Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Lilly hadn’t planned on spending her Saturday afternoon with an enraged hockey player tearing through the streets of Los Angeles like the ghosts of hell, or maybe as if the IRS were after him, but apparently there wasn’t enough time to drive her home — and she wanted to know exactly what had happened, so she would have protested that anyway.
Granted, spending too much time in close quarters with Austin wasn’t a good idea.
She’d hoped that now that Del could spend time with him alone, she herself wouldn’t have to see him so often. Or at least only briefly.
Del was always thrilled when her dad took went with her to the zoo, the beach, or let her watch hockey practice. Lilly, on the other hand, had trouble breathing every time she expected Austin to ring her doorbell.
She’d practically forgotten what had happened in the pool.
And she would keep telling herself that lie until the tension between her and Austin wasn’t so awkward anymore.
On the one hand, it was incredibly tense, on the other, effortless and relaxed.
She was almost certain that he didn’t hate her anymore.
At least with each meeting, he was becoming more and more the Austin she remembered.
The one with whom it was fun to just…talk.
It was awful. No, it was dangerous. Whenever he called and she heard his deep voice, she had to stifle a sigh.
The pool was to blame. Austin’s hands were to blame. Her excellent memory was to blame. Austin’s body, too.
But she had to be more careful. She couldn’t kiss Austin. If Del saw that, she’d get the wrong idea and get her hopes up. The last thing she wanted was to make the already complicated situation even worse.
So what if she still found Austin attractive! Yes, she kept dreaming about him and the dirty words he whispered in her ear while he…with his fingers and mouth.
Whatever. Did it matter, what had happened?
It hadn't even really surprised her. The man was sex on two legs.
The whole world knew he was hot, so why should she be any different?
There was his smile and, oh, every single muscle in his body begging to be touched, not to mention his large, rough hands that invited her to fantasize, his deep laugh that sent shivers down her spine, and his hot breath on her ear, on her neck, between her thighs…
Okay, she was too easily distracted!
“Where are we?” she demanded as Austin pulled onto a palm-lined road.
“Malibu.” He turned off the engine. “You’d better stay in the car while I deal with…the situation.”
She laughed. “No way. I want to know what the situation is!”
Austin sighed and rubbed his face. “Are you sure you’re ready to see four naked hockey players?”
She grinned so broadly her lips ached. “This just keeps getting better,” she said enthusiastically, getting out of the car.
Austin followed with a sigh, stopping briefly at his trunk to retrieve a large sports bag before walking ahead of her to a wooden gate. Beyond it, a sandy path led to the beach, alongside a gigantic villa with a white facade and a red roof.
“I don’t think we’re allowed to go in there,” she said uncertainly. “It says Private Beach.”
“I know. But we don’t have a choice.”
“Who lives here?”
“An ex of Leon’s. It’s her private beach, which they…broke into.”
“Broke in? Why?”
“Apparently, so they could be do what they needed to do. Leon thought she was on vacation.”
“Do what they needed to do?”
“We’ll soon find out,” he replied dryly as they walked through the gate and down the narrow path to the ocean.
“Oh, this is better than Christmas,” Lilly whispered, placing both hands delightedly on her cheeks.
Her gaze was fixed on the ocean, where four figures stood.
The water reached their hips, but indeed, they appeared to be naked.
At least, that was how it seemed to a woman who hadn’t seen a naked man in five years.
“It was his idea!” they all shouted at once as soon as they spotted Austin. Each one pointed at another.
Lilly had watched a lot of hockey in recent weeks and she recognized every single player.
There was Blake Ford, the backup goalie.
Leon Alvarez, the most arrogant player on the ice…
if you didn’t count Dax Temple, who was standing next to him.
Last but not least, Finnish defenseman Leevi Nieminen was splashing around in the water.
He had recently played for the Boston Badgers along with his brother, goalie Tero Nieminen, and, according to ESPN, was, along with Devreaux, the Hawks’ most noteworthy addition over the summer.
And yep, his pecs were definitely noteworthy.
Lilly just couldn’t figure out why they were all apparently naked in the ocean…
and next to a quad bike that was sticking out of the water with two wheels in the air.
A second vehicle was parked higher up on the beach behind a tripod whose feet had been planted in the sand to keep it from tipping over.
A brand-new iPhone, its camera pointed at the players, was proudly displayed in its holder.
“Oh, my God,” Austin murmured, scratching the back of his neck. His expression suggested that he genuinely wanted to laugh, but didn’t want to let his teammates know that what they were doing was funny.
Austin clearly had a will of steel because he seemed both angry and grave as he continued walking toward the ocean.
“Stay where you are!” Leon shouted. “This is being live-streamed, so don’t put your face in front of the camera.”
The horror on Austin’s face was far more genuine than his serious expression. “What?”
“She set up the tripod after I hung up, so we’re being broadcast live on her TikTok channel right now.”
Lilly pressed a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh. The internet must be delighted.
“She? The owner of this beach, where you have no business being, you mean?” Austin asked sharply, striding over to the stranger’s phone and switching it off.
Lilly was convinced that female viewers around the world were groaning in disappointment.
“Yeah, yeah, who else?” Leon said, waving his hand dismissively, but seemingly relieved that the live-stream had ended, which had apparently forced them to stand in the water the entire time to prevent nude photos of them from circulating online.
“So, where is she?”
“She’s contacting her influencer friends so they can spread us on social media,” he groaned. “So, could you hurry up? Why the hell did you bring an audience?” He looked at Lilly, annoyed.
“I was lucky enough to need a ride,” she said innocently. “Is there any reason your ex is mad at you?”
“My ex? I slept with her twice and then never called her again. Can you call that an ex-girlfriend?”
She snorted. “No, you’re right. But thanks for answering my question.”
“You forgot we broke in here without her knowledge, Leon, because you thought she was on vacation,” Blake added. “I don’t think that made her happy either.”
“At least she didn’t call the police and left our cell phones, wallets, and car keys here,” Dax muttered, nodding at the pile of belongings under the tripod.
“Yeah, that’s a good thing,” Nieminen said.
“Nothing about this situation is good!” Austin retorted harshly.
Lilly opened her mouth to disagree, but caught a warning look from him, so she kept quiet.
“Okay,” Austin said slowly, crossing his arms. “Who wants to tell me what happened?”
The men exchanged guilty glances, as if they were sitting before the principal who had caught them smoking in the schoolyard.
Then Nieminen exclaimed, “Not it!” and put his index finger to his nose.
Dax and Blake immediately followed suit.
“Shit,” Leon cursed. “Why is it always me?”
“Because you’re slow,” Dax informed him.
Leon flipped him the bird.
“Alvarez, get a grip and spill it,” Austin said calmly. Overall, he was strangely composed. Sure, he looked angry, but he hadn’t yelled and he wasn’t scaring anyone.
“Fine.” Leon threw his arms up in surrender.
“We were holding a quad race. I knew Cindy had a private beach that’s secluded and she wasn’t supposed to be here this weekend, or so we thought: Perfect moment for the race.
Except we had a little…” He glanced at the quad next to him in the water. “Crash.”
“Aha. And why are you standing naked in the water then? As if I haven’t already seen enough of your butts in the locker room.”
Leon made a face. “Well, after the accident, the quad was in the water, and the four of us wanted to carry it out, but we didn’t want our clothes to get wet…
Unfortunately, Cindy came back when we discovered that, while we are strong, we aren’t strong enough to haul a quad out of the water.
She thought it would be funny to take our clothes and broadcast live as we tried anyway.
And now we’re stuck here and can’t get out of the water because I know Cindy — I swear she’s set up a second camera to catch us all naked and then sell posters of us. ”
“I like Cindy,” Lilly stated with satisfaction. “And she’s right, it really is funny.”
Austin’s lips twitched noticeably, but he pulled himself together and put on his serious expression. “You’re all idiots,” he declared.
“I’m innocent,” Nieminen spoke up, raising his hand. “I’m from Finland, so I’m not familiar with your culture yet. So, this isn’t normal in the US? They’re lying on reality TV?”
Austin snorted. “Nice try. Stop talking with such a heavy accent; we all know you have lived in the US for ten years and speak perfect English!”
“Oh, screw Wikipedia,” Nieminen muttered.
Dax grinned.
“I don’t know what’s so funny, Temple,” Austin said sharply. “You know, I didn’t expect anything different from Leon and Blake. They’re young and dumb, and Nieminen’s new and needs to make friends, but what the hell are you doing here? I thought Lucy would be a good influence on you.”
“Well, I heard Leon talking about the quad race, and I thought an adult should supervise the whole thing.”
“Your girlfriend’s a PR consultant!”