Page 30 of Pucking Curves

“We’ll see.”

“Guess we will,” I sigh as he leaps over the board, storming across the ice like he’d rather be anywhere but standing here talking to me about Wren.

Fucking hell. He’s stubborn. I can’t even be mad at him about it though. She’s his sister, and he’s already almost lost her once. If I were in his shoes? Well, not a single fucking member of this team would get close to her.

“Graves!” Coach shouts. “You going to hold court on the damn bench all morning, or are you going to get out here and act like you have a game to win?”

I haul myself from the bench with a sigh. I’d rather be back in bed with my wife right now.

Chapter Eight

Wren

“Youhaveavisitor.”

I glance up from the paperwork on my desk to see Laura standing in my doorway, grinning from ear to ear.

“Is it Micah?” I ask, slightly worried about seeing him. He’s called me three times today, but I ignored every call. I don’t know what to say to him. He’s the one person I’ve always been able to tell anything. Now, I’m keeping something from him. It feels wrong and weird.

“Nope. This one is even hotter than your brother. I think he’s one of his teammates?”

Archer.

A thrill goes through me, turning me inside out and upside down. Lord. If he knew what he was capable of doing to me…

“Can you show him back here, please?” I ask Laura, ignoring the question in her eyes. I’m not prepared to explain to the biggest gossip in my office why my brother’s captain is here to see me. She’ll tell everyone. And someone will inevitably blab to Micah. Then boom. World explosion.

I already feel like our secret is a ticking bomb counting down toward detonation. No sense being the one who sets off the explosion.

“Yeah, I’ll show him back,” she says, a touch of disappointment in her voice as she turns, hurrying off.

I quickly comb my finger through my hair and then straighten my top, trying to pretend my heart isn’t racing a million miles a minute. It’s a ridiculous feeling when I spent all night in his bed. When he spent half of it inside me. But I’m nervous anyway.

Right up until he appears in the doorway, his hair damp, his cerulean eyes as bright as ever. God, he looks good. His T-shirt stretches across the muscles in his chest, clinging in a way that makes my fingers itch to trace every line.

I had my hands and mouth all over that body last night.

It still doesn’t feel like real life. But if I wake up and this is all a dream…I might actually cry this time.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, a little breathless. I’m surprised he even knows where I work in the city…and not surprised at the same time. I have a feeling he knows a hell of a lot more about me than I ever thought he did. And I’m guessing he didn’t come by the knowledge simply by listening to Micah.

He told me yesterday not to ask questions I wasn’t ready to hear the answers to, and I hesitated, afraid of what secrets he might spill. But I have a pretty good idea of what he’s been up to for the past year. Watching me. Following me, maybe.

That should scare the hell out of me. I should be running in the opposite direction. But even with the evidence of his obsession staring me in the face, I’m not afraid of him. And I don’t want to run. Maybe that says as much about me as it does him.

“Came to offer my wife a ride home,” he murmurs.

“Archer,” I whisper, glancing past him to make sure Laura isn’t lurking. I wouldn’t put it past her. “You aren’t supposed to tell anyone.”

“Yeah, fuck that,” he growls, sauntering toward me. “I’m not going to pretend that you aren’t mine when we’re alone, Wren. I don’t want to pretend at all.”

My stomach dips, butterflies dancing a samba in there.

He reaches my side, leaning down to haul me out of his chair. His arms close around me, surrounding me in his scent. “Fuck,” he groans, burying his face in my hair. “I missed you today.”

“I missed you too,” I whisper.

“Are you ready to go home?”

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