The last thing he saw before the door closed was that arched eyebrow and slightly naughty smile of hers, and he got hard all over again as he walked to the elevator.
Maybe he wouldn’t see her again and maybe he would. But it had for damn sure been one hell of a night.
4
Will woke up with a dick that ached almost as much as the side of his face, thanks to a dream that was already fading from his consciousness, except for a lingering impression of Kristen’s mouth on his neck.
At least his shoulder didn’t hurt.
That wasn’t still true when, what felt like a million hours later, he finally walked out of the Skimmers’ rink. It wasn’t a problematic pain, but it let him know the morning of practice with the team, interspersed with check-ins with the team doctor and physical therapists, had been a lot. The Skimmers were going on the road for a couple of games, and he wouldn’t be joining them, since he wasn’t scheduled to play until after the break, so he had the afternoon to himself.
He planned to spend it standing under a scalding shower until the hot water gave out.
When he hit the street, a man who’d been leaning against a red sedan straightened, and Will recognized him as a sports reporter fromHometown Hoser, a very popular hockey blog and YouTube channel, despite the name. Or maybe because of it. “Cross!”
“Hey, Joel. Doesn’t Boston have ordinances about loitering?”
Joel laughed at his weak attempt at a joke then held up his phone to show his thumb hovering over the voice recorder button. “You got time for a couple of questions?”
Time? Yes. The desire? Not so much. But it was part of the job and he had nothing to hide, so it would be standard. The shoulder was fine. Everything was fine. He was looking forward to rejoining the Harriers when his conditioning stint was over. “Sure.”
“Is there any truth to the rumor you got that bruise on your face from Erik Burke after he found you in bed with his sister last night?”
Will brain seized up like an old car engine, and all he could think wasoh shitandthe recorder’s running. Anything he said could and would be used against him in the court of the hockey fandom’s opinion.
“Where’d you hear that?”
“Let’s just say it was a source very close to the Burke family. Is it true Erik Burke interrupted your one-night stand with his sister by punching you in the face?”
That asshole.Her own brother had run his mouth. He had to have because only three people knew, and only one of them was angry enough to make the situation sound so damn sordid.
“That’s not accurate,” he said tersely, which wasn’t exactly a denial. He didn’t want to lie because he didn’t know if Joel had voice or video proof of Burke spilling his guts. But the actual details weren’t 100 percent accurate—he hadn’t found Will actuallyinKristen’s bed—so he tried to walk that line.
“Then whatdidhappen? It’s pretty obvioussomebodypunched you in the face last night,” Joel pointed out. “What didn’t my source get right?”
Standing there with a bruised jaw and faced with a story that was essentially the truth to explain it, Will thought fast.
His mom had drilled a lot of life lessons into his head growing up, and she’d taken it up a notch as he prepared to go off to college as a top athletic prospect. Never disrespect a woman. And never, ever throw a woman’s reputation under the bus to make your life easier.
I have a very conservative boss, and I’m up for a promotion. The last thing I need is to be caught in some one-night-stand sex scandal with one of the most hated athletes in the city.
Will didn’t give a shit what was said about him—and he couldn’t do a damn thing about the circus surrounding him and Erik Burke—but he could do something to stop rumors of a one-night stand getting out there.
“Kristen and I have been dating for…a while.”
That threw the guy, but he rebounded quickly. “How does Erik Burke feel about you dating his sister?”
Had this jerk not gotten a good enough look at his face? “I think it’s safe to say he didn’t take the news well. But at the end of the day, it’s really none of his business.”
The sportswriter arched an eyebrow and Will’s stomach sank. He was digging himself one hell of a hole here. “You don’t think his sister is his business?”
“Of course she is. I just meant that she’s an adult and I doubt she runs her dating decisions past him.” He needed to get out of here. His rental car was only about fifty feet away, but Joel was following him.
“How long have you been dating? When did you meet? Have you met her father yet? There’s been a lot of animosity toward you from Lamont Burke over the years. What does he think about you dating his daughter?”
It was going from bad to worse. He hit the button to unlock his doors and tossed his hockey bag in the backseat before pulling open the front door. Then he looked at Joel over the roof. “Look, Kristen’s a very private person, and yeah, Burke got pissed and took a shot at me, but it’s behind us and there’s no story here. I’m asking you to just drop it.”
But as he drove away and glanced in his rearview mirror, Will saw Joel typing something on his phone screen while practically jogging back to his car. Therewasa story there, and the reporter had no intention of dropping it.
