Zach stood straight and got his stick ready. The whistle blew. The puck dropped. Zach reached with his stick and won the faceoff to start the game.
---
Harper couldn’t take her eyes off of Zach while he played. She had seen him before, of course, when he used to play for Toronto, but there was something magical about watching him play for her team. He wasn’t the fastest skater but that was partly because his body was muscled and strong. He made up for it in brute force. He, like his linemate Kyle Underwood wasn’t afraid to do to the corners of the rink and mix it up in order to retrieve the puck. He had no problem body checking, shoving, and throwing his hips out in order to make a play.
He was mesmerizing.
Zach Ryan had his flaws. Like, she noted, he wasn’t fast but he was strong. He didn’t shoot the puck when he had opportunities, instead choosing to pass it. His passes, however, were crisp and perfect, almost always ending up to his teammate exactly where the teammate needed it to be in order to get a shot on goal. Every now and then, he would drop a pass back without looking to see if it hit its target, and most of the time, the opposing team would swoop in and intercept it. Zach got too cute, too cocky, in his passing.
During the commercial breaks, Harper narrowed her eyes from her seat at center ice to try and gauge what sort of player he was when the cameras weren’t rolling and the game wasn’t in play. If he was on the ice and the Ice Princesses were sweeping up the ice in order to smooth it out, she didn’t notice him checking them out – even though she couldn’t blame him if he did. They were all gorgeous, in uniforms that left little to the imagination.
He did tend to spit a lot, however. And every now and then, he would clear out his nose while on the bench, while the cameras were on him. It was disgusting, but he didn’t even seem to care. Which, oddly enough, was kind of attractive. The blatant disregard for what people thought of him was a turn on. It was almost as though when he played, his attention and focus remained there. He did what he had to do in order to play his best, be it spitting, clearing his nose, or ignoring the entire rink and focus on that little rubber puck.
“What do you think?” her grandmother asked from her side in a low murmur, once the buzzer sounded and the skaters headed back to the locker room.
Zach was so close to her, if he just looked up, he would see her. Except he didn’t. And Harper’s respect for him grew.
Right now, the game was the only thing that mattered. Right now, that was the only thing that should matter. She didn’t want to be the girl that distracted the athlete during a game, even an exhibition one. Her pride didn’t take a hit because of it. In fact, she preferred it that way. It showed her he had his priorities in order.
“I think he’s amazing,” she responded honestly. And Harper meant every word.
Chapter 13
The minute their home game ended and their fans cleared out, the team was forced to shower, change, and were ushered onto a bus and driven to the John Wayne Airport. They flew to Arizona on the team’s private jet, and everyone took the hour flight to try and catch some sleep. Zach noticed Harper in the back, reading on her kindle, but since she didn’t acknowledge him, he didn’t acknowledge her. Didn’t want to disturb her if she was in the middle of something important.
Zach hadn’t put too much thought in their date. He refused to overthink things. All he knew was that he liked being around Harper. There was something different about her, something he could relate to, something that kept him grounded despite the fact that there was nothing really tying them together, save for one date. The problem was, as much as he tried not to think about her, when she was around him, he couldn’t stop staring. Golden brown hair, forest green eyes, freckles. The quintessential girl next door and exactly his type. Petite. Curvy. Long legs. The only flaw she seemed to possess was her unruly hair – it was wavy, which made it look messy when it wasn’t. But that wasn’t a deal breaker and it wasn’t something he particularly cared about. In fact, it reminded him of sex hair, and he was all about sex hair.
“Hey, man.” He picked his eyes up and Oscar Solis, one of his teammates – an offensive defenseman paired with Zach’s line on the ice – stood next to his seat. “The team’s going to go to this local club – the Phoenix Club – and wanted to know if you wanted to join us.”
Typically, Zach would have said no. They had a game tomorrow night and he wanted to get sleep. But it was an excuse to get closer to Harper, to touch her, to dance with her again. He didn’t like to use the fact that it was an exhibition game because even though they didn’t technically count, Zach still took them seriously. Any time he had the opportunity to get on the ice, he took it and skated his hardest, whether he won or played well or not. Maybe it was because he used hockey as a way to escape his family drama, and when he was invited to try out for a travel team, it actually got him far away from them.
He wouldn’t waste ice time, not even as an NHL player. Not even an exhibition game.
It would force him to work harder tomorrow, but if he made it worthwhile tonight, it would be worth it.
His eyes flickered over to Harper, still reading, before going back to Solis. “I’m in,” he said with a grin.
Convincing Harper took much more time than Zach thought it would initially. After they checked into their hotel rooms and he dropped off his stuff, he immediately went to Harper’s room. She was lucky she didn’t have to room with anyone, but his roommate, Solis, assured him he wouldn’t be back until the early morning. To be honest, Zach didn’t know if it was because he was a few years shy of thirty, but he couldn’t party all night the way he used to. And he didn’t intend to. All he cared about was getting Harper into his arms, pressed against his body, for the rest of the night. Maybe he’d have a couple of drinks, but she was his only goal.
At first, she had refused, citing she was a morning person and needed sleep. Then, she told him she wasn’t a party girl. Finally, Zach promised an exclusive interview regarding the rumors that followed him from Toronto. She gave in and got dressed in an hour.
When Zach came to her door, he could not take his eyes off of her. Which was saying something, considering he typically couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She straightened her hair, did her makeup, and the slip of a dress wasn’t even worthy of being called a dress – the straps were thin, the front was low and the hemline was short – so short it just barely covered her behind, revealing long legs in simple black stilettos.
Fuck, she looked amazing.
“Ready?” she asked with a small smile, as though she knew the affect she had on him.
He almost grinned in response. Two could play at that.
Zach had a cab waiting as they walked out of the hotel. He opened the door for her and slid in afterward.
“Phoenix Club,” Zach murmured to the driver.
The drive was ten minutes with no traffic, and even though it was just after ten o’clock, there was already a long line around the building. Zach almost hesitated. He didn’t know if people actually knew who he was, and he knew Harper already thought he was an arrogant prick so dropping his name at the door wouldn’t help that part of his reputation. However, it would be a waste of a night if they had to wait in line, and due to the goosebumps littering her skin, he could tell she was already cold.
“Zach,” a voice called from the crowd. “Zach!”
Zach took a step toward the voice and saw Solis and a few other players at the front of the line. They were all dressed in dark jeans and collared shirts, similar to his own attire, waving him over. He grinned, releasing a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding as subtly as possible.
He could feel Harper hesitate as he placed a hand on the small of her back, guiding her towards his teammates.
“We’re going in a group?” she asked, her voice catching.
“Yeah,” he told her. “Is that a problem?”
“No.”
She shook her head, avoiding his eyes. She was lying to him, he knew, bu
t he would get to the bottom of it eventually. Maybe she wanted him all to herself. Maybe she wanted something more low key, more romantic. He pressed his lips together and looked straight ahead. He just assumed going out in a group would be easier than going out just the two of them, especially since they had already gone on a date.
Zach decided not to think about it any longer. Instead, he reached his hand toward hers and entwined his fingers with hers. She squeezed back, giving him a smile. Any hesitation, any doubt, had left her delicate features. He couldn’t tell if that was because she didn’t care anymore or if it was because she was good at hiding how she was feeling.
He hoped not. He hoped she would feel comfortable enough to tell him what she was truly feeling.
They didn’t speak the entire way to the dance floor. The bodyguards patted him down and went through Harper’s purse but didn’t charge at all. The couple walked in with Zach’s teammate to low lighting, pounding music, and a bigger dancefloor than Taboo’s. His teammates, Solis and Berringer, were already looking at the beautiful women who kept a sharp eye on them the minute they walked in. Zach couldn’t tell if they were genuinely attracted to them or if they knew the guys were hockey players. Either way, Solis and Berringer sure as hell weren’t complaining. If Zach had been by himself, he wouldn’t have minded it, either. It felt good to be noticed, good to be desired. The motive behind that desire was simply semantics.
The problem was, Harper completely changed that. Now, he only cared about impressing her, about being desired by her. He couldn’t care less what anyone else thought of him as long as she liked him.
Which was so utterly middle school, he was almost sick with himself.
He refused to think about that. Not right now. Not when he just wanted to be near her.
Zach didn’t even talk to the guys he was supposed to have come here with in the first place. Somehow, she read his mind. Somehow, she knew where he wanted to go. She let him lead her to the floor. He didn’t need to buy her a drink first. There was no reason for small talk or empty flattery – though Zach would never have to lie when flattering her like he had to for some of the other women he had been with.
Harper was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen. Aesthetically, perhaps he knew women who were more flawless. But for some reason, he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. He couldn’t keep himself from not touching her when he was around. There was something about her that drew him to her like a moth to a flame.
He was in trouble and he knew it. And he didn’t care.
The minute they were on the dance floor, the music surrounded them, fused through the bloodstream, and vibrated throughout their body. His hands found her waist and pulled her to him, so their pelvises were touching like magnets. It wasn’t skin but it would have to do. For now.
He couldn’t even say what song was playing. It didn’t matter. All he cared about was getting Harper in his arms, pressing his body against hers, feeling her move against him. She knew how to move, despite her shyness, despite her hesitation. It was almost like a secret weapon. Looking at her forest green eyes, her chestnut brown hair, the freckles on her face, she looked like the quintessential good girl. An innocent. But the way she moved… There was more to her than the way she looked.
Without warning, she flipped around in his arms so her back was pressed against his chest and her hips were rocking against his crotch. He had to think of something terrible in order to calm himself down or else he was going to lose it and press his hardness against her. The last thing he wanted her to think about was the fact that he might lose control around her. He wasn’t a kid anymore, even though that was exactly how she made him feel.
Harper’s arms reached up locked around his neck, bringing his head down over her left shoulder. Her back was arched up so he got a delicious view of her cleavage from where he stood, and didn’t hesitate to take advantage of it.
God, her body.
Her hips rocked in time with the beat. How was she able to focus on the beat when there was this attraction, this pull, between the two of them. It was like a spell she cast around him, pulling him under her magic, making her irresistible. He couldn’t resist her. He didn’t even want to. All that was left to do was claim her as his.
So he did.
His lips found her shoulder and he could feel (thanks to his palms pressed flat on her stomach) her suck in a breath. He waited but did not stop his ministrations on her neck, wanting to see just how she would respond. There was a good chance she would push him off of her, and he would take the knock to his arrogance in stride, the way he always did when things didn’t pan out the way he wanted them to.
But she didn’t pull away. In fact, now that he noticed it, Harper’s back was arched up, her head tilting away in order to give him more access to that beautiful column of her throat.
She wanted this. She wanted him just as badly.
He groaned as he felt himself stiffen upon this realization.
Without thinking, without waiting, he removed his lips from her skin and spun her around until they were face to face. He couldn’t wait, didn’t want to see the doubt and the rejection in her eyes. He would take what he wanted and deal with the consequences later. He might not have another chance.
After a beat, he grabbed her behind the head and pulled her to him, so he could kiss her mouth with as much fire as she caused in his very bones.
Chapter 14
Harper’s eyes widened the minute his lips crashed onto hers. He was kissing her. It wasn’t gentle. It was anything but. It reminded her of the way the ocean’s waves crashed into the shore during a storm. And the best thing she could do was relax into the strong current and let the ocean pull her away. So her eyes closed and her arms wrapped around his neck and she opened her mouth, granting him a rare treat of being able to take in her taste, to duel for dominance, to really feel her.
His tongue was strong and determined, and when she put up a fight, he had no problem meeting her challenge. His hand was holding her head in place, his fingers clinging to the tresses tightly, a painful pull on her head causing her to hiss. Harper felt him grin in triumph through their kiss. The bastard actually grinned.
Two could play at this game.
Harper dropped her hands from his neck and put them on his chest, pushing him backward until he hit the wall behind him. The hallway was secluded; no one was around so she didn’t have to worry about prying eyes or camera phones – if anyone even recognized Zachary Ryan. They certainly wouldn’t recognize her. Then, once he had something solid behind him, she stepped between his legs and pushed her body against him. He groaned in surprise, a noise she found she liked. A noise she wanted to hear again.
His other hand dropped to her back, clawing at it to push her even closer to his body. Harper didn’t even know how that was possible. There was no space between them where even the air couldn’t breathe.
When they finally had to breathe, they grasped the oxygen like desperate divers with no air left in their tanks. Zach wasted no time in finding the skin on her neck with his mouth, sucking and gnawing and kissing and licking and whatever else he could do to evoke her ragged breathing and her gasping moans. She clung to his shirt with white knuckles and even though she was positive he was going to leave marks on her flesh like they were middle schoolers, she couldn’t bring herself to care all that much. At least, not right now. She angled her neck away, giving him more access to her skin, and he took her up on the offer without any hesitation.
His hand slid to her shoulder, his fingers splayed as he gripped her collarbone, her heart hammering against his hand. She wondered if he could feel it beat, wondered if he realized he was causing her to react in this way. It was his fault. He had to have known it.
His hand dropped further and it cupped her breast, not too rough to hurt but just enough to let her know that he thought this, her body, was his to do whatever he liked with it. She arched into his touch and he squeezed, causing her to gasp. The dress she was wearing
barely covered her breasts so she felt the warmth of his hand, the calluses on his palm, the possessive grip.
She gripped his shirt and pulled him to her, capturing his mouth with hers, letting him know that she approved of his touch, that she wanted more. He grunted through the kiss, and she knew she was reacting the way he wanted. She could feel him pressing insistently against her thigh, all but yelling at the reaction she caused inside of him. Her heart tripped over the pride that coursed through her body at being the reason for this, at rendering Zachary Ryan helpless.
Harper wanted to do more, cause him to make more of those sounds. She kept her mouth on his but dropped her right hand from his shirt and trailed it downward until her palm pressed against his member through the denim material of his jeans.
Zach tore his lips away, his hooded eyes heavy and dangerous. He couldn’t even hold his head upright – he rested his forehead against hers. “Don’t start something,” he said through heavy breathing, “that you can’t finish.”
Her eyes were sharp, offended that he would make such an insinuation. She wrapped her fingers around him and squeezed. “I never do,” she assured him.
He groaned helplessly, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. “Let’s go,” he managed to get out, “before I fuck you against this wall without giving a shit about who sees.”
They managed to keep their hands to themselves in the cab, through the lobby, even in the elevator. For whatever reason, they wound up back at Zach’s room, even though he had a roommate and she did not. But Solis wouldn’t bring back a girl and Zach made sure to hang the Do Not Disturb sign on the door so even if Solis did come back earlier than expected, he would know the room was occupied.
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