High Strung (Power Station Book 1) (22 page)

“You,” he paused running his hands impatiently through his hair, “are wearing a Bruins jersey.” I glanced down the hockey jersey I was wearing. The same one my father had given me when I turned twenty-one. He had played hooky from the bar and taken me to a game. He rarely took time off but for each of our twenty- firsts he made the time. It was just the two of us. We had heckled the visiting side and eaten pretzels. He bought me a beer and told me that even though I was all grown up, I’d always be his little girl. It was one of the greatest gifts he’d ever given me. Every time I wore this jersey, it reminded me of my dad and how much he loved me.

“I hate them, Ash. I mean, at least you’re not supporting a Canadian side but, Jesus Christ. The fucking Bruins?” Dan screwed up his face with such distaste.

“What?” I repeated, hearing what he had said but not understanding any of it. How did the Bruins have anything to do with the fact he had a child and possibly a girlfriend? Both of which he hadn’t told me about. The fact we supported opposing teams was not an issue here, the fact he was a lying, cheating low life was.

“I said,” he slowly repeated. “The Bruins—”

“I heard you, moron. How does that change the fact you have a son?” I planted my hands on my hips defiantly.

“What the hell?” Dan’s eyes widened. “I don’t have a kid!”

“Dan, I saw the girl in your apartment. That little boy looks just like you.” I couldn’t believe he was going to continue to deny it. There was nothing wrong with my eyesight, and I know what I saw.

“Ash, that’s my sister Kim. The little boy is my nephew Sam. I guess he kind of looks like me, half the kid’s luck if he does.” He smirked before the smile slowly slid from his face. “Wait a second, you thought that he was
my
kid?”

“Well, what was I supposed to think?” His nephew. Well that would explain the resemblance. Still, it was an easy mix up. Dan wouldn’t have been the first rock star to have a love child.

“I thought you were pissed at me ’cause I didn’t welcome you with open arms wearing
that
jersey. Holy shit, you weren’t even going to ask me? You were just going to walk?” The realization hit him. He moved closer, leaving little room between us. The tension was palpable.

“What about you? You can’t get over the fact I’m a Bruins fan,” I shot back. At least my reason, albeit misguided, was valid.

“Ash, that’s a big fucking deal. You show up here on my turf, wearing the enemy’s colors. What did you think was going to happen?” He stared down at my jersey with such disgust.

“Enemy’s colors? You are seriously deranged.”

“Children. Play nice.” Troy stood between us, pushing our bodies apart. “Obviously there has been a misunderstanding here. Everyone needs to take a fucking breath and chill.”

“Hey, Dan.” The mysterious brunette who had now been identified as Dan’s sister emerged into the hallway. “Looks like you’re busy. We’ll see you another time.” Her eyes darted toward me. Great. She had heard everything. Not that there was any danger of her
not
hearing, neither of us had been using our inside voices. Could this get any worse?

“You don’t have to go,” Dan and I both echoed over each other, adding to the awkwardness. Apparently it could. Get worse, that is.

“It’s getting late and I wanted to get Sam home before dark.” She wrestled with the dark haired little boy in her arms.

“No wanna go home.”

“Heya, buddy.” Dan temporarily diffused the awkwardness, and gave his nephew his full attention. “Don’t give your mama a hard time, okay? Your daddy is going to be getting home soon and will want to see you before you need to go to sleep. Don’t forget what I taught you.” He ruffled the little boy’s hair.

“I wanna wock!” Sam proudly held his fist in the air.

“That’s it, Sammy. You’re making Uncle Dan so proud.” The beaming smile was a dead giveaway.

“Stop being a bad influence.” Kim rolled her eyes at Dan before turning to me. “Ashlyn, hopefully we’ll see you again.”

“Sure.” I nodded politely. Not like I could say,
actually I’m hoping the earth beneath my feet will open up and swallow me whole so chances of us crossing paths are remote
. My silent prayer remained unanswered, Kim giving me an amused smile before ushering Sam into the waiting elevator.

And then there were three.

“We still need a Ref here or are you good?” Troy didn’t even try to hide his amusement.

Dan and I stared at each other, neither one of us wanting to be the first one to cave.

“You are both nutjobs,” Troy volunteered, trying to coax one of us out of the imposed game of verbal chicken we had going on.

“Dude, it’s the fucking Bruins.” Dan cracked first. Silently I celebrated. Victories were still victories no matter how small. Pretty sure I read that on a fortune cookie somewhere.

“She’s from Boston, you moron. They don’t have a lot of love for the Rangers over there. I can guarantee you that associating with her is not going to affect our chances of winning.”

“I give up. I can’t keep it a secret anymore.” I couldn’t help it; the situation was just too absurd.

“What?” Dan’s eyes narrowed as he moved closer to me. “What secret?”

“The whole career thing on Wall Street was just a cover. I was really sent here by my city to infiltrate New York and send information back. I’ve been watching training camps and practices of all of your teams.” I leaned in and whispered, “The end is near.”

“I fucking knew it.”

“Dan, she’s joking.” Troy shook his head, biting back his grin. “Ash, listen. He isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer but I assure you, he’s no woman’s baby daddy. And, Dan, there is no sporting espionage going on here. You are both acting like tools and on that note, I’m out!” Troy strolled past us and into Dan’s apartment. He emerged a few moments later carrying the pizza box. “Neither of you deserve this, I’m taking this baby where she is appreciated.” He shoved a slice into his mouth and walked into his apartment, shutting the door behind him.

“Well that was just fucking rude.” Dan scratched his head. “So this is all kinds of messed up, huh?”

It was so hard not to smile at how adorable he was. “So you don’t have any secret girlfriends or children?”

Might as well get it out there. I mean we were already knee-deep in craziness, what’s an extra inch or two.

“Ash, I never have unprotected sex. Not ever. Unless I have some magic power that can get a chick pregnant through a rubber, there is no chance.”

“You didn’t answer about the girlfriend.”

“I haven’t had a girlfriend in three years and that’s the truth. I don’t really date. You know, being on the road, fans and stuff. Gets kinda hard to maintain a relationship.” He rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged.

“Oh. Of course. Yep that makes sense.” I swallowed.

Well, that answered
that
question. He doesn’t date. My heart sank. I know this was the first time I was asking the question, I mean
seriously
asking the question, but I was still a little disappointed. He hadn’t led me on and at no point did he tell me this was anything more than what it was. Which was nothing. I had to at least admire his honesty. Right? Why wasn’t it making me feel any better?

“Ash, you wanna go inside? I don’t think Troy is going to share so I’ll order another pizza. We can hang out.” Dan nudged my arm with a playful grin teasing the corners of his mouth. He had no idea how his honesty had punctured my heart. I had wanted to know and yet not been prepared for the truth, and upon hearing it, my heart retreated back behind its guarded wall.

“Sure.” I pushed aside my feelings of rejection, plastering a fake smile across my face as I made my way to the door.

“Ash, can you take off the Jersey before we go in.” Dan grabbed my arm stopping me from entering. “Please.”

“Dan,” I dug deep, finding the sweetest voice I had, “of course. That is no problem at all.”

There were so many reasons for me to just turn around and head home. Or go back to Megs’s and devour the pint of Clusterfluff she had tucked away in her icebox. Yet, I didn’t. Instead, I found myself wanting to stay. Perhaps even make Dan suffer a little. Oh, I know it was juvenile but I shouldn’t be the only one who felt the pain. No, I should share it. That would be the polite thing to do.

I peeled off my jersey reveling the cute, pale pink bra I had on underneath. After neatly folding my prized top and storing it in my purse, I found my real smile.

“Holy shit.” Dan’s eyes widened, unable to pull his gaze from my breasts. This really was just a little too easy.

I sauntered past Dan and into his apartment. Maybe now I knew where I stood, things would be easier. No more questions and I could stop second-guessing myself. Maybe I should just break the rules and have a one-night stand. If there were ever going to be time to do it, this would be it. Dan was sexy and interested in me. What could be the harm? I was willing to play the night out and see where it took me and if I ended up naked, underneath Dan Evans, rock star, I knew I wouldn’t regret it. At least, I hoped I wouldn’t.

I didn’t know if
this was some bullshit test or something, but there was no way I was
not
going to look at the pair of perky tits that Ash had on display. Who fucking knew that when I asked her to take off her top, she would actually do it? Of course, that hadn’t been my plan when I’d asked. I just couldn’t stand the thought of that fucking jersey being paraded around in my house. Shit, it took everything in me not to tear that monstrosity from her perfect, tiny body. It was like watching your enemy sleep with the girl you wanted and I was not going to let the fucking Bruins screw with me like that, not with her.

“Stop staring, Dan.”

I couldn’t pull my eyes away. She could dress herself up in a million cute little pink bras and it still would be like throwing gasoline on a fire. Fuck, it just made me want her more. Wondering what was underneath, feeling those perfect tits in my mouth, in my hand, surrounding my cock.

Ash snapped her fingers in front of my face, like that was going to be enough to hinder my view. “Dan. You’re acting creepy.”

“Ash, I’m not making apologies and I’m not looking away. You’re fucking beautiful.”

“So you’re going to sit there and stare all night? I thought we were going to order pizza and
hang
?” She slid her hand down to her waist, popping her hip to the side, with a raised eyebrow. Daring me. Well, I didn’t back away from a dare.

I grabbed her waist and pulled her up against my body, my lips going to work on her mouth. I wanted in her in every fucking way. My hard-on punched out against my jeans as her body rubbed against mine, the friction making me harder. She whimpered in surprise but she didn’t fight me and just as well ’cause stopping was going to take an act of god.

I attacked her mouth, needing to kiss her more than I needed air. She let out a gentle moan as she rolled her hips against me. I didn’t stand a chance. I was so far gone right now she could probably ask me to wear the fucking jersey myself and I would, if it meant I could be inside of her.

“Dan, slow down.” She pulled her lips away, her mouth all puffy and swollen. “You aren’t going to fuck me in your doorway.”

“Ash, I’m not trying to be an asshole right now, but I told you I would be honest, so I am.” I tipped her chin so she was looking at me in the eyes. “If we aren’t going to get naked in the next five minutes and have sex then we’re going to have to call this a night. My balls are so tight, I’m surprised they haven’t crawled up inside me and become fucking ovaries. Now, if you want to cuddle, you’re going to have to give me at least a solid hour in the bathroom to jerk off ’cause this,” I rubbed my hard cock against her, “ain’t going away by itself.”

I watched her eyes roll back as I hit the sweet spot between her legs. Her hips tilted to meet each roll of mine.

“Dan,” she panted, pulling away from me.

“Ashlyn, you need to tell me, babe. You need to tell me right now if you don’t want this. I’m not playing tonight.”

I stopped, giving her a minute to consider, my cock throbbing so hard I could feel its heartbeat in my ears.

“Yes.” Her hands flew around my neck, dragging me back down to her.