Author: Jaci Burton

“It still shocks me the two of you are in love with sports players,” Jenna said as they took their seats.

“Why?” Crista asked.

“I don’t know. I guess I have this idiotic delusion that sports guys attract—”

“Bimbos?” Leslie finished for her.

“I didn’t want to say that without insulting all of us.”

Crista laughed. “I met Ruddy in college. We shared an art history class. He’s so intelligent. I fell in love with his brain first, but God, I love sports.”

“Me, too,” Leslie said. “There’s only so much math and science I can handle. And when school is out, sports are my outlet. I played basketball in high school and I love tennis, but there’s something about hockey that’s so…primal.”

“It gets my motor running,” Crista said. “Seeing my guy out there, whether he’s trying to score or fighting for the puck against a defender. It’s just hot. Huh. Maybe I am a bimbo.”

Jenna burst out laughing. “If you are, we all are.”

Listening to these two amazingly intelligent women talk about hockey and their men was a revelation to her. Then again, they didn’t have her life or her past or her job.

It was different for her.

Still, when the game started she was caught up by their enthusiasm and she had more to root for than just Ty. She found herself keeping an eye on Crista and Leslie’s guys, too. Observing their reactions to their men was a study in relationship dynamics. These cool professional women became crazed hockey maniacs, screaming at the opposing team and cheering for the Ice with fist pumps.

Jenna joined right in, unable to help herself. It was infectious once the action started. The Ice went up two goals after the first period, and she wanted to make sure that somehow Ty could hear her when he had that puck, that he could somehow feel her support when he fought a defender or got slammed up against the boards, or when he and Eddie had that two-on-one breakaway. She wanted him to know she had his back, and if she lost her voice screaming, then she’d do it.

Chicago came back and tied it, but the Ice ended up winning the game by one goal. It was a triumph and she, Crista, and Leslie were ecstatic.

After the game, they were taken back to the hotel.

“Who needs a drink? I certainly do,” Leslie said, leading them to the hotel bar. “I’m wrung out after that game.”

Jenna followed and they found a table. Leslie ordered a bottle of wine and soon they were drinking and laughing as if they’d known each other forever. A few of the other women came in and joined them, and suddenly another bottle of wine was ordered.

Jenna poured. They all drank. As a bartender, she knew how to monitor her own drinking, while making sure everyone else had a great time. And why not? They weren’t driving tonight, so she wanted all the women to have a great time. The guys would be showing up soon enough.

“You aren’t drinking.” Leslie narrowed her gaze.

Jenna held up her glass of wine. “Yes, I am.”

“Not as much as the rest of us.” Crista picked up the wine bottle and refilled Jenna’s glass.

“Not much of a wine drinker, actually.”

“Oh? And what do you drink?”

“Whiskey.”

Leslie snapped her fingers and the waitress, sensing a big tip, was right there.

“How do you want it?”

Jenna laughed and shook her head. “On the rocks is fine.”

“Bring this lady what she wants. Top shelf.”

Three whiskeys later, Jenna turned to Crista and Leslie. “I think you two are trying to get me drunk.”

“Of course we are,” Crista said. “You can’t stay sober while the rest of us are getting hammered.”

“I have a very high tolerance for alcohol. I run a bar, you know.”

Leslie pointed a finger at her and weaved back and forth in her chair. “Which has nothing to do with your ability to withstand the effects of alcohol.”

“True that. But I still have a high tolerance, while you’re both getting toasted.”

Crista looked at Leslie. “She’s so right. We’re drunk. I’m so ashamed.”

Leslie burst out laughing. The place was getting loud and Jenna couldn’t recall when she’d had more fun.

It got even more fun when all the players showed up.

Ty grinned when he saw her. He came over to her and pulled up a seat.

“Having fun?”

“They’re trying to get me drunk by feeding me shots of whiskey.”

He picked up the drink in front of her and downed it in one swallow. “Is it working?”

“Not really.”

One corner of his mouth lifted. “You are tough.”

“Told you.”

They sat and visited with the players and women for a while, rehashing the game. A few of the players and their wives and girlfriends decided to go to dinner.

“You want to go?” Ty asked.

Jenna shook her head. “I want to be alone with you. We can order room service.”

“Sounds good to me.” He stood and held out his hand for her.

They headed to the elevator. Once the doors closed, Jenna pressed Ty against the wall and rose up on her toes.

“You sure you’re not drunk?”

“Maybe a little.” She laid her hands on his chest, then wound them down his stomach. “Mmmm, hard here.”

“It’s about to get hard lower.”

“Is it?” She palmed his erection, sliding her hand back and forth.

“You’re going to make me walk to our room with a hard-on.”

She tilted her head back and smiled at him. “Yup.”

“You’re a mean woman, Jenna Riley.”

The elevator doors opened and Ty put Jenna in front of him, just in case someone was outside waiting to get on. She felt the ridge of his erection brushing against her butt.

She giggled.

“I’ll make you pay for this.” He gave her a gentle nudge out of the elevator and they walked the short distance to the room.

Once inside, he shut and locked the door, then pressed her against the wall, hitting the switch next to her, bathing the room in dim light.

“Now it’s my turn.”

He slid her jacket off her shoulders, letting it drop to the floor, then raised her arms over her head, pinning her wrists together. He roamed down her arms and across her breasts, lingering there for only a second, knowing she loved having her nipples touched. She arched against his hand, but he swept it lower, across her stomach, teasing her by dipping his fingers inside the waistband of her pants for only a few seconds before taking his fingers away.

“Ty.”

The room spun. She licked her lips, waiting for him to touch her again.

He looked down at her, his face slashed with harsh lines of determination, his eyes stormy pools of desire. She saw a hunger there that never failed to make her wet and needy.

She struggled against him, wanting to touch him, but he wouldn’t let her go. Instead, he leaned in and pressed his lips against her neck, dragging his tongue across her throat until he found that sensitive spot near her ear and licked her there.

He spread her legs, rocking his hard-on against her hip. She rode his thigh, her clit so sensitive she dropped her head against his chest and rubbed against him.

He tipped her chin with his fingers.

“Look at me.”

She swallowed, and he cupped her neck, then took her mouth in a hot, hard kiss, using his tongue to claim hers and leave her weak and defenseless, until all she knew were the raging desires of her own body. He let go of her hands and she wrapped them around him, her nails digging into his shoulders, the passion building inside her until she tore at him with her fingers, pulling at his shirt until he lifted his arms and she drew it off him.

She dragged her nails down his back and bit down on his bottom lip. He growled and jerked at her blouse, fumbling at the buttons until he got tired of it and ripped, the sound of each button scattering across the marble floor echoing in the spacious room.

Her bra went next, it too tearing as he lost patience with anything that wasn’t going to come off easy.

He dragged his pants off while she removed her shoes and pants, sliding her panties off just as he finished getting naked. He pulled her into his arms and they got only as far as the living area carpet before he laid her down and was on top of her, opening the condom package in a split second.

And then he was inside her and she cried out as he filled her, needing this—needing him—so much that tears pricked her eyes. She blinked them back as he lifted up to look at her while he plunged inside her again, bending her knee to widen her so he could thrust deeper, so he could grind against her so intimately she thought she might explode.

She scored her nails down his chest and he gritted his teeth, then bent and took one of her nipples into his mouth, flicking and biting it until she came over and over, until she thought she’d die from the unbearable pleasure.

But he didn’t finish; instead he held and waited until the pulses eased. Then he began to move inside her again, taking her slow and easy, building the pressure again until she was right there with him. And when he draped her legs over his shoulders and penetrated her deeply, she arched against him, giving him everything he asked for and more.

She reached between her legs and rubbed her clit, needing to go over that cliff again—with him this time.

“Fuck. Yes,” he said, pumping into her deep and hard while she made herself come. This time when she climaxed, he went with her, dropping her legs down so he could put his lips on hers and absorb her cries, mingling them with his groan.

It had been intense. Earth shattering. And each time it cemented a bond between them she was afraid to acknowledge, but knew was becoming stronger every day.

TY DIDN’T KNOW WHY HE’D INVITED JENNA TO COME TO Chicago.

He never brought women home to meet his parents. His family was…fractured. Flawed. The last people on earth he’d want a woman he cared about to meet.

A woman he cared about.

Yeah, that’s where he was headed with Jenna. He cared about her. Beyond that, he had no clue what the hell was going on. And now he’d invited her home to meet his family.

What a joke. He must have been insane to do this, but now she was here so there was no going back.

He had so much to explain to her, to warn her about. He should have never brought her here.

But his parents—who they were, why they were who they were—said a lot about who he was. And if they were going to go any further in this relationship, it was important to him that she know where he’d come from.

They’d toured the city and seen all the highlights. It was fun showing her Chicago. Too bad it wasn’t summer, or he’d take her on walks by the lake. But there were still things to do, so they’d gone to the museum and seen a few of the historical sights. She’d enjoyed that. And of course, he’d taken her to a few of what he considered Chicago’s best restaurants and bars.

You didn’t get out of Chicago without having great pizza, so they’d done that. Of course she’d challenged him and they’d entered a long discussion of St. Louis’s Italian pizza versus Chicago-style pizza.

One of the things he liked the most about her was she wasn’t a wallflower, the kind of woman who’d agree with everything he said just to keep him around. She loved to argue with him. She liked being right. And he enjoyed arguing right back with her, but there was no viciousness in their arguments. Neither wanted to hurt the other, they just enjoyed the banter and were both willing to stand up for what they believed in.

Such a difference in his relationship with her, versus the relationship between his parents.

And speaking of his parents, now that he and Jenna had seen the sights and eaten the food and taken in the clubs, he couldn’t avoid that they were going to his mom’s house for dinner. He owed it to Jenna to at least prepare her in advance.