Page 26 of The Love You Win

Damn, I like hearing that more than I should. Especially since this is an act. I give her the full weight of my attention for a few more seconds before turning to the blond idiot fuming in the chair to my right. My left arm remains wrapped around her waist.

“Hey, man. Maddox Graves, nice to meet you.”

His eyes go wide as the name registers, and he gives me a second look. “Maddox Graves? Center for the Minnesota Rogues?”

“Guilty,” I reply with a grin.

Blondie stands, taking my hand. He tries to squeeze the hell out of it in some misguided attempt to assert his dominance, but knocks that shit off when I give him a squeeze of my own. He winces. I smile.

“Blake Carter,” he says. “CEO of GoTravel. You’ve probably heard of me.”

Je-sus, this guy. “Can’t say I have.” Isla’s body shakes slightly against me, and a glance shows me she’s trying desperately not to laugh. Good ‘ole Blakey notices, though, and his face twists with anger. Yikes. Glad I interrupted this date, because I’ve seen that expression on men’s faces before, and it never says anything good about them.

“Right.” He smooths a hand through his hair. “Well, it was nice meeting you. If you’ll excuse us, you’ve interrupted our date.”

I don’t miss the way Isla stiffens at my side. She does not like that. I can see her brow furrowing out of the corner of my eye as she tries to come up with an excuse to leave. That won’t be necessary. I’ll get rid of the asshole and provide the target for his anger. I turn to her with big puppy dog eyes. “I thought when we went out last week we decided not to see other people?” I brush a loose curl away from her face, dragging my fingertips across her forehead and down her cheek. Her breath catches and her eyelids flutter closed for the briefest of moments, and I’m gone. Either Isla Harding is a phenomenal actress, or she’s attracted to me too.

“We did,” she says, playing along. Her slender fingers grip my lapel as she looks up at me with those big, blue eyes. “This was supposed to be a girl’s night. I’m sorry, babe. Please don’t be mad.”

Blakey-poo splutters some offended-sounding nonsense. He reaches for Isla’s wrist, wrapping his hand around it as he demands her attention. “Jess never said you were in a relationship.”

A rumble forms in my chest at the same time Navarro, Wright, and Byrne create a wall of muscle behind the pathetic piece of shit pressing his soon-to-be-broken fingers into Isla’s wrist. “Get your fuckin’ hand off of her. Right. Now.”

The man must have a death wish because he doesn’t. He glares at Isla, then me. “You’d rather be with some dumb jock than a business owner on Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list? I’m going places, Isla. Any woman would be lucky to come along for the ride.”

“You’re still touching her,” Griffin growls behind Blake-the-dead-man. All traces of the goofy man-whore persona Wright wears outside of the rink replaced with the deadly focus of the Rogues’ left wing.

Blake finally senses the threat he’s facing and drops Isla’s wrist. She rubs it with a scowl. He hurt her. He hurt her.

“Maddox isn’t a dumb jock,” she says vehemently. “And this isn’t a date. I don’t know you, and I don’t want to.”

His skin pales before flaring red with fury. “Bitch.”

“What did you say?” Byrne steps up close enough to bump Blake’s back. We’re drawing a lot of attention, and the last thing we need is for someone to take a video and plaster it all over social media. Plus, Isla’s shaking like a leaf against my chest, and I just want to get her away from this piece of shit.

“Get out,” I growl. “Now.”

Blake looks like he wants to argue, but a glance at the three angry men at his back makes him change his mind. It’s the first smart decision he’s made tonight. The little rat scurries out of the bar. There’s probably piss running down his leg from the looks my boys are giving him. As soon as he’s gone, Isla lets out a shaky breath, takes a step back, and looks up at me.

“Thank you. I was supposed to meet my friends here tonight, but they were both running late, and they felt bad about the idea of me being here alone, but they had important work stuff to finish so I lied and told them I hadn’t arrived yet so they wouldn’t feel guilty. Then that asshole showed up and somehow knew way too much shit about me like where I work because apparently he saw a photo of me and Jess on her desk at work, and I was trying to find a way to get rid of him, but he was setting my creep-alarm off big time, and I was worried he’d try to follow me home.” She’s rambling, the words flying out of her mouth so fast I can barely make sense of them. “I just wanted a fun girls’ night out with a few drinks and some laughs, and now here I am, shaking like an idiot because some guy got aggressive with me. And I’ll go home and worry all night, and I probably won’t sleep, and every little sound outside is going to make me wonder if blob-dick-Ken is lurking outside of my windows, and?—”

“Blob-dick-Ken?” Griff asks with a burst of laughter.

Isla’s cheeks pinken, and she chews on her bottom lip. “Oh, uh, it’s kinda what I was calling him in my head. Because he was boring and conceited and nondescript and he probably has a weird, tiny dick.”

Griffin slaps his thigh. “Oh, god, that’s great.” He turns to me. “I like her. Let’s tell the waitress we’ll need room for one more at our table.”

Isla looks between Griff and me. She’s back on the defensive, and even though the end of our dinner date was pleasant, I’m sure she’s recalling my initial behavior. “What?”

Griffin Wright can be a pain in my ass and a giant child sometimes, but he’s got the right idea tonight. I look down at Isla with a smile. “Why don’t you join us? We were just going to hang out, drink some beers, order some food. We’re not girls, but it sounds like we had similar plans for the night. Then once you’re ready to go, I’ll drive you home and the guys and I will check the place over to make sure that asshole isn’t lurking somewhere if you’re worried he may know where you live. How about that?”

“Oh, no, I couldn’t.”

“Sure you can,” I say. “Do you have other plans?” I want her to agree. She’s clearly shaken by the whole exchange with that guy, and I don’t want her to be alone. Selfishly, I’d also love a chance to prove I’m not actually an asshole, and I doubt I’ll get another opportunity.

She chews her bottom lip some more, and I can’t help myself. I reach over and tug it free with my thumb. Her breath catches, but I see the moment she decides to agree. She glances at the guys again before looking up at me. “You sure you don’t mind? I don’t want to intrude.”

That doubt tingeing her voice is my fault. I put it there when I acted like spending time with her was a chore or a burden. And I’m going to fix it. “Mind? Hell, you’d be doing me a favor. Adding some beauty to a table of giant beasts.” I motion toward the guys. “Don’t leave me alone with them.”

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