Page 29 of Reputation (Toronto Royals #1)

Chapter Eighteen

Jax

The woman was driving him crazy. The worst part was, her pointed aloofness toward him only seemed to feed the growing fire of need for her. It was beginning to verge on obsession.

For the last two weeks, every time he’d seen her, his fingers flexed involuntarily with the need to touch her, feel her, wrap his arms around her, and ensure she could never run away from him again.

He finally understood the princes from all those fairy tales his baby sister used to watch. After she’d stormed into his life, he was decidedly team Prince Charming now, knowing what it was like to watch his own Cinderella constantly disappear.

Unfortunately, her presence meant he couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Not that he thought her absence would be any better.

The woman seemed to torment him whether or not she was around.

He couldn’t even escape her at night. His mind continued to replay that night in the darkened hallway, teasing and torturing him until his body was taught with hunger for her, his heart pounding as he fantasized about what would have happened had he managed to get her alone.

His mind conjured up images of her before she’d bolted. His body burned with the memories, his blood pumping hard, remembering the deep, breathless moans that had emanated from her throat.

God, the sound she’d made when he’d said good girl .

His she-devil had liked it when he’d praised her.

He would love nothing more than to continue that praise as he traced her body with his lips, whispering the words against her soft, quivering skin.

He wanted to discover all the things that would elicit those sounds again and again, and again.

He’d been compiling a whole list in his head of the incredibly dirty things he wanted to whisper into her ear.

By Friday evening, confused, horny and annoyed with himself, he left the training facilities, taking the elevator down to the garage.

Letting his head fall back, he scrubbed a hand down his face, drawing in a deep breath.

Oddly, he thought he’d caught the scent of her perfume, the tantalizing smell flooding his veins.

What was the likelihood she had been in the same elevator minutes before him?

It was probably his mind conjuring up the scent he remembered so clearly, but underneath the floral notes lingering in the small space, he thought he could smell her.

It bewitched him, sending a fresh rush of blood south and making his already semi spring into a throbbing, painful erection.

Shit, that was not going to go away on it’s own.

Getting behind the wheel of his Land Rover Defender truck, he drove to his condo in a lust-filled daze, the scent of her seeming to follow him.

He lived close to the downtown core, in a new building on the south side of Yorkville and east of the university.

He liked living in the city, and since he was single, he hadn’t seen the need to buy a house.

The condo was the perfect spot for him, with its proximity to nightlife and close enough to the arena to make the commute easy.

He pulled into the private garage and, reaching the bank of high-tech elevators, tapped his FOB to call one of the lifts that served the top three floors of the building.

When it opened into a short hallway leading to the only unit on the floor, he unlocked the door and walked into his condo.

Sometimes, like now, he wondered why he’d bought such a big place.

The floorplan was five thousand square feet, occupying the entire forty-sixth floor.

It had three bedrooms, five bathrooms, a living room and what the realtor had called a family room.

It also had an office, a dining room, a built-in glass wine cellar, a massive kitchen that shared an open floorplan with the living room, and so many closets that he forgot where things were half the time.

It had an appealing modern design, with dark wood floors, white walls and lots of tall windows.

There was a view from nearly every side of the place.

The kitchen was sleek and contemporary, stocked with Viking appliances he used once or twice a week.

Again, it was probably a waste on someone like him who had his food catered.

He liked the space and its modern design, but sometimes, he felt like it was just so…

empty. And like other times, he would typically fill the emptiness with a woman—either one he had in his contact list or one he went out to a bar or restaurant to find.

There were more than enough swanky, expensive places in this neighborhood to find someone to fill the emptiness, even for the night.

Unfortunately, he knew only one woman could relieve the raging hunger burning through him now. The same one who ignited the fierce heat and caused a ball to form in his gut like he’d been punched.

“ Fuck ,” he growled to himself.

Tossing his key unceremoniously onto the foyer table, he walked into the dining room and out the opposite side. He followed the long hallway to the main bedroom, which took up the southeast corner.

Jax didn’t bother flipping on the lights, continuing in the dark through his double wall walk-in closet to the luxurious bathroom beyond.

Stripping off his clothes, he left them on the cold tile floor in the dark room and stepped into the glass shower stall. He flipped multiple switches until the massive rain head came on, dousing him in icy water. He let the sting of it cascade over him, willing his throbbing erection to go away.

When that proved to offer no relief, he did the only thing he could think of—a consolation to the satisfaction he knew the real thing would bring.

Wrapping his fist around his hard cock, he raised the temperature of the water slightly and gave himself a tight, slow pump. His mind swiftly conjured up an image of Eavie, her golden hair hanging in thick waves down her back and with considerably less clothing.

A harsh, rough groan slipped through his lips, and he clenched his jaw against the onslaught of need that scorched down his spine.

He moved his hand faster, harder, imagining her desire-stamped face from the bar, her scent, the way her lips pressed to his as their tongues fought for dominance.

In record time, embarrassingly so, the ball of heat gathered at the base of his spine.

His release flashed through him, and he felt himself spill against the glass wall.

His arm trembled where it held him up against the pane, and he sucked in the thick, steamy air around him, trying to get oxygen into his lungs.

He stood under the spray, trying to recover from an orgasm he knew would be nothing compared to what actually having her would be like. While the quick release cooled his blood enough that his erection finally ebbed, the heavy, aching ball in his gut remained.

“ Fuck ,” he muttered again, running his hands through the wet strands of his hair in frustration.

By the following evening, the heat had kindled again, spreading from that tight ball in his gut. He kept seeing the look in her eyes, the untamed desire reflected there as they stood nose to nose, his lips brushing hers as he asked her to leave with him.

“Yo, Jax,” came a voice to his left, jerking his attention back to the present.

He looked at Brooks, lounging on the opposite end of the massive gray sectional couch.

In the middle of the giant U sat a dark wood coffee table, currently holding two bottles of beer, a handful of empties, and a few bags of chips.

“Sorry, what?” he asked, swallowing down the burning any thought of Eavie elicited in him.

“I asked if you wanted to go another round?” Brooks repeated, nodding toward the flat screen on the wall flashing the hero videos for Call of Duty .

“Oh, sorry. Yeah, let’s go,” he said, focusing on the present.

“You alright, man?” Brooks asked, looking at him curiously.

It wasn’t like Jax to be so unfocused. Again, something only Cinderella seemed to bring out in him.

“Yeah, I’m good. My mind just wandered for a second.”

“Hmm,” Brooks grunted, looking at Jax in confusion, but dropped the inquiry. Brooks was never one to push a topic or pry if you didn’t want to talk about something.

“So,” Jax said a few minutes after they loaded a new game. The background noise of the war zone filled in the gaps in conversation. “How are things going with Lacey?”

Brooks shrugged one shoulder lazily. “Fine, I guess,” he muttered.

Jax raised his eyebrows at the half-assed response about the stunning, flaming-haired Supermodel Brooks had been dating for the last few months.

“Something going on?” he asked.

“No,” Brooks replied and shook his head, eyes glued to the TV. “I just don’t know if it’s going to last.”

Jax chuckled, not entirely surprised. His friend went through the same cycle every time he started dating a woman.

Unlike Jax, who only did casual, Brooks dated—always looking for the potential one .

Jax didn’t know exactly what he was looking for or why none seemed to have it, but he had suspicions.

“Weren’t you supposed to go meet her family for Thanksgiving?”

“I told her not to count on me,” Brooks answered.

Jax blew out a low whistle. “I bet that went over well,” he said with a smirk. He couldn’t see Lacey being happy with that at all.

Brooks let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah, to say she wasn’t thrilled is putting it mildly,” he said grimly.

Likely an understatement. Jax kept the thought to himself. “You didn’t want to head home for the holiday?”

“Nah, it’s not enough time for me to make the trip to Albuquerque, especially since it isn’t a holiday there.

” He reached forward, picking up his beer.

Bringing it to his lips, he took a deep pull.

“I was thinking I’d head down over Christmas this year, though, to surprise the family.

They aren’t going on their annual vacation, so I might visit them then.

It would be nice to see Sienna too,” Brooks said with the crooked smile that appeared every time he mentioned his lifetime best friend.

“How is Sienna?” Jax asked, thinking Brooks hadn’t mentioned her in a while.

“Good…I think,” he paused, considering. “Actually, I haven’t spoken to her in a while.” His face pulled into a frown as he thought about it. “She’s probably busy with the law firm,” he added, referring to Sienna’s job as a lawyer. “What about you? Are you seeing your family for Thanksgiving?”

“Yeah, Mom’s putting together a big dinner tomorrow.

I’ll head up there around lunch.” He turned toward his teammate, an idea forming in his mind.

“Do you want to come with me?” Jax asked.

Since Jax had joined the team, they had become good friends.

With Brooks’ family being so far away, he’d attended more than a few Morghan family events.

He wondered why he hadn’t thought of inviting him earlier.

“My mom always has tons of food, and I know she would love to have you.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to intrude,” said Brooks.

“I’m pretty sure my mom would skin me alive if she found out you were alone for Thanksgiving and I didn’t invite you. You know how she is.”

Chuckling, he said, “Sure, man. That would be great, thanks.”

Pulling out his phone, he sent a quick message to his mom. Her reply came in before he’d even picked up his controller.

Jax laughed as he told Brooks her response. “She’s ecstatic you’re coming. Sometimes, I think she likes you more than she likes me.”

Brooks chuckled, lifting one hand. “Who can blame her?” he said, gesturing to himself. “I am a better hockey player than you.”

Jax shook his head at his arrogance. “At least you’re better at something,” he shot back, “since you suck at COD.”

“Oh, you are so on,” said Brooks.

Later that night, after Brooks had left, Jax lounged on the couch nursing his beer, staring unseeing at the TV.

In the solitude of his empty condo, his mind wandered back to Eavie, releasing the vault door where he’d fought to keep her all night.

He needed to get her out of his system, and soon, before she became as much of a distraction on the ice as she was off.