Author: Jaci Burton

She had no idea what to do.

Yeah, right, Jenna. You’re so afraid of getting involved with him that you’ve reined yourself in, refusing to show Ty that you might actually care about him.

She was such a coward. In more than one way.

Disgusted with herself, she tossed the wipe-down rag in the bin and refused to face her own failings. Thankfully the bar was busy and she lost herself in work, but thoughts of Ty kept creeping in despite her best efforts to shove them aside.

She was going to have to face up to it—to him—and deal. There would be no more hiding.

It was an off night, so she fully expected him and the other guys to show up here. They’d all receive moral support from the patrons in her bar, and maybe she’d have a free minute to pull him aside and talk to him.

They were friends, she’d tell him. They’d had some fun, but it was time for her to pull back and remind him that’s all it was going to be between them. She’d already gotten too close and allowed herself to get emotional about him, to feel bad when he lost. For the love of God, she’d been watching hockey, had been invested in the outcome of the games.

That couldn’t happen. Her life—her future—was here at the bar. She might not have any control over that, but she could control who she fell for, and it wouldn’t be for someone who played sports.

The loud cheers alerted her to the front door, where Eddie, Victor, and a few other Ice players had walked in. It was so crowded she couldn’t see everyone, and she was so swamped she couldn’t get away to greet them until an hour later when she pulled Renee behind the bar and took a break.

She hadn’t seen Ty, but then again Riley’s was wall-to-wall people and the guys were playing pool at one of the tables in the far corner of the bar, out of her line of sight. Now she circled the bar, visiting with her customers, stopping at all the tables to ask everyone how their night was going. She stayed a little longer with the regulars because she knew them, and many knew her mom and dad so they asked how her dad was faring after his surgery last year.

It took her almost an hour to make her way over to the pool tables, where she had to put up with flirting from some of her regular guys. It was always harmless fun, because they all had her back and treated her like a sister. But her gaze skirted to the Ice players at the far end of the pool room.

She didn’t see Ty. Maybe he was off talking to someone in another area of the bar.

She finally extricated herself from the group of guys and made her way to the Ice players, sliding in between Eddie and Victor.

“I see you finally won a game.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Oh, man. It was a great game, too. Did you watch, Jenna?”

She patted him on the back. “Don’t I always? You really pulled that one out of the trash bin. It wasn’t looking good before that.”

“I know. We were on a nose dive, but we’re going to kick ass now that we’re back on the home ice.”

The sound of cheers went up all around them, and the players lifted their beers to salute the fans.

Jenna hovered around and chatted with them awhile, but Ty didn’t make an appearance. Finally, she had no choice but to ask.

“So, where’s your other best player tonight?”

“Ty? He didn’t come. Said he had other stuff to do.”

“Oh.”

“Or some one to do,” Victor said with a knowing smirk, and the guys laughed.

“Enjoy your night. Next round is on me.”

She left to the sound of cheers again and shook her head, waving at the guys, but her stomach clenched.

He didn’t come tonight. Other stuff to do.

What kind of stuff?

She relieved Renee and went back behind the bar, grabbing empty beer bottles and slamming them into the recycle bin with decided satisfaction.

So what if he had a date tonight? She’d made it clear they had no future together. They’d had sex only a couple times, and she’d totally blown him off that last night they had together. What had she expected, that he’d come running back to her and beg for more of the same treatment?

Yeah, right. Men love that.

Except that’s exactly what she’d expected. She’d been so smug and so sure of herself, certain he’d be back no matter how she treated him.

Only he wasn’t back, and now that he wasn’t, she missed him. She missed how he smelled, she missed how he felt, and she missed his sexy grin. She missed talking to him.

So what are you going to do about that, Jenna?

Normally she’d do nothing. She never chased a guy.

But she wasn’t finished with Ty just yet.

SIXTEEN

TY HAD HIS FEET UP ON THE SOFA, THE GAME CON-troller resting on his stomach as he stalked the enemy.

“Yeah, you bastard. You can run, but you can’t hide, because I know exactly where you are.”

He was as quiet as a rolling storm cloud as he snuck up behind his target, not even hesitating as he drew his knife and slit the enemy’s throat. Blood spurted from his victim’s neck and he fell to the ground.

He laughed as kill points rolled up against his online opponent.

“Kicked your ass, Warlord.” Whoever Warlord was. Probably some twelve year old who had no business playing a game this violent, but hey, he wasn’t the kid’s parent. He tossed the game controller on the sofa and stood, raking his fingers through his hair.

That game was so disgusting. Yet strangely addicting. If he ever had kids he wasn’t going to let them anywhere near video games. He was going to drag their butts out of the house as soon as they could walk and make them play sports.

Yeah, right. He’d probably sit side by side with them on the sofa and play those same violent war games with them.

Or, God forbid, he’d have girls and he’d end up playing some games that had to do with rainbow ponies. Or Barbie. Or something Disney related.

Yikes. Though the thought of a little girl with a long ponytail kicking around a soccer ball or becoming a skater like him—figure skater, though—didn’t horrify him as much as it would have a few years ago.

What the hell was wrong with him? He wasn’t going to get married, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to have kids.

Not anytime soon. No, not ever. The thought of screwing up some kid’s life the way his parents had done to him? No. He wouldn’t be responsible for that.

His cell phone rang and he frowned. He had no idea what time it was, but he knew it was late. He grabbed the phone, surprised to see Jenna’s number come up.

“Hey,” he said after punching the button.

“Hey yourself. I know, it’s really late. Were you asleep?”

He laughed. “Uh, no.”

“Are you on a date?”

Leave it to Jenna to be direct. “No. Are you?”

“Of course not. I had to work tonight.”

He looked at his phone. It was only midnight. “Shouldn’t you still be at work?”

“Yes. But I want to see you. Are you at home?”

He smiled. “Sure. Come on over.”

“Be right there.”

Interesting. And crap, his place was a cyclone. Gear in his living room, cans everywhere, and he was pretty sure the place smelled like gym socks. He did a quick pick up and vacuum, then sprayed with that stuff that took the odor out of the house. Hopefully it removed natural guy-stink.

By the time Jenna rang his doorbell, he had jumped in the shower and managed to pull on a pair of sweats and a clean T-shirt.

She looked great and he couldn’t help but feel a punch to the gut seeing her at his front door.

“Hi. Come in.”

She stepped inside. She smelled good, like she’d just sprayed on something that smelled wild and musky. He wanted to get closer and bury his nose in her neck to investigate that scent a little more, but he resisted the urge since he had no idea what she was doing here.

He took her coat. “Want something to drink?”

“No, I’m good, thanks.”

“Okay. Have a seat. I picked up the apocalypse of a mess, but it’s not pretty around here.”

She laughed. “And you’ve seen my place, so I never would have noticed.”

“Yeah, but a guy lives here. Trust me, you’d have noticed. Especially the dirty socks smell.”

“Doubtful. I have two brothers, remember?”

“Oh, yeah. You win that round.” He sat on the sofa next to her.

She picked up the controller. “Playing video games?”

“Yeah.”

“I would have thought you’d have been watching game films to figure out why you all played so shitty on the road.”

“I watch plenty of game films with the team. And we played like shit because we were trying too hard. Hockey is a mental game as well as physical. You start getting in your own head too much, it screws with your game play.”

“Do you really think that’s the problem?”

“I know it’s the problem. We have the best team in the league. We can win the division and go to the playoffs with the talent we have. For some reason we hit a slump because everyone started worrying about this road trip and freaking out about the caliber of teams we were going to play. At least we salvaged the last game of the road trip.”

“So you did.”

As much fun as it was to debrief his games, it was time to put an end to this and get to the real reason Jenna was here. “Is that why you came tonight? To analyze my game play?”

She took a deep breath. “Wow. We’re getting into that already, huh?”

“You called this meeting. Might as well.”

“You’re right.” She half turned to face him, pulling her knee up on the sofa.

She looked pretty tonight. She’d worn a knit dress that clung to her curves, and added dark tights and ankle boots. Her hair spiked up and her dangly earrings twinkled in the light cast by the lamp on his table next to the sofa. She looked soft and feminine and he wanted to gather her against him and kiss every part of her he could see…followed by all the parts of her skin he couldn’t see.

She was quiet, obviously struggling with whatever it was she wanted to say.

But this time, the ball was going to be in her court. He wasn’t going to take the lead, no matter how much he wanted to.

She leaned her elbow against the back of the sofa, then laid her head in the palm of her hand and looked around his living room, though there wasn’t anything to look at. A few pictures, some crappy art he’d bought because Liz had recommended it, and a few things he’d picked up to sit on tables because he liked the way they looked. But he didn’t think Jenna was admiring his art.

There was something she needed to say, but it wasn’t coming out.

She studied the ring on her thumb, then circled it around with her fingers. It was painful to watch her struggle.

He stood, walked to the front door, and grabbed his jacket and her coat. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“Out.”

WHEN TY HAD SAID THEY WERE GOING OUT, JENNA figured they’d take a drive, some fresh air so she could get past this lump in her throat and find her voice.

She had no idea they’d end up at the freaking Ice hockey arena at one in the morning.

Who knew he had that much pull that he could get them into the arena?

And now she was being laced up in skates and protective gear and thrust out onto the ice, the lights turned on, while Tyler skated toward her with two hockey sticks in his hands.

God, she had no idea how devastatingly sexy he was in his hockey gear. On television, it was at a distance, and she never went to the games. Not since she was a kid, anyway.

But seeing him come toward her, bent over in game form, sliding that puck back and forth—holy hell it was a turn on that shocked her all the way down to her laced-up skates.

“You’ve got something on your mind,” he said, skating around her, sliding the puck between her skates and scooping it up behind her. “I do a lot of thinking when I’m on the ice. Helps me clear my head. So let’s play a little one-on-one, and maybe you’ll figure out what you need to say.”