The raucous cheers of the crowd and the echoes of skates scraping against the ice filled the air as Brody and his teammates celebrated their hard-fought victory. Despite the sweat dripping down his face and the sore ribs from the forecheck he’d taken in the second period, Brody was high on adrenaline and the contagious joy sweeping through the rink.
Fuck yeah. They’d swept the first round of the playoffs. Four games, four wins. The Vipers hadn’t even stood a chance.
The home fans looked dejected, shoulders sagging and faces stricken as bodies began leaving their seats and heading for the exits. Brody knew the feeling. Michigan, his home team, hadn’t made it past a first playoffs round in more than a decade.
“What? No interviews about your love life tonight?” Erik Levy mocked. The defenseman’s eyes twinkled as he chortled to himself.
“Nope, not tonight,” Brody answered with a wry grin. Although his attempt at a big gesture hadn’t completely failed. It had gotten him Hayden’s phone number, after all.
On the other hand, he hadn’t heard from Hayden since their text exchange on Friday night. Now it was Sunday, and not a peep. So…maybe begging her on live TV for a candlelit dinner or a sunset skate date was an epic fail.
“That was such a baller move,” Derek Jones assured him as they filed into the locker room. Jones smacked Brody’s shoulder. “Chicks love the big romantic gestures.”
Not this one. Hayden was a tough fucking nut to crack.
Peeling his sweaty jersey off, Brody quickly undressed and headed for the showers. When he returned to his locker, he discovered all his teammates had already left for the bus that would take them to the private airfield where the team plane awaited. He dressed quickly, then checked his phone. No texts from Hayden, but there was one from his agent asking him to call her.
Instantly, Brody was on guard. Maria never bothered him on game nights unless it was important.
“Hey,” he said after she answered his call. “You texted?”
“Great game tonight,” Maria told him in that brisk, no-nonsense voice of hers. “You looked sharp.”
“Thanks. The bus is waiting on me, so I can’t talk long. What’s up?”
She paused, as if choosing her next words carefully. “I just got off the phone with the Warriors’ head of legal. She’d like to put a pause on the contract renegotiations until the end of the season. She’s claiming the higher-ups are slowing things down, but…”
“But what?” he asked warily.
“It smells funny, and I don’t like it.”
As always, Maria never minced words.
“Funny how?”
“I think the franchise is waiting to see if it can weather this storm of scandals before offering a multimillion-dollar contract to a player who may or may not be involved in said scandals.”
Every ounce of blood in his body ran cold. All the elation from tonight’s win drained away, replaced with a mixture of anger and dread twisting in his gut.
“What the fuck?” he growled. “They think I fixed games? Or that I fucked the owner’s wife?”
“No, no. You’re not being accused of anything. But I think they’re leery of committing to such a huge contract while all this shit is brewing.” Maria’s calm tone resonated through the phone. “I just wanted to keep you in the loop about why everything has slowed to a snail’s pace. And to ask you something—on a scale of one to ten, how badly do you want to stay with the Warriors?”
Brody swallowed. Well, shit. That wasn’t a notion he entertained often. Sure, he’d known that when his contract was up, there was a chance another team might want him, but he hadn’t actually planned on leaving the team he’d been playing for since he was twenty-one years old.
“Why?” he said slowly. “Do you think I should consider making a move?”
“Honestly? Yes. The entire Warriors organization is in disarray right now, thanks to these allegations. And the fact that negotiations have stalled concerns me. I’d like to put some feelers out, see which other teams in the league might be interested in snapping you up. Discreetly, of course. How do you feel about that?”
He hesitated. “Fine,” he finally replied. “But it needs to be beyond discreet. I don’t want Presley thinking I’m trying to jump ship behind his back.”
He was already screwing the man’s daughter. Didn’t need to screw him over any further.
“Understood,” Maria said. “All right. Get on that bus. I’ll be in touch. Oh, and in the meantime, lay low, avoid the media as much as possible and let me handle the press inquiries.” She paused meaningfully. “In other words, don’t blab about your love life to sports reporters while you’re half-naked.”
His lips twitched. “Understood,” he mimicked.
HAYDEN: Come over.
Brody stared at the message on the screen for a good, long moment, assuring himself he wasn’t hallucinating it. It was Monday night and he’d just stepped out of the shower, where he’d stood under the hot spray for a good half hour to get the kinks out of his muscles. He was still sore as fuck from yesterday’s game, his ribs aching every time he bent over.
Now all the pain seemed to fade as he kept staring at those two words.
Come over.
Clearly, she’d finally changed her mind and taken him up on his offer to continue the fantasy, but was it still just sex she craved? Or was she looking for something extra this time around?
Shit, he was getting ahead of himself. Hayden was simply inviting him over, not offering to make a commitment.
He quickly put on a pair of jeans and pulled an old Warriors jersey over his head. He grabbed his car keys from the credenza in the hallway, shoved his wallet into his back pocket and left the house, breathing in the damp night air.
It was mid-May, which meant the nights were still cool and the chances of a thunderstorm or even a freak blizzard weren’t all that far-fetched, but Brody loved this time of year, when spring and summer battled for domination over Chicago’s climate. He’d lived in this city almost eight years now, and had grown to appreciate and enjoy everything about it, even the indecisive seasons.
When he pulled up in front of Hayden’s hotel, a light drizzle of rain was sliding across the windshield. He hopped out of the SUV and entered the lobby just as a bolt of lightning filled the sky. Thunder roared ominously in the distance, growing louder until the rain became a steady downpour.
He approached the check-in desk and asked the clerk behind it to ring Hayden’s suite. A moment later, the woman walked him over to the elevator and inserted a key into the panel that would allow Brody access to the penthouse, then left him alone in the car.
The elevator soared upward, its doors opening into the suite, where Hayden was waiting for him.
“I have some ground rules,” she said in lieu of a greeting.
He grinned. “Hello to you, too.”
“Hello. I have some ground rules.”
He tossed his keys on a glass table beside one of the couches and moved toward her.
Even in sweats, she looked amazing. He liked how she’d pulled her hair back in a messy ponytail, how a few haphazard strands framed her face, which was devoid of makeup. He especially liked how her thin tank top didn’t hide the fact that she wore no bra.
His mouth ran dry as he dragged his gaze across those gorgeous tits, the outline of her dusky nipples visible through the white shirt.
Her cheeks flushed at his perusal. “Don’t ogle. It’s unbecoming.”
“Ah, I was wondering where Miss Prim and Proper had gone. Hello, Professor, nice to see you again.”
“I am not prim and proper,” she protested.
“Not in bed anyway…”
“Ground rules,” she repeated firmly.
He released a sigh. “All right. Get it out of your system.”
She leaned against the arm of the couch, resting her hands on her thighs. “This is only going to be a fling,” she began, her throaty voice wavering in a way that brought a smile to his lips. “Continuing the fantasy, or whatever it was you said. Agreed?”
“I’m not agreeing to anything yet. Is there more?”
“My father can’t know anything about it.” She paused, looking uncomfortable. “And I’d prefer if we weren’t seen in public together.”
He lifted a brow. “Ashamed of being linked to a hockey player?”
“Ashamed? No. But you already know the franchise is taking some heat. I don’t want to make things worse for my dad by giving the media more fuel for the fire they’re determined to start.”
He had to admit her words made sense. After seeing Wyatt whispering with Sheila Houston at the arena, Brody had no interest in stoking the fire.
Best-case scenario, if he was spotted with Hayden, the press would sensationalize the relationship the way they were currently sensationalizing everything else associated with the Warriors.
Worst-case scenario, an asshole reporter would insinuate that the team owner’s daughter knew of her father’s guilt and was either trying to shut Brody up because he was involved, or sleeping with him to find out what he knew.
He didn’t particularly like either of those scenarios.
Still, he wasn’t about to let Hayden get her way entirely. He had a few demands himself.
“If I agree to your rules, you have to agree to mine,” he said roughly, crossing his arms over his chest.
She swallowed. “Like what?”
“If you’re in my bed, that’s the only bed you’ll be in.” He set his jaw. “I won’t share you, especially not with the guy waiting for you in California.”
“Of course.”
“And you have to promise to keep an open mind.”
Interest flickered in her gaze. “Sexually?”
“Sure. But emotionally, too. All I’m saying is, if things between us get deeper, turn into more than a fling, you can’t run away from it.”
After a beat of silence, she nodded. “I can do that. And you agree to keep whatever we do here to yourself?”
“I can do that,” he mimicked with a grin.
“Then what are you waiting for?” she asked. “Take off your clothes already.”
