A force to be reckoned with, on and off the ice.
The only time she’d seen that face of his entirely intimidation free was when he was holding his two-year-old son in his arms.
Count on a child to bring a man to his knees.
“Proctor, I know that you have listening issues when it doesn’t involve a hot brunette praising your prowess, but this dinner isn’t something new.”
“It doesn’t have to be a hot brunette.” Proctor shrugged. “A redhead would do just fine.”
A fire that Abby had never seen flashed in Andre’s eyes, but she only caught a glimpse of it. She was distracted by Logan who was making his way across the locker room.
“You better watch yourself,” Andre said, taking a step into Kent’s space. “And you better start paying attention, because you acting like a dick will reflect badly on the entire team.”
“Fine. Fine.” Proctor held up his hands. “Have whatever minion working under you send me the forms.”
Andre nodded before he moved off to his locker at the end of the row.
“My assistant Brooke can send them again.”
“Brooke…” Proctor trailed off. “Blonde? Long legs? Has a thing for pink lipstick?”
“Yes,” Abby said slowly, not appreciating the look in Proctor’s eyes one bit.
“Looking forward to it.”
Abby took a step back from the group, turning just in time to see Logan pass by her, a frown on his face as he headed for the showers and bathrooms behind them. She’d walked about three steps when she heard Proctor speak again, in a voice that carried easily through the room.
“You know, dealing with her would be a lot more pleasant if she was on her knees at some point during the encounter.”
Abby didn’t even have time to turn around before the thud hit her ears. When her eyes landed on the scene behind her, she froze. Logan had Proctor pinned up against the wall, his arm braced against Proctor’s chest and his face inches away from Proctor’s.
* * *
It had been a long time since Logan had been so angry that he was actually shaking with rage. A long time since he’d been so blinded by it that it had taken over his body and forced him into action.
He’d never liked Proctor, had always thought that the guy was a hot-headed, egotistical little prick. Hearing him talk about any woman like that would’ve pissed Logan off. But hearing him talk about Abby? No fucking way.
“Apologize.” The low growl that rumbled out of his chest sounded foreign to his own ears.
“Get off me.” Proctor pushed at Logan’s arm unsuccessfully.
“After you apologize. It is never okay to say something like that. Not to any woman. Not ever. Do you understand me?”
“James, I don’t give a flying fuck what you think. Get your hands off me.”
Logan shifted, grabbing the front of Kent’s shirt and pulling him off the wall before shoving him back into it. “You’re a disgusting piece of shit. You know that?”
“Logan, come on. Ease up.” Hands were on Logan’s shoulder. Hands pulling him away from the wall and forcing him to let go. “He isn’t worth it.”
“What the hell is going on in here?” A booming voice filled the room. Logan looked over as Coach Anthony Bale and two other guys in suits walked out of the office in the back. Bale’s face had reached that shade of red that meant danger… either that or Logan was just seeing the color everywhere.
His hands were shaking and he had to ball them up into fists. Probably not the best idea, though, as it made him one step closer to punching Proctor in the face.
It was then Logan realized it was Jace who had pulled him off Proctor. His friend hadn’t let go, either, still gripping Logan’s shoulders as they both continued to move backward. Andre was moving, too, now standing in the space that had been created between Logan and the biggest asshole in the room.
It didn’t take Coach Bale very long to figure out what had been going on. His gaze ran through the space before he looked between Logan and Proctor. “Fight in my locker room again and none of you are going to like what happens after. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.” Logan nodded.
“Won’t happen again,” Proctor said.
Bale didn’t say anything else as he turned around and headed back to his office, the two suited men following him. Logan turned around to find Abby standing behind him, the shock in her face evident.
He wanted so much to reach out and touch her. Wanted to pull her into his body and make it clear to every guy in this room that she wasn’t a woman to be insulted, wasn’t a woman to be messed with in any way, shape, or form. That she was his and he wouldn’t hesitate to defend her, no matter the circumstances.
It didn’t matter what Bale had said. If Proctor ever insulted Abby again he would be getting a fist in the face sooner than later, and it would be Logan doing it.
* * *
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
It was taking everything in Logan to not start screaming. But as they were in Abby’s condo and the walls weren’t all that thick, he somehow managed.
It had been two days since the locker room incident. ESPN had gotten ahold of the story within a few hours, and they were having a fucking field day with it.
Trouble in Parad-Ice?
Why is James giving Proctor the cold shoulder?
Are the Stampede Melting Under the Pressure?
It was unfortunate that the two suits in Bale’s office were part of the press. But as they hadn’t been in the locker room during the actual altercation, they shouldn’t have known the reason behind it. Multiple reports had included the lovely little tidbit about the fact that the fight had been over a woman. And it hadn’t taken very long for them to figure out that it was Abby.
That had sparked the old debate about women being in locker rooms.
Logan had been avoiding reporters for the last couple of days, leaving the statements in the hands of the Stampede PR department. Though as Abby had been involved, this problem had been passed off to that smarmy prick that Logan avoided at all costs. His name was Dillweed, or Dipshit, or Dickhead, or something.
And now Abby was telling Logan that the two of them had to cool things down for a little bit. With both of them on the radar, they couldn’t take any chances.
It pissed him off to a level that he couldn’t really begin to process.
“I was defending you.” He’d come over here thinking they were going to get to spend the evening together. Order a pizza, drink some wine, have some crazy hot monkey sex…
But no. The pizza was getting cold, the wine warm, and his frustration was growing.
“I know, Logan.” Abby closed her eyes as she rested her palm against her forehead.
“So that asshole insults you and I get punished?”
“You think that I want any of this?” Her hand dropped as she looked at him. “The whole situation has caused a huge headache with the press. It’s taking everyone—”
“I don’t care about the stupid press!”
“You should! You getting into a fight with a teammate in the locker room isn’t something small. It has to be dealt with delicately so that it doesn’t become worse.”
“And if we could just tell the fucking truth, then it wouldn’t be like this. If people knew what Proctor had said to you, the exact vile words that came out of his mouth, there would be no debating what was going on.”
“It doesn’t work that way. It’s the entire team’s image that we have to worry about.”
“Why?” he asked as he ran his hands through his hair, making it stand on end.
Abby took a deep breath and shook her head as she let it out slowly. “You guys are a month away from the playoffs and right now you’re the top team. So this is the way it has to be, Logan.”
“It’s bullshit.”
“I know that. I don’t want this, either.” She made a step toward him, reaching out. “I don’t—” But she stopped midsentence when Logan to
ok a step away from her touch.
The hurt in her eyes managed to somehow make him angrier. Deep down—way, way deep down—he knew she was just doing her job. But it didn’t change the fact that he felt she was choosing sides. And it wasn’t his.
He was being punished for defending her, protecting her, and it pissed him off.
“We have to cool things down. Remember?”
He turned and grabbed his leather jacket from where he’d tossed it on the back of the sofa and headed for the door.
Chapter Six
The Joys of Family Dinners
Logan wasn’t a fan of the nights that he didn’t get to spend with Abby. He definitely preferred going to bed curled around her warm body as opposed to going to bed alone. He also thoroughly enjoyed waking up next to her. And it wasn’t just an anybody-being-in-his-bed kind of thing. It was her being in his bed.
He wasn’t sure when it had happened. When it had become about her laugh in his ear, her warm breath washing across his skin, and that smile of hers turning up against his throat a second before she’d kiss him.
He missed her, missed her way more than he should after only a handful of weeks together.
But he did.
They’d had very little interaction because the team had been traveling with away games and Abby hadn’t been on the road with them. She was working hard on the dinner that was two days away. It had been taking up most of her focus before, so he was sure she was even more preoccupied now. He had no doubt she was stressed, but as they weren’t exactly talking, he didn’t know.
It had been two weeks since Logan’s fight with Proctor, and every reporter covering the pre-game, actual game, or post-game still liked to mention it.
The media’s favorite time to bring it up and start dissecting it like a lab experiment? When Logan and Proctor were on the ice at the same time.
Logan was doing his best not to give the press anything else to work with… which was difficult. He blamed Proctor for the fact that he was still missing evenings with Abby. He wasn’t pleased about it in the slightest.
At least he had a pretty decent distraction tonight, and it came in the form of his little sister Adele. She was making their grandmother’s paella, the only person besides their mother who could do it justice.
Logan had invited Jace over as well. His friend had a thing about home-cooked meals, probably because they’d been few and far between growing up in the Kilpatrick household. His mother died when he was eight, and his father was a renowned heart surgeon who was hardly ever at home.
Jace wasn’t exactly close with his father. In fact, they had very little to do with each other. Dr. Ferguson Kilpatrick didn’t approve of his son’s career. He wasn’t impressed at all, actually.
Jace was drafted to the Stampede a year after Logan was traded. They worked well together as team players and had become friends off the ice, as well. Logan wasn’t one to get close to anyone over the last couple of years, but Jace had somehow worked his way in. He’d spent the last four Christmases with Logan and his family.
A close family was something else that Jace missed, and distance or not, Logan’s family was incredibly close-knit.
Logan’s parents had sold their house years ago and now traveled all across North America. They were currently making their way up the Pacific Coast. Their destination? Alaska.
His brother Liam was a lot like his parents these days. The guy was constantly on the road jumping from tour to tour. Whenever he needed a home base for a few weeks, he stayed at the cabin in Nashville.
Adele and Logan were the only two who actually had homes, and they lived about fifteen minutes from each other. She had even picked out Logan’s house.
It was a three-story gothic revival home, with a front and back porch, a six-car garage filled with his various motored toys, a pool, and a dock that moored his sailboat. The Intracoastal Waterway was only a couple hundred yards from his back door.
Adele had taken one loop around the house with its original hardwood floors and informed him he had to buy it. He told her only if she decorated. He didn’t have to twist her arm very much before she agreed. But as she had a fantastic attention to detail and her design aesthetic went well beyond clothing, it made perfect sense.
Adele was the head costume designer on the hit show Ponce. It took place in St. Augustine at the Ponce de Leon Hotel during the early nineteen hundreds. It was the Florida version of Downton Abbey.
She had the ability to capture any era perfectly, and her own style fluctuated anywhere in the last century. Tonight she was rocking the fifties, her dark brown hair curled and pinned up. It was held back with a yellow and white polka-dotted bandanna. She somehow made the whole look work with her pierced nose and the streaks of bright red in her hair.
“So are you going to tell me about this whole Proctor thing?” she asked about a second after they sat down at the dinner table.
Logan looked at his sister as he took a bite of his meal, chewing slowly and trying to formulate his words. She might be seven years younger than him—and the baby of the family—but she was just as much of a protector for him and their middle brother Liam as they were for her.
Though as Logan saw her on a regular basis, he got the brunt of it.
Adele’s golden brown eyes were just as sharp as their mother’s, and she missed very little. She could be intimidating as hell. She got it from their mother’s Spanish side of the family. Though to be fair, their father’s Irish side had a good amount of those qualities, as well.
“What about it?” Logan asked before he reached for his beer.
“Seriously?” Adele frowned. “For someone who doesn’t like to make a spectacle of himself, you pushing a player against the wall in front of reporters—whether the guy is a good-for-nothing prick or not—is a step in the wrong direction. So why did you snap over what he said to this Abby woman?”
“Because he’s dating that Abby woman,” Jace said from his side of the table.
Logan choked on his beer. “What?” he asked when he could breathe again. Apparently he and Abby hadn’t been as stealthy in their sneaking around as they’d thought.
Adele’s attention swiveled to Jace. She pointed her fork at him as her eyes narrowed. “Start talking.”
“Logan and one Ms. Abby Fields, more commonly referred to as Red by him and him alone, have been seeing each other for over a month now.” Jace’s grin was so huge that Logan was tempted to reach across the table and punch the smug little shit in the face.
“How the hell did you know?”
“It wasn’t exactly detective work. You’ve been eyeing her since she showed up. And ever since you went on that little trip with her on Valentine’s Day, you haven’t been coming back to your room when we’re on the road. Or you weren’t until about two weeks ago when the whole incident happened.”
“Is that so?” Adele asked. “Huh, well isn’t this interesting?”
“You notice that he smiles more? Or did. Something else that changed about two weeks ago. Del, your brother has been particularly pissy of late, but my guess is that’s because he hasn’t been able to spend any time with a certain redhead.”
“You’re an asshole.” Logan shook his head at Jace.
“No, you’re the asshole,” Adele said now, pointing her fork at Logan. “Two questions—”
“Just two?” he asked, raising his eyebrows at her.
Her eyes somehow narrowed even more. “To start with. Number one is: why haven’t you introduced me to your girlfriend yet?”
“She isn’t my girlfriend,” Logan said as he grabbed his beer from the table and leaned back in his seat.
“Then what is she?” Adele’s eyebrows furrowed. “You better not say fuck buddy.”
This time it was Jace choking on his beer. “I’m so glad I don’t have siblings to grill me about my sex life.”
“They’d never get to the bottom of your sex life, Jace.” The look that Adele shot him was scorching.
&nb
sp; Logan felt bad for his friend for about a second. But then Adele returned her focus on him and he tried not to squirm in his chair. “Start talking, big brother,” she demanded.
Why did he surround himself with such intense women?
Though, being in a relationship with a woman like Abby was a new thing. She wasn’t like any woman he’d gone for before.
“So if she’s not your girlfriend, then what is she?” Adele asked.
“A girl who I’m seeing.”
“With the possibility of something serious?”
“I don’t know.”
This was true… he didn’t know what this was with Abby, hadn’t known from the moment it had started. All he did know was that he wanted her, had from the first time he’d seen her. That fact hadn’t changed.
“But you like her?”
More than he was prepared to admit. In any other relationship, the complications that he was currently dealing with would have had him moving on in an instant. He wasn’t moving on from her. And that was a detail he was choosing not to analyze all that much.
“Yes.” He nodded.
“Talking to you is like pulling teeth.” Adele was so exasperated with him that he was surprised she hadn’t thrown her fork at him yet. “Why didn’t I know about this?”
“Because we aren’t telling people.”
“I’m not people, Logan.”
It was then that he realized she was hurt, hurt about his keeping her in the dark. But how was a person supposed to shed light on a situation that they themselves didn’t even understand?
“I’m sorry, Adele.”
“I don’t know how I feel about you being in a secret relationship, either. Is that her deal or yours? Because any woman in her right mind wouldn’t want to keep you a secret.”
Logan couldn’t stop the small smile that twitched at his lips. “Thanks, but the secretiveness is necessary. She’s a publicist for the team. Apparently there’s a no fraternization clause in her contract.”
“Seriously?” Jace asked.
“Yeah, so you better keep your mouth shut.”
“Dude, I’ve pretty much known since it started and didn’t say a word.”
Undressed Page 6
