“Jason, do you value our business?” Ava asked in a silky voice, her tone soft yet icy at the same time. Cian stopped dead in his tracks at the sound of that wintry voice, a chill going down his spine. Damn, that voice could shrivel a man’s balls. Cian smiled at his own foolishness and peeked around the door to the library, curious to see who’s ass Ava was reaming. She was lounging at her desk chair with the phone to her ear, appearing to not have a care in the world while she listened to the mysterious Jason’s response. She smiled; something the man was saying giving her a lot of satisfaction. “That being the case,” She said in a crisp, no-nonsense tone. “Make this go away or I’ll find an attorney who can. This is a bullshit lawsuit and we both know it.” She caught sight of Cian at the door, her eyes narrowing momentarily. He grinned when her gleaming blue gaze ran lingeringly down his body and back up where their gazes locked the heat between them palpable. She seemed to shake herself out of her fascination with his body and shook her head ruefully, motioning him into the room, her attention returning to the phone conversation. “Listen, Jason. We’ve had a very good relationship for the last few years and I’ve made you a rich man handling bullshit like this. If you don’t feel you’re up to the task, speak up.” She challenged her tone flat. Whatever Jason said put a pleased smile on her face.
Cian remembered that same smile under entirely different circumstances. He had been thinking how pleasurable it would be to put that sated smile on her sexy mouth again on numerous occasions over the last week. Every time he had crossed paths with her, he’d thought about it. She hadn’t avoided him per se, but she had avoided being alone with him accept in passing. Macy had played buffer a lot, which was fine with him; Macy was a lot of fun and kept things light. He’d caught Ava eyeballing him several times. He knew she wanted him. He’d spent too long as a pro hockey player with women throwing themselves at him to not know when a woman was interested. What was the big damn deal anyway? It was just sex; some really, really hot sex, but sex nonetheless. And yeah, she was a few years older than him but he was way past the age of consent. They should be enjoying each other, not this circling bullshit that was gonna end them up in bed again. He had supreme confidence that Ava could only resist him for so long. It just pissed him off that they were wasting all this time getting there. Her voice brought him out of his reverie. “Do what you gotta do. We are not giving him a dime or we can move our business elsewhere. Now you have a good day.” She disconnected the call, muttering under her breath. Cian burst out laughing when he heard her questioning the legitimacy of Jason’s birth. She looked over at him curiously before giving him a rueful smile. “Sorry, I get a little carried away sometimes.”
He shrugged, his eyes running over her slowly and smiled with devilish intent. “Listening to you go all Donald Trump on that man turned me on.” Her eyes widened in surprise before she burst out laughing. He smiled wolfishly and continued to watch her, not concerned that he was being obvious.
“You’re bad.” She bantered lightly, her smile flirtatious.
“Yes ma’am, I am.” He agreed, giving her a wink. She laughed again, shaking her head in disbelief.
“That wasn’t meant as a compliment.” She teasingly chided.
“But I like being bad.” The expression in his brown eyes left no doubt where his mind was residing. “Maybe you should spank me or something.”
“Cian!” She exclaimed, embarrassed laughter bubbling to the surface and hot color flooding her face. “I’m not flirting with you.” His self-satisfied smile gave her momentary pause and wiped her own smile off her face. He watched her fidget nervously in her chair and her fingernails start tapping on the desktop. Her blue eyes watched him warily. “What game are you playing?”
He looked perplexed for a moment before shaking his head. “No games, Ava. You know what I want.” His deep voice rumbled suggestively. He almost laughed aloud when her eyes narrowed warningly at him.
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”
“Why?” He asked nonchalantly. “I think we should enjoy some hot, sweaty recreational sex.”
“Well I don’t!” She snapped indignantly, her eyes practically shooting blue flames at him. He was enjoying himself immensely; more than he had since the night he picked her up in the bar. It was all he could do not to double over with laughter. He was really getting a kick out of pissing her off. It was almost as much fun as turning her on.
“Bullshit.” He grinned at her, all cocky self-assurance. “You’re not only lying to me, you’re lying to yourself, Baby.”
“You conceited son-of-a…”
“Now, now don’t be calling Mom names.” He shook an admonishing finger at her. Her mouth snapped shut and rage seemed to radiate off of her. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself. “Ava, you know we’re gonna end up in the sack again. It’s inevitable.” Her eyes snapped open.
“You have stepped outside of your mind.” She growled at him, her eyes spitting fire. She came to her feet and leaned across the desk to get in his face. “It’s not inevitable; we’re not having sex again!” He managed to keep a straight face and was looking at her like she might be the one that was crazy.
“Why is that exactly?” He queried, knowing he was only fanning the flames of her anger. She huffed out a harsh breath and flopped back down into her chair, looking at him like he was some exotic species she’d never encountered before.
“Number one, you’re Jameson’s friend…”
“Jameson is Chase’s friend.” He interrupted but she just glared at him and continued.
“Number two; I’ve spent time with your parents…”
“They’re not here.” He pointed out helpfully, again flashing the smug grin.
“Number three; you’re a guest in my home…”
“Which makes it even more convenient.” He said in a reasonable tone.
“And last, but not least,” She said, her voice rising. “I don’t want to!”
He snorted in derision. “Whatever. We both know number four was a big, fat lie.” He leaned back in his chair, his hands lying across his flat stomach. “You might be able to convince me if we hadn’t already torn up the sheets together.”
“Damn it, Cian! I didn’t know who you were. I thought you were some guy named Ken!” She said in a tired voice.
“Ahh…” He said in a thoughtful voice as if inspiration had just struck. “That explains it.”
She looked at him with evident disgust. “I’m going to hate myself for asking but what does that explain in Cian’s world?”
“That explains why you’re denying yourself the pleasure of my company.” He grinned, his dark eyes sparkling with mischief. Her eyes narrowed angrily, not seeing the humor in the situation at all. “It was okay to mattress mambo with me when you thought I was some random stranger in a bar. Is that what does it for you?”
She came to her feet so suddenly she almost turned her chair over. She stormed out of the room, her heels tapping angrily, muttering imprecations on his head all down the hall. He laughed to himself, feeling stimulated by his heated exchange with Ava. He marveled at how tormenting her was more fun that having sex with most of the women from his past. She was a volatile, sexy woman, he mused, and he knew she couldn’t say no to him forever. She liked looking at his body too much and besides, her arguments were ridiculous and weak.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit the speed dial for his best friend.
“What’s up, Key?” Max’s lightly accented voice came across the line. Cian smiled when he heard his nickname. Max had dubbed him with the nickname when they had first started playing Junior League hockey together and it had stuck. He’d even been talked into having a skeleton key tattooed on his bicep with his number, 25, worked into the design. “How is West Virginia treating you, brother?”
“Not too well right now. I just pissed off my hostess.” Cian said happily.
“Jay’s mother?” Max asked, surprised
that Cian would sound so happy about upsetting their friend’s mother. “What did you do?”
He proceeded to tell Max the entire sordid, unbelievable story because hey, he had to share this shit with somebody. Max wouldn’t tell anyone and God knew he would get a kick out of it.
“You picked Jay’s mom up in a bar?” Max hooted with laughter. “You must have been lit up.”
“I was pretty lit but I’d have done it sober. She’s fucking hot, man.” Cian said, appreciation ripe in his voice, picturing just how hot she was in his mind.
Max’s laughter continued. “That is what those dumbasses you call brothers have always said. Maybe their vision is improving.”
They talked for a few more minutes, Max filling Cian in on the media storm that Lani continued to stir. They lived in the same building so when the reporters staked out Cian’s place, they staked out Max, as well. If the reporters thought stalking Max would rattle him, they were in for a major letdown; Max loved playing the gregarious superstar and being in the limelight didn’t bother him in the least. “In another week or two some NBA or NFL player will pull a gun on somebody and the gossip rags will have something else to focus on.” Max said, eternally optimistic. “Then I believe I will join you in West Virginia for a visit…and to see if Jay’s mom is as smoking hot as you say. You could be as blind as your brothers or just desperate, for all I know.”
“Ha ha ha, Funny Man.” Cian laughed. “There’s a habitable hotel in town but I’ll check with Ava to see if she minds you staying here. Wait until you see this place, man. Jay’s mom is loaded.” They chatted for a few more minutes with Max promising to email him his flight info. Cian felt much better after talking to Max; his pal had that effect on people. It was really hard to be in a bad mood around him because he was usually laughing. He honestly couldn't think of anyone he'd ever known as carefree as Max. Nothing fazed him as evidenced by the Miami fiasco. Max hadn't batted an eye at having to bail Cian out of jail on felony drug possession, just to name one of the charges he’d been hit with, and had cheerfully run the media gauntlet with him. Max grinned at the reporters and told them they were going to be sorry they printed these negative stories about Cian when they had to retract everything they had written. He’d also shamelessly flirted with one of the female reporters on the way to the car and had ended up taking her out to dinner that evening without giving any kind of interview. Only Max would come out of that experience with a date, Cian thought with a laugh. Fall into a pile of shit and come out smelling like a rose; that was Maxime Brooks in a nutshell. Hell, it was probably a whole lot easier to take it all in stride when it wasn't your ass looking at prison time.
Realistically, he’d known the chances of him going to prison were slim to none but having the whole fucked up mess publicly aired for the entertainment of thousands had been a pride swallowing experience. Innocent or not, there were now people out there that would never believe he was not some dumbass hockey player jacked up on cocaine that had bought his way out of trouble. His lawyers had pleaded with him to file suit against Lani for irreparably damaging his reputation. Yeah, that was gonna happen, he thought with a snort. Cian hadn't even given it a second thought when he told his lawyers to get fucked on that one. All he wanted was for it to go away and filing a lawsuit against his supermodel ex-girlfriend was just stirring the shit and making him look like even more of a moron. He pondered the original attraction he had felt towards Lani. Damn he wished he'd never met her but even more he wished he had been smart enough to leave her alone when he found out she had a drug problem. It was as if being a beautiful supermodel entitled her to special treatment and he'd let a lot of shit go because all his teammates and friends drooled over his girlfriend; half the free world drooled over her. Thinking back, he really hadn't liked her that much. It had been like dating one of those outrageously expensive designer dogs; she was pretty and useless. They had nothing in common; well except their apparent shallow personalities, he thought with disgust.
His parents had never questioned his innocence but that hadn't kept them from being disappointed in him. How could they not be? He was disappointed in himself for getting involved with Lani. Even the people that cared about him and knew he was innocent thought he was a fool. He needed to get his head on straight before training camp and be prepared to face his teammates, the fans and reporters. If Lani would just stop with her tawdry talk-show circuit, he could move on with his life in peace. Unfortunately, she showed no signs of slowing down. Max was the only person he knew that told him he should enjoy being the target of tabloids and being a genuine celebrity. His dry response had been how thrilled he was to be famous for being the ignorant hockey player Lani Mason played for a fool. Max thought that was funny too. Go figure. Oh well, Cian thought, West Virginia was beautiful and God knew his accommodations were first class. A mental picture of Ava astride him, her hands on his chest while she rode him to a mind-blowing orgasm flashed in his mind, bringing a smile to his face. He really was going to have to work on getting her in bed again. He knew she wanted to and all he had to do was convince her it was the right thing to do. He laughed to himself, feeling like a mad scientist rubbing his hands together in fiendish delight at the thought of the chase Ava was going to give him. Their naked bodies should be rubbing against each other at every opportunity while he was here. He didn't want a relationship and he knew from stories he'd heard from his brothers over the years that Ava never stayed with any man for any length of time. They could hang out and have lots of hot, sweaty sex for a few weeks then he would be off to training camp and Ava would probably head to some resort. Ready to put his plan, such as it was, in motion, he stripped off his t-shirt and went in search of Ava. Might as well pull out the big guns, he thought with a smirk and went off to fire his opening salvo.
Chapter Eleven
Ava flipped through the pages of the countersuit Jason would be filing on their behalf the following day and passed them to Macy. Jason had outdone himself again. She felt a momentary twinge of pain at the thought of Joey, her baby brother, giving her no other choice. He hadn’t always been like that. He knew damn well not one penny of their money belonged to him. In the past few years, Joey had made every bad decision possible; not once had he done the right thing. Macy had let him come back two times after the divorce for a week at a time but a week seemed to be the maximum length of time they could live together without him doing something stupid, like getting caught talking on the phone to the other woman, or meeting her out in public. He was an idiot and no one blamed Macy for dumping him; well, except for their father, but he thought Joey did no wrong and always had. Apparently, it had never occurred to Ben Talbot that not endorsing everything his son did might be the way to make him a productive adult. The saddest part of the whole scenario was Ava believed Joey really did love Macy in his own misguided way. This lawsuit was just another way to get under Macy’s skin and punish her for not taking him back.
“Do you two have any questions?” Jason inquired solicitously, reaching into his inside jacket pocket for the $1000 Mont Blanc fountain pen Ava had given him for his birthday the previous year. Jason Carson looked like every other $500 an hour attorney Ava had ever met; well dressed, well groomed and well paid, but he had made himself indispensable to them over the last few years, despite her earlier threats to replace him.
“Give me a pen.” Macy muttered. She quickly scrawled her name where Jason pointed before passing the pen to Ava. Ava signed for herself and Lena, being Lena’s proxy in her absence. “When will he be served?”
Jason looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’ll be filing the paperwork first thing in the morning so…within a couple of days Joey should have his papers.” He answered. “Just as a word of warning, avoid any contact or altercation with him and let the attorneys handle it, okay? I’ve never been overly impressed with your ex-husband’s intelligence.” He directed his remarks to Macy before flushing slightly in embarrassment when he remembered Joey was Ava’s brother. “No o
ffense, Ava.” Jason quickly added on. Ava laughed.
“None taken, Jason. Thank you for getting on this so quickly.” She smiled a sweet smile of thanks for Jason, never giving any indication that just a few days previously; she had threatened to replace him completely. Jason spent the next hour going over various other legal matters that pertained to them and their wide ranging interests. Ava and Macy walked him to the door when they had concluded their business. They were in the foyer making small talk as Jason prepared to leave when one of the massive double doors swung open and Cian, sweaty and half-naked came into view. He’d obviously been out for a run dressed in nothing but athletic shorts and running shoes, his sinewy body glistening with perspiration. A dark blue bandana covered his hair, keeping the sweat dampened curls out of his face and a pair of black Oakley Split Thump shades with built in MP3 covered his eyes. He was heading for the stairs but came to an abrupt halt when he saw them and pushed the sunglasses to the top of his head.
“Hey, what’s up?” he asked, assessing Jason. Macy moved to make the introductions while Ava struggled to not drool on herself. Looking at Cian had become one of her guilty pleasures. She’d always been a fool for tall, dark and handsome and he was that in spades. Visually, there was nothing about him that was not pleasing to the eye. He was tall, broad shouldered, slim-hipped, and long legged. His chest was finely sculpted with a light fur of dark chest hair, narrowing down over washboard abs. Thickly muscled thighs, calves rippling with every movement; his ass was truly in a class all by itself. His face was movie star handsome and his perfect smile blinding white. She had adopted a strict ‘look but don’t’ touch policy with Cian. But no matter how much her head was telling her to stick to that policy, her body was all about violating it.
Melting The Ice Page 6
