I had to jog to catch up to her. “Stop.”

She jerked out from under my touch. “No, you stop! Don’t you get it?” She touched the center of my chest; her fingers cool against the Under Armour t-shirt I had on over my still heated skin. “This?” she smacked my chest. “Right here? This anger you carry around with you every single place you go? That’s the root of every single problem in your life. It’s the reason why you need me in the first place.”

I kept my jaw locked, the adrenaline from the game, her words, fucking all of it surged with no place to unleash.

“And the guy I was talking to?”

My fist clenched, shaking at my side despite knowing I had no reason to be this jealous. Sure, we had a contract that said she was mine for three months, but it wasn’t real. None of it was.

“He’s worked at my company for a decade. I spotted him and asked how his daughter was doing.” Her eyes dropped to where my fist hung, and she traced her fingertips over it. “Rory you’re shaking.”

“Game. Adrenaline.” I grunted the words out like a fucking caveman.

She didn’t buy it for a second, those sharp green eyes not missing one piece of myself that I tried to keep buried underneath the rage. Stepping closer, she moved my fist to the small of her back, slipping her arms around my neck as she reached up on her tiptoes to brush her lips against mine.

I didn’t move. I couldn’t. A battle raged inside me. One where I knew I was starting to care about this woman way more than I should. Better, safer to walk away from it all right now. Tear up the contract and ice my body for a few months to recover from the flames that licked my skin whenever she was close.

“Rory,” she sighed name, the tips of her breasts barely grazing my chest as she tried to kiss me again.

“I’m all sweaty.”

“I don’t care.”

“People can see,” I managed to say, my muscles unlocking a fraction of an inch as I thought about the crowd of bunnies and reporters just on the other side of the hall.

“Let them.”

Those two words, paired with the intensity in her green eyes, broke down whatever gate had held me frozen. I gripped her hips and pressed her against the wall, slanting my mouth over hers. She gasped but opened up for me, tilting her head backward to give me a better angle to stroke her mouth more deeply. Our tongues rubbed and rolled as I fused the only parts of us that our very public location would allow.

Fuck she tasted delicious, and the feel of her body, soft and pliant beneath mine turned the rage in my blood to pure need.

“Rory!” I jolted out of our embrace at the sound of Gage’s voice.

“Fuck!” I screamed. “Next person who yells my name like that is getting punched in the fucking throat!”

Gage rounded the corner. “Hi Paige,” he said in the tone he only reserved for ladies. “Asshole, coach wants you.”

I nodded. “Perfect. Like chewing me out in front of the team wasn’t enough, now I get to have the private office lecture.”

Paige hissed, squeezing my fingers. “Is that worse?”

Gage nodded, and I flipped him off. “I’ll see you after?” I asked Paige.

“I’ll be here.” She smiled up at me, the flush in her cheeks still warm from our kiss.

Gage sighed so loud I’m sure his daughter heard it back home. I walked passed him, ignoring his damn near motherly look of concern as I made my way to the locker room, passing a line of high-maintenance puck bunnies.

“Who is the new bunny?” Linda asked just as I jerked open the door. I clenched my eyes shut and tilted my head toward the ceiling as if asking God why tonight?

I had no one to blame but myself. Dip your dick in crazy twice, shame on you…

“Not that it’s any of your business,” I said, letting the door shut, revealing where she leaned in the same spot Paige had been not minutes ago. Coach would be pissed I kept him waiting, but I needed to clear this up before it got out of hand. “She’s not a bunny,” I continued. “Her name is Paige and she’s my…” I swallowed hard. “Girlfriend.”

Linda’s eyes flew wide as she pressed off the wall. “You don’t do girlfriends.”

I squinted at the blonde. “You’ve got no idea what I do.”

“Don’t I?” She reached out to touch me, and I backed away, my hand on the locker room handle like it was a safety net.

“You really don’t.” I sighed, not wanting to be a complete dick. “Look, Linda. It was over a year ago. And it was nice, but people change.”

“People like you never change, Rory. You’re a player. You like variety. I like to provide a flavor on a rotation.”

I shook my head. “Not going to happen. Ever. Again. I’ve tried to explain that to you numerous times. Don’t make me have this conversation again.” I jerked open the door and let it swing shut behind me.

I sighed as I walked toward coach’s office. Who knew being someone’s sex-toy for a few months could cause such trouble.

 

 

Chapter 8

 

 

Paige

 

 

“Where did you disappear to?” My father asked, walking with his hands clasped behind his back as we made our weekly walk through the production floors.

He’d been raving about the success of the employee appreciation event, and I hadn’t for a second thought he’d noticed my short absence there when I’d followed Rory to his car to collect our freshly signed contract. I swallowed hard.

“What do you mean?” Damn. It didn’t matter if I was twenty-eight—when my father got dangerously close to exposing a secret of mine, I was sixteen again, denying his accusations of smelling pot in my bedroom. Jeannine’s doing, of course.

“You disappeared for a short time after the winner of your raffle was announced. Was there a problem between some our guests that had to be handled privately?”

I sighed. If the problem was Rory’s ability to get me wet with a glance, then yes, absolutely there had been an issue between the guests. “Something like that. Nothing to worry over. I returned as quickly as I was able. The event proceeded without a hitch.”

“Did you have to keep it a secret?”

I froze in my tracks outside one of the think-tank rooms which held a handful of our top inventors dreaming up new lines of products for future production.