Page 49 of Heartless Pucker in Love

My sniggering stopped when laughter boomed behind us. I turned to see one of my teammates, Jake, sitting up in the next bed. He held a bloody cloth to his mouth. “I say you let him cop as many feels of your tits as he wants, ma’am. Maybe that’ll help him get his shit together so he can play like he knows what he’s doing out there.” His words were muffled and I detected a lisp that he didn’t have before.

“Shut up, Jake,” I growled but eyed him with concern. He’d only been on the team for two years and had racked up a long list of injuries. The kid was accident-prone or something. “What the hell happened to you this time?”

He tossed his shaggy dirty blonde hair from his eyes, lowered the blood-soaked cloth, and grinned, showing the space where his two upper front teeth had been. I lifted a brow at the familiar sight but April gasped. “My God, Julian, couldn’t you have chosen another, safer sport? Like golf?”

I snorted and sat up. The room had stopped spinning so I was good to go. “Golf? I’m a man, Flower Child. I play manly sports.”

She rolled her eyes dramatically and Jake chuckled. Just then Sophie stuck her head inside the room. “April, is he alright?”

“He’s fine. He’s a man.” The sheer disgust in her tone made me grin.

Sophie gave us both perplexed glances. “Uh...okay. That’s good, I guess. I’ll let Jeff know you’re fine, Julian.”

When Sophie disappeared, April glanced over her shoulder at Jake and lowered her voice. “Where’s your head, Julian? I don’t know much about what goes on in the rink. All I see are a bunch of men treating each other like savages.”

I laughed. “It’s a contact sport, sweetheart. Things tend to get nasty.”

She rolled her eyes again. “But I know you’re not on your A game. I can tell all the way from the stands that you're distracted. What’s going on?”

I glanced over my shoulder at Jake. If he knew I was fucking up because I was hung up on a woman, I’d never hear the end of it. “You, April,” I whispered. “You’re what’s going on.”

“Me?”

“I saw you flirting with some guy in the stands so I didn’t see that Goliath coming my way.” I’d been eyeing April chatting and laughing with a man wearing our team jersey. They looked pretty cozy because the guy was standing close to her. Too close for my comfort. The next thing I knew a huge motherfucker from the opposing team sent me crashing into the board. I woke up here. I wasn’t sure how long I was out.

April's mouth hung open for a moment. “You have got to be kidding me,” she hissed, low enough so only I could hear. “I was not flirting. The man was nice enough to explain the rules of the game, that’s all.”

“Yeah, I bet he was aiming to do much more than that.”

She huffed. “You’ve been acting so strange since Sophie’s and Jeff’s party—asking weird questions, watching me like a hawk, and now you’re behaving like a jealous idiot.”

Rubbing the back of my neck, I averted my gaze. I’d been trying to gauge how she felt about me without actually asking outright. So, yes, I might have freaked her out a bit with my strange questions and behavior. I was startled when April whacked me in the chest with her hand and growled, “Get your head in the game, Grayson. You have people counting on you.”

Amusement coursed through me. I let out a laugh. Catching her hand to stop her battery, I told her, “Jesus, you’re worse than my coach.”

“I like her,” came Jake’s amused voice.

“Don’t like her too much,” I seethed, returning my attention to April. “We’ll talk later.”

“Fine, but you better focus when you get back out there. I expect you to win.”

I gawked at her. “I’m not sure why this is turning me on.” When her cheeks turned a pretty pink color, I smiled. “You're not supposed to blush when you're playing hardball, Flower Child.”

“I can't help it,” she said with a shrug. “I’m not good at playing hardball. I’m just trying to motivate you to do well out there. This environment is just so hostile. I’m trying to sound like you guys. I’m sorry if I sounded too harsh.” The pink in her cheeks brightened.

Laughter rumbled in my chest. She was so goddamn adorable. “This is the kind of motivation I need from you, sweetness.” I leaned in to capture her mouth before she could say anything. To my satisfaction, she melted into me with a soft sigh, then her hand came up to cup my cheek. I drank her in voraciously, wanting to devour her, and she matched my enthusiasm, moaning softly. I was so caught up in her, I forgot that we weren’t alone in the room.

“Ehem. Still here,” Jake muttered.

April pulled away with a soft gasp as if she’d forgotten we had company too. Face red, she touched her lips with two fingers. “Are you sure you’re okay to go back out there? Maybe you should wait until the doctor?”

“I’m going back out there,” I said. “And when we win,” my voice dropped to a suggestive purr, “I expect to be properly rewarded.”

Her eyes darkened with excitement, and her lips parted. I could see the agreement on her face, in her little smirk. My kind of woman.

“I’d like to be rewarded too, ma’am,” Jake teased.

“I will gut you like a fish, Jake,” I growled over my shoulder.

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