Page 24

ERIK

I checked my watch every five minutes leading up to seven o’clock. Kayden shared a house with another person from the Westside. That was how it was done in that part of Buffalo. People answer ads and move in with someone they knew next to nothing about before sharing an address.

Kayden texted me two hours before saying I shouldn’t eat much before arriving because he would take care of the food. Knowing my teammate, that meant he would have a few bags of Doritos on hand or have a pizza delivered. Anything unhealthy we could stuff in our mouths.

When I rang the doorbell, Kayden answered, wearing a black dress shirt and gray pants. He’d combed his hair more conservatively now, but I still imagined a lock of hair hanging over his forehead like a comma. He looked good no matter what he did.

I would’ve pictured him as the type to greet me in a t-shirt and track pants—at best. Guys like him usually treat their home like their own personal locker room and open the door in their boxers…or less.

The latter wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t been clinging to my remaining shreds of willpower.

“Come in,” he said. “Glad you could make it.”

When I stepped inside, I drank in my surroundings, realizing that the house looked much nicer inside than outside.

A staircase stood in front of me. Beside it I found a hall that allowed a peek into the kitchen.

To my right, I spotted a living room and small dining room beyond it.

I shuffled into the living room the moment my shoes came off.

A warm, heavenly aroma filled my nostrils. Bread for sure, but there had to be more. I inhaled deeply, enjoying all of it.

“Make yourself at home,” he said. “Dinner’s almost ready.”

“Dinner?”

“You didn’t think I would let you starve, did you?”

“No, I just, uh…”

I’d been wrong about Kayden, at least in terms of his idea of how to welcome a guest. Was there a chance I’d been wrong about so much else concerning my teammates?

No.

My gut had told me what I needed to know from the start. I’d trusted that. I just found certain things about Kayden interesting enough to keep learning as much as I could.

You want to change him, my inner voice said. You want to tame the bad boy until he’s putty in your hands .

Maybe. I hadn’t thought of it that way until now. Kayden Preston would be a challenge one way or another.

On the dining room table, I found two places set with cutlery, a candle, and freshly baked bread. He wouldn’t really light the candle, would he? He’d only set it out for decoration, right?

Suddenly, I felt underdressed and…unprepared? Yes, that was it. I didn’t know I was supposed to dress up or what this was supposed to be. I only knew that we were supposed to talk about how—or if—we would make co-captaining work, not.

Obviously, Kayden had a plan.

I dragged out a chair, sat, and watched Kayden at the stove. Those gray pants boasted an ass that you can’t earn at the gym. You’ve got to be born with anything that amazing. Sure, I’d seen it bare, but sometimes you can’t get enough of a good thing.

I wanted that. No matter what standards I’d set out for myself, I wanted that ass in the worst way.

Holy shit…

I drew a deep breath, summoning all my strength. I couldn’t back down from my principles now.

Kayden opened the door, bent over (God help me), pulled out a tray, and then zipped back and forth throughout the kitchen. I turned away, so he wouldn’t catch me gawking. Finally, he brought dinner to me: chicken parmesan. My mouth watered at the sight.

My teammate lit the candle and filled the glasses with red wine. Then he sat across from me and grabbed a napkin, acting all casual, like this was all in a day’s work.

I wished I’d known what to say.

“Dig in,” he said. “This is my specialty.”

“Do this often?”

“Only at exactly the right time.”

His tone sounded confident but not the usual Kayden smug.

I said, “If this tastes half as good as it smells …”

I lifted my knife and fork, digging in. It tasted better than it smelled.

I could get used to this.

Didn’t someone say that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach? Maybe that was Kayden’s plan. Or it was his grand scheme to convince me to walk away from the co-captain role.

He could forget that.

I had to admit that Kayden seemed somehow even sexier sitting across from me than he had before. Yes, it was possible. I stole a few glances and didn’t care if he noticed.

“The way I see it,” he said, “is we’ve got to try to stay out of each other’s way.”

I wouldn’t ask what that meant. I’d never stood in his way. As far as I was concerned, I’d been a model teammate from the start. He was the one who?—

I felt his foot under the table. It hadn’t brushed against mine by accident. But had it been his fault? Had mine touched his?

“So,” I said, “when one of us has to talk to the ref, I’ll do the talking.”

“Are you kidding me? I’ll do the talking.”

“Why?”

“Because the refs will listen to me. They’ll just brush you off.”

“You’re out of your mind. You’ll get thrown out of the game for some of the things you’d say.”

I stopped there. An argument would spark before either of us could do anything about it. And it would ruin this nice dinner. By the way, why had he poured so much effort into this? All I wanted was a civilized conversation with this guy.

I also had to cling to whatever willpower I had left. That meant changing the subject in a hurry.

“So, your roommate’s gone, huh?”

“Yep. Gone to Cleveland for the next few days.”

“Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, eh?”

He shrugged like he hadn’t asked questions. He looked too preoccupied for that anyway. All that mattered was that his roommate was gone, granting him all the privacy he wanted.

And I felt his foot underneath the table again. The way it rubbed against mine eliminated all possibility of an accident.

It’s slipping away from you, my inner voice said. You can’t deny how sexy Kayden looks right now. Hang on tight or you’ll cave in no time .

I didn’t flinch or pull back. When I stared deep into my teammate’s eyes, I wanted to wrestle his power away, but he wouldn’t back down. Memories from the locker room where he’d hovered over me, those perfect green eyes locked on mine, flashed through my mind.

I felt his cock inside me again, his powerful hands clutching my body, and found myself growing rock hard. That made sitting across from him with a perfect meal before me almost impossible.

I sipped from my wine, trying with all my might to keep my urges under control.

Take a deep breath, I told myself. Stay cool .

“You like it here?” I asked.

“It’s okay. Not like I’m gonna live here forever.”

“Planning to move someplace?”

“That’s not what I mean. I’m going to live in a mansion with my NHL money someday, remember?”

“Right.”

“I’ll be married to a blonde super model and have three kids, but there’ll be plenty of cash to support everyone.”

“Uh-huh.”

He'd clung on to his pipedream of marrying a woman even as he gave me a footjob under the table. Of course. That was Kayden Preston. He was the master of his own destiny and could make his life anything he wanted it to be.

If that was true, then I could remove any and all temptation for Kayden from my mind. But I couldn’t do that. Now that I felt his foot brush against mine again, I touched my free foot to his. Our eyes stayed locked on one another as if each was waiting for the other to flinch.

I struggled not to wince. That would only show weakness. I drew a deep breath or else I would’ve exploded.

“I live by myself,” I said.

“You do?”

“Uh-huh. I’m not really into the whole roommates thing.”

“Isn’t it kind of expensive to live on your own?”

“It’s a studio apartment. Real tiny.”

“Westside?”

“Sort of. It’s on Bush Street.”

He lifted an eyebrow like he didn’t know where that was.

“It’s in the Black Rock neighborhood. You know where Nick’s Place is?”

“Yeah, the restaurant across from Wegmans.”

Instead of continuing this stupid foot business, I ran my leg along his powerful calf.

His eyes widened, gazing upon me intently now.

Then I felt his hand grope at my knee. My breathing quickened, and every concern I’d brought with me vanished.

Right now, only Kayden and I existed, and I couldn’t deny that the erection that’d swelled in my pants had grown overpowering.

Kayden couldn’t deny that his dick was hard too. Okay, he might try to deny it, but I knew damn well he was turned on as I was.

I saw in his eyes a hunger, something that said he wanted to throw me on the floor and fuck me on the spot.

Only I couldn’t allow that. I was the one who was supposed to be in control.

I was supposed to ensure we stayed level-headed and made sensible decisions.

We were co-captains, but I still had to be the responsible one, and?—

Kayden’s foot found the pit of my crotch and rubbed against my hard-on. My eyes opened wide. Ther image of a whistling tea kettle intruded on me as I stared the deepest into Kayden’s eyes yet. I wouldn’t flinch but felt my willpower dissolving and knew I couldn’t hang on much longer.

The more his foot rubbed against my crotch, the more I wanted him, needed him. I pictured myself on an airplane, digging my fingers into the seat and gritting my teeth during the ascent. In that way, I did everything I could to hold fast to my principles, but my final thread of willpower snapped.

I popped up to my feet, blew out the candle, and swept away our plates and glasses with a single sweep of my arm. I almost didn’t hear the crashing sounds as they hit the floor. Kayden lunged across the table, his lips meeting mine immediately.