by Joanne Rock
And yes, she took a bit of sadistic pleasure of her own in his obvious discomfort since Axel had assaulted her nostrils with deadly intent.
“Yes.” She tucked a curl behind her ear, warming up to the job. “Perhaps you have a girlfriend who wouldn’t mind a little extra screen time?”
Axel’s mouth flattened into a straight line, his face devoid of expression. As if she’d hit a nerve he wouldn’t admit. She could be reading into it, of course, but in her field of work she’d gotten adept at coaching nonprofessional actors into evoking a mood on camera. The nuances of body language were well-known to her.
And somehow, she’d upset the hulking defenseman who’d probably sent opponents to the E.R.
“I don’t think so, Ms. Hunter.” He straightened, his Finnish accent all the more pronounced when he spoke formally. “In fact, I don’t think a player’s private life should be open for viewing in a documentary that’s supposed to be about a sport.”
When he moved past her as if to end their conversation, she realized she needed to mend fences. Coming into the Phantoms’ rink with a chip on her shoulder about the project had been a bad idea. As frustrated as she might be about this series, she didn’t want to alienate all the players before she even began shooting. She had to make a successful series in order to clear the way for what she really wanted to create—a documentary about the way girls used social media to ostracize those they rejected socially. Bullying didn’t begin to describe how mean-girl culture could stomp out an innocent enemy the way Jennifer’s sister, Julia, had been made an outcast by the girls in her school.
And Jennifer had been born with a need to fix problems when she encountered them, a compulsion increased by her single mother’s complete lack of parenting. Jen hadn’t minded raising herself while her mother worked two jobs and returned to college. But she’d been irritated on her younger sister’s behalf when her mother hadn’t stepped up for Julia, either. Their father hadn’t been a factor, coming around every few years to borrow a few bucks from their mom.
“Of course, you’re right.” She reached for Axel’s forearm. “Some people—believe it or not—jump at the chance to land their friends and family on camera. If you’d rather not, that’s fine.”
Pausing, he planted his hockey stick on the industrial carpet and seemed to reassess her.
He was a striking man. Not traditionally handsome with that U-shaped scar on his cheek and the stark, angular features softened only by those blue eyes. But the imposing strength of him would give any woman a thrill. Even without the hockey pads, he would be an impressive size.
Her cheeks heated at where her mind went after that, a girly blush that probably hadn’t happened to her since high school. And Axel Rankin couldn’t have possibly missed it, his eyes roaming over her…lingering here and there for the scenic tour before meeting her gaze again.
“But you’ll still be looking for story lines.” The blue stare turned darker. Stormier.
And for reasons she couldn’t fully fathom, she didn’t want to tick him off any more. If only for the sake of the show, she felt called to make nice with him.
“That’s part of the job,” she admitted. “If all I did was show your team playing hockey, I wouldn’t have anything different than a game broadcast. My work will let fans get to know you on a more personal level.”
She would find a way to reveal the deeper story behind the game. She’d received critical acclaim in her first two years as a full-fledged director for a small film company. But she had yet to produce anything that made money and her higher-ups insisted she make a more marketable film before she got the green light for the project dear to her heart.
“That wasn’t in the job description.” He lifted the hockey stick and thudded the end on the carpet once, twice, three times.
“And choking to death in noxious locker rooms wasn’t in mine, either, but here I am.” She reached for his stick and, leaving it in his hands, she copied his action of tapping it on the floor to punctuate her words. Once, twice, three times. Then she let go. “We might as well make the best of it.”
One dark eyebrow lifted.
“Why was a woman who wants to make the best of it hiding from me earlier? Eavesdropping while I wondered aloud where you were?”
“My natural instincts for self-preservation must have kicked in when I heard you banging on the conference room door.”
He seemed to consider that, scratching the inside of a shin guard with his hockey stick.
“I might have knocked a bit forcefully,” he conceded. “I was anxious to find you before the full effect of my workout died down.” He waved a hand around his chest to waft the scent of sweat her way.
Covering her nose with one hand, she used the other to point at him accusingly. “I knew you looked sadistically pleased when you shook my hand. You were trying to asphyxiate me.”
He grinned and she was a little surprised to see beautiful, straight, white teeth. Maybe she’d formed a few premature perceptions about hockey players. What other sexy surprises might be hidden inside the six foot five inches of this mysterious man? Suddenly, she was curious to know Axel better.
“Just trying to acclimate you to your new environment.” Tugging off his helmet, he unveiled cropped brown hair that was spiked up on top from the headgear. “You’ll have to get used to it sooner or later.”
Awareness crackled between them even though he didn’t seem too happy about it. She wasn’t thrilled with the realization, either, but there you go. Who could predict physical chemistry?
“How thoughtful.” She found herself eager to see what he looked like after his shower. “Since you’re so committed to making me feel welcome, maybe you’d consider showing me around after you wash up?”
She wasn’t sure why she’d asked. No, that wasn’t true. She knew why she’d asked—she was drawn to Axel Rankin. She’d always struggled with a tendency toward impulsiveness. But she couldn’t act on that flash of chemistry when they’d be working together. When she might very well have to extract a story line from him that he wouldn’t like.
But it was too late to call back the words.
Surprise registered on Axel’s face a split second before heat flared in his eyes.
“They say you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” He tucked his helmet under his arm. “Guess that means I ought to take you up on the offer.”
“Because we’re sure to be friends, right?” She needed a few allies on this project if she wanted to get through the upcoming weeks.
He cast her a level glance while the Zamboni made quick work of smoothing over the rink.
“We’ll find out soon enough.”
* * *
AXEL STALLED. BIG-TIME.
He made a few more passes over his chest with the soap, wearing the bar down to nothing after spending so long in the shower willing away his reaction to the mouthy filmmaker. He needed a game plan for sending Jennifer Hunter packing before he did something stupid like act on the surprising attraction.
The woman was seriously hot.
Shutting down the water, he grabbed a towel and dried off, knowing he’d kept her waiting long enough. Frustrated he hadn’t figured out how to handle her, he’d have to go with his plan B—learn more about her objections to the film series and exploit those until she wanted to leave.
Except the plan that had made perfect sense in the coach’s office two hours ago, didn’t sound so good anymore. Especially not since meeting Jennifer had been kind of like taking a puck to the chest—minus the padding.
What was it about her?
Standing at his locker, he pulled on street clothes. Kyle Murphy plowed through the doors while Axel tied his shoes.
Kyle was a forward on the team and also Axel’s foster brother. The Murphy family had facilitated Axel’s move to the U.S. the summer before his senior year in high school. Kyle and Axel had attended Boston College together before moving to the pros. But while Kyle had been picked up by the Boston NHL team, Axe
l had bounced around the league before moving to Kyle’s team last fall. Their combined stats had made them appealing to Nico Cesare as the coach strategized a run at the Stanley Cup, and he’d signed them as a package deal to the Phantoms just before the trade deadline.
“Hey, bro.” Kyle bumped Axel’s fist with his knuckles before moving to his own locker. “Been simmering in the hot tub?”
“No.” He figured shooting the breeze with Kyle was a legit way to waste a few more minutes before he had to meet Jennifer again. Hopefully it would be enough time to get his head on straight. “I’m showing the filmmaker around the facility.”
He hadn’t been kidding about keeping his enemies close. If the woman was going to be filming the Phantoms, he wanted to be sure he knew where she was at all times so he was never caught off guard.
“More power to you, man. You always did go for the redheads.”
Auburn hair was the least of Jennifer’s attractions as far as he was concerned. Sure she had sexy, shoulder-length red curls. Vivid green eyes. Cute-as-hell freckles and a build so willowy he could probably wrap his arms around her a few times. But that stuff was window dressing for the spark inside her, a spark that had flared from the moment she stepped out from behind the post to greet him.
She’d been unashamed to eavesdrop, had called him on his brute behavior without making him feel like a heel, and then she’d invited him to show her around. Keeping up with a woman like that would require more attention than Axel could spare, frankly. But damn. He envied the guy who got the chance to try.
“So you’ve met her?” Axel tied his shoe, curious what Kyle thought of Jennifer.
“Just a few minutes ago. She was trying to get up into the rafters to see what kind of wide-range camera angles she can snag from overhead.”
“You’re kidding.” Axel slammed the locker shut. “She’s here for less than a day and she’s climbing the walls?”
“Actually, she was trying to con a janitor into bringing her a ladder.”
“Great. She’ll probably sue us when she breaks her neck.” Tossing his towel in a laundry bin, he jogged toward the door. “Why the hell doesn’t Nico assign someone to guard her?”
“Didn’t you say you’re supposed to be escorting her around?” Kyle called after him. “Sounds like that job lands in your lap, bro.”
And wasn’t that an image he didn’t need in his head?
Axel plowed through the double doors, past the tunnel leading to the ice, toward the viewing area for visitors. At first, he didn’t see anyone. The morning session had been closed to the public and most of the players were long gone by now.
He shouldn’t have been surprised to hear her voice echo from above his head.
“Up here!” she called, lying prone on a steel girder that was part of the open web truss system holding up the clear glass arena ceiling. She gave a jaunty little wave over her head, her face hidden behind a medium-size camera with a big lens.
“You go to great lengths to hide from me,” he observed drily.
“You can’t say that when I announced myself right away this time.”
“Do you have any idea the kind of insurance liability you pose right now?” How had she gotten up that high? “Weren’t you supposed to at least wait for a ladder?”
“Your maintenance staff was concerned about the insurance risk, too. Surprising when you have a doctor and dentist on call for players who break bones every day.” The flash from her camera went off and she fiddled with the settings. One red canvas sneaker dangled from fifteen feet up, a hint of ankle visible at the hem of her jeans.
“I’ll make sure you have a ladder for the trip down. Can you sit tight while I find one?”
“No need.” She stuffed her camera into a nylon bag that hung from her wrist. “The descent is bound to be easier than the climb up.”
His heart nearly stopped when he saw her swing down to a lower girder. Positioning himself directly underneath her, he was too busy worrying she’d break her leg to notice the view straight up her colorful Bohemian blouse. Much.
“For someone in the directing business, you sure don’t take direction well, do you?” He reached up to spot her, his hand almost touching her leg as she scrambled over the side of the girder.
“Why do you think I stay behind the camera?” Lowering herself with her arms, she hung suspended from the beam, her knees within touching range now.
No one else was around. He’d have to step in and help. Unwilling to risk her falling, Axel wound his arms around her lower legs and squeezed her tight.
“Let go,” he ordered, certain he had her. He valiantly did not look up her blouse.
At least not at first… Creamy breasts molded by turquoise lace proved too tempting.
“I don’t want to fall on you,” she protested, peering down the length of her body at him.
“You won’t fall,” he assured her, liking the feel of her far too well for a man who intended to send her packing. A man who planned to help her see why this documentary was a very bad idea. “I’ve got you.”
The moment stretched out as they eyed one another and Axel slowly became aware of the scent she wore. The fragrance was subtle and sweet and one he knew well from childhood summers spent in the country.
The fiery redhead smelled like lilies of the valley.
The scent drifted all around him as she let go, giving him her weight. He probably held on to her a second too long, savoring the soft feel of a woman in his arms. With an effort, he tried to recall that the sexy, fragrant female of the turquoise-colored lingerie was an enemy who required monitoring. At the moment, he could only think about how good it was going to feel to lower her body down the length of his.
“Um.” She put her hands on his shoulders to steady herself. The camera on a strap at her wrist whacked him in the arm as it followed the movement of her hand. “Axel? Maybe you should…”
She glanced meaningfully at the floor.
He would have preferred to settle her on a bed. A couch. Hell, a futon would be fine with him. But since they were in the middle of the arena seating around the Phantoms’ practice rink, he dropped her lightly on her feet, copping only a minimal feel.
How the hell would he chase her away from this film series when he couldn’t even keep his hands off her? He needed to reassess his options sometime when he didn’t have hints of her scent clinging to his clothes.
“Sorry.” He resisted the urge to straighten her blouse where it had ridden up above the waistband of her jeans. “You ready for the nickel tour?”
Her hand smoothed the fabric of her bright purple-and-teal top, covering the sliver of skin he’d spied at her midriff.
“I’ve been ready and waiting.” She gestured expansively to the facility, her cheeks a little flushed. “Show me everything.”
Axel had been ducking opportunities left and right, determined to keep this conversation focused on the job she was here to do. But honestly, how could he walk away from that one?
“Tempting as that might be, I think we’d better start with something more manageable.” Stalking away from the seats, he gestured for her to follow. “The rink’s chiller system, maybe. I’m going to need some cooling down.”
3
AS THEY PASSED a wall of life-size photos of current Phantoms’ players, Jennifer hurried to keep up with her reluctant tour guide. He seemed determined to complete the excursion around the training facility in record time. He’d shown her the state-of-the-art exercise and weight rooms with little commentary, occasionally flipping light switches and nodding to the last few personnel in the building as they went home for the day. Could he make it any clearer that he didn’t want to be around her?
His behavior was a puzzle since she knew damn well he was attracted. The heat between them when he’d plucked her from the steel girders had sent her into a full-on meltdown, and she wasn’t a woman whose head turned easily. He’d even said he needed a chance to cool down when he finally released her. So he mus
t have been overheated, too.
And resenting it, apparently.
Frustrated with him, with herself and with the way the day was going, she stopped in front of a poster of the team’s playmaker, Kyle Murphy. She needed to get to the bottom of this before she moved on. She couldn’t scout filming locations for the documentary series until she resolved the Axel dilemma.
“Axel?”
He’d outpaced her by about four miles down the long corridor. Well, at least twenty feet. He turned now, and peered back at her in the semidark vacated part of the building.
“Did I miss something?” His voice echoed a bit in the wide hall with decorative concrete floors polished to a high shine.
“Yes.”
She stared him down, willing him to come closer and not be so difficult. For some reason, she felt that if she could win him over to her cause, she could make this film project a success.
“Care to clue me in?” he said finally, not budging.
“Why are you trying to get rid of me?”
Even from twenty feet away, she could see the moment of guilt in his expression. And, while it wasn’t necessarily pleasant to have her suspicion confirmed, she appreciated that he had the grace to appear abashed over the fact.
“Am I going too fast?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t answer the question. Why are you trying to set a new land speed record?” She wished she had her Nikon in hand now, partially because it felt awkward to ask tough questions with no barrier between her and her subject.
Also because the camera would love this man.
She wanted to linger over the harsh angles of his face with her naked eye. Zoom in on the unusual scar that had to be the outline of a hockey puck under one cheek. Pan out for a long shot of his body to appreciate the way he dwarfed everything around him.
He really did clean up well. His brown hair was shorter than his Viking ancestors’, but he had the strong bone structure, which highlighted his magnetic blue eyes. Even without the hockey pads, his physique was extraordinary, a testament to the hours of work in the gym and on the ice. Constant skating, apparently, yielded a truly spectacular butt. She’d been following him around long enough to become familiar with the way the man filled out a pair of jeans.
