Page 26 of Hat Trick (Titans Hockey #1)

Chapter twenty-three

Gabe

" D ude, I don't know what game you're playing but it ends now." Carter glares at me, arms folded over his chest.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" It's too early and I'm not nearly caffeinated enough to guess at his charades.

"Rejecting Emily last night but forcing her to sleep with you?

That girl is in her room crying right now because you have the emotional maturity of a puck.

You either want her or you don't, but don't keep playing around with her emotions.

Go fix this." He demands. I know my Captain. It's not a request.

"She is?" I scratch the back of my neck.

I didn't mean to make her cry. I mean, I thought I might have felt a tear or two on my chest last night but thought I could make it better by holding her.

I don't do girlfriends. I don't know how to do this whole courting thing.

Shit, maybe I do have the emotional intelligence of a puck.

"Fuck," I groan.

"Language!" Carter shouts back, covering Annie's ears.

"Sorry, Annie girl." I set my coffee down on the kitchen island and go to Emily's door.

Do I knock? Do I barge in and demand she be with me?

I'm not going to change myself into a version I think she'll like.

I barge in, causing her to jump in surprise, before her shoulders fall and she turns away from me.

I kneel on her bed, towering over her, until she scoots back. I crawl towards her, caging her in until she's pressed against the headboard .

"I didn't reject you last night." I growl, staring into her wide eyes. She's not afraid of me, but she doesn't know what this is.

She scoffs. "What do you call turning down free sex?"

"I don't want 'free sex'." I say, mimicking her high, sweet voice.

She scrunches her adorable little nose in confusion. I have her completely caged in, flat on her back, her delicious chest heaving with labored breaths. I get a wild thrill at having her so completely at my mercy.

"When we fuck...and we will...fuck...it will be in my jersey. It will be a claiming. You're my woman. And I can't do that with a busted lip and bruised ribs."

Her wide eyes grow wider as her cold little hands touch my ribs gently in concern. I hiss. "Are you okay?" She asks a little too breathlessly for my cock to resist. I give her a single, silent nod.

"I...I can't." She says suddenly. Now I guess it's my turn to feel the sting of rejection.

I shouldn't be surprised. I haven't exactly been wooing her these last few weeks.

Fuck, I've been a downright ass to her. I called her a fucking puck bunny for god's sake.

But she said 'can't', not 'won't'. Not 'didn't want to'.

"Can't?" I challenge her. I've caught her watching me when she thinks I'm not looking. I've felt the heat between us when we're near. I may be a cocky sonofabitch but I know she wants me. At least my body. I swallow down my nerves. But with the personality I've shown her, I doubt she wants me.

"I can't be your woman. I'm not...WAG material." I furrow my brow at her in confusion, but the corner of my mouth tilts up when she reaches up to trace the lines of my biceps, as if she can't resist touching me .

I know she has a servant's heart. She's a natural-born submissive if I've ever seen one. A people pleaser. Shit, I'll bully her into being my woman if I have to. "You'll come to my games. You'll wear my jersey. You're mine."

She gasps, the fear in her eyes deepening. But fear of what, yet, I'm not sure.

"Don't you think we get a say in this?" Carter's voice booms from the open doorway. I hadn't even noticed they'd opened the door and that we had company.

I rock back onto my knees and rest my ass against my feet, but my eyes don't leave her.

She's fucking gorgeous. She's completely covered, in leggings and an oversized sweatshirt, but the flush on her cheeks, her parted lips, leaving the bottom one begging to be bitten.

This woman will be mine, even if I have to fight my brother for her.

I've never had someone so beautiful, so innocent, so pure.

I don't deserve her. I'm an asshole. I keep walls up around my heart.

I'm relaxed around the boys, but I've never let them in.

I've never let them see fully inside of me.

Except her. I would let her in.

"Can we move this conversation to the living room?

And maybe put a shirt on? I'm having a hard time concentrating.

" Emily says quietly. Yeah, my girl wants me.

I shoot her a cocky grin before grabbing a shirt and joining the rest in the living room.

Emily sets Annie on a play mat in the middle of the floor and sits on the couch.

Carter sits next to her, while Luca and I get the recliners.

She shoves her hands into her sleaves and fists them nervously. Her leg bounces as she looks around the room at us .

"I think...I think we just need to come clean with what's going on and what we want.

I can't stand not knowing. And I can't stand the fear of getting fired.

" She says, looking at Carter. He throws an arm around her shoulders and pulls her close to him.

A jealous fire burns in my chest that he's touching her and I'm not.

Luca's frowning too, but in a hurt puppy kind of way.

"You're not getting fired, no matter what happens.

You're the best thing to ever happen to Annie and I'm lucky to have found you. "

"Thank you. Annie's care and well-being are my number one priority.

If that means this," she says, motioning a clothed hand between the four of us.

"...has to stop then, it has to stop." I growl.

I'm not letting a baby cockblock me from the only woman I've been interested in in years. The others nod.

She swallows, finding her bravery. "I kissed Luca, after a game, and wore his jersey under my sweatshirt.

" She admits, looking to Carter and me for our reactions.

I want to get up and punch Luca in his stupid pretty-boy face, but I'm more annoyed that he beat me to it.

Instead, I throw a pillow at him. He lets it hit him in the face and chuckles.

"I've also kissed Carter and cuddled Gabe." She continues, looking at Luca. His grin fades. "Now Gabe's talking about making me his girl..."

Both Carter and Luca shout mixed curses, rejecting that idea.

"Look, I don't want to be anyone's girl.

I'm..." she hedges. "I'm not cut out for it.

" She sighs as if this conversation is taking years off of her life.

"I'm a solid five on my best day and I really can't handle the public scrutiny.

Each one of you is the Titan's most eligible bachelor, and you've all been seen publicly with models and heiresses.

How can I compete with that?" Carter tucks her further against his chest .

She's not wrong. Shioban, our PR manager, sets us up on dates to keep the gossip columns happy so they avoid digging into any real scandal.

Plus, it makes us look more attainable. She's wrong in thinking she's just a five, though.

Maybe compared to models, who are contoured, plucked and dieted within an inch of their lives she thinks she's a five.

But she's so much more than her looks. She's got the gorgeous, wide, brown eyes, the easy girl-next-door innocence with a body that knows no quit.

She's got curves in all the right places that keep me up at night, fisting my own cock and wanting to trace each curve with my tongue.

But the kicker, the thing that does it for me, is that she has no clue how gorgeous she is.

Take a sinfully sweet body, a sex goddess and an innocent nanny, who has no idea her true worth. Underneath her appearance, she's got a heart the size of Kansas, she's loyal to a fault, patient, kind, forgiving. She's everything a woman should be and nothing I deserve.

"So, if being someone's girl is off the table. What, exactly, do you guys want?" She asks.

We three share a look, a silent communication, honed over years of playing on the ice together. "You." We say in unison.

"But I can't have all three of you, can I? That would be...crazy...right?" She looks to us for guidance. I look at my brothers. I may be jealous and possessive, but would I really hate to share her with Carter and Luca?

I can't be the man she needs. I know that already. Between our training schedules, games, PT, PR appearances and more, I can't give her the devotion she deserves. Neither can the other two. But maybe, combined, we could be enough ?

The silence gets to her before she's rambling again.

"Look, we're all consenting adults, living under the same roof.

We all have...needs..." she says, shooting a glance at Annie who's playing on a floor mat.

"Maybe, we can just scratch each others' itches.

You guys know I'm not a puck bunny," she continues, shooting a glare at me.

I simply return it with what I hope is a panty-melting grin.

"And I don't want anything more from you guys.

And I know you guys don't want anything serious from me.

So maybe we can just be mutually beneficial F-U-C-K buddies.

" We're silent for a beat and she's squirming with nerves.

She's terrified of being rejected again.

"Is that what you want?" Carter asks.

She shrugs. "I mean I feel like that's where this was all going anyway. I just want to make sure we were all on the same page. I want to make sure that if we do this, it doesn't affect my job, or Annie's health, and that no one's feelings get hurt."

Fine. If my girl wants to pretend to be fuck buddies, I can play along. For whatever reason she doesn't think she's good enough to be my girl. I'll make her see though. I'll show her what a Goddess she is when she's riding my cock. And if I have to fuck my way into her heart, so be it.