Page 19 of Playoff (Toronto Blaze #4)

This is not a hookup

Alek

This wasn’t working.

I’d been brought here to put the puck in the net so the Blaze won games and made the playoffs.

But I’d upset the team chemistry, and the Blaze were struggling.

We were scoring goals, several of them mine, but we gave up more than we gained.

The road trip ended up fifty/fifty, and we dropped out of the wild-card spot.

We were walking with our heads down as we left the last hotel. We had two months to claim that spot again before the playoffs began in April, but something had to give.

The plane was quiet as we flew back to Toronto. Some of the guys, longtime friends, were playing cards, but everyone else was in their seats, headphones in, the air tense.

Fitting in with a new team took time, but there was more to it than that.

When a top line forward and D-man had issues, it affected everyone.

JJ did his best to avoid me. Off the ice, that was his prerogative.

But on the ice, it was a problem. He was still griping about my defensive play but he wasn’t playing well either.

I had to make my usual report upon returning to Toronto.

Agent Miller was at the airport. The hotel I’d been at for the first couple of days had continued to receive messages, and now the concierge at Fitch’s got some too.

If people had spent as much time checking out my parents as they did harassing me, they might not have lost their money.

Thankfully, we had a few days off for the All-Star break.

From what I’d overheard, JJ was going as a spectator, since his pal Cooper was representing the Blaze.

Ducky had been invited but was out with his injury.

Petrov was there for a skills competition.

Some of the other guys were going, and others were taking advantage of a few days off to rest up or spend time with family since there were no practices.

I had my own plans for the break. I wasn’t going to be the guy who joined the team and caused it to tank. That meant I needed to figure things out with JJ. He was avoiding me, but I knew someone who could help.

The morning after the road trip, I took the first step.

Me: I need to talk to you.

I waited impatiently for a response. Then I realized it was a weekday, so Jess must be at her job, and might not be able to respond. I went downstairs to work out in the gym in the building, checking my phone frequently. Finally, I got a notification.

Trouble: Why?

Me: It’s about your brother.

Trouble: What about him?

I could almost feel her hesitation, but this was important.

Me: He can’t play with me.

Dots came and went before she responded.

Trouble: I don’t want him to know I’m talking to you. It will make it worse.

I obviously didn’t want to make the situation worse.

No one could know we’d hooked up, and no one could know we were meeting.

But this was the only idea I had to patch things up enough that the team could function.

Being the guy who torpedoed the Blaze wasn’t going to help my market value once free agency opened up.

We had to meet somewhere private, and she probably wouldn’t be okay meeting in the condo she shared with JJ.

Almost anywhere in the city, I’d now be recognized.

The safest option was for her to come to my condo, but it needed to be a time when Fitch was out for a long while and I wasn’t.

That made it tricky. We practiced together and played all our games together.

We weren’t attached at the hip—he went out on his own, but he didn’t give me a heads-up if he was meeting someone.

He could walk back in any moment, and that would make things worse.

Asking when he would be out for a couple of hours without returning would be a little suspicious.

But I knew one time he was going to be out of the condo.

Me: Come here when the skills competition is on. Fitch is going to Ducky’s.

I could have tagged along, even if I wasn’t specifically invited, but clearing things up with JJ was more important. Unless Jess was going to be there?

The bubbles again and then her response.

Trouble: Okay.

Fitch grabbed a bag with beer and pretzels to take with him to Ducky’s. “Sure you don’t want to come?”

I shook my head. “I’m good.”

He narrowed his eyes at me but shrugged.

As soon as he was out the door I texted Jessica that the coast was clear. Then I paced while I waited for her.

The condo was clean—still a little spartan since Fitch had just bought the place and neither of us had time to decorate.

I had bedroom furniture shipped from LA, but the rest of the place was Fitch’s stuff.

He liked clean lines, light colors, and no clutter.

You could take the Swede out of Sweden, but…

I heard a knock on the door and walked over to let Jessica in.

She was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt, with a button-up sweater over top.

Running shoes on her feet, hair loose. No makeup.

She looked like the good girl next door, which wasn’t my thing, but still…

When she got out of the boring clothes, she was an uninhibited and sexy woman.

My gaze lingered over her curves, remembering what she looked like. How she’d tasted and sounded.

She glared at me. “Don’t do that.”

“What?”

“Look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like this is a booty call. It better not be.”

If only… But no. Not doing a sister again, especially not JJ’s. I stepped back. “No, fun as that would be, it’s too big a risk even for me. Come on in.”

She walked in, toeing her shoes off without asking. I led the way into the apartment. Her head pivoted as she looked the place over. She passed the living room, looked into the kitchen and down the hallway. “Same layout as we have.”

Not a big surprise. “Fitch has the bedroom on the right, I’m on the left.”

“Third bedroom is an office?”

“Right now it’s empty. I think he’s got plans to do something with it when the season is over.”

She came back to the living room and leaned a hip on the chair Fitch favored. “So what do you want to talk about concerning Justin?”

I sighed, trying to order my thoughts. “He’s got issues with me that are bleeding onto the ice. I want to know what all that’s about. You said your lives blew up—that’s gotta be more than losing some cash.”

I heard the front door open. Had to be Fitch, since no one else had the key. Jessica stared at me with wide eyes for half a second and ran. By the time Fitch was in view, she’d slammed the door to my bedroom.

Fitch was favoring his right leg, carrying his bag of goodies. He stared down the hall at my door, looked back at me and smirked. “Something you want to tell me?”

“Not particularly.”

“If you wanted to bring someone back here, you could have just said so. You’re single, so no judgment here.”

Better he thought I had a hookup than what was really going on. “She’s shy.”

He looked down the hall again. “No kidding.”

“So, why the hell are you here?”

He shrugged. “I went out to wait for my Uber and slipped on the damned ice.” That explained the limp. But of all the shit timing. “Sorry to mess with your plans, but I’m going to put up my foot, ice it, and watch the skills competition here.”

Fuck.

“Don’t worry,” he continued, “I won’t hear you unless you’re very, very loud.”

“Good to know.” How the hell was I going to get Jess out of here?

He limped into the kitchen and opened the freezer to grab an ice pack. I finally got my head straight. If he was hurt, he should be resting his leg. We didn’t need another injured player.

“Let me.” I moved toward the freezer. I could get him his damned ice pack.

He waved me off. “I’m good. It’s not serious, but this isn’t the time to take chances.”

He took his beer, his pretzels and his ice pack into the living room, settling into the chair Jessica had been leaning on moments before. “Want to pass me the remote?”

I picked it up and gave it to him. Then I stood, mind circling through ideas to get Fitch out of that seat. How long would it take him to use the can once that beer did its job?

He cocked his head. “Don’t you have someone waiting for you?”

Right . “Just making sure you’re okay.”

He clicked the TV on. “Tell her I can keep a secret. She doesn’t have to hide out all evening.”

Yeah, Jessica wasn’t coming out while Fitch was sitting here. There were secrets, and there were secrets.

I grabbed a couple of water bottles from the fridge and headed to my room. This was going to be…interesting.

When I opened the bedroom door there was no sign of my guest. I closed it behind me, activating the lock just to be sure.

“Jess?”

“Yes?” Her voice came from the en suite.

“I’ve got good news and bad news.”

She stepped out, arms crossed. “The good news?”

“Fitch didn’t see you. Has no idea who you are—thinks I have a puck bunny in here.”

Her lips narrowed. “The bad news?”

“He’s here for the night.”

Her arms dropped. “What?”

“He slipped on the ice in front of the building. Now he’s icing his ankle and staying here to watch the skills competition.”

She blinked at me. “You’re kidding me.”

I shook my head. “Looks like we’re stuck here till he goes to bed, unless you want to tell him we’re just talking.”

She leaned her head on the doorframe, staring at the ceiling. “Like he’s going to believe that when I hid in your bedroom. I panicked.”

Honestly, I’d probably have shooed her off myself if she hadn’t been so quick. “I can’t send him out to the store to get something, not when he’s resting his foot.”

“Shit.” She huffed a breath and looked around what was her prison for the next few hours. Too bad we hadn’t been planning on a booty call.

Down, libido .

There wasn’t a lot in the room—a California King took up most of the space. I’d ordered a stand to hang my suit on if needed, but no chairs. Just a couple of dressers and the big bed, neutral off-white walls. Thanks to the last road trip, I’d hardly spent any time in the room.

“Come on. We might as well get comfortable.” I stood the pillows up against the headboard and settled against them on the side where I normally slept.

She stared for a minute. “This is not a hookup.”

“No, it’s not. But we’re here for a few hours, and it’s either the bed or the floor. I’m not sitting on the floor.”

She looked down at the hardwood. There was an area rug, left by the previous owners, but it wasn’t plush. She raised her brows. “If you were a gentleman…”

We weren’t in some Gothic novel. Did she really expect me to give her the whole bed? “I never said I was. I’m an athlete, and I can’t mess up?—”

She snorted and grinned. She’d been playing me.

“Come and sit on the bed, Trouble.”

“Trouble?”

“That’s what your name is in my phone.”

That seemed to please her. “Nobody’s called me that.”

“What do you call me?”

“K.”

I stared at her. “K?” What the hell did K stand for?

“I didn’t think using your initials would be smart, in case Justin noticed when my phone notifications pop up. I was aiming for boring.”

“You succeeded.”

She huffed a breath, then crossed to the far side of the bed and sat down, lifting her legs up and leaning on the pillows. She kept distance between us. Probably a good idea, because this close I could smell something like berries—her shampoo, maybe? And it brought back too many memories.

“So, we just sit here until he goes to his room?”

“We can watch TV.” I nodded my head toward the big flat-screen on the wall across from where we were sitting.

She narrowed her eyes. “Do you normally bring someone to your room to watch TV?”

Damn it, she was right. I’d yet to bring anyone to this room, but Fitch wasn’t going to believe our story if he heard the TV. He claimed he wouldn’t hear anything, but the TV was on the wall that backed onto the hallway. “Right. No TV. Music?”

A fake smile. “Maybe your seduction playlist?”

“I don’t have a playlist for that.”

She pulled up her knees and wrapped her arms around them. “Candles? To set the mood?”

“I don’t have any fucking candles. Can we focus on why you’re here? I need to talk to you.”

“Okay. We just need to make sure Fitch thinks you’re sexing up in here.”

Fine . If that was what she wanted. I pushed up to my knees and bounced the bed. It made a satisfying squeak.

She stared at me. “What are you doing?”

“Sexing up, as requested.”

“Really? Is that your normal? Because I don’t recall quite this much bed rocking.”

My mind went back to that night, and based on the red in her cheeks, hers did too. We’d been much smoother than that. My cock was fond of those memories, but I needed to focus on something else.

“How about less pounding into the mattress and something more like lovemaking.” Was that what she’d thought we’d been doing? “He’s got the TV on, right? He can’t hear that much.”

I sat back against the pillows. “As you wish.”

She squinted at me. “If we hear him walking this way, I’ll moan for you. That protect your reputation?”

“You moan and I’ll bounce, and it’ll be great. He’ll tell stories of our encounter.”

That smile tried to peek out again. “As long as you change the names to protect…”

I smirked. “Not quite the innocent.”

She shook her head. “This isn’t getting us anywhere. What do you need to know?”

My gaze slid over the furniture, the curtains, and finally rested on her. “What exactly did my parents do to your family?”