Page 169 of The Puck Stops Here

Coach had told him he’d been unpredictable, reckless…

Too fucking right, he was. He’d been playing like he had something to prove. To Zorro. To himself. Toher. That he was the hardeffingbastard they all thought he was… until he’d become aware of her peering through the guys on the bench, his eyes finding hers of their own cursed accord and he’d realised he was fooling no one. Least of all himself.

‘You’re not fine…’ Her voice croaked as her eyes swept over him – the glued up slit to his temple, the ice pack on his naked chest, the bruises that were already starting to shine…

‘It’s nothing.’

And it was nothing. Any other game, any other player they’d be back out there. But reckless wasn’t in the Titans rulebook, not any more. And he’d been reckless to a fault, too pumped up wanting to forget that he’d been pushing for a fight. But he hadn’t seen it coming, hadn’t been prepared… all because of her.

‘It doesn’t look like nothing. This is all my fault.’

‘Don’t flatter yourself, honey.’ He refused to give her the satisfaction of knowing it. ‘This is Teddy’s handiwork.’

‘Teddy?’ she spluttered.

‘The guy who boarded me.’

‘Teddy! He looked like a freaking grizzly!’

His mouth twisted. ‘Exactly that.’

She shook her head. ‘You players and your crazy names.’ She took a tentative step forward. ‘Does it hurt?’

‘Which bit?’ He pushed up off the bed, tossing the ice pack away as he stalked towards her, anger firing in his bloodstream as her concern broke through his walls, teased at his heart. He didn’tneedto feel it beat for her. What he needed was to fight. Get her to go. ‘My body, my face, or what you did to me?’

‘Blake, please… I didn’t want to hurt you.’

‘No, you wanted to hurt my brother, and you think that makes it better. That man turned his life upside down for me.’

‘I know. I know what he did. And I know he’s a good man. And I’ve tried to tell Sissi that too, but he hurt her, she’sstillhurting.’

‘She isn’t the only one.’

His eyes dipped to her parted lips; it had been an epic mistake coming this close to her. Her familiar scent – sugar and spice and all things nice – swirled through his senses. Her honeyed eyes clawed their way into his very soul while his groin thickened and pulsed, his need for her heightened by the adrenaline still pumping through his veins. High on the game, the impact, the fight, and her…fuckher.

* * *

‘Blake?’

It was part gasp, part plea, because his eyes, they were telling her something else. He was angry, it was there, but more than anger, there was need. His ravaged cheek, nothing on the ravaged look in his eyes. The faint smell of menthol and male teased at her senses, the heat radiating off his half naked body, too, the power rippling beneath every muscle as he held himself still.

She only had to take a step and…

With a growl he claimed her mouth, his lips hard and punishing and everything she craved. He forced her back against the door, plundered her mouth with his tongue, stripped her of her coat, her sweater, her tee… His hands were rough upon her breasts, his mouth rougher still, but she wanted more. So much more.

‘Why do I still want you so bad?’ he growled, grinding his hips against her sweet spot, her leggings and his base layers doing nothing to hinder the rhythmic drill. Need driving against need as their breaths quickened and their bodies quaked.

‘I don’t know.’ She couldn’t understand it. Not after all she had done. ‘But I know I want you too.’

He spun her around, backed her up against the bed as he tugged her bra straps down, freeing her breasts to the nip of his teeth.

‘The door?’ she blurted on a cry.

‘Locked.’

He must have done it when he’d held her up against it, andoh God, how she wanted this. How sheneededthis.

He threw her on the bed as she kicked off her trainers, wriggling free of her leggings before pulling him back to her. His clothed need strained against her throbbing clit and then his fingers were there, slipping inside the lace –fuck!

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