Page 12 of The Hat Trick

“It was great, thank you for inviting us,” her friend, Audrey, says with a smile.

“Any time you want to come you both have tickets.”

“That’s nice of you, what’s the catch?” Chandler narrows her eyes at me, playfully.

“No catch, just like to make sure I always have some fans in the stands.”

“Sure, so there’s no expectation for me to come home with you or something?” she asks.

“Of course not. My expectation about you coming home with me has nothing to do with giving you game tickets,” I joke.

“Well, I don’t go home with strangers, so I guess you’re out of luck, but it’s been fun. Good game, Dumont,” she teases.

As her and Audrey go to walk away their path is blocked when McQuaid comes strolling out with some blonde under his arm. I roll my eyes, not even surprised by the sight.

“Sorry, Little Bunny,” he says to Chandler, and my blood boils at the wink he sends in her direction. Luckily, the look she gives him is full of disgust as he walks away without another word.

“Later, Dumont,” she calls, and I can’t help but watch her walk away hoping no one catches the ridiculous smile I can’t wipe from my face.

6

“Are you really not going to go with him? I fully expected to be leaving here without you,” Audrey scolds. She’s been hounding me since we walked away from Vince in the hallway and demanded that I turn around and throw myself at him.

“It’s all a part of the plan,” I say casually.

“Which is, what?”

I shrug, “The plan to see how badly he actually wants me.”

“Uh, I’ve felt the sexual tension between you two. He wants you. Bad.”

“We’ll see, I guess.”

We get to Audrey’s car because she insisted on driving, which I now realize is because she really did expect to be leaving without me. And I’m questioning my decision, I would be lying if I said I didn’t expect Vince to have texted me by now. It makes me think that maybe he just thought I would be easy access, and because I wasn’t he found someone that was. He didn’t really seem like the type, unlike Matt, but I don’t even really know the guy, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

“You sure you don’t want to come out with us?” Audrey offers. She asked me before we left for the house since a couple of the friends she’s made through work talked about going to some club tonight.

“No, I’m good, I just want to go to sleep,” I insist.

“You’re lame,” she jokes.

Audrey drops me off at home, and I still haven’t heard from Vince. I hide the disappointment as I say bye to my friend and go inside. I toss my bag onto my couch as I start to head upstairs, fully ready to take a nice hot shower before passing out and vowing to never think of stupid hot hockey men ever again.

Just as my foot hits the stairs there’s a knock at my door. I wonder why Audrey wouldn’t just use her key and once I open the door, I don’t see my roommate standing there. Instead, I’m greeted by a six-foot-one suit clad defenseman.

“I promise I’m not a creep, I saw you guys leave, and it was a spur of the moment decision to follow you instead of just calling you once I got home like I originally planned.”

I bite back my smile and try to keep an ambivalent look on my face.

“I don’t know, it seems pretty creepy to me,” I say, folding my arms across my chest.

“Okay, it’s still a little creepy. So. . .” He steps closer to me, and I have to crane my neck to look up at him. “Tell me to leave then.”

I narrow my eyes at him and pretend to think for a second as I run my hands up his muscular chest, feeling him flex under my touch. I keep moving them up until lightly wrapping my fingers around his tie, my eyes never leaving his blue ones that are so full of heat I feel like I could combust right here, right now.

“No,” I say, at the same time I pull on his tie, yanking his perfectly shaped mouth down to mine.

He kisses me back instantly, pushing me further inside, and kicking the door closed behind him. As soon as it’s closed, he flips us around so my back hits it, his mouth never leaving mine. His tongue thrusts into my mouth, and I melt against him. My hands find their way into his curls as I tug lightly.

---