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He makes an indifferent sound like he couldn’t care less, but the way he’s looking at me says something different.
ThisI remember from Vancouver. This dizzying sense of there not being enough air when I had the full focus of his attention. This feeling of being caught in some kind of gravitational pull toward an object of greater mass. This borderline compulsion to reach out and touch. To run my fingers over the corded muscles of his forearm, trace the lines of black ink.
The door to the bar opens again, and I jump back, heart racing. It’s just a couple girls huddled close as their thumbs fly over their phones. But it could have been my brother. Or Rux, or any one of the guys in there who would turn around and tell Greg who I was talking to, pretty much ensuring the start of World War III right here on the sidewalk in front of Belfast.
Clearing my throat, I shake my head. “So, it’s umm… nice to see you again. But I’m uh… I need to get home.”
There’s another jump in that muscle beneath the scruff of his stubble, and even over the wind and roar of a passing bike, I’m pretty sure I just heard his molars grinding.
“Back toWashington? Yeah, quite the trip ahead of you.”
My mouth opens, but I exhausted all my lies the last time we were together. Not that I can give him the truth. Vaughn’s a better guy than most people give him credit for, but knowing how he feels about my brother… I’m not sure he could resist the temptation to shove our hookup in Greg’s face.
A teal Prius pulls up to the curb and my breath rushes out in relief. “This is my ride,” I say apologetically as I climb into the car. I know what I’m doing isn’t fair, but it’s the only way. “Take care.”
* * *
Vaughn
Take care?
No fucking way that just happened.
But yeah, I’m standing on the street in front of Belfast, the spot Allie previously occupied, as empty as my bed the night she skipped out.
I ought to let her go. That’s twice she’s taken off on me. Twice I felt that weird fucking pull toward a girl I barely know, twice I was ready to break a few of my own rules, and twice she’s left me standing wondering what the fuck just happened.
I don’t need that shit, especially now. Except—
“Christ, Vassar, what happened to laying off Baxter?”
I turn to find my left-winger, Quinn O’Brian, behind me on the sidewalk, accusation pouring off him. I get it. Laying Baxter out at the beginning of the season was a fuck-up. One I’ve been paying for ever since. And if I fuck up again, it fucks things for our line. It fucks the team. And while I’m basically biding my time until Oregon can pick me up,no fucking wayam I going to makethis teama loser.
“Look, man, I just came out for a beer. I didn’t know Baxter and half the team were here.” Or Allie.
Is this a regular hangout?
“Yeah, and what abouther?”
Her?Now he’s got my full attention. “What about her? Who is she?”
“You don’t know?” He shoots me a pissy glare I’m not in the mood for. “NatalieBaxter…She’s Greg Baxter’s little sister, and she’s off limits, dipshit.”
No. Fucking. Way.
Chapter 2
Natalie
It’s been an hour since I left the bar. An hour since Vaughn busted me trying to sneak out on him.Again. An hour since he let me go.
If he asks even one person about me, it’s over. He’ll know. And if he knows…
Biting my lip, I flip from the replay of last night’s game to the local news and watch the ribbon at the bottom of the screen until I’m sure no one’s reporting half the Slayers team arrested for brawling at Belfast bar.
Which means Greg doesn’t know either. And for now, my secret is safe.
I change back to the game and watch Vaughn with a breakaway. He powers up the ice, outskating his competition, juking out Tampa Bay for a goal. The cameras cover him rounding for a fist bump with the team, but it’s that moment before he reaches them that makes me shiver. He’s totally in his own head and the intensity in his eyes takes my breath away.
