Empty Net (2 page)

She was so lucky.

Audrey stood up, smiling down at Fallon, “Well, if it’s a damn raincoat, please let it be white, while my dress is sparkly as all hell!” The women all cheered as she raised her glass in the
air. “To the indecisive bride-to-be!”

“To the bride!” everyone chanted along before tapping their glasses together and drinking their shots. Audrey slammed her empty glass down before letting out a loud
“Yeehaw!”
that was returned by the many patrons at the bar. She grinned as she fell into the seat beside her beautiful sister. Fallon wrapped her arms around her neck, grinning happily back at her.

“I’ve missed you,” Fallon whispered in her ear. She was drunk, and Audrey had to giggle. She was close to drunk too; those last couple of shots were doozies.

“I’ve missed you too,” she whispered back.

“I’m nervous.”

Audrey smiled as she shook her head. “Don’t be. It’s gonna be fantastic.”

“But what if I pick the wrong dress and Lucas doesn’t marry me?”

Audrey sighed. Her sister was entirely too insecure for her own good.

“Never gonna happen. Lucas loves you something serious. Like you said, you could show up in a raincoat and he would be happy.”

Fallon nodded, then leaned her head against Audrey’s, looking deep into her eyes.

“You’re the best sister ever.”

The tears came fast, filling Audrey’s eyes as she looked into her sister’s caramel-colored ones. Fallon was the most beautiful woman she had ever known. She deserved the world, and Audrey knew that Lucas would give it to her. But now wasn’t the time to cry, even if they were happy tears. Audrey leaned over, kissing Fallon on the cheek before breaking their embrace to scream, “Let’s dance!”

As Audrey made her way to the bar from the dance floor, she had to admit the night was a huge success. And she hadn’t even thought of Levi once. She was too busy having a blast with her sister and their friends. With the music pulsing around her, she leaned against the bar and ordered another round of drinks. As she waited, the pain unexpectedly began to rip through her. Even though she hadn’t been thinking of Levi while with her friends, he was now heavy on her mind. She dreaded going home, knowing that when she got back to her condo he wouldn’t be there. It made her want to die inside. No matter how much alcohol she drank, or how much fun she had, it would end tonight, and by tomorrow she would be all by herself once again.

“Someone as beautiful as you shouldn’t be sad.”

Audrey looked over and then up, locking with a pair of ocean blue eyes. She blinked as she took in the hotness that stood beside her.

Wow
.

A strong, square chin was covered in blond stubble, his nose had a pronounced bump, his top lip thin, while the bottom lip jutted out a little, just begging to be bitten. His hair was in a messy, tousled cut, and reminded her of the sparkling vampire she often fantasized about, and while “Flightless Bird” by Iron & Wine instantly played in her mind, her eyes drifted down his neck to his broad shoulders. She could see he was strong, but not overly muscular. What he was—was perfect. Her eyes met his again and she couldn’t breathe. He oozed sex. She couldn’t believe how quickly she got turned on just by looking at him.

She breathed in and out a few times before croaking, “Excuse me?”

She watched as his lips moved. “I was wondering why someone so beautiful looked so sad,” he said.

Audrey’s eyes left his mouth, to gaze into his eyes. “I’m not sad,” she lied.

“Yes, I think you are.”

He had an accent.

Sexy.

“I’m fine. My sister is getting married, that’s probably why I look sad.”

He shook his head. “Isn’t a wedding a good thing?”

She smiled again. “Of course it is, but I’m losing my sister.”

He nodded. “Yes, but you are gaining a brother.”

Her smile grew as she gazed up at him. He was tall, really tall. She had always been with little guys, since she was so short herself, but at that moment she liked being with the giant who stood in front of her. “I think you’re right,” she said.

He chuckled, a deep throaty sound that made Audrey’s stomach flutter. Oh, he was sexy. “I am always right.”

She giggled at his cockiness. It was totally something Lucas would say, and thinking of him made her smile. “Is that right?”

“Yes. I’ve been watching you, and I’m glad I came over to talk, because honestly, you are the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen.”

Oh, wow
.

Tate Odder was nervous.

He wasn’t lying to the beautiful brunette when he said he had been watching her. He was sitting at the bar when she walked in with her phone at her side, looking so gorgeous it took his breath away. There was something about her that had him begging to know her name. He’d spent
the last hour or so watching her with her friends. He recognized the team’s owner, Eleanor Adler, and assumed that one of them was Fallon, the soon-to-be wife of his good friend Lucas Brooks, but he wasn’t sure which one. Not that he cared. He had eyes only for the curvy brunette and had to figure out a way to approach her. He was not one of those guys who would mess with another man’s woman, but from where he’d been sitting, he saw that her ring finger was bare.

Since coming to Nashville eight months ago, he still hadn’t adjusted to dating in the Music City. There was something different about the girls here than in his Swedish homeland. Maybe it was their accents, or his, but he always felt like an idiot. No matter how much Lucas coached him on the art of picking up women, Tate couldn’t do it. He was worried they would make fun of his accent or the gap between his teeth.

He was just becoming popular in the National Hockey League. Even though he was ranked fifth in the NHL in goalie saves, he still wasn’t confident enough to walk up to a woman.

But that was about to change.

When the beauty walked to the bar alone, he’d channeled his inner Lucas and made his way toward her.

Tate couldn’t help but notice how sad she looked. She was petite, but he loved that. After dating nothing but tall Swedish women, he was ready for a change. He liked that she wasn’t bone thin either, and that she had hips and a nice round ass. When his eyes fell on her large breasts, he was in heaven. There was something about big breasts that did it for him. Call it cliché, but he loved big-breasted women.

As his eyes met her heavy-lidded, bright brown ones, he couldn’t help but smile. They sparkled as a bright smile crossed her luscious, glossy lips. “Watching me, huh?” she said now.

There was something uncommonly beautiful about her. Maybe it was the shape of her
face. Maybe it was her big beautiful eyes. Or maybe it was the absolute perfection of her breasts. What it was, he didn’t know. All he knew was that he wanted her.

Now.

Nothing was said as the two stood gazing into each other’s eyes. When Tate asked Lucas to help him pick up women, he thought Lucas’s advice was going to make it easier for him. He was completely wrong. He had spent the last four months listening to every pickup line his friend gave him, but now he couldn’t think of even one. All he could do was stare into the depths of her brown eyes. They were mesmerizing.

“You’re beautiful,” he finally said.

She bit into her bottom lip, and Tate’s grip on the bar tightened. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. I should be thanking you for gracing this world.”

Good one, he thought, as a blush dusted the beauty’s cheeks.

“Oooh, that was smooth,” she whispered. She lightly brushed her hand against his, and Tate was convinced his hand was on fire. She must have felt it too, because she gasped, moving her hand away quickly before looking up at him.

“I have to tell you,” she said with a shy grin, “it’s usually not this easy.”

He looked down at her. “Easy how?”

“This easy to pick me up. I usually make guys work for it.”

He grinned, and her smile widened. “So you want me too?”

She moved closer, her eyes dark with lust as she said, “I do, but I don’t even know your name, though you do look kinda familiar …”

“Do you want to know my name?” he asked with a cocky grin. It was another line out of Lucas’s book, and Tate couldn’t believe he remembered it. He was drunk and horny, not a good
combination when trying to pick up a woman. Especially one as gorgeous as this one.

He expected her to nod, so when she shook it, stepping closer to him, he mentally prayed he was ready for what she was about to say. Things were so much different in the States than in Sweden. Back home all he would have to do was nod at a female and she would be on him quicker than he could blink. He was a hockey god there. But not here. He wasn’t used to feeling like he wasn’t good enough or that he couldn’t succeed, and hated it. He knew his confidence would be broken if she told him to fuck off, so he took a deep breath as she went toe-to-toe with him, her head only reaching to his chest before she looked up.

“All I want to know is when you can leave,” she said. “I have a room not even a mile from here.”

A slow grin spread across Tate’s face as his hands came to rest on her hips. She inhaled sharply and brought her bottom lip between her teeth as she gazed up into his eyes. He had never felt such a connection with a woman before. He wanted to push her up against the bar and have his way with her right there.

Fast. And hard.

He had never in his twenty-one years felt the need to completely devour a woman, but he did now. And if they didn’t leave fast, he was going to lose all control.

He didn’t hesitate, or even think, for that matter. “Let’s go.”

As they walked through the crowded bar together, hands locked, Tate couldn’t help but thank God for Lucas Brooks.

Something was ringing.

Very loudly.

Audrey couldn’t move or open her eyes. Her head was pounding and her body was gloriously aching, but the ringing needed to stop. It was her alarm, and if she didn’t find her phone, it would never stop. With each little ding of the alarm, she swore her head was going to explode. Man, she’d had too much to drink last night.

The noise was loud so it had to be close by. She patted her hand around her pillow, off to her right of the bed, and down by her legs. When she couldn’t find her phone, she used her left hand to pat along her other side.

When her hand connected with what she knew wasn’t her phone, more like a very large penis, a loud, male groan filled the room. Audrey’s eyes opened quickly to see that she wasn’t alone in the massive king-size bed.

“That’s one hell of a way to wake me up,” her bedmate whispered as he leaned closer, dusting her lips with his.

Audrey stared as the blond hottie reached out his arms, stretching and flexing his mouth-watering muscles. He glanced over at her and gave her a sweet smile as she lay there in shock.

Oh. My. God
.

Did she really bring a guy to her hotel room last night?

She still had to be drunk because something wasn’t clicking. She recalled dancing, and drinking with Fallon and the girls, but where did this guy come from? She didn’t even remember
his name.

Oh wait!
It all came rushing back to her. She told him she didn’t want to know his name. He had called her beautiful with his hot accent, and she was a goner.

How very whorish of her.

Audrey covered her face with her hands as she mentally kicked herself. All Blondie—she had to call him something!—had to do was look at her and she was ready.

Yup. She was such a slut.

Now, when Blondie’s hand slid across her belly, to pull her close to him, she pulled away. Scrambling out of the bed, her footing was a little off and she fell facedown with a loud thud. Pain shot through her nose to the back of her head.

Oh my God
. She had to get out of there.

“Are you okay?!” he asked as she lay with her face in the plush carpet.

“Just fine,” she muttered as she thought this morning could not get any worse.

She had to get out of there, now. But she didn’t even know where her clothes were. She also couldn’t remember what she told this guy. Did she tell him her name? Did she tell him what she did for a living? Who her father was?