Chapter 9
Brady
“That was one hell of a win,” I said to Beck, standing along the side of the locker room, in front of the bench where he was taking off his jersey and shoulder pads. “And that last goal? Shit, you were on fire.”
The accommodations in Tampa were much different than his locker room in LA. The owner of the Whales spared no expense when it came to the luxury and comfort of his players. I couldn’t speak about the room they provided for their visitors. For all I knew, it could look exactly like this one, but whenever we visited Beck after a game, it was as five-star as one of our hotels.
“Things weren’t looking good at the end of the first period,” he admitted, wiping his brow, the sweat still pouring from the top of his head.
“But you turned it around quite fast,” Dominick replied. “The momentum completely shifted when you scored the goal at the beginning of the second.”
“I thought you were going for a hat trick,” Jenner said to Beck.
“I was.” Beck smiled.
Jenner pounded Beck’s fist. “You owe me a grand for not getting one.”
“You took a live bet?” Beck asked him.
“After your second goal, I sure as shit did,” Jenner responded.
Beck shook his head. “You should have heard the shit Bartosz was talking to me before the game,” he said, referring to Tampa’s goalie. He grabbed a towel and wiped his arms and hands. “I wanted nothing more than to make him pay for those words, so, yeah, I was going for three. I just couldn’t make it happen. Their defense played better tonight than I’d thought they would.”
“Still, two had to feel good,” Macon offered.
“It’ll feel even better when they come to LA in a few weeks and we crush them again.” Beck dropped the towel onto the bench behind him.
“What’s the deal with Bartosz?” Cooper asked. “Just some game-day sparring, or does it go deeper than that?”
Beck shrugged with a sly grin on his face.
“Maybe you should fuck his girlfriend and really stir shit up,” Dominick said.
“Maybe I already have,” Beck countered.
“My man,” I said, grabbing Beck’s shoulder.
“We’re heading out for some drinks,” Dominick told him. “Hopefully, you’ve got a little time, so you can join us. When do you guys fly out?”
“As soon as the team hits the showers, we’re headed to the airport to fly to the east coast of Florida. We have a game there tomorrow night. Then, Nashville, Chicago, and home.” He ran his hand over his wet hair. “Wish I could join you fellas. Tampa is a sick city to party in.”
I squeezed his shoulder before I released him. “We’ll see you when you get back to LA, and we’ll do plenty of partying there. Glad we could catch this game.”
“Happy you guys made it.” He shook my hand.
As soon as he released me, he went around the group, shaking everyone else’s hand, and then we made our way out of the locker room and through the exit on the side of the arena.
We were only a few steps past the door when Dominick, who was leading us, turned around and faced us. “My assistant made us reservations at a whiskey bar. It’s within walking distance. We’ll go there first and then head to the rooftop bar that’s across the street from our hotel. We have a table there. If things stay hot, we’ll stay until closing. If things die out, she reserved us a table at another bar down the street.”
“Fuck yeah,” Macon voiced. “Let’s go.”
The plans Dominick had arranged sounded fun, and I was on board for all of it. I wanted nothing more than to hang with these guys and get shit-faced.
But since we’d left the hotel and walked to the game, a thought had been nagging at me.
Non-fucking-stop.
And it was something I needed to do first before I even considered going to a bar and drinking more.
I shifted my stance, eyeing the Cole and Spade Hotel that stood taller than the others around it, with its mirrored facade and unique architecture. A property I hadn’t spent much time at, but one I enjoyed far more than I’d expected.
“Aren’t you coming?” Cooper asked.
I looked back at the group, realizing he was speaking to me and that everyone had joined Dominick, where they were all now standing several steps away from me.
Damn it.
I could already hear the words that were about to be shouted in my direction.
But that wasn’t the only reason I was cursing in my head.
The other reason was because something had gotten into me.
Thoughts that shouldn’t be in my goddamn head.
Thoughts that were mentally set in stone, especially as I said to them, “Text me the name of the whiskey bar.” I slowly looked at Dominick. “I’m going to meet you there.”
I could strangle myself for this. Because what I was about to do wasn’t going to lead to anything good. I had several drinks already in me, and I’d had a hard-on for hours.
But as I gave the hotel another glance, I knew there wasn’t anywhere else I wanted to be right now.
“Where are you going?” Macon asked.
I gazed back at the guys, the anger building in my chest.
It hadn’t come out of nowhere.
I was mad at myself for doing this, mad about the entire situation.
Mad that I knew better and I couldn’t fucking resist.
“You don’t need to worry about that,” I told Macon.
“You’re really leaving us now?” Ford persisted.
“Brady, things are just getting started,” Cooper said.
Enough with the fucking questions and guilt trip.
“I’ll see you guys later,” I told them.
Dominick nodded, knowing exactly what I was going to do, and said, “I’ll text you the address.”
As I turned around and walked toward the street, I heard, “Pussy.”
I held my middle finger high in the air and went to the hotel’s front entrance. After moving through the lobby, I stopped at the bank of elevators. Before I’d gone to the game, I’d called the hotel manager to get the room number I needed. Although it was against hotel policy to give out information on any guest, he couldn’t deny an owner. So, when I stepped into the elevator, I knew just what button to press.
I waited for the lift to climb, and when it finally opened on the sixth floor, I went down the hallway, halting when I reached room 632. I stood in front of the door, my hand flat against it, as though I was waiting for the sense to be knocked back into me. My forehead was positioned the same way as my palm, landing just above it, my fingers now balled into a fist.
Why couldn’t I resist her?
Why was she eating away at my mind?
Why had I thought of her scent and the feel of her pussy and the softness of her lips the entire time I was at the game?
Why was knowing she was behind this door, assuming she hadn’t gone out, driving me to a level that was far beyond fucking wild?
My hand lifted from the hardness and returned; the sound it left was a heavy, deep knock, and in case she didn’t hear the first one, I followed up with two more.
While I waited, I pulled my face away and gripped the frame on either side of the door. As the seconds passed, the little patience I had began to thin out.
And when I couldn’t stand another second, my fist pounded a series of three more knocks.
She had the next couple of days off. I didn’t know why my gut told me she was in her room since there was no reason for her to be. But I stayed right here, listening to every sound, and within a few seconds, there was the faintest scratch on the back side of the door right before I heard the twist of the knob.
Her face appeared through the crack, scanning the entire doorway even though I filled it. She kept it ajar and whispered, “Brady …”
“I need to know something.”
I tried not to let her scent affect me.
I tried not to get hard from the quietness of her voice.
She clung to the edge of the wood, but didn’t open it any further. “This isn’t a good time.”
“Why?” My teeth clenched. “Because you’re not alone?”
Something else I hadn’t considered. For all I knew, one of the pilots could be in her bed.
That thought had my goddamn fingers driving into the doorframe.
“Because I was about to go to sleep … and I’m hardly wearing any clothes,” she replied.
An answer that made my grip loosen. But one that also made me do everything in my fucking power not to reach through the crack, open the door wider, and pull her into my arms.
Who was this woman? And what the hell was she doing to me?
Because wanting a chick twice had never happened before.
Yet this one had passed me up for six months; she hadn’t wanted me enough to reach out—a fact that fucking ate at me—and I still found her irresistible.
Something I couldn’t explain.
I just knew I couldn’t leave this doorway without her lips touching mine.
“Lily, are you forgetting I’ve devoured every fucking inch of your body?”
Her lips parted as she inhaled. “I could never forget.”
That reply, along with a few others she’d said on the plane, hit me hard.
“You were … perfect.”
“More perfect than I’ve ever experienced in my life.”
“I’ve never met anyone like you, Brady. No one has ever made me feel the way you did.”
“Then, you know you don’t have to hide your body from me,” I ordered.
“But I do. And there are two reasons for that.”
I leaned in a little further to get more of her scent. The tropical notes of the pineapple made me lick across my lips, wishing it were her wetness I was tasting. “What’s the first?”
“I told you, I’m not in a position for this.” Her head dropped. “My life is messy. Complicated.” She finally glanced up, the hurt in her eyes evident. “You shouldn’t want someone like me.”
Someone like … her?
From where I was standing, she was everything I fucking wanted.
That face.
That body.
The sweetness that went beyond her scent.
“Let me be the judge of that.”
“No—”
“Lily, let me be the judge of that,” I repeated, the sternness thick in each word.
“You have no idea what you’re saying.”
The innocence was pouring off her.
But so was the honesty.
“I’m not the kind of man who says something and doesn’t mean it. Words don’t scare me.” My palms ran down the doorframe. “Nothing scares me.”
She stared at me. Silently.
“Nothing …” she said in the softest voice.
It wasn’t a question; it was clearly a statement.
But I wasn’t in a place to have that conversation—not now, not when I was this worked up.
“Let’s not make this heavier than it needs to be,” I said. “It’s clear why I’m here and what I want. I’m not asking for anything more than that.”
“But, see, that’s the second reason I’m hiding my body from you.”
My eyes narrowed. “Explain.”
“You’re looking at me like the moment you get through the door, you’re going to strip off the little I have on, and I’m suddenly going to find myself in the air, against a wall, with you inside of me.”
My teeth rimmed the lip I’d just licked, my erection painfully stiff as I took a step forward. “And you’re telling me you don’t want that?”
A second passed.
Two.
And then three.
“Answer me, Lily.”