by Joanne Rock
Because this night wouldn’t be truly behind him until he had Jennifer in his arms again. Until she’d forgiven him for trying to break up with her and nearly getting her killed.
It was going to be a long night.
* * *
THE PHANTOMS MADE BIG headlines in the local press.
Vincent Girard couldn’t think of anyone who would be more interested in all the news about the team than Chelsea. Or so he told himself as he stood with a folded paper under one arm, his finger hovering over the buzzer to apartment 2B. He clutched a tray from Arnie’s Coffee in his hand, knowing he probably looked desperate to show up on her doorstep at…7:15 a.m., according to his watch.
Yeah, well. Go big, or go home. He hadn’t waited patiently for Chelsea to come around this season only to lose her in a moment of brainlessness. The memory of her curled against him on the plane had kept him awake all night, reminding him how close he’d come to making her his. How could she have ever thought she wouldn’t be good enough to meet his parents when she’d accomplished so much with so little?
He stared up at the neat brick building and jabbed the intercom button with new resolve.
The next twelve seconds felt longer than a penalty kill. Finally, the speaker on the wall of her building crackled to life.
“Hello?” Her voice sounded vaguely wary, but wide-awake. He’d seen her often enough around morning practices to know she was an early riser.
Like him.
“Chelsea.” Just saying her name felt good. “It’s Vinny. I know you probably don’t—”
The buzzer on the security door vibrated to life, admitting him. He yanked it open before she changed her mind, shocked that she would allow him into her home before he even got out an apology. He knew how much importance she placed on privacy. Security.
Taking the steps two at a time, he kept the coffee tray level, careful not to spill any. He didn’t need to look at the numbers to find 2B because a door creaked open at the end of the hallway before he reached the top of the stairs.
She stood in the archway, hair still damp from a shower. In short sleeves, she revealed the little tattoos of his teammates’ numbers on her arms and he wondered if he’d see his somewhere. Her knit pajama pants were covered in blue Phantoms logos. Even better, she wore a white T-shirt with his number on it, an item sold in the gift shop where she worked. That had to be a good sign, right?
“I brought you coffee,” he started, holding out his offering as he reached her braided front mat in quick strides. “The newspaper, too. There’s a lot of stuff about the team and the documentary debut. Plus Axel announced—”
“Vinny, I’m so sorry I flipped out about meeting your parents.” She ignored the coffee and the paper, her eyebrows furrowed with worry he wished he’d never put there.
But oh, man, this felt like a second chance to him. Relief flooded through him so fast he thought he’d better sit down soon.
“It’s my fault for getting ahead of myself. I’m the one who’s sorry.” He peered past her into her apartment. “Do you want to get dressed and go for a walk or something? I didn’t mean to invade your space or anything—”
Her arms were around his neck before he finished. Soft, cinnamon-flavored lips met his, stirring a hunger he didn’t think he’d ever fill. The feel of her overwhelmed him, bombarding his senses as her soft breasts molded to his chest and the clean scent of her shampoo drifted to his nose. His breath evaporated for a long minute, and when it returned, his lungs dragged in the air so fast he felt light-headed.
Chelsea was kissing him.
Beyond the tangible, physical evidence of his personal goddess against him, he also had the knowledge that she still cared. That she wanted him, too, even if she wasn’t ready for all of him yet. Knowing that damn near brought him to his knees.
“Chelsea.” He levered back, breaking the kiss. “I’m dying to hold you, sweetheart. But I need to set down the coffee.”
Her passion-dazed eyes fired him up like nothing else. She blinked slowly, her lips swollen from their kisses.
“Of course.” She took the paper from under his arm and drew him inside. “I didn’t mean to throw myself at you. I don’t know what came over me.”
He locked the door behind them, setting the coffee on a stand near the sofa. He had the vague impression of a homey, warm apartment that smelled like wood polish and lemon. But mostly, he only had eyes for her, his heartbeat pounding in his chest at being allowed inside when he’d been worried she wouldn’t even let him apologize.
“I hope it comes over you again,” he confided. “Often.” He had to force himself not to grab her by the waist and tug her back into his arms.
A warm light glittered in her eyes and he could imagine the way she might flirt with him one day when she was more comfortable. When he’d won her trust completely.
“I think it might.” She stood in the middle of the living room near a cream-colored futon covered in a bright blanket. “I don’t have much experience with men. But now that I’ve given myself a chance to really consider what it would be like to be with you, I’ve been preoccupied with…” She made a vague gesture with her hand. “The idea of us together. Um. Intimately.”
He’d taken slap shots to the face that stunned him less.
“Damn.” Surprise and red-hot desire joined forces to knock the breath out of him again and he lowered himself to the nearest seat, which just happened to be a coffee table. “You can’t imagine what that does to me.”
“In a good way, though, right?” The worried note crept into her voice. “When I say I’m inexperienced, I mean really inexperienced. As in virginal. So, you might have to spell some things out for me. Although, obviously, I know the basics.”
Possessiveness tightened inside him. He was seized with the urge to pull her into the bedroom and give her an all-day education. Except he knew she wasn’t ready. The incident two nights ago had reinforced the knowledge that he had to take things slow. Careful. Because Chelsea was going to be his forever mate. The woman he loved. The woman he would marry one day.
She’d already given him a second chance. Not for all the world would he spoil it.
“Everything about you pleases me,” he assured her, rising to his feet. “You don’t need to worry about anything because when it happens between us, it’s going to be the best. But there’s no rush because I’m willing to wait however long it takes.”
He ran his hands over her shoulders, liking the way his jersey number looked on her slender body. He felt her relax and the color of her eyes deepened. Somehow, he knew the slower approach was the right decision.
“Okay.” She nodded, agreeing to take things slow. “But first I want to show you something and I hope you don’t think it’s too forward of me in light of what we’ve decided about waiting.”
Visions of what she might display had his mouth watering. His body so hard and his skin so tight that he could only nod. Yeah, waiting wasn’t going to be a cakewalk, but for her…he’d manage. He swallowed hard, preparing himself.
“I think it’s fate that we ended up dating,” she said, shuffling closer so they stood mere inches apart. “Because you were my first—” she tugged on the V-neck of her T-shirt, sliding the fabric aside to reveal more creamy skin just above her left breast “—tattoo.”
Words escaped him. The combination of a sensual offering and seeing his number scrawled over her heart solidified every instinct he’d had toward her from the first day they’d met.
Slowly, he lowered his head to her breast, giving her time to pull back. She didn’t. Instead, she arched toward him, lifting herself closer to his lips. With his blood pounding in his ears, he kissed her there, inhaling the fragrance of her faint citrus perfume. Then, knowing she wanted more, he licked her lightly. Gently. Teased a sigh from her and a groan from him.
But no more. Not yet.
“I’m so crazy about you, Chelsea,” he confided, wanting to bare his heart, too. “I always have been.”
>
“And I’m your biggest fan,” she whispered back, falling into his arms the way she had a million times in his dreams.
* * *
“I NEED TO SEE HER RIGHT now,” Axel Rankin demanded outside the room where Jennifer had been questioned by the police. “She’s answered more than enough questions and she’s here of her own free will. I’m taking her home.”
Inside the tiny room where she’d given her statement to a nice female police officer, Jennifer smiled. She could hear Axel in the hallway, demanding her release.
She hadn’t seen him after they were taken in to make formal complaints against the biker gang. During the night, she’d had a powwow with a Murphy family lawyer to be sure her rights were respected throughout the process. Kyle had been in to check on her at various times, and he’d told her Axel hadn’t been arrested, thank God. But with all the paperwork to sign, she realized she’d been here for so long the sun was already up. She’d been finished for nearly an hour, she’d just needed to check in with her boss. He’d left her a million messages after the good ratings news about the hockey documentary. The show had been a hit.
“Colin,” she told her boss over the phone as Axel charged into the narrow room. “I’m thrilled about the ratings and I’m glad we’re in good shape for next week. But I’ve got an important meeting that I need to take. I’ll have to call you back.”
She disconnected the call, knowing that Axel mattered more than her micromanaging boss.
“Morning,” she chirped nervously, unsure how to read his mood. The last time they’d spoken privately, they’d been crouched behind a bar while bullets flew around them and he’d been angry with her for following him to the warehouse.
Was he still upset? More important, did he still think they ought to part ways?
“How are you?” he asked, polite but somehow too formal.
Was it her imagination or was he more distant today? He wore a clean blue button-down and khakis, his shirt open at the collar with a gray T-shirt underneath. Kyle must have brought him clothes during the night after Axel had called him.
“Fine. They’re done with me, I was just checking in with work.” Her eyes raked over him as she remembered how he’d planted himself between her and the flying bullets, protecting her when she’d been too shell-shocked to understand what was happening. His big, strong body had sheltered her.
Would it be the last time he touched her?
“Good. My brother left a car for us so I can take you home.”
She nodded, wishing he’d wrap her in his arms. Kiss her. Tell her they could go back to the way things were before he’d broken her heart and told her they weren’t meant to be together.
“Have you seen the paper today?” He pointed toward the copy on the small table in the interview room as she gathered her things to head home.
“I saw you must have sent out a press release about your experience with the Destroyers as a kid.” The article had been short, but Kyle had told her they were eager to publicize Axel’s version of his past before the news leaked about Jaako’s arrest and attempted blackmail. “I thought it was well-handled.”
Her cell phone chimed and she turned it off, not wanting to disrupt their conversation.
“The Murphys have great connections.” They walked out of the interview room, and he gestured toward the front entrance, holding doors for her on their way out. “Kyle had everything ready for me to make a formal announcement last night. I think it was his way of apologizing for letting you out of his sight at the viewing party.”
In the parking lot, he pointed to the car his brother had left for them, a midnight-blue Audi Coupe in keeping with the showroom vehicles his family seemed to favor.
“He really didn’t have a chance to keep me there since I sneaked out right behind you.”
“You’re too impulsive,” he muttered, but there wasn’t much heat in the words. He opened the car door for her but she didn’t get inside.
She put her hands on her hips, bracing herself to stand up to this strong-willed man whom she desperately wanted in her life.
“Maybe you’re too stubborn, or you would have let me help you come up with a better plan in the first place.”
Sheltered from the station’s view by a police van, Axel reached for her as they stood toe to toe. He sketched a touch along her jaw that melted her insides even though she wasn’t nearly done giving him a piece of her mind.
“Don’t you get it?” He spoke to her tenderly, his words as soft as his touch. “I needed to protect you. I nearly had a heart attack when you showed up there last night.”
“I didn’t think they’d catch me,” she admitted, knowing she’d messed up. “But if I had to do it all over again…” She shrugged. “I don’t know what I would do differently.”
“You realize how much that scares the hell out of me?” His blue eyes warmed to a darker shade and she wished she could stare into them forever.
“So don’t get into trouble anymore,” she ventured, bringing up the idea of a future. “And I won’t have to bail you out.”
His fingers hesitated where he touched her.
“I’ve got a better idea.” His squared jaw warned her he would be digging his heels in on this point.
“Try me.” She wanted to turn her cheek toward his hand and place a kiss in his palm. Actually, she’d be content to kiss him anywhere.
“How about you stay with me and then neither of us will get into trouble without the other?” He stroked his fingers through her hair, combing gently. Slowly.
“Stay…with you?” she repeated, wanting to be sure she got this right.
A car backed out of a spot near them, but they ignored it, wrapped up in the moment.
“Yes.” He twined a lock of hair around his finger, his gaze probing hers. “You could find social causes to film in Philadelphia as easily as you can in New York. And if you decide to traipse through gang terrain or get on the wrong side of some corrupt government official, I’ll be there to make sure no one hassles you.”
Pleasure sparked, a warm hopefulness that lit her up from within.
“My own personal defenseman.” She pretended to mull that over, knowing she wasn’t going anywhere if Axel Rankin wanted her to stay. “You could help keep me safe while I fix the problems in the world, one film at a time.”
“It seems like fitting penance for a former gang member.” He was only half joking, she knew.
No matter that he’d only been a kid at the time, Axel carried guilt in his heart from those days in Helsinki. He didn’t know it, but healing that guilt was going to be one of her secret causes. He was too good of a man to be weighed down by those dark days.
“No.” Shaking her head, she stepped closer, needing to feel that connection between them after how scared she’d been for him the night before. “It seems like fitting penance for telling me we didn’t belong together.”
A police car peeled out of the station with the siren on, the sound piercing at such near distance, but that didn’t begin to faze her after what she and Axel had gone through last night.
“I didn’t mean that,” he admitted, folding his arms around her waist and pulling her close. “Although you can’t deny you’ve had reservations about my lifestyle.”
Awareness simmered in her blood and she breathed in his scent. She wondered how much room there was in the backseat of an Audi.
“For a so-called hockey goon, you sure are good at reading people.”
“I’m only good at reading you.” He placed a kiss at her temple, a soft slide of his lips along her hairline. “That’s because I can’t ever take my eyes off you.”
“Well, I think we can work around our lifestyles, don’t you?” She would never be a trophy wife with a standing spa appointment or a home on the cover of design magazines. “I could probably be swayed by the benefits of a bigger house and maybe you’d see the light and buy a hybrid.”
His laughter rumbled through his chest and warmed hers. She loope
d her arms around his neck, knowing she’d never let him go.
“Sounds like you’ve already got a plan.”
“Just ask anyone who knows me. I’m a problem solver.”
“Speaking of which, do you think your sister would be interested in trying on a Philadelphia school for size?”
The question stopped her. Made her heart trip up its rhythm.
“Honestly?” She wasn’t sure her sister would agree, but the fact that he’d offered…wow.
“I like big families.” The certainty in his voice told her they were going to agree on the important things in life. The things that really mattered. “And no one knows better than me that you don’t have to be born into a family to feel that connection.”
Tears warmed her eyes unexpectedly and she was grateful for the cool spring breeze that helped her keep them at bay. Even if she couldn’t convince her sister to come for school, she could picture Julia staying with them for the summers.
“Thank you,” she whispered, choked up and ready to fall into that fancy car with him. Cover him with kisses.
“Anything for you.” He captured her lips and she felt her knees turn to jelly.
She wanted nothing more than to lose herself in that kiss, to dream of forever with her sexy hockey player, the stubborn Finn who was more than a match for her.
But an abrupt honk from a nearby car interrupted the sweet heat flowing in her veins.
“Jen? Axel?” Bryce the cameraman shouted at them through the rolled-down window of a white Ford rental sedan, his voice an unexpected intrusion. “Sorry to startle you. You must have your phones turned off.”
“With good reason, dude. We’re kind of busy here.” Axel tucked her closer. “What’s up?”
Bryce grinned. “A lady from the features page is at the practice rink. Stacy someone or other. She wants to do a special about how Ax’s life turned around after the gang years. Colin thought it would be good to jump on this to boost the ratings—”
“Not right now.” Jennifer didn’t want to share Axel, no matter how good the publicity might be. They’d have time enough to make sure he talked to at-risk teens in the area. Told his story in places that might save other kids from making the same mistakes. For now, she needed him.