AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m not—“ I try anyway, and the kid bulldozes straight through me.
“Cap was looking for you all warmup. I wasn’t sure having a girl with us was a good idea. No offense. But if you keep his game like that, I’ll get you a fucking jersey and we can ask to put you on the roster. Four fucking points. He was a fucking masterpiece.”
“Language, Spags,” a deep voice says and the rookie blushes scarlet, dropping his eyes to the ground with a mumbled “sorry, Cap,” and I don’t need to turn to know who’s standing next to me.
I didn’t need to hear his voice either, to know that Victor Varg is the one blocking out all the light. He towers over his teammate too, and I know Jack Spaeglin is at least an inch over six feet tall. It’s not the size or the eclipse he creates that tips me off. It’s a tingling that starts low in my spine and creeps up to fizz at the back of my skull, like my whole body has fallen asleep and now is just starting to wake up. A pins and needles awareness that leaves me breathless.
“Victor,” I say with a nod, refusing to turn my head and look at the man. If just standing here is giving me heart palpitations, then goodness knows I shouldn’t make any eye contact.
“Kitty cat,” the man says, and I close my eyes as I try to calm my racing everything.
There is no reason for me to be reacting this way to Victor Varg. Sure, the man is attractive. Yes, I have eyes, but that’s not a reason to feel like the temperature in this damn hotel has cranked up fifty degrees. Isn’t it a thing that hotel rooms are supposed to have air conditioners that don’t shut off? It must be the travel, and the time difference. God, these guys just played an intense hockey game after a red-eye flight and a three-hour time change. How are any of them awake right now? It must be adrenaline. They haven’t crashed yet.
It must be the fact that it feels like it’s past two in the morning that has me realizing that Jack Spaeglin walked away without me even noticing. Leaving me alone with his captain.
“Don’t worry, he doesn’t play in the lime socks. Just wears them to and from the rink,” Vic says, and I almost don’t remember the lucky sock comment and the recoil I experienced trying to get away from them.
“That’s a relief,” I say. “You didn’t have to scare him off.”
“I didn’t.” There’s something in Vic’s voice, a laugh maybe, and I make a production about looking around the lobby.
“He’s not here, is he?”
Vic shrugs, his collared shirt pulls tight over his chest, and I swear I didn’t mean to look, but now I can’t help it. The top buttons are undone and there’s the hollow of his throat and the cords of his neck, all wrapped up in tanned skin. And yes, okay, Victor Varg is one of the most attractive men I’ve ever encountered in real life. And yes, I know if circumstances were different, I’d let him yank me up so I could wrap my legs around his trim waist. I doubt we’d even need a wall. He could keep me there with just the strength in his arms.
But things aren’t different. We still work together. I’d still be out of a job.
He’s still the man who almost cost me that job last season.
“He did what he was supposed to do,” Vic says and when I raise one eyebrow at him, he grins. “Come out with us tonight.”
I’m shaking my head even as I feel my resolve waver.
“Come out with us.”
“It’s a bad idea.”
It really is. The last thing the guys want is me hanging over their head like a nanny cam. Not that I’d tattle back to headquarters, but they don’t know that. The last thing I need is more one-on-one time with this man standing next to me. Admitting that I want him is dangerous enough. Especially when I’m not stupid. I know he wants me, too. Of the two of us, I’m pretty sure I’m the one who will need to keep the lines clearly drawn. I trust Vic will respect my boundaries, but I need to set them. That I know.
“It’s a great idea.” He’s closer now, the voice almost a murmur. Our height difference is the only thing that keeps him from pressing the words to my temple, my ear, my neck. There’s a fine tremor that runs through my limbs at the thought, and I step away. I need to get some space. I need to climb him like a mother-fucking tree. Something. Anything.
“Victor.”
“Tristan.”
It feels like I’ve had the wind knocked out of me. Like the time I tried to coax seven-year-old Joey down the big slide at the park and she kamikazied off the top of the structure, pinning my seventeen-year-old body on the damp wood chips at the local playground. She’d laughed and run off like I wasn’t lying there like a flattened pancake.
“The boys want to celebrate with their good luck charm.”
“Theboysdon’t even want me here,” I correct.
“They’re dummies, but even they know a good thing when they see it.” I don’t think we’re talking about the team anymore.
“You promised.” I remind him. In his foyer, he told me he’d take care of the rumors. This is not taking care of anything.
He hums something noncommittal, and I wonder how many people are watching us right now. The man who just handed the home team their asses, and a girl half his size who won’t even look at him. I’m braver than this, meeting every single challenge head on. This isn’t fear. This is self-preservation.
“You promised there was nothing going on between us.”
