Page 4 of Puck of the Irish

“Gonna let a little ice take you out, Nat?” he teases. “So disappointing. I expected more from a member of the Sin Bin,” he tsks. “We might have to revoke your membership.”

“Ok, first off, Hattie can’t even skate at all, so there’s that. And I skate just fine, thank you. You try doing it in six-inch heels—hey!” I squeal as he lifts me up and throws me over his shoulder. I break out into a laughing fit as he makes his wayquickly down the sidewalk, not having any trouble navigating the patches of ice dotted here and there. I grip the bottom of his jacket to steady myself and take a moment to admire the view.

“Ya know, you’ve got a pretty nice ass, there Thirst Trap,” I observe and he laughs loudly, jostling me in his caveman carry.

“Of course it is. Have you seen me?Everythingis nice.” I snort. “Yours ain’t so bad either,” he says, stopping in front of the hotel doors and lowering me down, slowly sliding my body against his. Once I’m on my feet, he uses one finger to lift my chin up to meet his gaze.Why the fuck is that so sexy?“And the sight of it in this dress tonight. Mmm, mmm,mmmm, Natalie Morgan. You chose violence when you chose this little number.”

My lips part on a soft inhale and his gaze dips down, those blue eyes looking…hungry. I shiver and I’m not entirely convinced it’s because of the weather. He seems to shake himself and grabs my hand, pulling me around to the side of the building where several sleek black cars wait. Rizzo signals to one and it pulls up to the curb. He opens the door for me and I mentally give him a few points.

“Well, look at you.”

“I am nothing if not a gentleman, Nat.”

As I step towards the car, I brush his chest and whisper, “God, I hope not…”

He makes a low groaning sound and I laugh as I duck down and scooch across the seat to make room for him to slip in beside me.

“Where to, sir?”

Rizzo hesitates for a heartbeat and then tells the driver, “My place, Jerry.”

“Yes, sir.”

Rizzo slides closer to me but I push him away. He gives me awhat gives?look.

“Nope. You stay over there. If you don’t, Jerry is going to get one hell of a show—or possibly need therapy.” The driver chuckles lightly and Rizzo tries to hide his smile.

“You’re probably right,” he agrees as he presses himself as far away from me as he can.

It’s the longest ride of my life despite it only being ten minutes, tops, and I keep my hands clenched into fists in my lap the entire time to keep myself from reaching for him. I laugh when I glance over to see him doing the same thing, his jaw ticking like crazy with effort of holding himself back.

“You know this is torture, right?” he whispers.

“Oh I amwellaware…”

“We’re almost there,” he assures me. “Still plenty of time for you to escape though, if you want.” I grin at him.

“I think I’ve met my escape quota for the evening, thanks.”

“Thank fucking God,” he murmurs.

A few seconds later, Jerry pulls up outside of a soaring high rise apartment building.

“Wow, fancy.”

Rizzo helps me out of the car and waves goodbye to Jerry before offering me his arm. I huff out a laugh but take it and we head inside. He nods to a younger guy sitting at the security desk, a spark of surprise flashing in his honey-brown eyes.

“I don’t know if you know this or not, but I’m kind of a big-time star hockey player…” I roll my eyes and whack him playfully in the stomach as we reach the elevators. Everything is very sleek and modern and obviously it costs a pretty penny to live here. I’m weirdly grateful that he doesn’t live in the building across the street instead of this one. That one is a Harrington property.

He reaches out and swipes a black card through the keypad and I know that must mean he has one of the top floor apartments, the kind you need special access to get to. I arch a brow at him.

“Penthouse?”

“Penthouse,” he confirms, grinning, but then he leans down and kisses me softly on my neck, just below my ear, making me shudder. He moves to whisper in my ear, “that’sa lotof floors to pass and keep my hands to myself, Nat…” I swallow hard and turn my head towards him. Our faces are so close that I can see the rings of gold around his irises, the blue dark and burning. Our lips are so agonizingly close again that I can feel his breath tickling my skin and would only need to lean a fraction of an inch to be in heaven again.

“Who says you have to?” I breathe, my entire body suddenly taut as a bowstring, practically quivering for his touch. Ineedit. I need Rizzo in a way that I’ve never needed anyone.What the hell is wrong with me?I feel like I’m coming out of my skin, like if I don’t have his hands on me soon, I might go crazy. It’s like I’m literallycravinghim.

“You are trouble,” he says, chuckling low and leaning in just enough that I can feel the briefest contact of his lips against mine, but then he pulls away without actually kissing me, grinning. I want to pout. I want to scream. I want to jump his bones right here in the lobby in front of God and the security cameras. He winks and shifts to stand beside me, waiting patiently and innocently for the elevator, and I narrow my eyes at him. The bastard knowsexactlywhat he’s doing.

---