Page 2

two

GRIFFIN

Sex is the best way to unwind when you’re stressed.

“Damn, girl.” I flop onto my back, sweat beading along my body. My new friend, Bethany, giggles as she lies down beside me. Her perky little breasts bounce when her back hits the mattress. “I don’t even need to work out after all that.”

Bethany and I met at a bar last night when my teammate Logan and I hit the town. After a less-than-stellar start to the hockey season, dealing with Maddox’s relationship problems—which involved some sleuthing on my part and minor threats against his girl’s ex—I desperately needed a release.

Plus, Mira is moving in today, and I promised Madds I wouldn’t bring an endless procession of bunnies home while she’s staying here. If I had to curb my socializing for anyone but Mira, I’d be pissed. But my best friend’s little sister is cool as hell, so I’ll deal with it.

Doesn’t mean I can’t go out with a bang, though.

Or at least six bangs. But who’s keeping count?

“Wanna order some food, and then we can go again?” Bethany asks. Her pretty, hooded brown eyes sparkle as she pushes the thick black fringe of her bangs off her forehead.

“Nah,” I say. “We just had breakfast. We can order lunch later.”

Bethany giggles. “It’s almost dinnertime, silly.”

What? No, it’s not. Turning toward my alarm clock, I jolt out of bed, all traces of my previous exhaustion gone. The clock reads three-thirty.

Mira will be here by five.

“Ah, shit, Bethy-baby. We’re going to have to call it quits. I lost track of time between your thighs.”

An adorable blush colors Bethany’s golden cheeks.

I love making women blush. There’s something intoxicating about making a beautiful woman feel pretty or special or desired.

I may be cursed when it comes to finding real love, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love appreciating the women I spend a night or two with.

If they don’t leave our encounter feeling better about themselves than they did before we started, I’ve fucked up.

I figure it’s the least I can offer, since they’re soothing an ache in me.

Both of us know this won’t go anywhere, but that doesn’t mean we can’t connect on a cosmic level for the short time we have together.

“Are you sure?” Bethany rolls onto her side. She draws her thin lower lip between her teeth. “I don’t have anything to do tonight.”

“Sorry, but I do. My new roommate is moving in.” I lean over and press a kiss to her abused lips. “Let me clean you up. I’ll be right back.”

Bethany hums, her eyes taking on a mischievous glint. “Is your new roommate as good-looking as you? Maybe he could join us.”

A momentary image of me, Bethany the bunny, and Mira all tangled and naked in bed flashes in my mind’s eye, and I have to remind my dick that Mira may be beautiful, but she’s off-limits.

Like, my best friend would chop off my dick, asphyxiate me with it, then bury my body in the woods kind of off-limits.

I shudder at the thought of losing my dick, but then I’m laughing. “Sorry, hot stuff, but I don’t think she would be interested.”

Bethany’s lips pull into a pout. “Oh, I see. I’ve never done it with a woman, but it could be fun.”

Nope , I remind my dick as I stride into my attached bathroom to wet a washcloth for Bethany.

I’d offer to let her shower, but the little minx would probably try to turn it into sexy times, and I really need to get dressed before Mira and Maddox arrive.

Plus, the guys are waiting for a text so they can come help unload the moving truck, and I need to put in a huge order of Chinese for delivery.

Sadly, I don’t have time for a shower-blowie.

“As hot as that sounds, this is where our sexual journey comes to an end.”

She pouts but doesn’t protest. The women I sleep with know what they’re getting.

A night of mind-blowing sex with an attentive partner who will always make them come first, some laughs, and some conversation.

It’s well known that I don’t do relationships.

I’ll make any woman feel like a goddess for a night, but that’s as far as it goes.

One night. Maybe two. I’m not as hardcore about time limits as my buddy and teammate Logan Byrne is.

The dude is cynical as fuck and hates love. I don’t.

I’m just cursed. Cursed to never find the real thing.

Cursed to fall hard and fast, only to be left depressed, rejected, and alone before we can even celebrate our six-month anniversary.

Then those women? The ones I’m madly in love with?

They always find Mr. Right as soon as they dump me. Good for them, I guess? Crappy for me.

Relationships with me have an expiration date. So I might as well make sure they expire before I get my heart broken once again.

“I’d say to call me if you want,” Bethany says as she climbs into the driver’s seat of her little sports car, “but you won’t, will you?”

“Sorry, gorgeous.” I lean down and press a kiss to her cheek. “You’re amazing and stunning and so much fun. And if a relationship was in the cards for me, I’d program your number into my phone in a heartbeat. But it’s not.”

She offers me a sad smile. “I understand. I hope that changes for you someday.”

I’m silent as she closes her door and drives away. I’ve spent too many years hoping to find the woman who completes me. Hell, I’ve read a few hundred romance novels all about finding the one, so at least I can live vicariously through stories of others finding their match.

That’s not meant for me, though. And no amount of hoping will change things.

“Hey, roomie,” I say as I open Mira’s door.

I offer her my palm and tug her out of the car when she places her hand in mine.

She looks exhausted. There are dark circles under her pretty moss-colored eyes, her long brown hair is falling out of her braid, and her full lips take a moment to curve into a smile.

“Hey, Griff.” She doesn’t pull back when I wrap her fit body in a hug. Just loops her arms around my middle and leans her cheek on my shoulder. Hugging her is nice. She’s the perfect height.

Giving her a grin, I pull back and boop her on the nose because my dick is apparently still in sexy mode from earlier today, and that will not fly with Mira.

Can’t get a hard-on while hugging my best friend’s little sister and my new roomie.

Pretty sure that goes against the best friend code and the roommate code. “How was the drive, Lil’ Gravesy?”

“Ugh.” Her shoulders slump. “Long. Fine, though.”

“How’s Madds? Did you two leave at the same time?” I don’t see the moving truck yet, but he can’t be too far behind.

Mira rolls her big green eyes. “He’s grumpy as hell. I tried to get him to tell me what happened with Isla, but he wouldn’t talk.”

Describing my best friend as grumpy as hell may be an understatement.

The guy broke up with the love of his life not even a week ago, and he’s wrecked.

And he may not have told Mira what happened, but the doofus doesn’t even know the full story himself.

I do, though. Because unlike the big, dumb idiot, I actually talked to his lady love after he overheard her talking to her ex-fiancé.

It blows my mind. The guy found real love, and he just walked away from it without fighting.

But those two are meant to be. I know it, Mira knows it, and our best friends on the team, Logan Byrne and Sebastian Navarro, know it.

I may have resigned myself to a life of shallow relationships, but I refuse to let Maddox do the same.

“Come on,” I say to Mira, giving her wrist a tug. “Let’s go on up so I can show you around, and I’ll tell you what I found out when I went to talk to Isla myself.”

Mira gapes at me. “You did what?”

“Your brother’s my best friend. I hate seeing him miserable.” I shrug, because it doesn’t seem like a big deal. I did what any good friend would do. “You can help me figure out what to do about it. He’s going to want to win her back. But for now, let’s get you situated so you can rest.”

I text the guys, telling them they can head over, as we walk into my building.

It’s a nice place in the heart of Minneapolis.

There are restaurants and bars nearby, plenty of things to do and places to meet people.

I have a sweet spot with lounge chairs and a grill on the roof—I call it the backyard —and the building has solid security.

Which means I can relax and not worry about paparazzi or crazed fans showing up at my door.

Not that I think it’s likely, but people are weird about professional athletes.

And as much as I hate hurting anyone, there’s always the possibility that a bunny will get it into her head that we’re meant to be. If that happens, I have Ed as a first line of defense.

Mira and I stride across the dark marble floors of the lobby toward the security desk, where I introduce Mira to Ed. I make sure he and the other security guys know she’s living here now and to look out for her.

“Welcome to the building, Miss Mira,” Ed says with a wide smile.

He’s a cool guy. In his early fifties, retired military, and a huge Rogues fan.

He and the other guards take extra care looking out for me because I make sure they get jerseys and a few tickets to our games each season.

“Let us know if you ever need anything, okay?”

Mira returns Ed’s smile and thanks him. Then we get in the elevator and I push the button for the top floor.

“Oooh, top floor,” she teases. “Fancy.”

“It’s no fancier than your brother’s,” I say.

But it is pretty posh. I’m the first-line left winger on a successful NHL team.

And I’ve been playing long enough to have a cushy contract and plenty of endorsement deals.

I don’t blow my money on dumb stuff, so yeah, I own a nice apartment in a safe building.

There’s no point in buying a big old house in the suburbs when it’s just me.

Mira whistles when I let her in. I try to look at my apartment through her eyes.

Gleaming hardwood floors, huge walls of windows, and a large, open-plan living room that flows into a modern, tricked-out kitchen.

I keep things tidy, and I had the place professionally decorated, so it doesn’t look like some college bachelor pad.

“Wow, Griff. Do you ever use that kitchen?” Her eyes sparkle as she looks over her shoulder at me.

I shrug. “I dabble.”

I actually love to cook. Since it’s just me, I don’t do it as often as I’d like, but I’m decent at it. Maybe with Mira here, I’ll have an excuse to cook more often.

“Come on, let me show you your room.”

Mira follows me down the hall. There are two doors across from each other. The door on the left is my bedroom, so I push the one on the right open and usher her in with a flourish of my arm. She makes a little gasping sound when she takes it all in.

Madds told me she’d gotten rid of her bed when she moved in with her stupid ex-boyfriend, so I had my interior designer purchase bedroom furniture for her and paint the room a rich teal.

It’s got a modern bohemian vibe that I thought suited Mira perfectly.

Besides the queen-sized bed and end tables, there’s a desk in the corner where she can work on her business, a mustard-yellow velvet armchair, and an upholstered ottoman at the foot of the bed.

A door on the far wall leads to her en-suite bathroom.

I may have gone a little overboard with the decorator because I’m not sure Mira’s planning to live here long, but the room’s been sitting empty and undecorated since I bought the place. Might as well make it into a room Mira’s comfortable in.

“Holy shit, Griffin. Did you do all this?” She spins around, her mouth open as her attention darts from detail to detail.

“Nah. I paid someone to do it. I’m great on the ice but shit with decorating.” I give her a wink when she focuses her attention on me.

“I don’t even know what to say.” Her voice comes out breathy and filled with emotion, and I have to tell my rogue dick to chill the fuck out because this is Maddox’s sister and my friend. We can’t be thinking about how she’d sound gasping my name at the height of an orgasm.

“Just say you like it, and I’ll be happy,” I reply honestly.

“I love it.” Mira closes the distance between us and throws her arms around me in an enthusiastic hug. “Thanks, Wright.”

“Don’t mention it, Lil’ Gravesy.” I give her a squeeze, then pull away. “Let’s go back down and start getting things out of your car. The guys should be here soon, and I doubt Maddox is too far away by now.”

“You going to tell him about Isla?” Mira asks.

I nod. “Yep. Gotta set him straight.”

“Good.” Mira shoots me a dazzling smile, then saunters out of the room. My eyes go to her luscious ass as she walks away.

I adjust my dick in my jeans.

Apparently, I’m going to have to set my dick straight too.