TheEnforcer_Kobo

by Steph

  She wondered what he’d do if she said exactly what was on her mind. Not that she would. She loved her job and would do nothing to jeopardize it. But still…

  “I guess I can understand your position.” He shrugged. “Lot of these guys are kids. Too unstable, don’t really know what to do with a woman. You need an older guy, one who knows what he wants.”

  Her lips twitched and she had to work hard to keep a straight face. She didn’t want to encourage him. Couldn’t encourage him because even though she might want to play with this man, she couldn’t allow herself to. She had to remind herself that she wasn’t charmed by the whole alpha-male thing.

  “So you think I have daddy issues?”

  His face screwed up in a grimace. “Jesus, I hope not. I’ve met your dad.” For a second, she thought he might add something, but whatever he was thinking, he kept to himself. “No, hon. I mean you need a guy who knows how to make you scream his name while he’s going down on you.”

  Oh my god.

  She blinked and her lips parted but she had no idea what would come out so she quickly snapped them shut. She should be offended. Should tell him she didn’t appreciate his lewd comments.

  Instead, her thighs clenched again and her gut hollowed as heat exploded through her.

  It took her several long seconds before she could get her brain to reset. Hopefully, he’d think she was pissed off and not turned on.

  She was still trying to think of what to say when he continued.

  “You sure you don’t want to get that drink?”

  No, she wasn’t sure, damn him. Her resolution was fading fast.

  His steady gaze caught and held hers until she felt like she couldn’t breathe.

  Swallowing hard, she deliberately looked down at her keyboard, filed her notes and shut down her computer. She’d finish at home tonight. Or tomorrow morning. Her dad would wait.

  Right now, she needed to get out of her office before she did or said something she couldn’t take back.

  “I need to get going, Mr. MacDonald. If you have nothing else to say…”

  She was proud of the way her voice held steady, even if nothing else was. Her hands had a slight tremble and her thighs quivered. And she was trying her damnedest to ignore what was going on internally.

  He shrugged, as if he hadn’t just made her panties wet. “I guess not. At least not now. Come on, I’ll walk you to your car.”

  She wanted to tell him no but he’d probably get the idea that he’d had an effect on her.

  He had. He just didn’t need to know it.

  She gave him a small smile. “Sure. Just let me get my things together.”

  Standing, she grabbed her coat off the hook behind her desk and swiped her tote off the floor. She’d already switched out her low heels for boots. It was January in Pennsylvania and there’d been snow on the ground for the past week.

  And unlike most of the other women who worked here, she wore a skirt. She didn’t go out on the ice so there was no danger of slipping and embarrassing the hell out of herself, and it presented a more professional image, something she was very careful to cultivate. She had an endgame and she did everything she could to ensure she got there.

  Will stood by the door, tall and imposing, watching her with that slight grin.

  She couldn’t help herself. She stopped beside him, her gaze caught on the bruise already darkening on his chin. He also had a slight cut above his eye, and his forehead still bore the marks from his helmet.

  She was used to seeing the guys like this, battered and bruised. Will’s chin would be all sorts of different colors tomorrow and he probably had a few on his body she couldn’t see.

  Her free hand clenched into a fist in an attempt to keep from touching him.

  She lost that battle.

  His gaze locked with hers as she raised her hand and ran her index finger along his jaw, just below the bruise. The muscles in his jaw clenched but he didn’t flinch away, and that glint in his eye got hotter until she thought she might have to look away.

  “Does it hurt?”

  He didn’t answer right away. When he did, she swore his voice had dropped at least an octave. “It hurts. Just not there.”

  She raised her brows, trying to corral a smile. “You took a couple of hard hits to the boards tonight. I’m sure at your age, it takes you a little longer to recover.”

  She knew exactly what she was saying and wondered how he’d take it. Would he play or take offense?

  His mouth spread in a wide grin and she had her answer.

  “Now you’re just being mean.” Raising one hand, he caught hers before she could draw away, bringing her index finger closer to his mouth. “And you should know I’m not one to let a slight go unchallenged.”

  Before she could say anything else, he tugged her hand even closer and bit the tip of her finger.

  It didn’t hurt. It stung a little but it did worse damage internally. Her sex clenched against a wave of desire so fierce, she had to bite her tongue against a gasp.

  And when he sucked on the tip of her finger and flicked at it with his tongue, she had to swallow hard because, oh my god, her mouth was watering.

  Damn, damn, damn. How could you be so stupid?

  This was exactly where she shouldn’t be. Not this close to him, with her damn finger in his mouth and his tongue making her want him to use it somewhere other than her finger.

  Thank god he couldn’t read her mind because if he could…

  In the next second, her hand was free but his lips had covered her mouth.

  Her breath froze in her lungs, her body poised for…what?

  She had no idea because the heat of his kiss had seeped through her lips and into her bloodstream, making her sizzle from the inside out.

  Damn him.

  His mouth moved over hers with a burning passion that shot through her blood. Her hands itched to grab his shoulders and pull him closer but she knew she shouldn’t. She should push him away.

  Then his hands landed on her shoulders and she shivered, sensation rushing through her like electricity. Combined with his lips moving over hers, playing with her, he coaxed her into a response she knew she shouldn’t give.

  And yet…

  Her lips softened under his, parted slightly, and her traitorous tongue slipped by to flick at his lips.

  A deep rumble sounded in his chest and his hands slid from her shoulders to her back, where he only had to apply a little pressure to bring her closer.

  She took that first step and he took the opening and ran with it. His hands spread across her back, pressing her tight against his broad chest. She tilted her head up at a sharper angle, giving him more access to her mouth. Which he took immediately.

  He kissed her harder now, his tongue slipping between her lips to tangle with hers. His taste, warm and masculine, exploded in her mouth and she sucked him in, giddy with triumph when he groaned and his hands spread across her back to pull her even closer.

  Her tote fell to the floor. She didn’t remember releasing it but now she had both hands free to grab his shoulders and hold tight.

  Which was apparently exactly what he wanted.

  As soon as her fingers curled into firm muscle, he shifted the kiss into overdrive, twisting his head to get an even better angle.

  He attacked her mouth with such deliberate intent, she wanted to urge him to let loose. But the still-sane part of her brain telling her this was crazy held her back.

  Instead, she let him explore her mouth at his own pace and tried not to enjoy the hell out of it. Which she did anyway.

  Because, oh my god, the man could kiss. He didn’t let her up for air except for small hurried breaths that left her only half-satisfied, her fingers digging into his shoulders until she was afraid she might actually hurt him.

  He didn’t seem to mind, just shifted the angle of his mouth so he could take even more.

  Her breathing came even heavier now, as the ache in her gut began to spread l
ower. She wanted to rub her breasts against him, wanted to press her hips against his and feel just how much he wanted her.

  Because according to this kiss, he did. She wanted to lean back and look down, see just how much of that old saying was true about a guy and the size of his feet. Because she’d seen Will’s skates and they were huge.

  And it had been a damn long time since she’d kissed a guy who made her want to stick her hands down his pants on the first date.

  Hell, this wasn’t even a date.

  They were kissing. In her office. In the arena where they both worked.

  Her eyes snapped open and she broke away. To his credit, he let her. He released her immediately but he didn’t back off. All she could hear was their heavy breathing and the sound of the heating system as it kicked in.

  Blinking up at him, she carefully removed her hands from his shoulders and took a step back.

  “I need to get home.”

  “Yeah, it’s getting late and I’ve got to be up for practice tomorrow.”

  Blinking at his immediate acquiescence, she watched with wide eyes as he bent. Her heart sped up as she thought he was going to kiss her again but he kept going until he’d snagged her coat off the floor.

  Her cheeks heated but she told herself he wouldn’t notice. She should’ve known she’d be wrong. His gaze narrowed when he towered over her again, staring down at her.

  “Jess—”

  “Could you give me a hand with that?”

  She turned, giving him her back, then glanced over her shoulder at him. When he didn’t immediately help her into her coat, she raised her eyebrows.

  That put the slight grin back on his face and he made a show of shaking out her coat and sliding it up her outstretched arms.

  The thick woolen material immediately made her too warm but she’d be out in the cold soon enough.

  Then maybe she’d stick her head in a snowbank just to point out how stupid she’d been.

  “Thank you.”

  Without waiting for him to respond, she grabbed her tote off the floor and headed for the exit. He followed at her heels, his long legs eating up way more real estate than hers did with each step.

  Since they were the only ones left on this floor as far as she should tell, she dug her keys out of her tote and locked the office before heading for the stairwell down to the entrance into the side parking lot.

  Will followed at her back, silently stalking her.

  Her brain continued to buzz with white noise. Sleep would probably be a no-show tonight. Jesus, she’d been so stupid.

  Okay, maybe not stupid. Just… No, stupid was definitely the right word.

  Christ, she’d have to fix this.

  Tomorrow.

  Tonight, her brain kept skipping back to that kiss.

  Luckily, they ran into no one, the only sound in the building the compressors firing up and rumbling. The evening security guard was probably making rounds so there was no one at the door when they reached it.

  Stopping with her hand on the door, she straightened her back and stared up at him.

  “This can’t happen again. It was a mistake.”

  His eyebrows rose and that glint was back in his eyes. “By ‘this,’ I assume you mean that kiss.”

  She swallowed a sigh. “You know that’s exactly what I mean.”

  He shrugged like it hadn’t meant a damn thing to him. “Sure, if that’s how you want to play it.”

  Her brows lifted. Seriously? He wasn’t going to give her a hassle? He’d just kissed her like he’d wanted to strip her naked and lay her out on her desk and it hadn’t meant a damn thing to him?

  Oh god. She was losing it. She should be happy she’d gotten off so easily, not pissed that he wasn’t going to fight for her.

  Taking a deep breath, she nodded, even though she wanted to stick her finger in his side and jab him.

  “Fine. Good night, Mr. MacDonald.”

  His grin was back. “See you tomorrow, Miss Jess.”

  Her teeth gritted at his tone. A little mocking, a whole lot of teasing. “Not if I see you first” was on the tip of her tongue but she managed to bite it back. How juvenile would that have been?

  She was at her car when she heard him say, “But that was no damn mistake. And you won’t be able to hide from me forever.”

  She turned to gape at him but he was already hauling himself into his Jeep Cherokee. He started the engine then waited until she got into her Subaru and drove away before he followed her out of the parking lot.

  Chapter Four

  “Damn, that looks nasty, even worse than yesterday. Hope you aren’t planning to get laid tonight after the game. Women’ll take one look at you and run in the other direction. We’ll have to put a bag over your head if you come out with us after the game.”

  Will gave Justin the finger as he headed for the freezer to grab one of the many icepacks all hockey players kept there.

  “Does it hurt as bad as it looks?”

  Yeah, it still hurt like a bitch and he’d already downed three ibuprofen. “Nah, it’s fine.”

  Justin shrugged and went back to shoveling scrambled eggs into his mouth. It was eight a.m. Friday morning and they had to be at the arena by nine-thirty to get ready for practice at ten.

  “Man, practice was rough yesterday but considering the last two games, I thought Coach would be a lot tougher.” Justin sounded like he still had a mouth full of eggs. “He seems to like you, though. Didn’t give you much shit for that fight with Mason Wednesday night.”

  Sitting at the table holding the ice pack to his jaw, Will let Justin ramble. And Jesus, the guy could talk. Stream of consciousness had nothing on him. But while Justin allowed his brain to unwind, it gave Will a little time to think about Jess.

  He hadn’t seen her at all yesterday. After practice, he’d made up some excuse to go to her office, hoping to catch her alone for a few minutes.

  He’d been looking forward to it, almost as much as he’d been looking forward to getting back on the ice and working out the kinks from the game the night before.

  But she hadn’t been there. Her intern had been happy to tell her she wasn’t going to be in until later that afternoon because of sponsorship meetings.

  The crushing sense of loss he’d felt when he’d realized he wasn’t going to see her had stopped him in his tracks for several seconds.

  He’d talked to her twice, for Christ’s sake.

  Yeah, and you already know she’s one-of-a-kind.

  “So the game’s probably gonna get chippy tonight.” Justin stood, snapping Will’s attention back to the conversation. “I think Mason’s gonna be in your face most of the game. Gotta get my stuff together. You wanna drive in together?”

  With a sigh, Justin tossed the ice pack back into the freezer and started to make his own breakfast. “Sounds good.”

  At least that would stop him from doing anything stupid. Like asking Jess out to lunch and getting shot down.

  But even as he ate breakfast and drove Justin to practice, he couldn’t stop thinking about that damn kiss.

  He wondered if she’d thought about it as much as he had the past day.

  Had he come on too strong?

  Yeah, probably. He was like a bull in a china shop most of the time, but he’d never seen much point in pretending you didn’t want something or someone when, really, they were all you could think about.

  And she hadn’t said no. If she had, he would’ve backed the hell away immediately. Instead, she’d kissed him back.

  Had he misread her response?

  He didn’t think so but he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to women so anything was possible.

  But… No, she’d kissed him back. He hadn’t been wrong about that.

  Christ almighty, he didn’t need this. Not now. Didn’t need to be attracted to a woman at the exact moment he got to a new team, one with as many expectations as this one held.

  Then again, he wasn’t getting
any younger and why the hell should he deny himself a woman he wanted? Was he destined to be alone for the rest of this life?

  And why the fuck was he even thinking about this anyway?

  He had to get ready for practice.

  An hour later, he was about to skate out onto the ice when Coach called his name from the hall outside the locker room.

  Will stopped, waiting for Coach to catch up to him.

  “How’s the face?”

  Will shrugged. “Doesn’t hurt.”

  Coach’s mouth moved in a slight grin. “Glad to hear it. Don’t get a matching one tonight. No stupid penalties. I need you to play smart. Stay out of the box. You and Justin played well together Wednesday and I expect the same from you tonight. But I want more leadership out there. I want more effort.”

  “You’ll get it.”

  A few guys passed them on the way to the ice, keeping their gazes trained straight ahead. Only Cary made eye contact as he passed. No smirk but definitely some kind of message there.

  He was going to have to deal with Cary soon.

  “I know I will.” Coach smacked him on the shoulder. “See you on the ice.”

  Coach didn’t wait for a response. He headed out through the gate and Will sucked in a deep breath before he followed.

  Time to get his head in the game. And a certain woman out of his head.

  * * * * *

  Jess found herself in the box that night, watching the end of the third period.

  Watching one certain player, in particular. After she’d spent all of yesterday telling herself she needed to stay away from Will MacDonald. Far away.

  Damn him.

  There was something about him that made every single female hormone in her body sit up and take notice.

  What she couldn’t figure out was why. Yes, he was older than most of the other guys and yeah, that was appealing. He had a maturity that was sexy as hell.

  And when she watched him skate… She couldn’t help but imagine watching all those muscles work while he was naked.

  She wanted to run her hands over that broad chest and down those strong thighs and over that tight ass—

  Shit. She had to stop or the guys sitting here with her would think she was about to spontaneously combust. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire and if anyone looked over at her right now, they’d want to know what was wrong.