Delayed Call

by Toni Aleo

  Vaughn’s head fell back, but he kept in his groan. Brie Soledad was the bane of his existence. “I’m sorry, Elli. I swear, she asks the dumbest questions, and I get so damn mad because I hate doing them—”

  “It doesn’t matter. You’re supposed to be professional. I know the questions are basic, but you have to answer them out of respect for Brie because you are the damn face of my team,” she said, her voice tight and hard. She was pissed and he understood why. But at the same time, come on! Ask better questions.

  “I’m sorry. You’re right.”

  “I know, and I want you to know we are fining you five thousand dollars for each curse word you used.”

  His jaw fell open. “How many did I use?”

  “Four.”

  Damn it! He wasn’t hurting for money, but still.

  “And every time you do this, I will fine you. People love listening to you, hearing you talk, and getting your insight, which is why you are on interview duty so much. I depend on you to do a good job on and off the ice. And if you can’t, then maybe we need to renegotiate where we are going in our relationship, which hurts me to say because you know I love you dearly.”

  “I know,” he said, cupping his face in his hands. Tricksie must have sensed his dismay because she whimpered as she crawled in his lap, licking his chin. “I promise it won’t happen again.”

  “Good, I hope you keep that promise.”

  “I will.”

  “Thank you. I’m sorry to ruin your relaxing evening.”

  “I’m sorry I’m an asshole.”

  She laughed. “It’s part of your charm.”

  They said good-bye, and he hung up, shaking his head as Jensen asked, “What happened?”

  “I’m being fined for the poor choice of words I used during my interview with that brat of a reporter.”

  Jensen’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Who?”

  “Brie!”

  “Brie? The reporter for the team?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, she’s hot.”

  “She’s a bitch. I bet she’s the one who pushed for the fine. She’s such a pain in the ass and hates me, for no damn reason. Yeah, I’m difficult, but she asks lame questions and then walks around like the hottest shit. It’s annoying.”

  “Her questions for me weren’t lame. They were good. She seems smart.”

  “Yeah, okay, she’s a spoiled little brat, someone who probably grew up with a silver spoon in her mouth. She annoys the living fuck out of me.” Jensen just stared at him as Vaughn shook his head. “I just don’t get it. What’s her deal with me? Like, why can’t she stay in her lane, leave me the fuck alone?”

  “Just an innocent bystander, but I think you get in her lane, and you went douche on her.”

  “Whose side are you on?”

  Jensen held his hands up. “Yours, of course.”

  “Fine, then she’s a bitch.”

  “I can’t say that. She was really nice to me.”

  “She’s a bitch to me.”

  “Probably ’cause you ruin her interviews.”

  “Because they’re dumb!”

  “Okay, baby Vaughn, are you ready for dinnertime? And then we can come home and you can take a nap?”

  “I hate you,” he muttered, standing up and throwing his hands up. “I don’t want to do stupid interviews. Ask me something with substance.”

  “Maybe you should say that to her nicely, instead of cussing and calling her dumb.”

  “I didn’t call her dumb,” he said, his face wrinkled up.

  “Yes, you did, I heard you. Which is probably why Elli is so pissed.”

  Grumbling, he kicked the floor in frustration. Brie Soledad was a thorn in his side. She couldn’t ask an original question to save her perfectly shaped ass, not that he was looking. Or ever looked. Or ever noticed that she had great tits and a mouth that was begging to be kissed. Or that he really liked her as a blonde, more so than the caramel color she’d had the previous year. She was hot, he wouldn’t lie, but she was such a snotty bitch that he couldn’t even stand her.

  Not that he really knew her, but still…he didn’t like her.

  He hated her, and he really hated that he had upset Elli. He loved Elli, and he wouldn’t let that chick ruin his relationship with his boss. He had a great one with her, and while he’d rather continue being an asshole to Brie Soledad, he’d suck in his pride. He’d treat her with respect. He knew better, but there was something about her that made him twitch. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he wouldn’t upset Elli. He’d do right by her.

  “Whatever, let’s go. I’m hungry.”

  “Right behind you. Don’t eat my shoes, Tricksie Johansson.”

  Tricksie barked as she ran to the door, wanting to leave, but Vaughn had to push her back as he opened the door. “Sorry, love bug, you can’t go.”

  She whimpered as he went out, and he immediately ran right into something hard. Looking down, he saw his hallway was filled with boxes. “What the hell?”

  “What?” Jensen said as the door across the hall opened, and Vaughn’s nemesis came out, her eyes widening when she met his gaze.

  “You,” she gasped, her eyes going from surprised to slits, and he hated how attractive he found her as she stood in the middle of the hall all pissed off and shocked. It was always like that, though. Anytime he was around her, he thought she was a hundred shades of fucking hot. Even now, she was wearing a green sweater and sweat pants that had holes in them. Her hair was braided—even though her hair was too short to be braided, it looked fucking adorable. She had no makeup on and red splotches on her face, but he still found her delectable. She had something orange on her mouth that he suspected was Cheetos, and for some insane reason, he wanted to lick it off. Which was completely foolish. She’d just gotten him fined. He didn’t like her!

  But even he couldn’t ignore the fact that she was hot.

  Like a little bundle of sexy.

  Get it together, Jo. You hate her!

  With irritation in his voice, he growled, “You.”

  Heat filled Vaughn from the tips of his fingers to the soles of his feet.

  Anger, it was anger.

  He was not turned on.

  Not even in the least.

  Not even the Cheetos that were stuck in her hair, close to her ear, were turning him on. He wasn’t that pathetic. She looked like roadkill, death, a carcass on legs, and Vaughn wasn’t into that. He was attracted to beautiful women. Women with long legs, big tits, and hot—all the time. That was his kind of woman, one who rolled out of bed and was sexy before he woke up. Okay, maybe that was a little overboard since no woman had ever been in his bed longer than it took for him to fuck her, but that was beside the point. He liked his women gorgeous, that is, if he was dating… Okay, forget all that. His three-legged dog was his woman, and he didn’t need anyone else. Nor would he be attracted to anyone else.

  Yes. That was it.

  But then, he really loved Cheetos; they were a guilty pleasure. And he really loved Brie’s tits in that slouchy green sweater. He was pretty sure she wasn’t wearing a bra. And even for her size, Brie was packing some melons under that top. Wow, that sounded really sexist, and he wasn’t like that. He respected women, he did. He didn’t care, though, because he did not like Brie Soledad.

  “Up here, buddy,” she called out, and his eyes whipped to hers. “Perv.”

  He glared. “Please. Don’t flatter yourself.”

  “So you deny staring at my tits? Trying to figure out if I have a bra on?”

  His glare stayed in place. He wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of being on to him. “No, actually, I was trying to figure out how you got a Cheeto in your hair.”

  “By staring at my tits?” she asked dryly, and he threw his hands up in frustration.

  “Good Lord, enough with your tits.”

  “Because it’s killing you that you don’t know if I have a bra on. You’re sick, you know that?”

 
; “You’re the one bringing it up. You obviously want me to look at them. Are you that pathetic, you have to beg for attention?”

  “Coming from the league’s biggest attention-whore? That’s rich.”

  Vaughn’s eyes narrowed as Jensen drew a point in the air. “One for her.”

  “Shut up,” he spat at Jensen before looking back at the fierce spitfire that he did not care for. “Yeah, okay, what are you even doing here?”

  “Noneya!”

  “Noneya? Who even says that?”

  “Probably the same person that says ‘bookoo,’” his best friend supplied, which resulted in Vaughn glaring back at him.

  “Who asked you?”

  “Bookoo? What’s wrong with bookoo? I say that all the time,” Brie added, and Vaughn directed his distaste at her.

  “That’s my word.”

  Throwing him a dry look, she rolled her eyes. “You can’t own bookoo.”

  “Yes, I can, and I do.”

  “Then I own noneya.”

  “Keep it, ’cause no one will give you anything for it.”

  “Yes, they would,” she yelled back, but before Vaughn could say anything, Jensen was the voice of reason.

  “Okay, John and Claire, maybe we should go before one of you attacks the other.”

  Both Vaughn and Brie looked over at him, confused, before they both said at the same time, “John and Claire?”

  “Breakfast Club,” he said, as if that answered their confusion, but Vaughn had no clue what was going on. “Come on, really? I thought that was perfect for this moment.”

  “What? I’m not a princess,” Brie complained, and Vaughn finally got it. “I’m not any of them.”

  “Well, I am a rebel. With no cares,” Vaughn said with a laugh, but it died off when he realized no one else was laughing.

  “And I sure as hell don’t find him attractive or intriguing. Jesus, did you even watch the movie?” she accused with her face scrunched up.

  “Right back atcha, sweetheart.”

  “Don’t call me sweetheart.”

  “Fine.”

  “Fine.”

  “Fine.”

  “Fin—”

  “Yes! Fine. We get it,” Jensen yelled, but they were too busy glaring at each other. “Jesus, you guys are like cats and dogs.”

  “Enough with the analogies,” Vaughn shouted, breaking away from Brie’s intense gaze. “You’re not helping.”

  “Can anything help?”

  Rolling his eyes, he looked back at Brie, ready for round two, but she reached down for a box. “It’s been real, boys, but I’ve got things to do.”

  She started to move, but he stood in her way. “What are you doing?”

  “None—”

  “Don’t noneya me. Are you moving in to my building?”

  Her eyes bored into his, and he was reminded he always loved the little flecks of gold in her eyes. From afar, one would think they were just a shiny blue. But up close, they were mesmerizing, such a unique color. He had never seen eyes like hers. Not that he cared. Just saying, they were pretty and all. Rolling said gorgeous eyes, she said, “This isn’t ‘your’ building.”

  “I was the first Assassin to move in here. I told Elli about the building when it was up for sale, and she bought it because of me. Because I’m her favorite.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Is that what you tell yourself to sleep at night?”

  “No, I know that by the bed of money I roll around in every night with a bucket of fried chicken and biscuits she made me.”

  “You’re disgusting.”

  “And you’re a brat.”

  Dropping the box, she stepped around it to go nose-to-chest with him. What? She was fucking short. Looking down at her, he held her gaze as she yelled, “I’m a brat? You are the king of crybaby brats! You cry if you don’t get your way.”

  He balked. “I’ve never cried in front of you!”

  She laughed, her little chin tipped up, and if he didn’t hate her, he’d find her incredibly sexy at the moment. There was something about her ballbusting ways that he found intriguing and really made him wonder why she was like that. But before he could give in to his curiosity, she was running her mouth. “I didn’t score a goal, wah, wah, wah. My team didn’t pass me the puck, wah, wah, wah. We didn’t win, wah, wah, wah. I haven’t been laid because I’m a fucking prick, wah, wah, wah.”

  His eyes darkened as they went to slits. “Is that your awful impression of me?”

  “Yes,” she said simply, and Vaughn ignored the snickering of his best friend beside him. Reaching out, he punched Jensen in the chest.

  Okay, maybe he didn’t ignore him very well.

  As his best friend wheezed, Vaughn said, “At least I wah, wah, wah about important things.” Bending down to taunt her, he saw her eyes go wide before they darkened in fury as he said, “I’m Brie Soledad, and the big ol’ mean hockey player ruined my interview because my questions are bullshit and he made me look bad. So I’m gonna run to the owner and cry to her so she’ll fine him. Oh, I’ll show him, wah, wah, wah.”

  She gasped, her face turning red as she hollered, “You’re damn right, and you deserved that fine. You’re an asshole.”

  “And you’re a poor excuse for a reporter. Do your own reporting. Don’t let people do it for you so you can just be the pretty face.”

  “Oh, that’s real from the team’s ‘Mr. Sexy,’ who auctions himself off for the greater good of the foundation. We all know you do it for the attention because you think you’re so hot.”

  “I am hot.”

  “You’re nauseating.”

  “Well, I guess one could get nauseated with my cock so far down their throat.”

  He’d wanted to stun her, but her eyes never left his. “You mean at the sight, right?”

  “No, sweetheart, they gasp at the size of me.”

  “Because you’re so small?”

  “Oh, baby, there is nothing small about me. The only small thing in this hall is you.”

  She was unaffected as she said, very calmly, “I mean, with your ego in the room, how can anything compare?”

  He had no retort. Nothing. Which was very unusual for Vaughn Johansson. He always had a comeback, but Brie Soledad had stunned him. Silence stretched between them as their eyes stayed locked, their breathing erratic and time standing still. Something flashed in her eyes—heat, fury, need, maybe a mixture of all three, he wasn’t sure—but he couldn’t decide if she wanted to kiss him or knock his teeth out.

  Or, again, both. It was really a toss-up at that moment. That was, until Jensen stepped between them, putting his hand on Vaughn’s chest before looking back at Brie. “Well, this has been fun, kids. But it’s obvious you two can’t play nice, and it’s time for a time-out. Let’s go, JoJo. I’m hungry.”

  “Yeah, JoHo, why don’t you go on?”

  “Oh, so clever.”

  “Well, being smart has its advantages.”

  “You’re smart because you switched a letter in my nickname? Do you call yourself smart when you read the card that has the whack-ass questions on it for me?”

  “Oh, fuck you.”

  “You wish.”

  “Nope. Actually, I’d rather take it up the ass from an elephant than ever be near you.”

  Again, she’d stunned him as she reached for the box and stood up. When her breasts moved with the sweater, he knew she had no bra on, and man, he wanted to say something about it, but he refrained. Which he was very proud of himself for. When he noticed she struggled with the box, he knew his mother was looking down and cursing him at that moment. But he wouldn’t dare lift a finger for this woman. Plus, why didn’t she have help? Or hire a company. Why was she doing it all herself?

  Why did he care?

  “Don’t hurt yourself, sweetheart.”

  Man, he was an asshole.

  Looking up at him, she glared. “A gentleman would offer help.”

  With a devilish smile covering his lips, he said,
“I’m no gentleman.”

  She scoffed. “Well, duh, but I would have thought Jensen would help, at least. Guess dogs lie with dogs, huh?”

  Jensen’s mouth dropped before he said, “Hey. I was actually gonna help.”

  She rolled her eyes as she turned on her heel and headed inside the apartment across from his. “Sure. See ya around, neighbors.”

  They watched as she kicked the door shut and still didn’t move when they heard the lock.

  Man, she was something.

  “I really was about to help.”

  “It doesn’t matter. She’s a brat anyway.”

  “Well, yeah. Because you’re a douche to her. Shit,” Jensen complained as Vaughn walked past him. “Maybe we should bring in the rest of the boxes for her.”

  “Shit, you can, but I’m hungry and I gotta look for a new place to live ’cause I’m not living by that chick.”

  There was no way, because Vaughn still wasn’t sure what had just happened with his new neighbor. Though, he had a feeling he’d just been had by Brie Soledad. And he didn’t like that at all.

  Not one bit.

  Gasping for breath, Brie dropped her box and heard a crash inside it.

  But she didn’t care.

  What the hell just happened?

  Looking around the living room of her new apartment, which was conveniently across the hall from her archnemesis, she pressed her hand to her chest. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. All she could do was feel. Her hands were shaking, her chest was tight, and she felt like she was going to pass out. Her breath was out of control, though. She couldn’t catch it. Her body was on fire, and between her legs…the arousal down there was downright embarrassing. She had just gone three complete rounds with Vaughn Johansson, and she was pretty sure she had won.

  And as a result, she was more turned on than she had ever been in her life.

  She had no clue why. He was a jackass. Arrogant and rude! He didn’t respect her, and he sure as hell didn’t like her, yet he turned her on more than anyone else ever had in her life. She hadn’t talked to him outside of interviewing him, ever. They always kept their distance, sharing a general knowledge that they didn’t care for each other. But there was no ignoring each other in that hall. No, they had torn each other down over and over again, neither letting up, and it was mind-blowing. She had never done that a day in her life. She was usually very kind and loving, but Vaughn brought out a side of her that she didn’t even know she had.