Page 51 of Slash & Burn

“Jill?”

“Are you decent?” I cringed at how stupid I sounded, my cheeks going nuclear.

He pursed his lips together, clearly holding in a laugh. “You want me to be?”

His playful tone helped lower my shoulders from where they’d crept up by my ears. I huffed out an exasperated sigh. “We can’t be late.”

Finally he stepped out onto the landing with me and I saw the pair of dress slacks he was wearing. But as relieved as I was by the sight of them, I was immediately distracted by the purple bruise on his shoulder, and another on his side.

“Grady!” I lurched forward, my fingers gentle on his arm as I turned him so I could get a better look. “What the hell happened?”

His beautiful, sculpted body, like one of those busts you see in museums, was marred by discolored skin and a series of shallow scrapes. It might have added to the appeal in some other woman’s eyes, but I’d seen Grady hurt too much lately. I knew what his face looked like when he grimaced, and that’s what I pictured as I took in the harsh marks and what it had to have felt like to get them.

When he didn’t answer me I looked up to find him smiling, wide, soft eyes taking me in before he reached for my hand. “I’m fine. You’ve never seen a hockey player naked before, have you?”

I started to reply, but froze as he brought my hand to his lips and kissed each knuckle one by one, grinning as he went. A swirl in my belly pitched over, spilling heat and jitters and something else I was pretty sure I’d never felt before.

“You’re cute when you’re worried,” he whispered, leaning in for a quick kiss before jerking his head toward the bedroom for me to follow.

I did, scanning the room that opened up before me. Pale green walls, an oak bed with a muted gray comforter neatly spread across it. Grady made his bed? I don’t know why I’d thought of him as more of the “kick off the covers and go” kind of guy. Along two walls were bookcases packed full of books and sports memorabilia. Most was hockey related, of course. But there were a couple of old signed baseballs, and a racket of some kind. On the opposite wall was a collection of sports quotes, which I could tell were sports quotes because each one was by a coach.

Grady had slipped into the en-suite bathroom, and I heard him at the sink. Following him, I leaned on the doorway. But the sight of the bruises in the brighter light only made my stomach twist more.

“Seriously, that happened in a pickup beer league?” Those guys were supposed to be playing for fun, right? Grady should never have gone if he was going to risk getting hurt again.

He finished putting product in his hair, batting it around with his hands for two seconds and turning to me looking more polished than I’d have been with an hour of hard labor by a team of hairdressers.

“This is nothing. I’ve taken way worse hits.”

There was something about his smile, the way he kept avoiding telling me exactly what happened. All of the sudden the truth hit me and I felt like a complete idiot for not realizing it sooner. “Joey did that to you, didn’t he?”

I crossed my arms over my chest, a familiar feeling pumping through me. My brother was really taking this too far.

Grady shook his head, coming toward me and pulling me into him. He spoke into my hair. “He had every right to be pissed. If it were Lexi, I’d be pissed too.”

“Then you’d both be morons,” I said, carefully shoving him off me. “Lexi’s not a child either.”

“It’s not about you being younger than me.” He strode over to his closet and yanked a collared shirt from a hanger. “It’s that we’re guys, we know guys, and what guys want, and what we do. And no matter how much you have a right to live your own life, Joey knows how I’ve lived mine.”

“You’ve slept with other women, big whoop. No wonder he called me this morning. Now I’m definitely not answering.”

He laughed, his eyes on me as he buttoned his shirt. “Your brother just cares about you.” His smile dimmed, and he lowered his head. “He’s worried about how this whole thing ends.”

A pang of fresh guilt hit me, because I knew exactly what Joey was worried about. But I wasn’t in the same place anymore, and I needed him to stop waiting for the other shoe to drop. It only added to the pressure for me to keep up the appearance I was fine. Which, at the moment, was actually true.

When Grady looked back up at me, I could tell whatever Joey said had rattled him. “You changing your mind?”

His scowl was immediate. “Fuck no.”

“Good,” I sighed.

With slow steps he closed the distance between us, and my body got hot again the closer he got. “I do want to make one thing clear, though.”

“Oh?” I raised my eyebrows, relishing the way my body reacted to his. It was like fireworks every time Grady got within touching distance, and now I had the green light to act on my impulses. I dragged a finger down the front of his body, his jaw clenching in response. I bit my lip, the pull to him so strong I was starting to worry we were about to miss an event for the first time.

“I’m not just going to sleep with you, Jill.”

If it hadn’t been for the dark glimmer in his eye, I might have dropped my hand and stepped back. But instead I waited for him to explain.

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