Page 15 of The Grinder

“Thanks. I—”

Damn, there she was. And, holy shit, was she gorgeous.

Vaguely, he heard Jake laugh, but Riley dismissed him as the uncontrollable urge to grab her and kiss her nearly overtook him. The urge was so strong, his fingers clenched.

She didn’t see him right away. She stood next to Cary’s wife, Lori, and Shane’s girlfriend, Bliss. They looked to be in deep conversation.

And then she smiled and, holy shit, he swore he was back in high school when a girl just had to look at him and he got hard.

Back then, his only desire had been to get laid. Until he’d met Ann and things had changed.

Damn, he’d have to stop thinking about his ex. That’d been a hell of a long time ago.He let himself stare at Aly instead.

Fuck, was she gorgeous. Sure, he’d noticed yesterday but now, in tight jeans and boots with heels, a tight white shirt and a blue cardigan, she looked so fucking hot, he thought he might break out in a sweat.

How the hell did she manage that looking like a kindergarten teacher?

Probably because the jeans fit her long legs like a second skin and the shirt had a v-neck that hinted at just enough cleavage to make him drool.

And her hair was down, nearly reaching the small of her back. Holy fuck. He wanted to wrap his hands in it and tug her head back so he could kiss her. And do other, less polite things to her.

Not that the way he wanted to kiss her was polite. No, what he wanted to do to her should be done in private. And naked.

He really wanted to do naked things with her.

A grin formed and she looked up at that moment, caught him staring at her.

Her smile softened a little as their gazes connected, but it was the look in her eyes that made his dick hard. Hot. Sweet. But definitely heat there.

He knew she wasn’t like any other girl he’d dated in the past five years. And that meant he’d need to take this slow. It’d be a first for him but he’d do whatever it took to make sure Miss Aly hung around.

“You, my friend, should be very glad you saw her first.” Jake bumped Riley’s sore shoulder as he walked by but the shooting pain from the injury sustained in a late-third-period collision with the boards couldn’t deflate his dick.

“There’s no way a woman that gorgeous would give you a second look,” Shane spoke from behind them. “Though why she thought Riley was a better option, I’ll never know.”

Shane gave Jake a shove as Shane came up behind the other guy. Jake barely moved and didn’t even look at Shane. “Is too bad for her. I suppose Lad and I will go spread our joy to the women at West Reading. Have a good time, Chickie.”

Riley let the hated nickname flow right past him.

“Oh I plan to, Jake. I definitely plan to.”

* * * * *

“You deliberately baited a man who weighed fifty pounds more than you to take a swing at you? Are you crazy?”

Riley shrugged, the grin that had been driving Aly crazy all night reappearing on his lips.

“Some people say so, yeah. But he was killing us so we needed him off the ice. Took me until the third period but I finally got to him. While we were in the bin for five, my guys scored twice and tied up the game. We won in overtime.”

“Is that where you got the nickname?”

“What nickname?”

The wince gave him away.

“Chickie.”

He rolled his eyes as he turned onto the street where she lived. They’d spent the last three hours talking at the bar and he was a little amazed they hadn’t run out of things to discuss.

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