Page 90 of Offside Attraction

Your assholery? 10

Jordan

Lol

Sorry. Couldn’t stop myself from texting

I’ll forgive you. Maybe

Jordan

I’ll kiss you in Calgary

Promises, promises

He hearted the message, and Rhonda dropped the phone to her chest. She was lying in her hotel room alone breathing harder than after she finished a run on the treadmill.

She rolled to her side and picked up her phone, scrolling to her reading app. She should’ve brought her eReader, though nothing on there seemed interesting at the moment.

Rhonda opened her app and scrolled for top titles. She tapped on the romance section, her eyes lighting up like a kid that walked into a candy store for the first time. She scrolled the brightly coloured books and perused the blurbs. Hot best friend’s brother? Wait, hockey players?

Rhonda sat up and pulled a pillow behind her back. Hell, yes. Why had she never been interested in this before?

She borrowed two available with her subscription, then flicked to her messages while she waited for them to download on the hotel WiFi. Her thumb lingered over her texts with “J” but then she tapped on the search bar and typed,Cassie.

She scrolled through her text thread with her sister and read through the one-sided messages.

Hey! Just landed in Calgary. This was back in the summer when she was there for Stampede.

How are the kids doing??

Got tickets to the Oilers game in April. You and Sam want to come with?

Rhonda's throat tightened. She’d made an effort, but now that she knew what real looked like, none of that seemed to fit the bill.

She thought for a moment, chewing her lower lip. Then she started to type.

Chapter

Twenty-Five

Jordan

Back in Calgarythe next week, Jordan opened the door to his apartment. His internal organs playing musical chairs. Rhonda wore an oversized sweater and jeans. Her hips looked so damn good in jeans.

“Hey.” He stepped out into the hall and let the door swing closed behind him.

Rhonda smirked up at him. “I thought I was coming in there.”

“You will.” He ran his hands up her arms. Her sweater felt like velvet, but her skin was better. He planted his hands in the hollow of her neck. “I made you a promise.”

Rhonda let out a breath, but he didn’t give her a chance to speak. He lowered his head, and she tipped her chin to meet him. He didn’t waste time warming her up, just kissed her until she had to suck in a ragged breath.

Jordan pulled back, his lips humming. “Glad you could make it.” He turned and pulled her into the apartment before he could press her against the wall and spend the rest of the night in the hallway.

Chubs was still in the middle of telling a story about a particularly bad date, complete with hand gestures that, with zero context, looked like he was miming a porno. Ellie, his love interest from the gym whose biceps that could rival his, rolled her eyes and dealt out the cards.

Jordan introduced her to everyone. Chubs, Cam, and Patrick were the only members of Pucks Deep there. Well, Patrick was starting in January. He liked to get the new guys plugged in as soon as possible.

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