Page 3 of Offside Attraction

Cam raised an eyebrow. “Plenty of stink eye from the bench.”

“They’ll do more than that after tomorrow.” Jordan stripped the meat from the wing and set it down, wiping the buffalo sauce from his fingers with his napkin.

Steele snickered. “Passed their goalie in the hall. He asked if I was ever going to get a haircut. I told him, ‘Only if you buy me one, bud.’”

Chubs nearly spat his beer. “If he can afford to pay for that, he must be pulling oil money.”

“Weren’t you a rig pig back in the day?” Cam asked.

Chubs balked. “I don’t have the hands for it, bud.” He held up his fingers. “Too delicate. These are built for finesse.”

“Not what Ellie says,” Nate quipped, then jumped out of his seat to avoid Chubs’ shoulder.

The table erupted in laughter, and a few people across the room turned their heads. Jordan reached for the pitcher, and that’s when his insides rearranged themselves.

She was there.Copper skin. Black, curly hair. Sitting at the end of the Snowballs’ table, leaning in, laughing at something the petite blond woman beside her was saying. But she wasn’t paying attention because her eyes were locked on his.

Jordan’s heart rate kicked up. He hadn’t seen her since that night in Medicine Hat. He hadn’t known enough about her to even think about trying to track her down. Well, at least not specifics he’d want to type into a Google search.

Now she was right in front of him, and he was instantly back in that hotel room. He knew what was under that cream sweater that offset her bronze skin perfectly. Or how her mouth looked when she was breathing hard.

A thought splashed cold water over his memories.She was with the Snowballs.Did that mean she lived in Calgary? Or was she an out-of-town friend? A puck bunny that followed them to tourneys?

Jordan's lips parted in a slow smile. How much would it piss off Sean if he knew what had happened between them? He was a bad person for thinking it, but Sean made it easy to be the worst version of himself.

It only took seconds for any thoughts of their Elite League rivalry to dissolve as his body remembered that night. Her laugh, her breathy moans, the way she arched her back when he pressed her against the wall of that hotel room. Jordan's blood pulsed harder in his veins, and he shifted uncomfortably on his stool.

He filled his glass and did a double take to ensure his memory wasn't playing tricks on him. It wasn't. It was her. She remembered him, too, since she was still flicking her eyes in his direction every half a second.

Her hair was a little different. Shorter. Hell, from across the room, he already knew her lips were a slightly lighter colour. He barely remembered what he had for breakfast, but he remembered that exact shade of coral. How it looked on his sweatpants the next morning.

He took a swig of his beer to hide his fixation while his teammates still jabbered around him. She continued to laugh at her friend's jokes, her eyes crinkling at the edges. She brushed her hair behind her ear, her fingers lingering on her earlobe, then picked up her drink.

Her lips wrapped around her straw, and Jordan's muscles tensed. She still looked at her friends, but invisible energy sliced toward him.This was for him.Heat shot between his thighs as she idly played with the straw, using her tongue to tease and twirl it.

So. She was an asshole.

It was a good thing people like that created his natural habitat. Jordan leaned back in his chair, glancing down as if he’d just spotted something on his T-shirt. He pulled up the sleeve, exposing more of his tattoos and twisting his arm, flexing his triceps.

She loved his arms. Especially his ink. He’d known that the second she looked up at him outside his hotel room door.

He glanced up to find her eyes wider than a cat at midnight, the straw caught between her teeth.Damn straight.Two could play this game.

She rocked in her seat, her tongue flicking out to wet her lips. Jordan exhaled. There was no way that was an accident.

He waited two slow seconds, then leaned forward to grab his beer. He held up his hand, showing five fingers, then pointed to the door. Her cheeks flushed, and her nostrils flared.

Jordan's lips curled into a smile. He lifted his beer and took a long drink, then turned his attention back to his teammates as if he hadn’t just made a plan to hook up in the parking lot. One that he was ninety percent sure she would participate in based on the way she started searching for her purse.

Jordan cleared his throat and set his beer on the table.

“Wiped out, bud?” Nate nudged him.

Jordan chuckled. “Not more than you. How’s the knee?”

“Like a bag of gravel.”

He winced. “Want me to tape it up tomorrow?”

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