Though I’d been watching hockey games my whole life, this was the most exciting one I’d ever seen. This was my team. For me, the action was faster and the crowd was louder. Killian was on fire, his line executing every play just right. When Bennett slapped the puck into the net and the deep horn sounded to signify a goal, I jumped up from my seat, throwing my arms in the air.
The new second line wasn’t bad. Not as good as the first line, but better than what we’d had a few weeks before. I was on the edge of my seat, following every play, and it wasn’t just knowing Killian was out there that got me all excited.
“Where’s the puck?” Nicole asked for the third time since the game had started.
“Right by the net,” I said. “Ashford’s trying to get it.”
She looked down at her nails, not interested in the game.
“I need to find a good manicure place here,” she said.
I ignored her, too engrossed in the game to think about her nails.
Our goaltender was named David Shuck, but everyone called him Shuck. And I said a silent prayer that Shuck would block the puck as the clock counted down its final seconds. We were up 3–2 and I didn’t think my heart could take overtime.
“Come on, Shuck.” I pressed my knuckles to my lips nervously. “Block. Oh, crap . . . no.”
I cringed. The puck had sailed toward the net and I assumed the worst. But when it fell from Shuck’s glove, I jumped up from my chair.
“He got it! We won!”
The guys were all on the ice, sticks in the air. My eyes scanned the game sweaters, landing on the one that said Bosch. His wide, happy grin reached straight to my heart.
“That was fun,” Keri said. “I wouldn’t mind watching a game from closer to the ice sometime, just to see the difference.”
“Sure, we can do that,” I said, my attention still focused on Killian.
He looked up at the box and even though I couldn’t be sure, I felt like he was looking at me. He raised his stick back up in the air and pointed it at the owner’s box. My box.
My attempt at a cool smile came out as a giddy grin. This guy was sex on skates, and he wasn’t the least bit intimidated by me. It was a powerful combination. I needed to keep my guard up and remember the big picture.
Giving in to my attraction to Killian would probably lead to a night of incredible sex, but then what? The fallout would be damaging to both of us, personally and professionally. As the team’s owner, it was my job to set a high standard. I couldn’t do that by screwing a player, no matter how good he made me feel.
Killian
That night the locker room wasn’t just full of guys who were happy, it was full of guys who were hopeful. And, damn, that felt good. We were finally stringing together some wins and holding our own.
I’d just finished my shower and was putting on my tie when Liam approached, his dark suit and blue tie already in place.
“Wanna share a cab?” I asked. “I already know I’m not driving home tonight.”
He smiled and looked away. “I’m not going out tonight, actually.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, confused. “You got somewhere better to be?”
He gave a slight nod. “I kind of do.”
I grunted with realization. “Give it to her good, brother.”
He said nothing, which was unlike him. Strange. Liam was like me. He’d never had it bad for a woman.
I left the locker room, planning to find a way to run into Sidney. It didn’t take any effort since she was waiting in the tunnel, talking to a reporter who had a microphone in her face.
She was so pretty, but none of her striking features compared to her confidence. It was written on her face and in the way she held her shoulders. In her wide, perfect smile.
Women who felt empowered by the way I looked at them? That was fucking awesome. But this one, who was empowered all on her own? She was irresistible.
I stood to the side, watching as she finished the interview. And then my night got about a hundred times better when she looked at me, smiled, and walked over.
“Hey,” I said, grinning at her.
Her glistening green eyes sent a charge of arousal through my body. I loved to find a willing woman after games, especially when we won. And tonight there was only one woman I wanted.
“You’ve gotta come out with us,” I said. “Have a drink with us to celebrate.”
And then come home with me and get fucked senseless.
She wanted it, too. I could see it in her slightly pink cheeks and the way she bit her lip nervously.
“I don’t belong there,” she said. “That’s for the team. But thank you for the invite.”
“Of course you belong there.”
She slid on her dark wool coat and buttoned it. “Not really. Even though I’m wearing a skirt, I’m still a suit.”
I took a step closer to her and lowered my voice so only she could hear. “I want you there. Come with me.”
She took a step back, her eyes widening. “I can’t. You’re positively dangerous in that suit, Killian. The uniform was enough, but now . . . I need to go home.”
Her refusal sparked my temper. We were two consenting adults who wanted each other, and I couldn’t figure out why she was being so damn stubborn.
“Walk with me,” I said, leading the way to a vacant hallway. “You’ve got a boyfriend, don’t you?” My bitter tone was laced with anger.
“No.”
“Then what’s the fucking problem, Sid?” I eased closer and this time she didn’t move back.
“If you don’t know why it’s a problem, then you’re not as smart as I’ve given you credit for.”
“We don’t have to make our personal lives public. I don’t kiss and tell. Do you?”
She shook her head and narrowed her eyes at me. “You think I can get in your car, go to a bar and have a drink and then leave with you and no one will talk? Are you kidding me?”
“Fine,” I said, shrugging. “I’ll take someone else home later. It’s all the same to me.”
“Fuck you, Killian.”
“Not tonight, baby.”
With an icy glare, she turned and left. My high from the win had dissolved. Now I was just pissed off.
I walked to my Jeep and got in, hoping the drive to the bar would mellow me. Instead I kept a death grip on the steering wheel the whole way and was even more exasperated by the time I parked. All I could see was Sid. The way she’d looked at me in that last second before I’d left the locker room had lit a fire in me that burned through the entire game. Seeing her button her long, conservative coat made me want to unbutton it and slide my hands beneath it.
She was smart and sexy and really fucking stubborn. But she was also full of integrity, and damned if that didn’t make me like her even more.
Cosmos, our team’s favorite post-game bar, was jammed when I walked in.
“Killian Bosch!” someone yelled. “Fuck yeah, man!”
I raised my hand in a half-hearted wave and made my way to the table in back where the guys were starting to gather.
Bennett elbowed me as soon as I walked up. “The fuck was that with you and Sidney in the hallway after the game? She’s got no right being pissed off about that game.”