BrickWall_Kobo (5 page)

This girl brought out something in him he wasn’t sure he could control.
And he was all about control.
It’s what made him a good goalie.

But he’d loosen the reins a little if it meant she came home with him.

“Or,” she continued, “we can wait—”

“I’m ready to leave whenever you are.”
Damn but her smile slayed him.
“Do you want to follow me?”

“Sure.
That’d be great.”

He wanted to pump his fist in the air.
“Great.
Just let me say goodbye to Lori.”

She put her hand on his arm and his pulse thumped through his veins.
“We can do that together.
Let me get my coat and purse.
Be right back.”

Ten minutes later, she followed behind his truck in her little red Jeep Renegade and he had to keep from speeding the entire way.
The drive wasn’t long but he kept looking in the rearview mirror to make sure she was still there.

By the time they parked in the lot behind his building, Shane had clenched his jaw so tight, he was afraid it’d crack.

With his roommate home in Ottawa for the holidays, they’d have the place to themselves.
Luckily, CJ was anal about everything and Shane had learned to be a little less of a mess while they’d been living together this season.
So the apartment wasn’t in bad shape.

And he’d actually changed the sheets on his bed yesterday.
How was that for blind dumb luck?

Stepping out of her car, Bliss shivered a little, tucking her hand around his arm as they walked to the building’s entrance.

“My car didn’t even have time to warm up on the drive,” she said.
“You’re probably used to the cold, aren’t you?”

“Pretty much.
When you spend as much time on the ice as we do, this is nothing.”

“When did you start playing hockey?”

He opened the door to the building and waved her in ahead of him.
“Honestly, I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t on skates.
My mom says I was born with them strapped to my feet.
Where I grew up, you either skated or you spent a hell of a lot of time cooped up inside from November ’til April.”

“So you’ve played all your life?”

A short walk down the hall to his apartment and he had the door open as he answered.

“Never wanted to do anything else.
I love the game.”

She slipped by him as he reached inside to turn on the light.
“I don’t know much about the game.”

“I’ll teach you whatever you want to know.”

She stopped just inside the door as he continued into the living room, shrugging out of his coat so he could put it in the small closet next to the kitchen.

“My own personal player.
Hmm, I think I’d like that.”

The husky tone in her voice made his head snap around to her and the amused light in her eyes made his muscles clench.

“What do you want to know?
Ask me anything.”

“Well, now.”
Her eyes widened.
“That’s almost too good to pass up.”

The teasing note in her voice, combined with that private little grin, made another shiver run up his spine.

“What do you want to know?”

Her head tipped to the side, as if she were thinking.
“Do you enjoy what you do?”

Too easy.
“Love it.
It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”

“That’s amazing.
So many people have jobs they hate just so they can eat.
But you get to do what you love.”

Something in her voice made him ask, “Don’t you enjoy what you do?”

She shook her head as she unbuttoned her coat.
“Oh, don’t get me wrong.
I love working for my aunt.
And I love what I do.
It’s just…”

He walked back to take her coat, trying not to salivate as she stripped it off.
“What?”

She shrugged, drawing his gaze down to her chest.
Then he gave himself a figurative slap upside the head and dragged his gaze back up.

“It’s kind of isolating.”
She shrugged.
“It must be nice knowing you’ve got an entire team at your back.”

He laughed.
Couldn’t help himself.
“Well, it’s kind of like having this huge family of brothers.
You spend so much time together that you get to know everybody really well.
That also means you get to know them
too
well.
We’ve got a good group of guys this season but there’s always a few, you know?
The ones you want to strangle when they tell the same damn joke for the thousandth time.
Or is always borrowing something and never returning it.
And they all know just what to do to get under your skin.”

Her smile made his cock twitch.
“
That
I totally understand.
I have a big family and there are days I want to strangle them all and days I wouldn’t know what to do without them.
It’s tough growing up with four older brothers.”

She seemed to want to say something else but never finished.

“Were you ever able to date?
I figure with that many brothers, they’d scare off anyone who tried.”

He waved her toward the couch.
She took the hint and sat, toeing off her shoes before curling her feet under her legs.

“My two older brothers were away at college when I started dating and my younger brothers… well, they had their own stuff to deal with.
But my dad… He used to be a cop.
Want to get rid of a guy fast?
Have your dad tell your date he’ll throw his ass in jail if he dared lay a hand on me.
Of course, when I told my mom, she read him the riot act.
After that, he just glared at every guy I brought home and then my mom would do something to distract him.
They’re pretty much the perfect couple.
Always have been.”

Shane laughed.
“Yeah, my parents were pretty freaking perfect, too.
My mom worked at home so she was always there.
Dinner on the table every night, homemade cookies after practice.
My dad worked days at the paper plant so he coached all of my teams from the time I was five until I went to high school.”

“Sounds like the American dream.”

He grimaced at how perfect it’d been.
“Yeah.
I can look back on it now and know that, but back then… Man, it felt like I never had a minute to myself.”

She propped her arm on the back of the couch and rested her head on her hand.
“Do you have siblings?”

“Younger brother and sister.
Twins.”

But he’d been the focus of his parents’ lives for seven years before his mom had gotten pregnant again.
And when it’d become evident that he had enough talent to actually make a career out of hockey, his parents had done everything they could to get him where he needed to be.

“My brother plays too but my sister spent most of her childhoods in hockey rinks and doesn’t play.
She’s actually a damn good ice skater but…”

“But what?”

She sounded genuinely interested and he couldn’t not answer.

“Sometimes I think my parents invested a little too much time into me and my sister got the short end of the stick.”

“Has she ever said that?”

Bliss’s voice held a sweet concern that made him want to kiss her.

“No.
But I still wonder.”

“Does she still skate?”

He shrugged.
“Not a lot.
She’s in college.
Going for her veterinarian’s degree.”

He and his brother teased Giselle relentlessly about the fact that she was the only one of them to go to college.
But he was damn proud of her.

“Sounds like a smart girl.”

“She is.”

“So if she’d wanted to skate, she would’ve found a way.
Right?”

A grin caught him off guard.
Giselle wasn’t the only smart woman he knew, apparently.

“Probably, yeah.
She’s always known how to get what she wants.
Guess she had to with two brothers.”

“What about you, Shane?
Do you get what you want?”

He thought about how shitty he’d been playing lately, about how he was letting down his team.
About the fact that she’d agreed to come home with him.

“Not always, no.
But I hope I will tonight.”

And there was her smile again.
“I don’t think you have to worry about that.”

Grinning, he shook his head.
“I love that you’re not afraid to say what’s in your head.”

She shrugged.
“No one should be.”

“You’re absolutely right.
I’d much rather hear you speak your mind than not say anything at all.”

He swore he felt the heat of her smile as she leaned closer and laid her hand on his arm, muscles bunching at her touch.

“Then let me tell you how much I look forward to kissing you.”
Her head tilted to the side.
“And touching you.
And…anything else that might come up along the way.”

Bliss pulled back far enough that she could see Shane’s face in the room’s low light.
Saw the deep breath he sucked in and the way his throat convulsed as he swallowed.
Then he ran one hand through his dark, shaggy waves and she wanted to do the same.
She knew it’d feel like silk against her skin.

“Great.
That’s great.”
He paused, frowned, then shook his head like he was trying to get something to fall back into place.
“I just don’t want you to think I’m trying to take advantage of you.”

Wow, was he for real?
He seemed too damn sweet.
Not at all what she’d been expecting.
Not that that was a bad thing.
But it made her wonder if she was starting to come off a little too strong.

Then she looked into his eyes and saw lust.
A blazing heat that stole her breath.
And she realized Shane was the real deal.
An actual, genuinely nice guy.

She’d begun to believe they were pure myth.

Her thighs clenched and she sucked in air, suddenly finding it hard to breathe.

Holy hell, when had the temperature risen to the point that she wanted to start shedding clothes?
Okay, maybe she just wanted him to start shedding clothes.

But first she needed to ask him a very important question.
“What if I want you to take advantage?”

That heat in his eyes burned even brighter, and the wry grin that curved his beautiful mouth made her thighs clench.

“Maybe I’d rather you take advantage of me.”

Oh yes, please.
She could
so
work with that.

As his bright blue eyes narrowed to slits and his mouth flattened into a straight line, Bliss swore she felt sexual intensity coming off him like heat.

Then he moved closer and, as she had to crane her head to look up at him, she realized just how much bigger he was.
Broader and heavier and more muscled.

Amazing, she felt no fear.
She knew instinctively this man wouldn’t harm her.
Of course, if she asked him to slap his hand across her ass…

Oh hell, just thinking about it made heat flush across her cheeks.

What would he say if she asked him?
Maybe he didn’t do kinky?
Not that spanking was really kinky but—

Fuck it.

Reaching for him, she wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled him forward, meeting him halfway and pressing her lips against his.

She needed him to have no doubt about what she wanted.
That she wanted whatever he had to give.

And when he kissed her back, she realized not only was he a really good kisser, but what she’d thought was shyness was really reserve.
And she had just given him permission to release his restraints.

His hands wrapped around her shoulders, tight but not threatening.
And it definitely didn’t hurt.
But he wasn’t going to release her unless she asked.

Be still my heart.

Her heart beat just a little faster.

So strong.
So…demanding.

With a soft moan, she shifted closer as his mouth opened over hers and his tongue slid between her lips.