I JERKED AWAKE. I wasn’t in my own bed. I rolled over and came face-to-face with Levi. He looked so beautiful asleep it almost hurt. I studied the angles of his face, his five-o-clock shadow, and sooty eyelashes, and my entire body tensed as I contemplated the gravity of my sins.
I had slept with my rookie. Again.
Except this time, I wouldn’t forget. Last night would be burned into my memory for the rest of my life. We had crossed all the lines and then some last night, and I knew we were playing with fire, but part of me didn’t care. The chemistry between us had been off the charts. He also had an insatiable appetite—something I had taken full advantage of.
I would admit it to no one, but last night had been the best sex of my life.
Get your act together, Krista.
I needed to find the strength to resist him, but I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off his face. I knew if we wanted to have a professional relationship, we could never have a repeat of last night, but it didn’t make it any easier to leave.
I slowly inched my way out of bed, keeping my eyes on Levi’s face. He didn’t wake up when I extracted myself from his bed. I found my kimono in the kitchen, but I couldn’t find my underwear.
I hesitated at his front door. It felt exceptionally rude to leave without waking him, but I wasn’t sure I would be able to resist him if I did. Obviously, part of me had wanted last night to happen, because I had shown up on his doorstep in a slinky gown, but it needed to end here. If we didn’t and this blew up in my face, I would only have myself to blame.
I took a deep breath and silently slipped out of his apartment.
I SHOULD HAVE BEEN SURPRISED to find my sister sitting at my island, nursing a tea, but when it came to Helene, nothing seemed to surprise me anymore.
“How’d you get in here?”
“Mom lent me her keys.”
“I took her set away from her.”
She shrugged. “She said she made an extra set.”
Of course, she had. Knowing my mom, she had no less than three sets of keys to my place at any given time. I made a mental note to find the time to get my locks changed. With a huff, I turned on the coffee maker. “How long have you been waiting?”
“Long enough to know you spent the night with someone. Who are you sleeping with?”
I wasn’t in the mood for my sister, so my tone was rude. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
She looked me over. “Does your hockey player know?”
I found it interesting that she immediately assumed I wasn’t sleeping with Levi. I filled the coffeepot with water. “If you’ve come here to finish our fight, I’ve got better ways to spend my morning.”
“I’m not here about Thanksgiving.”
Her subdued tone made me turn to look at her. “Then why are you?”
“I want to talk about Eduard.”
A harsh laugh ripped out of my throat. “No thanks.”
“I think Eduard’s cheating on me.” Her voice was calm, almost matter-of-fact, which told me she had already processed this idea to a certain extent.
I reached for a coffee mug and poured cream into it. There were so many things I wanted to say in that moment, but my sister looked so vulnerable I kept all those thoughts to myself. “Why do you think that?”
“Before Thanksgiving, I found a receipt for a flower shop. Paid in cash. I called there, but they refused to let me know where the flowers had been sent to.”
I wondered if those were the same flowers he had sent me. My sister could never find out he had sent me flowers.
I stared at her. “He never sent me flowers when we were dating. Not once.”
Her eyes flashed some sort of emotion. “What’s your point?”
“Has he ever sent you flowers?”
She avoided my gaze. “Are you trying to make me feel worse?”
“Just curious.” I wondered how she couldn’t see her future as clearly as I did. I turned to pour my coffee.
“I didn’t come here so you could gloat.”
“I’m not gloating.” That was the truth. I felt nothing but pity for the situation my sister found herself in.
She huffed. “He used to send me flowers.”
I took a sip of my much-needed caffeine and realized that I should have just stayed in bed with Levi. Had he woken up yet and discovered that I had left? “How can I help you?”
She leaned forward. “Can you tell me what the signs were?”
“What do you mean?”
“When you figured out Eduard was cheating. What were the little things you noticed?”
Sometimes my sister was incredibly insensitive. “I didn’t know you two were cheating on me until you announced it at Easter dinner.”
She frowned. “You didn’t have any hints or clues? No gut feelings?”
“I was busy at work, and Eduard was working a lot too. I didn’t notice anything.”
“He just told you he was working.” She sounded smug.
I shrugged. “Whatever.”
“Eduard always said he thought you suspected. At first, it added to the danger and excitement, but after a while, I got tired of all the secrecy. I almost wished you’d figure it out. Now it’s happening to me.”
It was too early for this conversation and my patience was running thin. “What did you think would happen, Helene?”
She stood up and glared at me. “I didn’t come here so you could rub it in my face.”
“I’m just not sure what you want from me.”
“Would a little sympathy hurt?”
I took another sip of my coffee to prevent myself from saying what I really wanted to say. “I’m sorry.”
Tears glistened in her eyes. “I shouldn’t have come.”
For no real reason, I felt guilty. Maybe it was because she was pregnant, maybe it was because she was my sister. “I’m sorry, okay? Is there anything I can do?”
She hitched the strap of her purse higher on her shoulder. “I think you’ve done enough.”
Guilt is way overrated. I forced myself to remain silent as she walked out of my apartment.
LATER THAT DAY, I sat in one of my favorite restaurants with Charlie, enjoying a Cobb-salad lunch.
She tilted her head at me. “You’re glowing.”
I frowned. “No, I’m not.”
She looked me over with a critical eye. “Why do you look so glimmery?”
“Can’t I be happy?”
She put her fork down and leaned forward. “Oh my gosh, you slept with your divorce lawyer.”
I felt myself blush. “I didn’t.”
“You slept with someone.” Her eyes widened. “Holy shit, you’re sleeping with your rookie.”
“Now that’s just crazy talk,” I exclaimed with a bit too much exuberance.
She wore an extremely satisfied expression on her face. “That’s okay. You don’t have to tell me.”
I tried to infuse disdain in my voice. “Why would you even say that?”
She looked amused. “I’m so glad you asked. He can’t take his eyes off you when you are in the room. You can’t take your eyes off him. Sparks fly off your bodies when you get close to each other. Need I continue?”
I wanted to tell her so bad. “You know that would break all the rules.”
“That’s okay. You don’t have to tell me,” she said again. She leaned forward. “But for the record, my lips are sealed. I won’t even tell Mica.”
I hesitated. I knew I could trust Charlie, but part of me needed this to remain completely secret. No matter the cost. The stakes were simply too high for the nature of our relationship to ever get out.
“My sister came to see me this morning.”
Charlie’s fork paused in midair. “She did?”
“We didn’t fight. We just talked.” I gave Charlie a pensive look. “She thinks Eduard is cheating on her.”
“Yeah, well, we saw that coming a mile away.” She paused when she looked at my expression. “What else happened?”
I shook my head. “I used to be so pissed at her. I was hurt by what she did to me, and I thought it would be brutal to see them get married and become this happy couple.” I paused as I worked out my thoughts. “But it’s worse to see him hurt her like this.”
“You don’t think she deserves what she got?” Charlie looked at me curiously.
“I feel bad for the baby.”
She nodded. “Yeah, that part sucks.”
“But I’m not unhappy that my family will soon be rid of him.”
AFTER MY AFTERNOON meeting with Mark Ashford, I walked out of his office and through the stadium. I was focused on my phone when someone grabbed me and hauled me into the shadows.
“Levi,” I gasped as his mouth moved down my neck.
“You smell so good,” he murmured.
“Stop.” I tried to push against him, “Someone might see.”
He lifted his head. “You’re right. We need to find somewhere more private.”
“This is not a good idea,” I protested, as he dragged me down a hallway and pulled me into an equipment room that smelled like stale hockey gear and disinfectant.
“This is a great idea,” he said. Then his mouth covered mine.
I moaned into his kiss and wrapped my arms around his neck. “You know we shouldn’t be doing this.”
“Why did you leave this morning?”
I felt his hands push up beneath my skirt and his fingers slide beneath my thong. “Oh god. I have no idea.”
His eyes locked with mine while his fingers teased me. “Next time, you wake me up before you leave.”
I gasped when his fingers slowly pushed into me. “There isn’t going to be a next time.”
He looked amused. “You sure about that?”
I moaned again when he pushed my skirt up over my hips. I half-heartedly protested. “We should stop.”
He lifted me up so my legs were wrapped around his thighs. He paused, and we made eye contact. “Admit you want this.”
I wanted this. I wanted his cock inside of me, and I wanted it now. I leaned forward and sucked his bottom lip into my mouth. “Hurry.”
He turned his head towards the door, and, before I could react, he set me down on my feet, yanked my skirt down and stepped back.
The storage room door swung open, and a man stood looking between us.
“Sorry,” Levi said in a friendly tone. “We were just having an impromptu client-agent meeting.”
The guy shrugged. “Don’t mind me. I just need to grab a few things.”
I smoothed my jacket down, but my hands were shaking. “I should go, Levi. I have a two o’clock.”
“I’ll walk you out.” Levi motioned for me to lead the way out of the room.
We walked in silence for a couple of minutes before I gritted out my words between clenched teeth. “We almost got busted.”
“I heard him coming. He had keys on his belt.”
I, on the other hand, wouldn’t have noticed if a bomb had gone off outside the door. I stopped short. “We can’t do that anymore.”
I was prepared for him to argue or protest. What I wasn’t expecting was him to give me a smirk. “Okay.”
“Okay?” I stopped short.
“When you change your mind, you know where to find me.”
I put my hand on my hip. “I’m not going to change my mind.”
“Okay.”
“That’s all you have to say?” I demanded, pissed that he wasn’t protesting more.
He grinned. “Did you want me to argue?”
That made me pause. I didn’t know what I wanted anymore. “No.”
He leaned forward and spoke under his breath. “You know where to find me when you change your mind.”
When, not if.
I watched as he turned and started to walk away from me. “See you around,” he said.
“I’m not going to change my mind,” I called after him.
He turned and flashed a smile. “Okay.”
The guy was absolutely infuriating. With a huff, I spun around and walked away from him. I should have been happy he was agreeing with me. It would have made this whole situation a lot easier, but his indifference to my decision drove me crazy.
I vowed to keep my distance, but that night when I got home from work, it took all my willpower not to knock on his door.
TWO DAYS LATER, my phone rang with a call from the head of my legal team.
“Paul,” I practically begged, “please tell me you have good news.”
I could hear the smile in his voice. “We made significant progress with Scott Spears and his team today. He’s agreed to attend financial mediation using court-appointed mediators to negotiate a termination deal. If we play our cards right, we should be able to buy your client’s freedom without dragging this through the courts. It will save everyone a significant amount of money, and it probably won’t cost your client that much in the end to buy his freedom.”
My heart started to pound. This meant I could sign Levi, and he would be able to immediately sign with the Wolves. Brody would be let go, and Levi’s team life would improve. “That’s great news.”
“We’re starting mediation this afternoon. I’ll give you a call later and let you know how it went.”
“I appreciate that.”
