Page 1

Chapter 1

MICAH

“ I ’m out of here.” Domenic Tremblay, one of our star forwards, set his empty glass on the bar top at Tipsy.

We were celebrating our latest win. Tonight, we’d trounced Boston four to one, and we were looking pretty good with less than two months to go in the regular season. I was itching for playoff hockey this year, just like the rest of my teammates. The Stampede was still a new team, only in our second year of existence. Making a playoff run would be epic, and I was ready for it. I hadn’t made the playoffs in my first and only year with Seattle, and my previous years in Edmonton had been frustrating as well, but there was something about this team here in Denver.

It was a move I hadn’t wanted, but I was glad to be here now.

“Always bailing early. We’re celebrating here,” called out Harry Sinclair, known to everyone as Sin—and with good reason. The man was a loose cannon, both entertaining and annoying.

Dom grinned. “You’d always want to be home if you had Ally and Olivia waiting for you. Well, not them specifically, of course. They’re mine.”

Sin shuddered. “Yeah, no thanks. Enjoy those diapers.”

“Worth every blowout.” He lifted his hand to wave at the rest of us and all but ran out of the bar. He and Ally had had more than a few obstacles, but I was glad they’d finally figured their shit out before baby Olivia had arrived two months ago.

“Yeah. No fucking thanks on that.” Haldy grabbed another beer and gestured across the room. “I’d rather go home with her. Fuck, she’s hot. Never seen her in here before.”

I followed his gaze, and my heart slammed to a stop.

“Fuck no, you’re not,” I growled as I watched the woman walk toward us.

The woman who had irritated me for most of my life because she happened to be the annoying little sister of my best friend back home.

What the hell was Josie Caine doing here? I’d almost forgotten that she was still in Denver.

She caught me looking at her, and her smile knocked me back a step. I hadn’t seen her in a few years, and it’d been four years since I’d made the mistake of kissing her.

One fucking kiss that no one else could ever know about, especially my best friend. Ray would string me up, and hell, I’d probably help him. I’d had no business kissing her, and it would do my memory well to remember that.

She tucked a long strand of purple hair behind her ear, looking hotter than she had any right to, and stopped in front of me.

“Hey, Micahtron, been awhile.”

Sin burst out laughing. “Micahtron?”

“Go away,” I muttered, not sparing a glance at my teammate. My focus stayed on the hurricane in front of me.

“I’m definitely not going anywhere now, Micahtron .” Then his hand poked out next to my side in Josie’s direction. “Hi there. I’m Sin.”

I elbowed his arm away and didn’t miss Josie’s quirked brow.

“Fucking rude, man,” Sin said next to me, but I continued to ignore him.

“What are you doing here?” Ray had told me two months ago that she was moving to Denver with some douchebag boyfriend and that he’d given Josie my number if she needed anything, but she hadn’t reached out.

She stared up at me with hazel eyes, nibbling on her lip like she was nervous.

Josie was never nervous.

Except, right before she’d murmured something about going for it and then kissed me.

Fuck. I hadn’t thought about that night in a long time. My gut swirled anxiously.

“Just hoping to see you. It’s been a while, Micahtron,” she said, that smile back in place.

Sin barked out a laugh. Fucking hell, why was he still standing there?

“Seriously, I’m going to need an explanation for that nickname.”

Josie’s eyes twinkled, and she looked around my arm at him. “He and my brother were obsessed with Transformers. Like, crazy obsessed.” She held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Josie.”

I linked my fingers with hers, ignoring the electricity that shot up my arm when I touched her, and tugged her away from my teammate.

“Hey,” Sin called out as I guided Josie away from him.

“Micah, seriously. It’s a funny nickname.”

“Of all the guys on the team you could’ve told, he’s the worst one.” I shook my head. “Fuck, I’ll never hear the end of it.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Whatever.”

“Now, want to tell me what’s going on? I know Ray gave you my number. But instead of calling, you’re here. Did you know I would be here?”

She was back to nibbling on her lip and it took everything in me not to reach out and touch her mouth, soothe the bruised flesh.

Fucking hell.

“He did. And, yeah, I was hoping you’d be here because talking in person would be better.”

“For what?”

“Any chance you might want a roommate for a bit? You know I’m a great cook.”

“ What? ”

She sighed. “My idiot boyfriend—now ex-boyfriend—skipped town. We were staying with friends of his and, um, now I’m kind of homeless. I have a few jobs lined up, but, uh…”

She trailed off, and I sighed.

Then she flashed me another smile. “It would just be for a little while until I get back on my feet. You know I’m good at that.” Then the big-eye face came out. “Please? I can crash on your couch or something. You’re gone half the time anyway. You’ll never even know I’m there.”

I barked out a laugh. There was a reason I always told Josie she was a hurricane. I would definitely know she was there, sending my ordered life into a tailspin, because if you looked up fly by the seat of your pants in the dictionary, there’d be a picture of Josie with an infectious grin on her face.

She batted her eyelashes. “Please, Micah? Please?”

My gut tightened for all the wrong reasons at her words.

“I don’t want to go home. I like it here, and you know my parents.” She dropped her voice. “Why can’t you go to college and get a stable career like your brother? You could be a teacher like your brother.”

I bit back a chuckle. Yeah, that was exactly how her dad sounded.

“You love my cooking, and you know it. And I can sort of be neat. I mean, not like your drill sergeant, everything-perfectly-in-place version, but I’ve gotten less messy.”

“If everything is in its place, you can always find it,” I muttered. And for me, Josie was always going to be messy.

“Chaos is good for you, Micah. Keeps you young.”

“I’m going to regret this.” There was no way I could say no to her, and she knew it.

She launched herself at me, her arms going around my neck as she stretched up on her tiptoes. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. You won’t regret this, I promise.”

What the hell had I just agreed to? And why did she have to feel so damn good in my arms?

Shit.

My arms hung limply at my sides as she pressed her body against mine and kept hugging me, so I awkwardly lifted them and loosely held her, my body stirring in ways it definitely fucking shouldn’t.

This was going to be a disaster. I may have told myself that I’d forgotten our kiss, but it flashed in my brain like it had just happened yesterday.

She pulled back in my arms and gave me another blinding smile. “This is going to be so fun. And I can make all your favorite meals. Oh, wait, you have a food service, I bet. To stay on that healthy hockey player diet and everything.”

Then she patted my chest, and I swore my damn heart rate picked up speed.

I dropped my hold on her before quickly splaying my hand against her upper back when she started to fall backward.

“Jeez, don’t drop me, Micahtron,” she teased. “Anyway, we’ll figure out foods and stuff. I have my bags near the bar. Just two of them. You know I travel light. I left them there when I spotted you. Not that we have to rush out or anything. You guys are celebrating your win. I watched it on my phone. You were so good, just like always.”

Pride sparked in my chest at her words. Well, after I caught up with everything she’d just thrown at me. I loved that she’d watched the game.

She laughed. “Overwhelmed?” Then she stepped fully out of my hold, and I shouldn’t have missed touching her.

“Earth to.” She tapped me on my nose.

I swatted her hand away. “Yeah. Yep. Okay. Let me finish this, and we can head to my place.”

“Great.” She beamed. “And Ray?”

“For now, I won’t tell him, but if he asks if I’ve seen you, I’m not going to lie, okay?”

She sighed. “That’s fair.”

Then she wrapped her arms around me again.

“Thank you so much. I really mean it. I’ll make you the best dinner tomorrow night.”

I hugged her back, still wondering what the hell I was getting myself into.

JOSIE

I followed Micah out of the bar as he carried my two bags to his car. I hadn’t really had a game plan when I’d found the note from Blaine earlier this afternoon saying that he didn’t think we were going to work out and that he was heading to New Mexico with some friends. And I wasn’t going to stay at his friends’ place without him, so I’d packed my shit and tried to figure out what to do next.

Men were the absolute worst. I should’ve known better than to fall for a guy named Blaine. Not that I was too hurt about our time ending. It probably wouldn’t have lasted much longer anyway. After all— Blaine .

“Hop in.” Micah’s gravelly voice cut through my brain, bringing me back to the present, as he held open the passenger door of his gleaming black SUV. He’d already put my bags in the back seat.

I shoved my backpack at the footwell and climbed in while he walked around the hood of the car, looking ridiculously hot in his game day suit. I was going to live with this man. A man who had featured in my fantasies since well before I’d kissed him four years ago.

I bit back a grin. I couldn’t wait.

He slid into his seat, and I turned up the volume on his stereo. Hard rock vibrated through the vehicle.

“Steelwolf. My favorite. I saw them on tour last year. So fucking good.”

He chuckled. “You mean you drooled over Jax. Still got a crush on him?”

“Everyone with a pulse has a crush on that man.” Jax was sex personified. Not that Micah wasn’t, but I couldn’t drool over my brother’s best friend like I could over a rock star I’d never meet.

“Whatever you say. Your taste in men is clearly questionable.”

I pretended to act offended. “Ouch, Micahtron. Going right for the kill.”

He rolled his eyes. “Am I wrong?”

I shrugged. “I’m not looking for Mr. Forever. I’m young and having fun.”

“You moved halfway across the country for this last one. What was his name? Blake? Brad?”

“It was Blaine. And he was fun for a while, plus I wanted a change of scenery. Denver is a great city. Didn’t expect him to ditch like he did, but I always find a way to land on my feet. I promise I won’t cramp your style for too long. I’ll start looking for a place to rent this week.”

I swore I heard him sigh, and I turned to watch his profile as he drove.

“You don’t have to rush. And you’re right, I’m only home half the year right now with the season going, so you staying with me isn’t a big deal.”

Reaching over the center console, I squeezed his hand. “Thanks, Micah. I’m going to be the best and easiest roommate ever.”

He snorted.

“Swear, I am. You won’t even notice I’m there.”

He barked out a laugh. “Says the hurricane.”

“I’m not that destructive,” I muttered, ignoring how his chuckle warmed my entire body.

Within minutes, we were pulling into a garage under a huge condo building.

I whistled. “Fancy.”

“It’s pretty nice. The team owners have been great to us, hooked us up with a place to live when we first landed. I ended up buying my unit last summer after signing a new contract. A lot of the guys are still here, especially the single ones.”

“Ooh, a building full of hockey players,” I teased.

He parked and turned to look at me. “Don’t hook up with my teammates.”

I huffed. “Seriously? I’m not going to sleep with the team or something.”

“Just stop. None of them are good enough for you.”

“Nice save.”

His green gaze held mine. “It wasn’t a save. Just looking out for my almost-sister.”

Then, it was my turn to roll my eyes. “I do not need another annoying big brother.”

He shook his head at me, a common occurrence when we were growing up. I swore Micah had been a grown-up even when we were children. So serious. It made me want to rile him up in the worst way.

“Come on, let’s go upstairs.” Then he paused. “But, uh, I just realized that I don’t have the second bedroom set up.”

We got out of the car and he grabbed my bags as I slung my backpack over my shoulder.

“It’s fine. I’ll take the couch or something. I can get a blow-up mattress for the spare room tomorrow.” Not sure how I’d get to the store, but I’d figure that out tomorrow.

The elevator ride was short and soon enough, we were walking down the hallway to his front door.

“Uh. I mean, it has stuff in there, just not bedroom stuff.” He dropped one of my bags next to the front door after we walked in.

“So what’s in there? Is it like a sex dungeon? Except not a dungeon because it’s not like you have a basement.”

He stared up at the ceiling and I swore he took in a deep breath. It was another move I’d seen many times with him over the years. Usually when I said something ridiculous, which is exactly why I did it. Micah with a sex room. I bit back a laugh. Yeah, right.

Heat spiraled through me and I shoved it way down. Dirty thoughts about this man would get me nowhere but frustrated.

“It’s okay if you have one.”

He met my gaze. “I do not have a sex room, Josie. Seriously, where do you come up with these things?”

I shrugged. “You could. After all, it’s the quiet ones who are the spicy ones.”

His laugh was deep and threatened to spark that stupid heat in me again.

“Don’t make fun of me,” he muttered.

“Ooh. Is it full of Transformers? Or a life-size cutout of Megatron?”

He shot me a glare.

“Fine, fine. I won’t make fun of you. Show me your secret room, Micahtron.”

“Could we stop with that nickname? I’m not ten anymore.”

I grinned. “No, you’re not, and no, we won’t. Don’t spoil my fun.” I rubbed my hands together. “Should I open the door? Would that be easier for you?”

He graced me with another glare.

“You know, if you keep that up, your face is going to stick that way.”

“Why did I agree to let you crash here again?”

I nudged my shoulder into his arm. “Because we’re family, and I’m fun to hang around with. I spice up your life, and don’t you forget it.”

“Spices give me heartburn.”

“Your joke attempts are cute. Come on.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the closed door.

“Shall I do the honors?”

“You’re making this a much bigger deal than it is. It’s just a room.”

“Pretty sure you’re the one who made it a big deal. Do you need a drumroll, or are we just going to turn the knob together?”

“Fucking hell, you’re such a pesky little sister.”

“And a true joy to be around,” I fired back, giving him my biggest smile. “Open, please.”

He turned the doorknob, and I pushed it open as he flipped on the light.

“It’s my relaxing space,” he mumbled.

There was no bedroom furniture, but half of the room was set up as a zen-like yoga space, with a tabletop fountain that would for sure make me have to pee if it was running and a few yoga bricks and mats. Some sort of fancy Pilates machine was against the wall. At the other half of the room, near the window, sat a large table with a partially finished puzzle.

I made my way across the room. “I’d forgotten your puzzle love.” I picked up one of the pieces that he’d set in a pile with ones of a similar color. The edges of the picture were all done, and it looked like he had just over half of the puzzle to complete.

“Stay away from my puzzle pieces.” He plucked the piece from my hand and put it back in its pile. Then he cupped his hands around said pile to tighten it up, and I tried not to snort.

I knew the room was meant for relaxation, but I couldn’t help but wonder how tightly he was wound to require such neat puzzle piles.

“I promise not to mess up your system.” I peered over the table. “Oh, this piece might go here.” I snagged a random piece, and he growled at me.

Fucking hell. That noise went right to my core, and I clenched my thighs. What would it be like to have him growl at me for a much more delicious reason?

“Josie.”

Pure raspy deliciousness.

I blinked a few times and finally focused, setting down the piece. “Okay, fine. Show me that couch.”

“You can’t really sleep on the couch. I’ll take it, and you can have my room tonight.”

“What? Is this some chivalrous thing? Nope. You need your bed so you can be well-rested and keep kicking hockey ass. It’s almost the end of the season.”

He quirked a brow. “You’ve been watching our team?”

“Well, duh. You know I love hockey, and the Stampede’s doing pretty good this season. So you have to stay in top form, and that requires you keeping your sleep routine.”

“I just feel bad putting you out on the couch.”

“I’m sure it’s the comfiest couch I’ve ever slept on. And I’ll crash in your bed when you’re at away games.”

And breathe in his scent on his sheets.

Damn. That sounded creepy as hell.