A piercing whistle broke through the babble of voices coming from guys milling around the conference room and made them fall silent.
“Okay,” Tyson Short called out. “This is the plan for today, guys. You’ll be divided into groups. Group A will begin with headshots. Group B will be filming short videos, Group C will be on the ice for photos and videos. Group D will be doing interviews …”
Graham tried to focus on Tyson’s voice as he talked them through the plan, but it was pretty much the same every year and Thad stood beside him, looking annoyingly good.
His jeans molded around his muscular quads, a white T-shirt clung to his sculpted pecs, and an olive-green button-up set off his dark hair and hazel eyes. He had a black Harriers cap on—something he wore often—and his expression was serious as he listened to Tyson.
He reached up to scratch at his short beard and Graham shivered, remembering the way it had felt when it had brushed against his lips.
As if he could read Graham’s thoughts, Thad glanced over. He didn’t look away, didn’t react except to give Graham a brief, subtle nod, but for some stupid reason, it made Graham’s heart beat a little faster.
He tried to think of Madison in his condo last night, wearing nothing but panties and an oversized T-shirt of his, braless and absurdly hot by any standards as they cooked dinner together.
But his brain also conjured up an image of a shirtless Thad in half-buttoned jeans, the elastic of boxer briefs peeking up over the waistband as he stirred something on the stove. It wasn’t something he’d ever done before but Graham was surprised by how much he wanted it.
And now, all Graham could think about was spinning him around, turning that hat backwards and kissing him deeply. He knew Thad would kiss him back, would touch him, and?—
A sharp elbow dug into Graham’s ribs, and he blinked, the fantasy dissolving as he turned to look at Tanner.
“Dude, you coming, G-man?”
Graham realized he’d been so lost in thought that most of the team was already lined up at the table, getting their group number and jersey from a couple of the social media interns.
“Yeah,” he said roughly, following Tanner toward the table.
Halfway there, he glanced back, sure he could feel someone’s gaze on him, and he found Thad looking his way. Once again, he didn’t acknowledge Graham, but when their eyes locked, a frisson of hot-cold-hot ran across Graham’s skin like a physical caress.
Fuck.
This was going to be a problem.
Thad was genuinely grateful when they cycled through Groups A&B with no sign of Graham.
He didn’t have a clue what that moment had been about earlier, but he knew today was not the day for it.
A bunch of head office people were wandering around, including his brother. The last thing he needed was Gavin noticing Thad’s distraction. Or worse,askingabout it.
Unfortunately, Thad could only put off the inevitable for so long and by the time Group D strolled in, there was no more avoiding Graham.
Thad breezed through pictures of Ben Estrada and Tom Bass—though he had to tweak lighting levels for both of them.
Ben was Hispanic, with soft brown skin thanks to his Mexican heritage, and Tom was a biracial Canadian man, his skin a few shades darker than Ben’s.
The lighting needed to be adjusted so their features didn’t disappear against the dark jersey in a way the rest of the team’s whiter, predominantly pink-hued skin didn’t.
It was subtle, but it was the difference between mediocre portraits of those guys and something stunning.
Okay, so maybe notstunning. It wasn’t fine art portraiture or anything, but there was no reason Thad couldn’t make them look better than usual.
He prided himself on a job well done.
After, Tom nodded his approval at the images Thad showed him on the laptop screen, grinning. “Wow! I usually look terrible in headshots. You made me look good though, man. Thanks.”
“Always helps to have something solid to work with,” Thad said with a wink.
Tom grinned. “The nose going in about three directions at once doesn’t help but …”
Thad laughed. “Nah, it adds character. Now, get out of here, dude. I’ve got more guys to make look good.”
