Page 8

Chapter 7

Rina

" W e have got to stop meeting like this," that familiar deep voice resonates through the large space.

"Landry?!"

He covers what he can with his hands, but it's still not enough. The door closes behind me, sealing me into the room with him. His muscles are more pronounced than usual, given his time in the ice bath. His skin is taut as the water drips down his skin.

I've seen this man naked more times than any co-worker would deem appropriate.

"What are you doing in here?" he questions.

"Well, I was going to use the sauna."

"Oh," he says, reaching for a towel.

"What are you doing? Everybody left already. I thought this place was empty."

"Do you always use the sauna after everyone leaves?" he asks me.

I sigh. "Sometimes. There's one in my condo building, but there's this one old dude that likes to go at the same time I do and… it's weird."

"Hmm," he says, grabbing his bag and slipping into his sandals. "Well, don't let me hold you up from your old dude respite."

"Keelan, wait."

He turns to me, towel still secured around his waist but threatening to come undone at any second.

"We have some things we need to discuss."

"Have anything to do with a certain email Mack sent?"

I scrunch my nose. "So you read it."

He hooks a thumb toward the door. "Thin walls."

"You heard that?"

He nods.

"Wouldn't want her to regret hiring you," he says with a smirk.

"This is serious."

He drops the grin. "I know it is. So what does the big bad boss want?"

"We need to come up with an image rehab campaign for you. She wants a full plan by the end of the weekend."

"Fun," he says playfully. "Sounds exactly like how I'd want to spend my weekend—image rehab."

"Well, we wouldn't have to be doing any of this at all if you could just keep your fists in check—something you Heatwave boys seem to have trouble doing." I push my hip out and place a hand on it.

It's crazy that my job revolves around cleaning up grown men's messes.

"Only if the moment calls for it." He grins.

I shake my head. "Well, considering our new deadline and the very busy schedule the next few days. We should knock out a plan tonight."

He looks at his watch. "It's nearly midnight."

I shrug. "Maybe don't go around making my life more difficult than it already is and we won't have to pull all-nighters the night before your sister's big day."

He groans like a kid who was just told he can't go play outside with his friends on a school night. "Fine." He drops his things on the bench.

"What are you doing?" I eye him.

"You wanna talk strategy. Let's strategize, Your Majesty." He reaches for the door to the sauna.

"Um, no. I'm not getting away from weird old dude to sit in a sauna with my biggest headache of the moment," I set my things down on the bench, too, and cross my arms over my chest.

My phone chimes. Another message from Redmond, no doubt. And a reminder that I have several headaches at the moment.

Keelan looks around the treatment room, confused. "You just said we need to knock out a plan."

"Yeah, we do," I say, looking up from my phone.

"Ok, and you need to relax, no?"

I glower at him. "Yes. Which means you can't be around. You quite literally make me feel the opposite of relaxed."

And that's true on so many levels. With Keelan around, my neurons don't seem to connect the same way they do when he's out of my hair.

"It's late, Rina. I'm tired. Are we going to do this or not?" He waits for my response, still holding the sauna door open as the humid air wafts into the room.

With a sigh, I reach for the hem of my top and pull it over my head. He doesn't move from his spot. It's like Keelan Landry has suddenly figured out how to shut his mouth and stop moving.

The Adam's apple at his throat bobs as he swallows. And even though I know I'm playing with fire, there's something about having one of hockey's most notorious players completely silenced at the sight of me in a bra that does something to me.

He's still watching. Even as I reach for the zipper at the back of my skirt and tug it down slowly, letting the material float down to my ankles so that I can step out of them and kick them away.

Now, I'm standing there, just a few feet away from him, but I might as well be chest to chest with the way his body reacts at the sight of me in nothing but my underwear and heels.

He takes a deep breath before dropping his hand down to his growing erection, and he watches me as he palms himself.

I feel a jolt of electricity run down my spine. It's that feeling knowing we're on the verge of doing something very, very wrong.

I gulp. And turn away from him. I reach behind me and unhook my bra, letting it fall to the floor just as I hook my fingers onto the waistband of my panties and let them fall, too. I step out of my heels and kick them to the side.

Grabbing the white towel I brought in, I wrap it around my body and secure it in place, then gather my hair and tie it on top of my head before turning to face Keelan again.

I open my mouth, the words " We shouldn't do this" on the tip of my tongue when he crosses the room, snakes an arm behind my back, and hauls me to him. His hard body presses against my curves. He drags his other hand up to my neck and forces me to look up at him.

"Rina," he growls out. "Tell me that's not how you undress to get in your sauna. Because if it is…" He shakes his head in disapproval.

My voice is thick with need. "Oh, yeah? And what would you do about it, Landry?"

He brushes his lips gently over mine. The tingling sensation of the softness of our lips just barely brushing against each other ignites my desire for him even more.

"I'll break anyone who so much as looks in your direction," he whispers against my lips.

The words come out harsh. But they're not just a threat—they're a promise. One I've seen him make good on.

I swallow hard, battling with myself. The part of me that wants this more than anything in the world—against the part that knows Keelan Landry is off-limits. And now, thanks to our current predicament, he might always be.

"Let's just… get to work," I whisper onto his lips with all the restraint I can muster.

The half-lidded look in his eyes vanishes and he quickly drops his arms and takes a step back from me like I'm a snake that might bite him at any moment.

"Is that what you want?" he asks, voice still husky. “To work ?”

No. I want to be bad. I want to do what everyone assumes I'm doing anyway—Redmond included.

I want to forget about the stresses. Forget about the messes. And just be, in this moment, with him.

"Yes," I say instead. Cooler heads prevail.

He nods and takes another step back, motioning toward the sauna. "Fine. We’ll talk about work . You first."

Ten minutes in, and we're getting nowhere fast.

He thinks he should lean into the whole protective team captain thing. Be a spokesperson for standing up to bullies.

I try to get through his thick skull that it doesn't work when in this particular case, he was the bully.

I suggest community projects. Maybe even doing something alongside Redmond's team to show that there are no hard feelings. Where professional sports are concerned—camaraderie always wins.

"Is that what you and Jenny are doing? Letting camaraderie win?" He leans back and shoots me a look.

I don't know Jenny's angle. She hasn't been exactly easy to work with. Her ego likes to take center stage and prove that she's the right person for the job. But I was just like her when I started here, too.

That tends to be the attitude of most women that work in male-dominated industries. We already have the majority against us—we almost have to prove every day that we deserve a seat at the table. As ridiculous as that sounds. It's the reality.

"Jenny and I are grown women. We can be professional. I suggest you take a page from our playbook."

"And cozy up to your ex?"

"No. I didn't say cozy up to him," I glare at him. "I said work together. This whole situation hasn't exactly put him in a nice light either."

"You mean the whole screaming like a trapped animal thing?"

I blink at him.

"Tell me, what did you ever see in him anyway? Besides the whole hot Aussie thing? Or was that it? You a sucker for an accent, Rina?"

I cross my legs and lean back now, too.

"There were a lot of things I liked about Redmond."

"Like that he liked dipping his stick in anything with a skirt?" He smirks.

"He wasn't like that."

"Oh, come on, Rina. Take off the rose-colored glasses. He was always like that."

I sit up and give him a look. "What are you talking about?"

"You seriously don't remember? From college?"

"I didn't really know him back then, but he was kind," I protest.

"He was a player. Guys like him always seem kind. That's their MO. I just thought you'd grow out of being attracted to that."

"You're one to talk," I murmur.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he says, now sitting up too.

"First day I met you. You were kind. Endearing. You're mad at Redmond for being exactly like you."

"Don't ever compare us," he points a finger at me.

"Pot, kettle," I say with a shrug.

"I'm nothing like him," he says menacingly.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, that's so."

"Tell me then, how are you two so different? Because from what I recall you were kind to me while you were dating my roommate. You led me on and then…" my voice trails off.

"And then what?" He waits.

"Nothing… nevermind. Let's just get back to the plan."

"And then what, Ri?"

His eyes are on me. Waiting.

"You're just… not that different. That's all."

He scoffs. "Please. I'd never, never do what he did to you."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, really."

"Well, you did, Keelan. Mr. High and Mighty. You did!"

His eyes narrow. "What?"

"To Jenny!" I yell out. "You did it to Jenny. So don't walk around pretending to be so much better than any other fuck boy that walks these halls. Because all you players are all the same. And us women, the ones too blinded by your charm to see the damage you're doing to us—we're the ones that get shit on. Well, not anymore." I stand up and pull open the door.

The hot air is getting to me, and I feel dizzy from getting up so fast.

"I'll send you my plan for the image rehab campaign. You'll need to sign it before I submit it to Mack."

He stays staring at me, slack-jawed. "So that's it? We're done here."

"We're done here." I walk out of the sauna and shut the door, grabbing my clothes and heels off the floor in a hurry because I can't get away from Keelan Landry fast enough.

Will I ever learn my lesson with this guy?