She hesitated.
The press was interested in Dax — but not in her. And that would only change if…her family situation was investigated more closely. If it came out that Dax’s biggest rival was her brother, the journalists would question her too. Follow her.
Yes, the fact that she had a second brother who played professional hockey and might soon be joining the Hawks…whose protective instincts were as strong as Dax’s and who had the power to start the biggest media circus of her life might, potentially, displease Lucas Moreau.
But nobody knew! Nobody would find out. Dax would make sure of that.
“No problem,” she murmured. “There’s nothing.”
“Good.” His lips found her earlobe and her jaw. “One more thing.”
“Which is?”
“Twenty minutes isn’t enough for me.”
The next thing she knew, he was pushing her into the cloakroom, turning her in his arms, and lowering his mouth to hers. He kissed the last of her worries and maybe even her sanity out of her head, before she tuned out for the first time in months and justfelt.
The exam receded into the distance. The unanswered email in her inbox evaporated into smoke. And the thought that anyone would ever find out that Jack West was her brother went completely by the wayside...
Chapter One
First encounter
“Hey, come in. I honestly didn’t know if you would answer. We didn’t really talk about whether it was a one-time thing or…”
She got no further. Lucas pressed her against the door with his big, heavy body, ran his hands under her shirt, and lowered his lips to hers.
Right. No talking.
February
(Half a year later)
Dax Temple is my brother, and I love Penelope Clark.”
When the words left Jack West’s mouth, all hell broke loose on the TV screen — and Lucas Moreau’s water bottle slipped from his hand. The plastic hit the whirring treadmill loudly, the water splashing his legs before the bottle was thrown backward and the rest of the contents spilled onto the floor.
“What?” Fox shouted in disbelief on the treadmill next to him. “He’s…fuck, what? I thought it was a rumor! Or just an affair. Now he loves her?”
Moreau slammed his fist against the treadmill stop button while grinding his teeth painfully. He didn’t give a damn that his colleague and the owner of the Hawks were fucking each other! That was completely uninteresting. All that was rushing through his head was…
“And Dax is his brother?What?” Fox shook his head in disbelief. “How did we not know?”
Yes.How?Because if Dax was Jack’s brother, that meant…
“Fuck,” he whispered, narrowing his eyes. This would make headlines. The press would tear apart Dax and Jack’s family. They would want to know why they had kept it a secret. Moreau didn’t give a damn about why; Dax and Jack had every right to keep their family issues a secret. Shit, no one understood that better than he did! They weren’t the ones who had lied to him, who owed him that damn information. The information he hadaskedfor!
“Fuck,” he repeated, rubbing his face.
Anna hadn’t said anything. The media circus of the century would roll into her life, and if anyone connected her to him, started to take an interest in him… He would never forgive her. Not to mention that he would be dead because nowtwoof his teammates would kill him.
His teeth were grinding while his heart pumped frantically, like he was still running on the treadmill.
It had been stupid of him to even get into bed with her. How could he have risked it? Just for a few fucks.
“Are you okay?” Fox asked, and when Moreau looked up, he noticed that the team captain – and, coincidentally, his best friend – was frowning at him.
“No,” he replied harshly.
