“Ryan didn’t want me to get up there. He thought I wouldn’t do it when his buddies dared me, and I love nothing more than proving him wrong. The look on his face was totally worth it.”
I open and close my mouth, brows furrowing. “Wait—you’re Donnelly’s sister?”
All the years I’ve played against him in junior league and the NCAA I had no idea he had a sister. A seriouslyhotsister, jesus.
She snorts, her hazel eyes crinkling at the corners. “Yup. You know technically that makes me Donnelly, too?”
Her gaze travels over me, sizing me up the same way she did earlier. The radiant smile that’s making my heart thump hard fades. I want to bring it back right away, debating which of my best lines to use on her to revive it. Instead, those beautiful full lips purse in a cute little frown.
“Don’t tell me you’re a fan? No.” She cuts off my scoff of disbelief, squinting. “Damn. Tall as hell, muscles on muscles, hanging around The Landmark like you own the place. You’re a hockey player.”
There’s zero recognition.
Is she serious? She doesn’t know me?
I scrub a hand over my jaw, hitching a shoulder. It throws me to not be recognized when I’m used to every girl on campus knowing exactly who I am. People rush up to me to take selfies between classes even when I’m not wearing the team’s hockey jacket. I haven’t had to actually introduce myself in a long ass time.
“I’m Heston’s starting center. Team captain,” I say proudly.
“Shit.” She blows the word out on an unimpressed laugh. “Yeah, that’s not gonna work for me.”
I step into her, dipping my chin to stare her down. “Is that so?”
“I don’t do hockey players.”
She says that, but the little hitch in her breath when my chest brushes against her tells a different story.
“Then why hang out at The Landmark? Everyone on campus knows it’s where you go to chase jerseys.” My head lowers along with my voice, my words coming out on a rasp as I watch her carefully. “Why get rinkside seats to the game? Didn’t seem like you were so against hockey players when you were cheering with every other fan in the arena.”
Her eyes widen. “How did you?—?”
“Hard to miss you, babe. You were the only one wearing an Elmwood jersey in the Heston student section. Ballsy move. Red looks great on you.” I swipe my tongue across my lower lip. “Bet you’d look even better in blue and green.”
Her eyes glimmer beneath the glow of the lamp lighting the path, and she puts on an innocent expression. “I do happen to look great in those colors. But I don’t cheer for the Heston Knights.”
The thought of her in my jersey crosses my mind, rewriting what happened at tonight’s game to have her in the stands wearing my number instead of her brother’s. “You’re the reason I got checked before your brother stole possession of the puck from me.”
“So you’re not as much of a hotshot player as you think. Heston lost to Elmwood tonight.”
Another smirk curves her full lips. Instead of pissing me off for ragging on my game, heat pools low in my gut. What the hell?
Usually the girls I talk to go for a flirtatious approach, like getting into my pants is already a done deal when they lean in too close to tell me what a big fan they are. Everyone on campus worships the ground I walk on, but not her. This beautiful girl insults me and it turns me on. I trace my bottom lip with the tip of my tongue, confused by how refreshing I find her. Refreshing and seriously hot as fuck with that exasperated, mildly amused tilt of her tempting lips.
Knowing she’s Ryan Donnelly’s sister only amplifies how enticing I find her.
“I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding someone to help you cope, captain,” she says with mock sympathy in her tone.
Someone else? My usual routine after a game doesn’t even register in my mind at the suggestion of finding another girl. It’s what I should do. It would be easy—it always is—but it wouldn’tbeher. This intriguing girl who doesn’t give a single shit who I am or what my reputation on campus is.
Time to show her why I’ve got most girls on campus wishing for the chance of one night in my bed.
“Your name is the only one I want on my lips tonight, baby. Tell it to me so I can whisper it against your skin between the hundreds of kisses I’m going to lay on every gorgeous inch of you.”
She lets out a breathy laugh and shakes her head slowly as her stunning smile returns. It gets my pulse going into overdrive again.
“Go try that line on one of the girls back in the bar.”
She retreats, backing away step by step. I’m struck by an irrational urge to reach out and hold on before she slips through my grasp.
