Major Misconduct (Aces Hockey #1) (8 page)

Then she went on her toes, her eyelids drifting down, her mouth coming closer. He couldn’t stop his arms from circling her. Fuck, she felt fantastic, all soft curves, silky hair, and warm skin. A groan rumbled in his chest as her mouth touched his.

He lost his mind.

He wrapped her up and pulled her tighter to him, almost lifting her off her feet. He tilted his head and met her mouth, and Jesus, she was sweet and soft. She made a muffled little sound in her throat that was hot as hell, her arms winding around his neck, fingers sliding into his hair, pulling herself up against him so her soft breasts were crushed to his chest and, fuck, that felt good.

He opened his mouth on hers and she opened too, deepening the kiss. His mind fogged with lust, and flames burned beneath his skin. His dick was so hard now it hurt, throbbing with need, her softness pressing against it and making him crazy. Yeah. Oh yeah.

His hand slid up the center of her back, into her long hair, and he twisted his fingers in it. The silky strands wrapped around his hand and he gave a gentle tug, then gathered the hair all up in a fist at the back of her head. Her soft moan made his blood run even hotter.

His other hand slid lower, over the curve of her ass, pulling her tighter against him. Yeah. That ass. He’d watched her little butt cheeks twitch as she’d walked away that morning and he’d been dying to feel them, palm them, squeeze them. Now he had his hand on her ass, but it was over her jeans, and he wanted more, wanted skin. His hand delved up beneath the hem of the sweater, then pushed down inside her low-rise jeans. Really low-rise. It wasn’t far, but her jeans were tight and his hand was big. Still, he managed to fill his palm with smooth, warm flesh.

He slid his tongue inside her mouth, groaning again as he did so. He angled his head to kiss her deeply, desperate. What was it about her that made him this crazy? He was out of his fucking mind to be doing this. He was going to stop…

She whimpered so sweetly into his mouth, practically climbing his body.

“You are
so
not a lesbian,” he muttered, and her mouth curved against him and she shook a little with laughter.

“Captain Codger.” She brushed her lips over his cheek. “I do believe you just made a joke.”

He smiled too before he took her mouth with his again, a long, wet, hot kiss. He couldn’t get enough of her…her taste, her smell, the feel of her in his arms, his hands…

Oh right. He was going to stop. He
had
to stop.

His body was on fire, especially his dick. Excitement pounded through him. He’d never felt so reckless and out of control, willing to just throw good sense out the window, scoop up Lovey, and carry her to his bed.

The scratch of a key in the lock reached his ears. It took seconds to process the noise through the pounding of his blood in his ears, but when it finally sank in, adrenaline flashed through him and he shoved Lovey away from him. She stood there blinking, lips swollen and wet, eyes dazed, hair a tangled mess.

“Army,” he muttered as the door opened. He took several long strides across to the kitchen, yanked open the fridge door, and grabbed a bottle of water. He had the cap off and the bottle to his lips when Army walked in. Lovey, fortunately, had clued in and ran her hands through her hair, moving to the couch.

“Hey, you’re still up.” Army dropped his keys on the small console table inside the door.

“You didn’t stay long after us,” Lovey commented, her voice a little huskier than usual.

“Nah. I was done. Gonna hit the sack.” He paused and gave Lovey a look. “Did you get some flannel pajamas?”

She blinked. “No.”

“Then you sleep in my room.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ll sleep in my leggings or something. You don’t need to sleep on the couch.” She cast a glance Marc’s way. “Unless you guys are staying up late. Because I’m ready to go to bed now.” Another quick look at him from beneath her lashes.

Fuck.

“Nah, I’m going to bed right away. Just need one of those.” He nodded at Marc’s water bottle.

“I was going to turn in too,” Marc said, making his escape. “Night.”

He hoofed it down the hall, into his room, and closed the door.

Sacre bleu de Tabarnak!

That had been close. Too fucking close. That could not happen again.

Briefly he contemplated moving out. He was planning to get a place of his own eventually, but after Marissa had dumped him and he’d moved in with Army, he’d been procrastinating. He was comfortable there. Until now. This could be the time. But damn, he and Army got each other and got along great, and the other guys liked hanging out there too. Living on his own would likely mean he’d have no social life.

Nah. That was stupid. He’d still hang out with Army and the boys. He really needed to get his own place.

He also needed to use the bathroom. He cracked the door open. He could hear Lovey and Army talking in low voices—no doubt arguing over who was going to sleep on the couch. He zoomed into the bathroom, did what he needed to do, and then trucked back into his room.

He let out a long breath. He set his hands on the back of his neck and stretched his spine. Some bruises and sore muscles twinged and reminded him of a few hard hits into the boards earlier, but mostly his body still pulsed from kissing Lovey. Holding her. Fuck.

He pulled off his suit jacket and tossed it over the arm of the chair. It wasn’t like him to leave his clothes lying around. He normally hung everything up or put it in the laundry hamper as soon as he took it off. Tonight, he couldn’t wait to get into bed and jerk off.

Naked, he climbed into bed. With a long exhalation he slid his hand down to his aching cock. He closed his eyes in the dark room and stroked himself. Lovey’s face appeared. He imagined her scent, remembered the feel of her tits against him and the taste of her tongue in his mouth. The warm glow that seemed to transfer from her to him, making him feel like anything was possible.

A soft click reached his ears but it took him a couple of seconds to react. His hand jerked away from his dick, his head snapped up, and his eyes opened. What the fuck?

A faint light flashed as the door opened and closed. He sat up, covers falling to his waist, peering into the darkness. A faint rustle sounded. Someone was walking across the carpet.

He recognized that shape and the way she moved. Lovey approached his bed, silhouetted in dark and shadow. He gripped the covers.

“Lovey,” he whispered roughly. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Shhh.” Lovey crossed the dark room toward the shadowy shape of Marc’s bed. “Duncan’ll hear you.”

“Fuck!”

She sat on the side of the bed, but before she could even settle, he’d rolled and leaped out on the other side of the big king-size bed. She stared at him.

His body was cloaked in shadow but she could still see how freakin’ ripped he was. And big. Heavily muscled shoulders, lean waist and hips, thick thighs. His ass made her eyes go wide, it was so firm and round. Sadly, he grabbed a pair of boxers and jumped into them. Then he rounded the bed and closed his big hand around her upper arm, pulling her to her feet none too gently.

“Hey,” she whispered. “What?”

“Get the hell out of here, Lovey.” He dragged her toward the door. Her feet tripped along.

“Wait! Marc!” She tried to dig her heels into the carpet, but he was way bigger and stronger than her. He whipped his door open, stuck his head out, and looked one way, then the other.

“You sleeping on the couch?” he whispered. “Or is Duncan?”

“I am, but—”

“Fucking figures,” he muttered. “You get your way again.” Then he started down the hall, shuffling her along with him. In the living room he gently shoved her and she fell onto the couch. Her hair slid across her face and she gasped.

“Don’t ever come in my room again,” he snarled. “For fuck’s sake.”

“But…but wait. Marc…you kissed me—”

“No.
You
kissed
me
. I don’t want anything to do with you.”

A sharp pain stabbed Lovey’s heart and her stomach tightened. “What? But—”

“Stay here. Go to sleep. Leave me alone.”

And he strode out of the room. She heard the quiet snick of his door closing.

She sat on the couch, sheets, a blanket, and a pillow arranged into her makeshift bed, which she’d had no intention of using tonight. After Duncan had disappeared into his room, she’d made the bed, gone to her empty room to change into her panties and cami, then padded across the hall to Marc’s room.

Her chest ached and her bottom lip quivered.

That was harsh.

Confusion swirled in her head. He
had
kissed her. Okay, she’d started it, but he’d kissed her back, dammit. He’d had his hands all over her, down the back of her pants and on her ass, and he’d liked it. He’d been
hard,
for the love of cheese!

She lowered her chin and closed her eyes, a hot wave of humiliation sweeping over her. Holy frack. How embarrassing.

Her skin burned and so did her eyes as she fought back tears. Wow.

She covered her face with her hands, massaging her temples with her fingertips. She’d never been so rudely rejected by a guy. What an asshole.

They were attracted to each other. She knew it. He knew it. Why was he being such a jerk about it?

Duncan.

She flopped back against the couch.

Yeah, Duncan had made it clear he didn’t want her getting involved with Marc or any of his teammates. He’d probably made that clear to Marc too.

It was none of Duncan’s business. But she could understand that Marc wouldn’t want to piss off his friend, roommate, and teammate.

She made a small strangled noise that was probably a repressed scream of frustration as she burrowed into the covers and pulled them up to her chin. So, fine, he was trying to do the right thing, but he didn’t need to be so mean about it.

She squeezed her eyes closed.

She just wanted to have fun—hot, sexy fun with an attractive guy. She wasn’t looking for anything more. What was so wrong with that?

As usual, her big brother was standing in the way of that. She loved Duncan, but her whole life she’d taken a backseat to him. And yet, here she was, crashing on his couch. She’d created this situation and she would have to deal with it.

The reality was, she had nowhere else to go. She had some savings, but without a steady paycheck she needed to hang on to that money. If she was going to stay here with Duncan, she was going to have to play by his rules.

She rolled over and buried her face in the pillow.

There was chemistry between her and Marc, no doubt about it, and he probably didn’t want to piss off Duncan, but there was also the possibility that he saw her as Duncan’s screwup little sister who couldn’t hold down a job or keep a man and didn’t know what she wanted out of life. He was a respected professional, captain of the Aces, paid millions of dollars, and loved by hockey fans all over North America. Why would someone like him be interested in her, even if all she wanted was a little fun? Oh right. He didn’t do fun.

Well, she had no intention of settling for anything less than fun. She could figure out what she wanted from life and work hard at that, and have fun at the same time. She’d just have fun with somebody else.

They all slept in the next morning, although when Lovey finally got up, she heard the sounds of a television in Marc’s room as she shuffled into the bathroom. He’d probably been awake for hours and was afraid to come out of his room in case she tried to jump him.

Phhht.

She washed her face and brushed her teeth, gathered her hair up into a messy knot on her head, didn’t bother with makeup, and then went into her room to get dressed. She pulled on another pair of leggings, patterned knit ones, and a big loose sweater, today a black one. She added a scarf looped twice around her neck and sat on the floor to put on socks. Then she emerged to hunt down something for breakfast.

She cast a baleful look at Marc’s door as she passed it. Should she let him know she was up and he could safely come out? Nah.

Duncan was in the kitchen making toast and drinking orange juice.

“Morning,” she said.

“Hey. Sleep okay?”

“Fantastic.”

He lifted an eyebrow at her sarcastic tone. She skipped the juice and went straight for coffee, frowning at the numerous slices of bread Duncan was spreading with peanut butter. She opened the fridge door and peered in. “Can I have one of those Greek yogurts?”

“They’re Marc’s, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

“I’ll go shopping later and buy him a replacement.” She slammed the door shut and rummaged for a spoon. “And I’ll get some things for myself. This place is a carb castle.”

“We eat lots of protein,” he objected. “Just usually at the arena.”

“Or in a restaurant. But since you both make so much money, I guess that’s not an issue. I’ll get myself some chicken breasts, fish, and veggies.”

“Uh…you sure you slept okay? You sound kinda bitchy today.”

She gave him a slitty-eyed look. “Bitchy?”

“Uh…no, no, I mean…”

“I’m fine,” she snapped. She spooned up some of the yogurt and honey. “What are you doing today?”

“Uh…not sure. I thought you and I should have a talk…” His voice trailed off as she leveled him with another look.

“About what?”

“About your plans. Uh…why you quit your job…what happened with Richard…”

She continued to hold his gaze.

“Maybe this isn’t a good day.”

“Or maybe never is a good day.”

“C’mon, Lovey, I’m just concerned about you.”

“I’m fine.”

“Mom and Dad are worried about you too.”

“What?” She frowned.

“Mom emailed me and said you were coming. She wanted to make sure you’re okay, because you and Richard had broken up and she was worried your heart was broken and that’s why you’d taken off.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Oh. Um. Well, my heart’s not broken.”

“What happened with Richard?”

“He wanted to get married and have babies.”

A noise from behind her caused her to turn, and she saw Marc. Her stomach swooped and her heart gave a little bump. “Good morning. Would you like to hear about my screwed-up life too?”

He cast a wary look at Duncan. “Uh…”

Lovey waved her spoon. “Never mind. I’m sure you heard that last part. Richard was eleven years older than me. He was ready to settle down. I wasn’t. After I broke up with him, I couldn’t stay working at Kleinheinz, so I left. I wasn’t entirely happy there anyway. My creative ideas for marketing cheese weren’t really what they were looking for, and the whole nine-to-five thing bugged me.”

“You think that’s going to be different somewhere else?” Duncan asked.

Marc held up his hands. “I’ll come back.”

“No, no, don’t let me interfere with your breakfast.” Lovey pushed away from the counter where she leaned. “This is your place.” She held up the yogurt container. “I understand this is yours, but I’ll replace it later.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I’ll replace it. I know I’m butting in here and I don’t want to put you out. So are we done?” She looked at Duncan.

“Fuck no, we’re not done. What are you planning to do here in Chicago? I assume you’re going to look for another job?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Lovey, for Chrissakes…”

Her chest squeezed. She was not in the mood for this. She was irritable, impatient, and bad-tempered.

“Don’t worry, Dunc, I’ll be gone as soon as I can. Jillian’s checking around to see if anyone she knows needs a roommate. I’ll find something cheap.”

“You can stay as long as you need to.”

“That’s not what you were saying yesterday.”

He rolled his eyes. “Jesus, you’re pissy today. What crawled up your butt?”

She cast another narrow-eyed look at Marc, briefly meeting his eyes, then looked back at Duncan with her chin lifted. “Nothing. So. I have stuff to do. I’ll see you later.”

She grabbed her laptop case and carried it and her cup of coffee into the empty bedroom. She plugged in the computer and turned it on. She settled herself on the carpeted floor, leaning against the wall, ready to check emails and various news and then social media sites. It was Sunday, but even so, she would do some work for her clients.

She spent a couple of hours working, changing position several times to get comfortable; not having a desk was a major pain the butt. And neck. And wrists. Hopefully her furniture would be able to be shipped quickly. She sent off a quick email to her mom to check on that and to assure Mom she wasn’t brokenhearted over Richard and was fine.

Then she powered down her computer and popped into the bathroom. Before going out she needed a little cosmetic armor. She put on some eye shadow and mascara, and a swipe of lip gloss. When she came out of the bathroom, Marc’s bedroom door was closed.

Whatever.

She headed out, not sure where she was going, but she’d figure it out. She wanted to explore her new neighborhood, even if it was only a temporary home. She needed to find a store where she could pick up some groceries. She needed a reason to get out of that condo and stay out for the rest of the day.

Today the sun was out and the unexpected snow from yesterday was melting. Streets and sidewalks were a slushy mess. With boots and gloves, and her big scarf snuggled up around her chin, she was quite comfortable walking for a while.

She explored the South Loop neighborhood on a Sunday afternoon, walking through Millennium Park, lingering at the “Bean” sculpture, then wandered past funky little restaurants and pubs, a wine shop, a shoe boutique, and a used bookstore. She passed a small Italian market and noted its location to return to on her way home.

She went into the Museum of Contemporary Photography, partly because she needed to warm up and partly because of her interest in photography. She’d always liked taking pictures and had done a couple of college courses in photography as part of her Visual Arts diploma.

She returned home several hours later carrying a few plastic bags of food. She let herself into the condo, not sure what to expect, but a bunch of big guys on stools at the kitchen island wasn’t it.

She swept them with her gaze. Jared, Brent, Hughie, and Olaf. Not Marc and not Duncan. She dropped her bags, hung up her jacket, and removed her boots, then lifted the groceries and carried them into the kitchen. “Hey, guys. What’s up?”

“Not much.” Brent jumped up to help her with the bags. So sweet. “Waiting for Duper and Army to get home.”

“Oh. Where are they?”

“They went for a run. Then we’re going to eat. Burgers. Wanna come?”

She pursed her lips as she pulled food out of the bags. Greek yogurt. Cottage cheese. Bags of spinach. Fruit. “I don’t know. Sounds like fun, but Duncan probably doesn’t want me to tag along.”

“Huh. You’re probably right. He already told us you’re off-limits.”

She lifted her eyebrows, pausing. “He did?”

“Hell yeah. It’s the rule.”

“The rule?”

They explained it to her.

“We told him we’re all nice guys and he should be happy if you went out with one of us.” Hughie grinned. “He wasn’t buying it.”

“He’s a little overprotective,” Lovey said dryly. “You know what? I’d love to come for burgers.”

“Attagirl.” Jared nodded with a grin. “Want a beer?” He nodded at the empties on the counter.

“Yeah. I do.” She smiled at him. Damn, he was gorgeous, and always dressed so well and perfectly groomed. And yet, she wasn’t even a little interested in him. She sighed.

Jared opened the fridge and pulled a beer out, then opened it for her.

“Thanks.” She lifted it in a small toast. “You guys just come in here and make yourselves at home?”

“Yup. And drink Army’s beer. Cheers.”

Lovey reached for one more shopping bag. She wasn’t sure why she’d bought two big bags of tortilla chips and two jars of salsa, but this seemed the perfect time to break them open.

“Oh man, chips,” Jared said with appreciation. “You rock, Lovey.”

She grinned as she found a couple of bowls and filled them, then climbed onto a stool. “Did you stay late last night at Eddy’s?”

The guys all dove into the chips like they hadn’t eaten in a year. “Depends what you consider late. I left around two,” Jared said.

“That’s late.”

“So Lovey, what do you do for a living?” Brent asked.

“I’m in marketing and visual arts. In Madison, I was working for Kleinheinz Cheese.”

Silence. Then Hughie said, “Cheese?”

“Yeah.” She grinned. “Come on, guys, it’s Wisconsin.”

They all nodded.