Page 2 of Offside Attraction

“Naked Tina?”

Rhonda snorted. “Yeah. She’s hopefully asleep by now. And my key should work onthatdoor, so . . .”

He nodded, then glanced down at the floor. It gave her a few seconds to look at all the places she’d been working so hard not to. The mole next to his belly button. The way his skin moved over his ribs when he shifted his arms.

When he looked up, his hair fell over his forehead, and his blue eyes peered out from behind long, dark lashes. He scraped his teeth over his lower lip, and all the blood in her head rushed south.

For all the talk about men being visual creatures, it didn’t take much for Rhonda to be interested in all things physical. Maybe not a breeze in gym shorts, but this was more thanmuch. His abs flexing as he pushed off the wall and set his phone on the suitcase that sat open on the luggage rack.He used a luggage rack.

“Have a good night then, I guess.” He put his hands in his pockets and took a step toward her and the door.

“I—” Rhonda cut herself off. She hadn’t moved, and he noticed. He froze, his pupils expanding, his eyes locking onto hers. Her heart may as well have been the bass line to YYZ by Rush.

It had been a while since she’d been tempted to do something this spontaneous. She wasn’t reckless in her love life under normal circumstances, but when she was on vacation, all bets were off.Did driving two-and-a-half hours to Medicine Hat count as a vacation?

It didn’t matter. Truthfully, she’d known something like this was coming. She’d been too busy with work, and since the whole thing with the doctor next door to Anne and Tina’s hadn’t worked out, she’d been flying miserably solo.

And this guy was standing in front of her. Lookinglike that.

Rhonda tried to plant a hand on her hip and missed. “Do you have a roommate?” He shook his head, and she swallowed hard. “Do you have a game tomorrow morning?” It was already past midnight. She wouldn’t proposition him if he had to be up at six in the morning. Even though the look in his eyes insisted he’d say yes regardless.

“You want to watch a movie?” he asked at the same time she said, “Do you want to have sex?”

He opened his mouth and closed it. The corners of his lips lifted. “Uh, yeah.” His eyes narrowed in amusement. “What’s your?—”

“No.” Rhonda strode forward, putting her hands on his skin, her heart pounding against her ribs. He felt exactly like she thought he would. Warm. Firm, like a perfect mattress. “No names. Just?—”

His finger hooked the belt loop of her jeans, and he tugged her closer, then dropped his head and pressed into the space between her shoulder and jaw, kissing her neck.

Yeah. That.

Prologue 2

Jordan

April 13, 2024

The sports barin Okotoks buzzed with energy. Teams from all over Alberta and beyond mingled, which surprised Jordan a little. His team, Pucks Deep, had no problem sharing beers with C-Biscuit, but they circled the wagons when the Snowballs were around.

He didn’t get why Sean still hated his ass. Well, that wasn’t true. Sean held grudges better than a raccoon held onto garbage. He’d seen that back when they were friends. Before the whole thing with Lisa. Now, here they were in their mid-thirties, and Sean still acted like he’d kicked his dog last weekend.

Jordan leaned back as their waitress slid a fresh pitcher of beer in front of them.

“Boys.” Nate grabbed the pitcher and poured himself a pint. “Tell me we didn’t just play like a bag of rusty wrenches out there tonight.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Nate grunted.

Cam exhaled. “We got lucky.”

Steele snorted, clinking his glass with Nate’s. “It wasn’t pretty, but we put ‘em in the woodchipper, bud. They’ll be coughing up splinters till Tuesday.”

“The woodchipper, eh?” Chubs piped up, shoving a fry in his mouth. “Seemed like you barely chipped the ice with that twiggy shot of yours.”

“I chuffedone, asshat. More than you can say,” Steele grumbled.

Nate poured from the pitcher. “You see how those Rocky View boys looked at us tonight?”

Jordan grabbed a wing. “They had their wheels greased in game one, for sure.”

---