by Steph
“I really like spending time with you.” He turned to look at her, shoving long fingers into his too-long dark hair to push it out of his hazel eyes and making her chest tighten. “So, tomorrow night. Are you free?”
Blinking as he stood and his perfect ass came into view, she had to take a few seconds to think about what he’d said before she could formulate an answer.
“Yes.”
When he reached to pull his pants up, she nearly swallowed her tongue. She watched him tuck his cock into his jeans but not zip them.
He looked back at her. “Bathroom?”
She had to suck in air before she could answer.
“Oh, yeah.” She pointed to a small door off to the side of the room. “Just in there.”
She watched the play of muscle across his back and chest as he walked to the bathroom and sat there for several seconds waiting for him to return before she realized she was naked. She’d just pulled her shirt over her head when he walked out again and returned to pick up his t-shirt and dress shirt.
As he shrugged them on, he turned to smile at her. And her heart kicked into heart-attack pace.
Not fair. And oh, so very dangerous.
“You wanna get some dinner tomorrow night after the game?”
Yes, she did. Very much. She wanted to do anything he wanted.
Which made the words stick in her throat. She wasn’t that girl, the one who tossed over her entire life for a guy she’d just met. Still, she wanted to see him again.
“Sure. That’s sounds… great.”
How did he manage to make her feel breathless and light-headed and heavy-limbed all at the same time?
Either he ignored her slight hesitation or he just didn’t hear it. His smile widened. “I’ll give you a call after practice.”
Leaning down, he put his hands on the back of the couch on either side of her shoulders and bent close.
She braced for another one of his mind-numbing kisses but he put his mouth on her neck instead. He nipped at her skin, sending her into a full-body shiver. She reached for him, her hands landing on his hips, and she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to pull him closer or push him away.
When he started to pull away, she almost didn’t want to let him go. She actually had to force herself to release him so he could stand.
“See you after the game. Puck drops at five. Game should be over by eight.”
“Okay.”
Halfway to the door, he turned to look at her.
“I have a great time with you, Aly. I think…” He stopped, appeared to reconsider his words then smiled. And totally didn’t say what was on his mind. “I’ll see you soon.”
Then he walked to the door and headed out, closing it quietly behind him.
She must have sat there for a full minute staring at the door, jeans in her hand, bare ass on the couch.
Holy shit.
She felt like she’d been run over by a steamroller.
That wasn’t good, was it?
Could you actually fall in love this fast?
No. Absolutely not. That wasn’t what this was.
She wasn’t in love with Riley. In lust, yes. Hell, who wouldn’t be? The man was worship-worthy.
But he wasn’t a man you fell in love with. Not if you wanted two-point-five kids and a picket fence and a house in the suburbs.
Everything she’d always wanted.
When she was a kid, her parents had always been on the move because of her dad’s job in quality control for a chemical company with plants all over North America. This house was the only one they’d lived in for more than four years and only then because her dad had exhausted himself and the company owners had insisted he take a desk job.
Aly had hated moving every couple of years. She didn’t make friends as easily as Vivi and she’d loved everything about this house, which was why she’d jumped at the chance to continue to live here when her parents moved to Florida.
Riley had the kind of life Aly never wanted to live again. He could be on the move next month, next week. Hell, he could be called up to play in Philly tomorrow.
Definitely not a man she wanted to get too involved with.
Chapter Four
Riley eased open the door to his apartment.
The landlord still hadn’t fixed the squeaky hinges and he didn’t want to wake Justin. It was almost two a.m. and his roommate would probably be asleep—
“Guess the date went well.”
Justin grinned at him from the couch, where he held a beer in one hand and a game controller in another.
Riley gave him the finger before heading into the kitchen for a beer.
“Still up playing with yourself, I see.” Riley sank into the other end of the couch.
“Hey, now. No fair picking on those of us less fortunate. I’m guessing from the grin on your face, you had a good time.”
Riley shoved his elbow into Justin’s side. “What are you, my mother?”
“No, just the guy who hasn’t gotten laid in three months.”
“Ashley still mad at you, huh?”
Justin grimaced at the mention of his longtime girlfriend, who still lived in their hometown of Kanata, Ottawa.
“Yeah. She keeps harping on me about taking that offer in Toronto. And I keep telling her it’s the worst damn team in the league. Why the fuck would I want to go there when I can play for the damn Cup defenders? You’d think she didn’t know I played fucking hockey. Fuck that. Now…tell Daddy J all about your date tonight.”
Justin smirked at him and Riley couldn’t help but laugh.
“You’re a sick motherfucker, you know that, right?”
“But I know you want to spill your guts.”
Riley took a swig of his beer and shook his head, still grinning. “No, I really don’t. It’ll be all over the locker room tomorrow.”
“Do you actually give a shit what the other guys think? Dude, your conquests are legendary.”
The beer suddenly didn’t taste as good as it had as he watched the on-screen battle rage.
Justin wasn’t wrong. Riley did have a reputation. One he hadn’t been concerned about for years. Different girl every other night. No repeats.
Until this season. This season, he’d sworn off hookups, had committed himself to his career with no distractions.
After tonight… He couldn’t fucking wait to see Aly again. He’d wanted to go to bed with her and wake up in the morning to see her, hair messy, skin warm and soft from sleep. He would’ve stayed if she’d asked. She hadn’t. And that just made him want it more.
She had no idea how much of a break from the norm that was for him. And he didn’t want her to know.
“Yeah, well, maybe I’m turning over a new leaf this season.”
Justin went silent and Riley shot him a glance.
“Dude, seriously? You just met this girl and now you’re all ready to reform your manwhore ways?”
Riley shrugged. He didn’t want to get into a discussion about his dating habits at two in the morning when he should be in bed.
“Maybe I’m starting to think about what I want to do after this season. What I want to do…after hockey.”
“Seriously?”
Justin’s shock rang clear in his voice. Riley slid him another glance and found his roommate staring at him with his mouth hanging open.
Shrugging, Riley took another swig of beer before answering. “I’ve been giving it some thought.”
“You’re not even thirty. What the hell, man? Is something wrong?”
He shook his head. “Nothing’s wrong. Just been thinking maybe it’s time to think about what’s next. You know, figure out what I’m gonna do with the rest of my life.”
Justin shook his head like he hadn’t heard him right. “Why? I mean seriously, why? You’re only twenty-fucking-eight years old. It’s not like you’re forty and you can’t bend your knees and your shoulder’s hanging on by a ligament.”
All true. “Maybe I want to get out
before that happens.”
Justin continued to shake his head in shock. “Dude, what happened tonight?”
He’d had the best damn sex of his life, that’s what’d happened. And he’d met a girl he might want to live with for the rest of his life.
Even his own brain went, “Hey, now. That’s kind of a huge leap.”
But Riley was used to making snap decisions and changing things on the fly. And he knew himself. He wasn’t some teenager just out of the draft with mad skills and no polish.
“Nothing happened.” Or maybe something really big had happened. But he wasn’t sharing that with Justin. “It’s just something that’s been on my mind.”
Justin gave a full-body shake, like a dog shaking off water. “Yeah, well, get it off your damn mind or you’re gonna jinx yourself. And the team. Just don’t go there.”
He couldn’t help it. He was already there. “Don’t you ever think about what you’re going to do after?”
“Why should I?” Justin shrugged. “I’m gonna play ’til I can’t then I’ll figure it out.”
It was the mantra of a lot of players. Hell, Riley had lived by it for years.
“Rye.” The tone in Justin’s voice pulled Riley’s gaze back to him. “Are you seriously thinking about giving up?”
Now there was an interesting way to put things.
Riley shifted on the couch to look Justin in the eyes. “Is it really giving up if you’re going to find something else to do with your life?”
Justin’s gaze was too damn sharp for almost two in the morning. “Is that what you want? To do something else?”
No. But he knew he wanted more. And he knew who he wanted more with.
“What I want is to get enough sleep before skate tomorrow afternoon.”
“You mean this afternoon.”
Shit, yeah. “Exactly. I’m going to bed. Night.”
He got up and headed for his room.
“Hey, Rye.”
Riley stopped and looked over his shoulder at Justin.
“This is your year, man.”
He just shook his head and continued to his room.
* * * * *
“Someone had a good time last night.”
Aly gave her sister the side-eye as she made her way to the coffeemaker Sunday morning. She’d slept until nine, which was as long as her body would naturally sleep before her eyes popped open.
“Don’t worry,” Vivi continued. “You don’t have to say anything. I can tell by the smile on your face he must’ve been good.”
A blush heated Aly’s cheeks but she purposely ignored Vivi’s sly remarks as she poured herself a mug of caffeine and headed for the cabinet for something to eat while the coffee kicked in.
“Obviously, the man knows how to move off the ice as well as on.”
Yes, he certainly had. But she still wasn’t giving her sister the satisfaction of responding.
Vivi sighed dramatically. “Guess I’ll need to get earplugs if he’s going to be sticking around. You two probably made enough noise to wake the neighbors. Maybe I should ask Tig if I can stay at her house tonight. I assume you’re seeing him again tonight.”
“I’m ignoring you.”
Vivi huffed. “You’re trying to ignore me. You’re not doing a very good job of it. Come on, spill. You know you want to tell me all about it.”
Aly grabbed the box of Lucky Charms out of the cabinet and poured a bowl. Every other day, she had something sensible, but on the weekends she needed her sugar. It was Sunday—and she’d probably burned enough calories last night to eat the entire box.
Which made her smile.
“Oh, now, that’s just mean.” Vivi threw her napkin at Aly as she sat across from her at the breakfast table. “If I had smoking-hot sex with a guy, I’d tell you all about it.”
Aly gave her sister a raised eyebrow. “Whether I wanted to hear or not.”
“At least admit you had a good time.”
She shrugged, trying for nonchalant although she felt anything but. “I did.”
“And that you want to see him again.”
“I do. He’s…” She struggled to find a word that wouldn’t trigger all kinds of questions from her sister that she couldn’t answer. “He’s really nice.”
Vivi’s eyebrows rose again. “Nice? He’s nice? Oh please. Any man who makes you look like you’re still in shock from last night is not just nice.”
“Please stop telling me how I look this morning. It’s weird.”
“Then maybe you should look in a mirror before you come to the table looking like you spent all night screwing your brains out.”
Aly stuck her tongue out at her sister before she started eating, then proceeded to ignore her and read the paper.
For the first time since she’d played field hockey in high school, she looked at the sports pages. The article on the game took up about half a page but it mentioned Riley’s name a few times, all favorably. The writer made special mention of Riley’s work ethic, how he never gave up, even if he didn’t get what he wanted the first time.
And yeah, she’d seen that part of him in action last night. Once he’d set his mind on something, he didn’t stop.
When he’d said he wanted to hear her scream, he hadn’t been kidding.
She swore she was still blushing when her phone rang a few minutes later.
She grabbed it…and sighed.
Not Riley.
“Hey, Mom.” She exchanged a glance with Vivi, who shot out of her seat like her ass was on fire and disappeared. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just forgot to remind you about the service contract yesterday. The one for the heater? You probably need to renew that this month. I remembered that when your dad complained about the heat yesterday. We’ve had the air running nonstop for the past six months, I swear. And we’re supposed to be getting hit with that tropical storm next week…”
Stifling a sigh, Aly let her mom ramble, answering appropriately when required, feeling guilty when she looked at the clock and rolled her eyes when she realized her mom had just spent the last twenty minutes talking about her dad’s refusal to go to the doctor for his constant intestinal issues and then ran down her own health issues. All of which she’d mentioned yesterday.
She loved her parents. She did. But sometimes…
Well, sometimes she wished she wasn’t the one they relied on. The one everyone relied on. Sometimes she wished she could be a little more like Vivi, born with the ability to let everything roll off her back and not feel guilty about it.
She wanted to have fun and not worry about the consequences.
She wanted to have hot sex with Riley and not think about the fact that one day he’d move on to another team, another city. Another girl.
She wished she didn’t feel like the two nights they’d spent together had been the start of something amazing.
* * * * *
“If that kid skates by me again with that smirk on his face, I’m gonna lay him out on his ass.” Riley glared at CJ. “I get it, he’s young. But he’s a twig and I’m gonna snap him.”
“You can’t hurt our best scorer.” Justin laughed. “We need him. You know, you’d think you’d be in a better mood, considering you got laid last night.”
Justin and Riley skated together Sunday afternoon. Almost the entire team was here, even though today’s practice was optional. They’d had a good game last night and Coach had given them the morning off before the game this afternoon.
Riley hadn’t considered skipping. Apparently most of the guys felt the same.
“Keep your damn mouth shut about that.” Riley slashed his stick across Justin’s shins, almost hard enough to hurt. “The whole damn team doesn’t need to know.”
“Umm, the whole damn team already knows.”
Riley shot him a glare. “What the fuck?”
Justin grinned, completely unrepentant. “Come on, you know hockey players gossip worse than old ladies.”
&nbs
p; Yeah, unfortunately he did.
Shaking his head, he sighed and pivoted to skate backward. “Christ almighty. I don’t want Aly to think I’m a douche who told my entire team we slept together.”
“So you gonna see her again?”
“I’m gonna text her after practice to see if she’s coming to the game tonight.”
“Wow, three nights in a row. Must be true love.”
Riley grimaced. “How fucking old are you? Seriously, like, twelve?”
Justin laughed maniacally and skated away, leaving Riley to skate by himself for a few blissfully quiet seconds, thinking about those two little, four-letter words.
True love.
Yes, he believed in love, enough to know he’d loved his ex but not in the way he’d needed to make their marriage work. He also knew what he felt for Aly, even after such a short time, might be something worth fighting for.
And he had the feeling he was going to have to fight for it, if her unwillingness to let him stay the night was anything to go by.
Their personalities were in direct opposition. She was quiet and calm, reserved. He wasn’t. Maybe that was what drew him to her.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw CJ coming up on him again.
Christ, this kid was gonna step on Riley’s last nerve today.
Just keep skating, kid. You don’t wanna mess with me today.
Apparently, CJ couldn’t read minds. He slowed until they were skating together.
“Uh, hey. Hi.”
Riley barely kept himself from rolling his eyes. “What’s up, CJ?”
“Um, yeah, so I was wondering if I could work with you a little today?”
Riley took a longer look at the twenty-one-year-old, surprised and waiting for the punchline. When it didn’t come, he said, “What’s up?”
CJ shrugged. “Just wanna work on a few things. I know I need to get better in the corners and you’re damn good at that. So maybe we could work together for a while.”
“No problem.”
The kid broke out in a huge smile. Midwestern farm boy from his gold hair to his broad shoulders and his powerful legs, CJ used those legs to propel him to blazing-fast speeds. He had one hell of a natural talent, but he was still young and still growing into that body. He also had a stutter that only appeared off the ice.
