Page 68 of Not A Chance

“Yep.” I shrugged. Our previous interactions had him expecting more from me, as he should. I was busy cooking up a way to drive him crazy.

“Huh. Should we get this show on the road, then? We have the place to ourselves.” Theo gestured to the empty arena behind him. “No one will bother us.”

I straightened my shoulders slightly, now meeting his gaze full-on. “We could…” I paused. “There’s just one problem.” I held our eye contact for a few seconds before I looked down at the list in my hand.

His shoulders relaxed. “Baby, don’t worry that you don’t have skates. I ordered some for you.”

Oh, you poor, sweet man.“No, Theo. It’s not the skates.” I brought the list back up to reading level and recited the words. “It says here, ‘Learn to skate with the best (andhottest) teacher in the world.’”

I made a show of looking around us and widened my eyes to give off an air of complete innocence. “So when is Campbell going to get here? Or is Andrews coming?”

It took a couple of seconds for him to realize the burn I’d just given him, but then an honest-to-god growl came out of Theo’s mouth. He stepped forward, gripped my waist, and tugged me until our bodies were pressed together. Taken off guard, I let him manhandle me.

He leaned down until our foreheads were pressed together and spoke his next words with his lips brushing mine on every syllable.

“No, Rocky. No one else is coming. You’re mine. Haven’t you figured that out yet?” Theo nipped my bottom lip before he continued. “And it’s too soon to joke about any kind of shit withAndrews, eh? I know Campbell doesn’t have a chance in hell with a woman of your caliber. But I’m not ready to hear about the kid who was attractive enough to catch your eye. You feel me?”

Instead of letting me reply, he captured my lips with his. There was no slow buildup in this kiss. Theo thrust his tongue into my mouth and owned every inch he could reach. His lips were probably illegal in forty-eight of the fifty states, and that’s why the NHL sent him to Canada to play. His kisses were so intoxicating that he was a matter of national security.

My hands moved up around his shoulders to grip the hair at the back of his neck. He may have caught me on the defensive with his initial attack, but I could give as good as I got.

Another growl rumbled in his throat as I tangled my tongue with his. We battled for control of the growing heat between us.

But if we didn’t stop, I was going to end up fucking him against the hallway of our workplace, and that couldn’t happen. And I was weak enough for him to admit that the only thing that made me pull back was the sliver of rationality around the security cameras.

Not finished yet, Theo chased after me as I withdrew from the kiss. He chose to repay me in kind by diving to one side of my neck and nipping the skin above my jugular with enough pressure that I wouldn’t be surprised to find faint teeth marks in the morning when I looked in the mirror.

Theo very gently bit my chin on his way to the other side of my neck. Now, his feral kisses had mellowed to long sucks with his tongue. It felt incredible, but we should stop.

I realized that I was still pulling him closer to me with my hands at the back of his neck, so I slid them to his shoulder and rasped out his name.

He pulled back with a dazed look on his face that showed me thatwe’d both gone further than we intended to with our little battle of wills.

“You didn’t answer me, baby. You feel me?” With his eyes more focused, a smirk formed on his mouth. He pushed his hard length against my belly button.

“I feel you,baby. But we can’t do this here. It’s my job and yours too.” I reached down with one hand and gripped him over his jeans. He rutted his denim-covered cock against my hand for a second before moving back with a groan.

“Fuck, you’re right. We’re here for you. And I can’t lie, I can’t have my girlfriend out there in the world not knowing how to skate. But damn, baby. I want to take you back to your place so badly,” he rasped.

Girlfriend. Did he just call me his girlfriend?

The shock on Indie’s face would have been humorous in any other circumstances. But we hadn’t ever talked about what we were really doing here. I’d been chickenshit about bringing it up, not wanting to scare her off. And here I’d gone and just blurted it out like some inexperienced teenager.

But I didn’t want to take it back. Being my girlfriend was just the beginning of the future I saw with Indie. So I let the words land and waited for her reaction.

Her surprise gave way to a look of uncertainty I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen her wear. My heart responded to her expression by attempting to beat its way out of my chest and to lay itself at her feet.

The skittishness in her eyes did not read, “I can’t wait to be Theo’s girlfriend!” but more, “I’m not sure about what’s happening right now?”

I’d weathered a lot of nos in my time. Indie’s rejection of making our relationship official would hurt, but it was better to know now.

Her golden-brown eyes searched my face for something. I couldn’t tell if she found what she was looking for, but when she took a deepbreath, I steeled myself for the brush-off.

“Yes. Okay,” she answered, more color pinkening her cheeks. She was adorable when she wasn’t totally sure of herself.

Jesus. What a pair we made. We were thirty-one and twenty-five, respectively. Why did this make me feel like I had no idea what I was doing?

It’s harder when it matters, Yao.This woman has the power to really hurt you.

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