Page 1 of Second Shot

Prologue

Brynne

Ihatehim.

The thought goes through my head the same second my traitorous body shivers in need from histouch.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Kane growls against my ear, his fingers tangling in my hair, his breath just as ragged as my own. His hard body is pressed to mine, trapping me against the wall in the entrance of his penthousesuite.

“Then let me go,” I whimper, palms coming up to his chest in a pathetic attempt to push himaway.

“Is that what you want?” The words tickle my cheek, sending another wave of warmth straight to mycore.

What Iwant?

What I wanted was to come here and tell him off. To tell him he had no right talking about my brother the way he did during his post-game interviewtoday.

He had no right to talk about Sam at all. No one does. Not when he’s not here to defendhimself.

Suicide. That’s what the police report had called it a year ago today. What the media blasted across every news channel and newspaper. What Kane hinted at tonight in hisinterview.

It wasn’t just his words, but his audacity to act like he fuckingcared.

Kane Madden cares about no one buthimself.

“I hate you.” The bitter words come out in a choked sob and I see him wince slightly, but he doesn’t let go, not even when I ball my fingers into fists and hit his chest. “I hateyou.”

“I know,” he says through clenched teeth, resting his forehead against mine. “Hate me all you want if it makes you feelbetter.”

His words twist inside me. “Don’t dothat.”

“What?” He cups my face, his thumbs stroking across my jaw, intense blue eyes searching mine, making my insides melt and my knees goweak.

I hate that he can do that to me, even now, when I want nothing more than to blame him foreverything.

“Don’t act like youcare.”

He swallows hard and I see his nostrils flare, a touch of anger pulling at his lips. “Sam was myfriend.”

A vicious chuckle vibrates in my throat. “I’d hate to see how you treat yourenemies.”

Kane sighs and gives a harsh shake of his head. “I loved him like he was my fucking brother, Brynne. You knowthat.”

I want to call bullshit, but I see my own pain mirrored in Kane’s eyes, and something tugs inside mychest.

Hate. That’s the emotion I need to hang on to.Hate. Bitterness. Rage.Because if I stop feeling those things, I know I’ll be unable to resist the temptation in front ofme.

I’ve heard people say that love and hate are two sides of the same coin. But with Kane, it isn’t love; it’s lust that distorts myfeelings.

It doesn’t matter how much I despise him, my body trembles anytime he’s near. And right now, all six-foot-two inches of him is hovering over me like he’s a predator and I’m hisprey.

He’s beautiful. Which I’ve always thought was a weird thing to call a man. But Kaneis.

Being the daughter of Steve Jacobs, head coach of the Annihilators, I’ve been around hockey players all my life. But none look like KaneMadden.

It’s not just his chiseled jaw, or the deep dimples in both of his cheeks when he gives one of his rare smiles. It’s not even that the man’s body is hard as granite, with muscles that ripple beneath naturally bronzed skin. It’s his eyes. The lightest blue around the center, darkening to a deep cobalt around theedges.

Beautiful.

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