Defensive Zone (The Dartmouth Cobras #2) (21 page)

"Sure. What time?"

"It will have to be early. Can
you make it to my place by 6?"

Movie marathon
and breakfast at 6am?
It was already
after 10. Still, she didn't want to cut her night with Landon short
or miss seeing Dean bent over a hot stove. Her mouth watered as she
imagined him in some low riding pyjama pants—or boxers. Unlikely,
but . . .
hell, sleep's
overrated.

"I'll be there. Can you text me
your address?"

"Will do," he said. "And
Silver?"

"Yes?"

"Chin up. I wouldn't rub it in,
but keep in mind, you sign these guys' checks."

After a quick goodnight,
she smiled at the phone and stuck it in her purse. Dean made her
feel . . . worthy. Of the team and more. She re-entered the house
with her shoulders back and her head held high.

"—I know you aren't cleared for
practice, Landon." Sloan was saying. "But I try to get the guys to
hit the sack before midnight. You should get used to it."

"I've got some pretty good
routines set up, Captain." Landon grinned at Silver and held out a
Diet Coke. "But today's been a trying day. Max invited Silver, so I
hope you don't mind if she hangs out with me in my room for a bit."
He winked at her. "We'll be careful not to disturb anyone."

Silver took a sip and choked a
little at the implication in his words. His teasing didn't usually
bother her, but did he have to make it sound like they'd be . .
.

Sloan muttered under his breath.
"Why am I not surprised?"

Landon patted her back and
arched a brow at Sloan. "What can I say? Silver cracks me up with
her impersonations."

I do?
Once, during a Clint Eastwood movie, she'd
repeated a line. Okay, maybe more than once. But she'd tried to be
quiet. Had he really 'cracked up' because of her?

Dominik
laughed
, put his arm around Oriana's
shoulder, and inclined his head to Silver. "Apparently it runs in
the family."

Oriana pursed her lips. "Well, I
don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going to bed. Landon, do
you need anything? You're about the same size as Max—maybe he can
lend you some pyjama pants?"

"Naw, I'm good," Landon said.
"Thank you."

Before Oriana could leave,
Silver stepped forward and blurted out. "Can we talk?"

"Go ahead," Oriana said,
tersely.

"Alone?"

Her sister folded her arms over
her chest. "No. I know what this is about and I'd rather not talk
about Sloan behind his back. If you have something to say, have the
guts to say it to his face."

"Fine." Silver ran her
tongue over her teeth and recalled Dean's words.
Chin up.
Landon's presence steadied her resolve as she faced Oriana.
"I'm sorry you heard about the trade I considered from Anne, but I
won't apologize for considering it. And I can't promise that I
won't consider it in the future. But if the general manager and I
decide selling his contract would benefit the team, I will let you
know before you hear it from anyone else."

Sloan grunted and held up
his beer in a sarcastic 'cheers'. "That's good to know."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Callahan,
were you expecting special treatment because you hooked up with a
family member?" She watched Dominik and Max through the corner of
her eye and relaxed when she saw at least they got it. "The
Dartmouth Cobras are just like any other club and I think you have
enough experience to know what that means. You'll be a free agent
at the end of this year. There will be a lot of discussion over
whether or not to re-sign you. It's nothing personal."

Lips drawn in a tight line, eyes
narrowed, Sloan nodded.

Oriana slid her hand down
Dominik's arm to lace her fingers with his, then reached out to put
her free hand on Sloan's shoulder. "So you won't go after him just
because you don't like him?"

"No."

"Okay." Oriana closed her eyes
and inhaled. "Okay. I can accept that." Her eyes met Silver's,
still slightly guarded, but not resentful. "Do you want me to show
you how to set up the DVD player? Or get you some snacks?"

A peace
offering?
Despite how easily Oriana had
forgiven her before, this time, she'd wondered if she'd gone too
far. But Dean's advice had saved her. She wasn't hungry, but she
could hear Landon's stomach growling. The corners of her mouth
lifted. "This man eats for twenty. I'll come help you get the
snacks. I'm sure he can figure out how to set things
up."

All the men seemed to let out a
sigh of relief as one. In the kitchen, Oriana pointed out the
cupboards with the snack foods while she put together a plate full
of sandwiches. After a long span of silence, Oriana came to her
side and nudged her with an elbow.

"So, what happened with the
lawyers?"

Silver put some freshly popped
popcorn in a bowl and shrugged. "It didn't work out."

"Oh." Oriana frowned and set the
plate on a large silver tray. "And you and Landon . . . ?"

"Are just friends." Suddenly she
wanted to tell her sister everything, but she had no idea where to
start. She'd never had any trouble giving her sister all the gritty
details, and yet, well, there weren't any. Her nose wrinkled. "It's
. . . different, but good. And neither of us wants to ruin what we
have by . . . you know."

Oriana blinked. "What?
You've
got
to give me something. I'm usually begging you to stop
sharing and—"

"There's nothing, sis.
Landon wants to stay friends. So do I. It's pretty
simple."

"Is it?"

Nope.
Silver shrugged again, picked up the tray, and
headed to Landon's room, trying not to think about how good it felt
just to be near him, about how hard it was to ignore the way her
body reacted to his touch. She never answered her sister, but as
Landon sat up from the bed and took the tray from her, she answered
herself.

It's not simple at all.

Bzzzz.

Dean shook his head as he
rubbed his hair with a towel and glanced at the clock. 5:30am,
now
that
surprised him. He took Silver for the type of girl who'd
show up late just to make an entrance. Not to mention the time it
took her to get all primped. Two hours was standard for most of the
women he dated. She probably hadn't gotten much sleep, if
any.

This isn't a date, Richter.

He acknowledged the unwelcome
thought with a nod and made his way to the door, hesitating for a
moment to consider his unbuttoned white shirt. Whatever people said
about Silver, one thing was certain—she took her job seriously. If
she considered this a business meeting, shouldn't he keep up
appearances?

Bzzzzzzz!

Impatient little thing. He
sighed, unlocked, then opened the door. "You're early."

"Oh." She tongued her
bottom lip and stared at his bare chest. "I'm sorry. I lost track
of time and I didn't want to be late." She shifted the black suit
bag slung over her shoulder and ducked her head. Her hair, usually
perfectly styled, bobbed in a hastily done ponytail. "I was hoping
I could get ready here—if you don't mind . . . ?"

"Not at all." He let her
in and smothered a grin as he looked her over. T-shirt and jeans,
both so rumpled he was willing to bet she'd slept in them.
Probably not in her own
bed
. His withheld grin vanished. "I just
took a shower, so you might want to wait a bit for the water to
heat up."

A blush spread over her cheeks.
"You'll let me take a shower?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know—I just—well you
don't want to—" She swallowed. "Uck, I'm going to shut up now."

Apparently the Delgado princess
wasn't the woman who'd come to his door. She'd show up if Silver
got too nervous, but he'd keep her at bay as long as he could.

Shaking his head, he traced her
bottom lip with an index finger. "I do want to, Silver."

She hissed in air and her tongue
touched his fingertip. "Then . . . ."

"You will give yourself to me at
the club, pet. Not before."

"Says who?" She looked away and
crossed her arms over her breasts. "Even if I go back, why the hell
would I hook up with you? Been there, done that. We're both here
now. It's convenient."

"I wouldn't say that."

With perfect timing as always,
his daughter slinked out of her room, her blanket creased face pale
and a little grey. "Coffee, dad?"

"Try some orange juice first,
sweetie." Dean moved away from Silver and grabbed his daughter's
arms as she teetered in the general direction of the kitchen.
"Vodka?"

"Tequila." Jami groaned as he
helped her to the table. "Never drinking it again."

If only . .
.
he went to the fridge and took out the
orange juice. At the counter, he poured his daughter a tall glass
and glared out the window while he regained his composure. It was
just a phase, not a reflection of his parenting. Still, as much as
he tried to convince himself this was true, part of him knew it
didn't matter. He was failing his daughter. And he had no idea what
to do about it.

Asking Silver to come here had
been a mistake.

"Try this." Silver took the seat
at his daughter's side and handed her a banana from the fruit bowl
on the table. "If you're not still feeling pukey, it should
help."

Jami twisted her lips and
laughed. "Who the fuck are you? One of his 'pets'? He doesn't
usually bring them home."

The muscles in Silver's jaw
tensed, but her expression didn't change. "I'm your daddy's
boss."

"So he's
not
fucking you?"

"Jami!" Dean stepped up between
the women and shook his head. Damn it, he'd raised her better than
this! "Apologize this instant!"

"No." Silver held up her hand
and leaned close to Jami. "You really want to know, or are you just
hung over and pissed off? I'm guessing you're at least eighteen
because otherwise daddy wouldn't let you go out and get plastered,
would he? You've got all the freedom you want, and you know what,
that's fine. But if you fuck up, that's your problem, not his. Be a
big girl and own it, Jami."

"Who the hell do you think you
are?" Jami pushed away from the table and almost tripped over her
chair. "You don't know me! You don't know what my life is like! How
dare you judge me!"

"I'm not judging you."
Silver shrugged and peeled the banana. She took a big bite, chewed,
swallowed, and smiled. "But I don't see Dean raising a stupid kid.
You'll get it eventually."

"Whatever." Jami grabbed her
orange juice and headed back to her room. "Give me five minutes and
I'll be out of here. Hopefully you two can restrain yourselves that
long."

Dean ground his teeth and
pressed his eyes shut as her door slammed. Neither he nor Silver
moved until Jami returned, moments later, and stormed out of the
house.

His apology froze on his lips as
Silver's chair scraped across the tiles and she went to toss the
banana peel in the trash. She licked her fingertips, her tone light
as she fetched her things. Almost completely detached, except she
was shaking like she'd had too much coffee. "Sorry about that. I
should have kept my mouth shut. You should go after her. I'll—"

"Silver, sit." When she
immediately sat, he let himself breathe. "
I'm
sorry. She's been
relatively pleasant over the last few days. I wasn't expecting
this. You did absolutely nothing wrong."

"I'm four years older than
her—she'd resent her dad's girlfriend lecturing no matter what,
but—"

"'Her dad's girlfriend?'" He
braced one hand on the table beside her and wrapped her ponytail
around the other. With a light tug he forced her head back. "Is
that what you are, Silver?"

"That's not what I meant."

"Are you sure?" Bending down, he
kissed the edge of her lips, chuckling when she tried to turn her
head for more. "Be still. I'm still waiting for an answer."

She latched onto his shirt with
both hands and strained against his grip on her hair. "If you don't
kiss me, I'm going to hurt you."

"So demanding." He chuckled
again, gliding his lips to her ear, letting her feel the scruff on
his jaw lightly scrape her soft cheek. "You know that's not how it
works with me."

"Dean . . . ." Her pulse
quickened under his tongue as he sucked on the delicate flesh of
her throat. "Please."

"Much better." He caged her chin
in his hand. "Open."

As her lips parted he gently
pulled on her bottom lip with his teeth, increasing the pressure a
little more as she gasped, rewarding her with a shallow thrust of
his tongue as she trembled with the effort to hold still. Her
tongue flicked out to meet his and he pulled away.

Rather than object, she let out
a little sigh and let her eyes drift shut.

"Have I told you lately how
beautifully." He traced her top lip with his thumb. "Submissive."
He pushed his thumb into her mouth, tempting her to suck on it by
pressing down on her tongue. "You are?" Her lips and tongue
remained passive to his invasion, but her breaths sped up to a pant
as he whispered to her. "I won't fuck you. But I will kiss you
since you asked so nicely."

* * * *

Sweet and hot and all that
Silver wanted. Somehow, with just a bit of pressure under her jaw,
Dean brought her to her feet and had her body flush against his in
a firm, one armed embrace. As he stole all the strength from her
body with one long kiss, she reached up to find something to hold
on to, hesitating before clasping her hands around the back of his
neck.