Page 48 of Tight Spot

“Oh.”

Not exactly. I was leaning toward using my tie, but by the end of the night, sexy and sweet virgin Hailey Monaco would be writhing beneath me, unable to do anything but take all the pleasure I would be solely focused on giving to her.

* * *

We pulled up to the event center fashionably late after I’d given Hailey a warning, and then given her a reason to need to redo her lip gloss. My own still tasted like her cherry-flavored lip gloss, and I was not complaining.

Every time I caught a taste of it, I thought of how sexy she was. How undeniably ravishing she looked in the dress sitting next to me, and the threat of what I was going to do to her later along with the kiss seemed to evaporate her earlier nerves.

Was she spending her time thinking of what particular scene I’d referenced? Had she read the book often enough that she knew there were only three scenes where the heroine had been tied up in some way. One of them, on her knees and blindfolded…

I shoved my Tahoe into park as we reached the valet parking area and hopped out before the workers, all young, male, probably college-aged reacted to our arrival. “Keys are in the ignition.” I rushed to the other side and opened Hailey’s door.

I barely managed to shove the other worker out of the way before he could help her slide out of the car and slipped my hand into hers.

Once I got her on her feet, I helped her up the curb. In her heels, I barely had to dip my chin to meet her gaze and when her crystal blue eyes blinked up at me, I tugged her closer. “By the way, since I’m pretty sure I forgot to tell you earlier, you are absolutely stunning in that dress. Although, I still can’t wait to take it off you later and see how it looks on my bedroom floor.”

To my surprise, she didn’t flush. She didn’t even blink. Instead, she flashed me a blinding smile. “That’s funny, considering Meredith said the only other thing you’d want to see me in besides this dress was nothing at all.”

“I think I might be beginning to like your friend.”

She laughed, which meant as we walked into the lobby of the event center that was decked out in our team’s black and red and silver and white colors, we were greeted by no one other than Rick Marchand himself. Hailey’s smile was beaming, her gaze fixed on me.

Out of the corner of my eye, Marchand flashed a look of surprise, and then grinned.

* * *

“Cole. Nice to meet you.”

“Hi, Cole.” Hailey shook his hand and smiled at Eden, standing proudly next to her husband. “Nice to meet you, too.”

“Eden. Cole’s wife.”

“They just got married this spring,” I told Hailey.

She was tucked into my side, and my hand had settled on the curve of her hip like it was the most natural thing.

She’d settled there as soon as Marchand walked our way into the entry area and introduced himself to us. If she was an actress, she deserved an Emmy, but part of me was hoping this wasn’t all pretend.

While she sipped on champagne I’d snagged off a tray of a passing waiter, she’d barely had half the glass while I introduced her to some guys on the team, and their girlfriends or wives if they had them. Cole’s fundraising event was one of the few events I actually enjoyed. And that was because Cole didn’t act like he had a stick up his ass because he was rich, but like the small-town Southern guy he was raised to be and still was. Which meant there was not one, but two popular country singers taking the stage, the dinner was going to be real food, filet mignon and scallops and shrimp and food that actually had taste. The bar was open, stocked with everything from Coors to Dom Pérignon, and the appetizers were more normal mozzarella sticks and stuffed mushrooms. There wasn’t a hint of étouffée or ceviche in sight anywhere like the stuffier events we had to attend, including one over Labor Day weekend, where our owners, along with the Avengers owners, held a joint gala promoting breast cancer research ahead of October so they could spend all October talking about how cool and pro-women they were.

Outside the cause the money was raised for, the entire night was an event of trying not to gag as I sucked down slimy, cold fancy food that had no taste whatsoever.

“Congratulations.” Hailey smiled, but her eyes weren’t shining like they’d been all night and shit…I hadn’t considered bringing it up would make her think of her own wedding she was supposed to have. “That must be really exciting.”

Damn it. I couldn’t pull her away or excuse us without looking rude, and that wasn’t any impression I wanted someone from my team to have with Hailey. I squeezed her hip and pressed her against me.

She tilted her head and flashed me a quick wink. It happened so quick, I figured Cole and Eden missed the silent exchange, but when I caught Cole’s look, I was dead wrong.

His lips were curled into a smirk and Eden was hiding a smile behind her wineglass.

“Long time coming,” Cole murmured, grinning down at his wife. “You see him yet?”

“Marchand or the new coach?” Our last coach, Bowles, drop-kicked our asses to the floor during last season’s playoff game when we were getting our asses handed to us and told us he was finally retiring. He told us whatever last game we played that season would be his last game and there was no way he was going out with a game like that. I figured we gave him the best send-off with a Super Bowl ring, his first and only in his thirty years of coaching. Man was a beast, had come close more than a handful of times before he was brought in to coach the Steel. He turned our team and entire program and fan base around in less than five years.

An incredible man who’d leave large shoes to fill.

Management and ownership decided Logan Caldwell was the guy to do just that. I’d met him once. Decent guy. Positive. Young, though, and untested, and while we had a fucking kick ass team, that could all fall apart if Caldwell wasn’t able to step up and lead us. Keep us at the level we were capable of.

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