Page 5 of Faking It with the Enforcer

So, I do the only sensible thing. I nod, abrupt and stiff, and then I turn around and walk away, leaving her alone in the room.

As I return to the living room, my phone starts to buzz. I pull it out of my back pocket, my mouth going slightly dry when I see Mike’s name flash across the screen.

“Hey,” I answer, hoping I sound normal. I don’t feel normal. Not even a little. I feel dizzy and shaky. I feel completely off-kilter.

“Hey, man,” says Mike jovially. “How’s everything? Emily get in okay?”

I rub a hand over the back of my neck. “Yep. She’s here, got her settled in the guest room. I think she’s unpacking right now.”

Mike blows out a breath. “Good. That’s good to hear. She’s never traveled so far by herself before, and I was worried about her navigating the airport and getting to your place.”

I purse my lips. “She seems pretty capable to me. But I offered to drive her to and from the ballet school so she doesn’t have to worry about public transportation.”

“Thanks, man. You’re the best. Seriously. There are very few people I’d trust with Emily, but I know you’re a good guy.”

I have no fucking clue what to say to that, and a silence hangs in the air between us. He wouldn’t think I was a good guy if he knew the thoughts I’d already had about Emily.

“I promise that I’ll keep an eye on her,” I say after a little too long. It’s the truth, at least. I don’t know how I’m going to keep my eyes off of her.

There’s another pause. “But just your eyes, right?”

“Of course,” I answer quickly. “You know I’d never…” I trail off. I can’t bring myself to say it because it doesn’t feel entirely true.

“You’d better not, or I’ll have to kill you.” There’s a beat, and then he laughs, the burst of sound a little too loud in my ear, and I hunch my shoulders up. “Just kidding! Kidding. Seriously, I know you’d never do anything like that, but just for the sake of doing my big brother duties, keep your hands to yourself. My little sister is off limits. Clear?”

“Crystal, man. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“Good. That’s all I needed to hear.”

We chat for a few more minutes before the call ends, and I sink down onto the couch with Mike’s words echoing through my brain.

My little sister is off limits.

Fuck.

Three

Emily

I wake up before my alarm the next morning, and for a split second, I forget where I am. It takes a couple of slow blinks before the dim room comes into focus and I remember that I’m in the guest room of professional hockey player Wolf Hartley’s stunning penthouse. Because I’m in Toronto to dance with the National Ballet for the next six weeks. This is a major opportunity for me, a huge step towards my dream of dancing full-time for a professional ballet company.

I stretch out in the luxurious bed, and instead of my usual thoughts of ballet, my mind immediately drifts to Wolf.

He’s so gorgeous I feel like I can’t breathe right around him. He’s got this thick, dark hair that I want to run my fingers through, and these piercing gray eyes that I want to stare into for hours. He’s got a close-cropped beard and full lips, and the perfection of those lips contrasts so perfectly, so beautifully with his slightly crooked nose. He doesn’t seem to smile much, but when he does, he’s got these lines that fan out around his eyes and make me feel all melty inside.

And the sheer size of him…god. Hetowersover me. He’s quite literally twice my size, and that combined with the protectiveness in his voice when he said he’d drive me to and from the ballet school makes me want to climb into his massive lap and curl up there.

Which is insane. We met yesterday. Maybe I’m just channeling any homesickness into horniness.

And it’s not like it matters. He probably thought I was a gawking idiot yesterday because I couldn’t stop staring at him. At his gorgeous face, at his huge, muscled body.

I lie in the dark, blushing furiously as I think about him. About the rough texture of his voice and how it sends a shiver down my spine and straight to my core every time he speaks. About the size of his hands and how they might feel on me.

There’s something primal about Wolf. There’s a raw masculinity there that’s doing something to me. I’ve never met anyone like him, and I don’t know how to process it. Because my brain is taking things and twisting them. He’s just being nice. I’m here because he’s doing Mike a favour. And I’d be an absolute idiot to think there was anything more going on here than that. My crush on Wolf is entirely one-sided.

Not to mention that phone call I overheard between Mike and Wolf yesterday. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but Wolf was only a few feet outside my bedroom and my door was open. Mike’s voice was loud enough that I could hear both sides of the conversation. I was so embarrassed at the way Mike “joked” about Wolf keeping his hands off me. Now every time Wolf looks at me, he’ll hear Mike threatening to kill him.

Great. Exactly what I was hoping for.

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