to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. “This could be a mutually beneficial situation all the way around, babe.”
“Quit calling me that. And the only benefit you’ll get is knowing your daughter is well cared for.”
“So you say. I can be very persuasive. And I’ve been thinking a lot about making sure you’re well cared for.”
“Well, keep thinking about it, because that’s all you’re getting.” She smiled sweetly at him and extracted her hand from his warm one. The guy was seriously hot-blooded. In fact, probably too hot-blooded for her own good. And now she’d be living under his roof and attempting to resist him every single day of her life. She was nuts. One hundred percent nuts. Life had a funny way of putting her in tough situations and forcing her to be strong. She’d be strong or she’d be stupid. She wouldn’t be able to have it both ways.
“Why?” He frowned, his brow wrinkling in confusion, as if he didn’t get it.
“Why? Because I’m working for you.”
“Yeah?”
“Having a fling with you might cause problems and make it difficult for me to work for you.”
“Why?”
She rolled her eyes. Could he really be this clueless?
“It’s just sex. Consider it recreation. No different than if I asked you to go running or to work out at the gym.”
Amelia did not want to have this conversation. “I don’t do casual sex very well.”
“I could help you get over that.” He winked at her and wagged his eyebrows, making her laugh despite her irritation.
“I’m sure you’d like to try. I’d like to keep things simple. Sex makes them messy.”
“Sex is messy.”
“Brick, you know what I mean. Let’s stay friends. In the meantime, Vi’s interested and available.”
Goaltending: Seattle Sockeyes Hockey (Game On in Seattle Book 8) Page 12