She’d been fucking perfect.
The memories had me stroking one out and cursing myself for changing my mind at the last minute last night. Sonofabitch, I was a fucking idiot. Unfortunately, as I’d thought about bringing that bunny back to the room, a sick feeling had settled in my guts. I’d turned to the nameless brunette after buying her a drink and bowed out, going back to the room alone.
I’d been sleeping by the time McGregor returned with his piece of ass. Thank fuck.
Wrapping the towel around my waist, I stepped out into the room. As soon as I was out, he jumped into the shower to wash the stench of strange off his dick. Fuck, I hope he used a condom. The room reeked of sex, and I found myself curling my nose in disgust as I pulled my clothes on.
“Wait for me! I’ll be ready in five,” he promised as he dried off and threw on clothes.
“Jesus, why? Do you need me to hold your hand? Hurry up, or we’ll both be in deep shit,” I said as I moved to wait by the door with my suitcase in tow. It was my turn to tap my wrist like I was tapping a watch. Except I didn’t wear one very often. Too much of a hassle.
We made it downstairs in time to grab some fruit and a bagel, then load up. I was pissed because I’d wanted some protein, but it would have to wait until we landed in Boston.
“You’re a dick,” I told him as I dropped into my seat and took a vicious bite of the apple.
“But you love me and you know it,” he said as he grinned and blew me a kiss.
When we hit the ice for practice, McGregor was dragging. Coach was all over his ass. Served him right. I chuckled evilly as I too gave him shit.
Shoving thoughts of an off-limits beauty from my mind, I threw myself into practice. There would be time to obsess over her later.
When I got home, I was going to have to up my game.
“Calling All Angels”—Train
“And the Amurs lose their first game of the season. Actually, since preseason started, they’ve been on fire. After their performance last night, we expected them to fight a little harder to hold on to their mini streak. They seemed tired tonight—a little off their game.” The commentator was running his mouth as I watched Alex and his teammates sullenly skate off the ice. I knew they were upset, but it had been a nail biter of a game. They’d lost in overtime, which I hadn’t even known was a thing for hockey.
Then again, I didn’t know a lot about hockey, period. No pun intended.
Chewing on my lip, I wondered if he’d call me again. The night before, he’d seemed upset that I was going out, yet he was on the road. I’d heard enough stories at work about the things that happened when they were on the road.
My eyes wandered over to where my phone sat face up on the coffee table.
“You’ve become quite the little hockey fan,” my dad said as he stood from the couch where we’d been watching the game with my uncle. They’d started watching the games after my uncle took his job as the team’s lead counsel, but I never did.
“Well, I figure it makes sense to know a little about the franchise I work for.” I shrugged like it was no big deal and that I hadn’t been focused on one particular player.
I’d learned that Alex was a left wing, but they also called him a forward. I didn’t know exactly what any of that meant, but I was working on it. I’d also figured out that Kristoffer Halvorson was not only the team captain, he was a right wing.
I hadn’t asked him when they were coming back, but my uncle had been talking to my dad and I’d overheard they were flying to Pittsburgh tonight. It seemed like an exhausting schedule.
“Well, I’m heading to bed. I have work in the morning,” I said before kissing my dad’s cheek and then my uncle’s. If Alex called me, I didn’t want to be in the media room with them. After putting my empty cup in the dishwasher, I went upstairs to my room.
My childhood home was set off in the trees of an exclusive neighborhood in Old West Austin. My parents recently renovated the 1940s home, so my room looked nothing like it did when I was a girl, but it was still beautiful.
The nostalgic little girl in me never wanted to leave, but the pragmatic grown-ass woman knew I needed to get my own place soon. While I waited to see if Alex would call, I pulled up places to look at in the coming week.
Lost in my search, I jumped when my phone rang. His name flashed across my screen. Biker Boy. I giggled. Not wanting anyone to see his name in my phone, I’d tried to think of something off the wall to put in, and our first night came to mind.
“Hey.” I left it at that because I wasn’t sure what his mood would be like.
“Sydney.” He sighed out my name like it was prayer. That sent my stomach in a tailspin right down to my hooha. Why did this guy, of all guys, do that to me? “I can’t talk long. I’m at the airport, and we’re getting ready to fly out, but I wanted to call you.”
“Why?” It slipped out before I could think about it, and I cringed. He was already bummed; I really didn’t want to add to that. I couldn’t find it in me to be a real ass to him, but I’d done it anyway.
“Honestly? I have no idea.” He huffed out a frustrated breath. “I guess I wanted to—Fuck, I don’t know. Can I see you when we get back?”
“Really, Alex? How many times do I have to tell you I can’t? My job is important to me. I can’t risk it over a quick lay.” No matter how good it might be.
“I swear no one will ever know. I just want to see you. Maybe have a drink.” It sounded innocent enough, but our last wild night together had started with drinks. But damn, was it tempting. He was more than tempting. Dangerously so.
“I don’t know,” I hedged. The bad girl inside me was wavering, and he latched on to it like he could smell my weakening heart. The little devil on my shoulder was cheering.
“I’ll call you as soon as we land back in Austin. I’ll probably be tired, so it’ll just be one drink and to visit for a bit.” He sounded like a little boy begging, and after their loss, I wanted to cheer him up, so I caved. The angel on my shoulder did a face palm and the she-devil was slipping on her sexiest dress. Pretty sure I heard a faint bow chicka wow wow.
“Okay. One drink.” With a sigh, I prayed I wasn’t seriously fucking up. “As friends,” I added for good measure.
The smile on his face was evident in the tone of his voice. “Really? That’s great!” I heard someone call out near him that their flight was boarding. “I gotta run. We need to get out to the plane. I’ll talk to you soon.”
I gathered that meant he’d likely be calling me tomorrow and maybe after their game in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. I wondered what they did on the off day in between games on the road.
“Okay. Good luck in Pittsburgh,” I offered.
“Thanks. Watch the game?” He sounded so hopeful.
“Of course,” I replied with a wry tip of my lips.
“Cool. Later,” he said in a rush. The call ended, and I sat there feeling like I’d taken a ride in my washing machine’s spin cycle.
It was wrong to encourage him. There was too much at stake. I’d meant it when I told him my job was important to me. Not only did I love what I did, it gave me independence and kept me from being railroaded into working at my dad’s company or being married off to someone my mother deemed a good match.
Needing to talk to someone about this, I called my bestie.
“Hello, chica! You regretting not going home with that hottie? Wanna go out and look for him tonight?” I laughed at her ridiculous greeting.
“No and no. I actually needed some advice.” I exhaled heavily as I scrolled through the apartments online. Natalie had not only been my best friend all through high school, we’d both gone to TCU together. If she hadn’t moved in with her sister and her sister’s friend, I’d have gotten an apartment with her.
“Okay, girl. I’m all ears. Speak to me.”
For a moment I debated telling her my dilemma. If any of this got out, it could mean my job. That was the worrisome part. I’d looked up the actual policy
in the employee handbook. It was kind of vague for people in positions like mine. Now, if I’d been an ice girl, that would’ve been a completely different story. Weird.
“Remember the bikers from the night we got home to Austin after graduation?”
“Oh Lord, do I. I still haven’t found someone who lived up to Truth. God, why didn’t I get his number?” She sighed longingly. It was so over the top, I actually giggled.
“Well, I could probably get it for you.” I sighed myself.
“What? Shut. Up! How?” she screeched, causing me to wince and pull the phone away from my head until she stopped.
“Christ, woman. Chill.”
“You better spill whatever you had to say, because now I’m really curious. And you better get me that number. If nothing else, give him mine. Please, have mercy on a desperate girl,” she pleaded.
“Well, it turns out your guy was my guy’s brother,” I began.
“Well, duh. They’re all brothers. It’s some sort of biker thing,” she said as if I was simple. Rolling my eyes, I sighed again.
“No. As in, they are blood brothers, same momma, same daddy type brothers.”
“No shit? How did you find this out? Did he call you?” She rapid-fired questions at me. I flopped back on my pillows after setting my laptop to the side.
“Something like that. He wants to hook up again, but it could jeopardize my job. Maybe.” Staring up at my ceiling fan, I counted the boards in my tongue-in-groove ceiling. It was one of the quirky unique characteristics of our home. The open beams and painted wood ceilings were stunning.
She was silent for a heartbeat before the questions started again. “Define ‘maybe.’ And how did you come to this conclusion?”
“He’s one of the players,” I whispered before closing my eyes.
“Come again? Did you just say that sexy beast you hooked up with is not only brothers with the sexy beast I hooked up with, but he’s a professional hockey player? Because I had to have heard you wrong, honey.” She waited for my answer.
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m saying. He plays for the Austin Amurs. He’s one of their star players. He was the starting left wing tonight.” Closing my eyes and talking about him was a mistake, because I pictured him in my mind too easily.
“Shut. The. Front. Door. Are you telling me that the guy you hooked up with is Alexander Kosinski?” The volume of her voice increased with each word until she was damn near shouting.
“How do you know who he is? You never watch hockey.” A frown formed on my face. Natalie had never been big on sports either. Unless it was baseball. When Jake was playing.
“Uh, because I don’t have to know what he looks like to know his name. My sister’s roommate has the biggest crush on him and talks about him all the time. She has season tickets in the hopes that she’ll get to meet him and hook up with him one day. Wait until I tell her this. She’s gonna be livid.” Natalie chuckled with evil glee.
“You can’t tell her!” Panic shot through me at the thought of her saying anything.
“Okay, okay, chill, babe. I won’t,” she assured me. I prayed she meant it. “So what exactly is the problem?”
“Remember? He wants to hook up again,” I repeated. “Keep up, girl.”
“And that’s a problem how? You said he was incredible. And I quote, ‘best sex ever.’ So why wouldn’t you?” In the background I could hear her drumming her nails on something.
“Because they have a loose no fraternizing policy at work. Not exactly forbidden unless you’re one of the ice-girl chicks, but still frowned upon. I don’t want to risk my job.” Because I really did want to have a second round with Alex, I whined out the last sentence. It made me want to throw myself down and throw a temper tantrum like a three-year-old.
“If it’s loose, then how can they enforce that? Besides, if you’re not looking to marry the guy, why can’t you have some serious no-holds-barred, wall-banging sex and not advertise it? People have workplace affairs all the time and no one finds out.” Hearing her say it like that made it seem so much more feasible. Except I wondered if it was that little she-devil driving that train.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Well, if I were you, I’d jump on that pony and hold on for the ride. Besides the fact that he’s hot as fuck, he worked magic on your lady bits and you damn well know it. I’d enjoy that for as long as I could if I were you.” Her conviction solidified my decision.
When Alex got home, I was going to have that drink with him.
And I’d see what happened after that.
“Rocking The Boat”—Ice Nine Kills feat. Jeremy Schwartz
Stick in the air, I roared as my teammates slammed into me. I’d scored my first hat trick with the Amurs and brought our lead up by two in the third period. The celebration was short-lived as we dove back into play. A lot could happen in five minutes, and none of us wanted to lose our lead.
The Pittsburgh fans were definitely not happy, but we were riding high on cloud nine and ignored their chirping as we passed the puck. McGregor had managed to steal the puck from their center and was hauling ass back to the net. A quick pass to me, then I passed to Halvorson right as their defenseman slammed me into the boards. Halvorson passed it back to McGregor, who’d set himself up for a sweet but quick wrist shot.
“Fuck yeah!” I yelled as I embraced him and patted the top of his helmet. Everyone was smiling. Even Novacek with his missing tooth. No one gave a shit when we were on the ice. Call me vain, but I religiously wore a pretty serious mouthguard. I liked my teeth where they were—in my head.
Thankfully, we’d redeemed ourselves for the loss Sunday, but it still burned.
By the time the final buzzer sounded, Pittsburgh had scored a lucky tip-in that pissed Halvorson off because it was off his stick. Either way, we won and we were going home on a winner’s high.
Before we boarded the plane, I separated myself from the group enough to make a call to Sydney.
“Hello, Alex.” Her husky tone carried over the line and went right to my dick. That had never happened to me before. Then again, I’d never had a female I talked to on the phone besides my mom. I steered clear of relationships and commitments.
“Hey, Syd. You saw the game?” My heart jackhammered in my chest like it did right before we took to the ice. The anticipation made me jittery in a good way. It was a feeling I hadn’t been able to shake no matter how long I’d been playing.
“Yeah, I did. Y’all were on fire, and you with your first hat trick with the team. How awesome is that?” That sexy Texas drawl of hers was doing really weird things to me. Like the stupid grin on my face. Between that and the raging hard-on she gave me, I needed to turn my back to the guys.
“Look at you, learning hockey terms. And thanks, it was definitely a better game than Sunday.” I chuckled. Then I continued, “I’m sorry I didn’t get to talk much yesterday. We were tied up most of the day and then we had a team dinner that lasted way longer than I thought.” I didn’t know why I was making excuses; ordinarily, I wouldn’t give two shits. Like I said—weird.
“You don’t owe me an explanation. I told you that last night when you called.” The thing was, I’d wanted to call her as soon as I opened my eyes that morning too. She was the first thing I thought of when I woke up, and the last thing I thought of when I went to bed. That was extremely unusual for me.
“Yeah, I guess. Anyway, we’re about to fly home. I know I asked you to meet me for a drink, but it looks like it will be kind of late by the time we land. What about tomorrow after you get off work?” Even as I said the words, it seemed like a million days away. What I really wanted was to go straight to her house the minute I landed.
Jesus, I needed to get a grip. Or get laid. Maybe that’s what it was. If I could have her again, I’d get over the spell she had on me. Maybe my mind had built the experience up to be more than it was. Except as soon as I thought that, I knew I was full of shit.
“I know I said I
would,” she began, and I could tell she was getting ready to blow me off. I’d asked her too soon and given her time to talk herself out of it.
“Don’t you dare let me down. You said you’d meet up, and I’ve looked forward to that this whole road trip. It’s what drove me tonight.” I laid a little guilt on for good measure.
She sighed, and I’d have given anything to have seen her face to be able to read her better.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah. Where do you want to meet?”
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her to come to my house. McGregor called my name, and I glanced over my shoulder. They were heading out to the plane.
“Pick a place close to the arena and text it to me. We’re boarding, so I gotta run,” I didn’t want to end the call. If I’d called her earlier, I would’ve talked to her longer, but then people would’ve wondered who I was talking to. It would’ve been evident I wasn’t talking to either of my parents or my brother.
“I can do that,” she replied. “See you tomorrow.”
As I raced after the guys and took the stairs up to the plane two at a time, I couldn’t keep the smile off my face.
“What are you smiling about?” Halvorson laughed as I stepped into to cabin behind him. “You look like you just won the lottery.”
“Maybe I did,” I cryptically replied.
He rolled his eyes and shook his head before taking his seat. I grabbed a seat a few rows back from him, next to McGregor and across the aisle from Beck and Heikkinen. On the ice I thought of everyone as being on my side. We were teammates, after all, but McGregor and I had gotten pretty close. Other than my brother, he was probably my best friend since moving to Texas. Beck, Heikkenen, and Baranov were up there too.
As the plane began its ascent, I really thought I’d be too hyped up to sleep. Except the next thing I knew, I was being tapped by McGregor and I woke up to the pitch in my stomach as the wheels hit the ground.
We all said our goodbyes and climbed into our vehicles to head home. Since McGregor, Baranov, Novacek, Beck, and I all had houses in the same neighborhood, we’d carpooled with Novacek in his SUV.
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