I risked a glance at Alec, scared to see what his reaction to this confrontation would be. His jaw was set, his expression thunderous, his eyes so dark they surely spelled Thad’s doom. I shivered.
Alec squared up to Thad. Though my ex was tall, Alec was a good inch taller, and he outweighed Thad by forty pounds. He’d also been in far more fights than Thad had.
My insides fluttered with anticipation. Dear God, was I excited by the idea of Alec handing Thad his ass?
Alec leaned over him, and when he spoke, his voice was a low rumble. “I know this is a wedding and we’re all supposed to play nice, but if you ever disrespect my girl again, you’ll be seeing stars for a week.”
Thad’s eyes widened and he instinctively stepped back. When he realized he was visibly backing down, he scowled and made a show of scraping his foot against the floorboards, as if he’d slipped or tripped rather than simply been intimidated by a bigger, stronger man.
“You won’t lay a finger on me,” he sneered. “You wouldn’t risk your job.”
Privately, I agreed. Any altercation Alec ended up in could impact his career. The NHL didn’t mind its players fighting on the ice, but it preferred they not throw fists when they were off it.
Alec’s steely glare didn’t waver. “Some things are worth it. Tally is abso-fucking-lutely one of those things.”
“She’s just a friend,” Thad protested. “You don’t care about her that much.”
“See, that’s where you’re wrong. There’s very little I care about more than her. Not hockey. I love the sport, but I don’t need to worry about my job. I have enough money to retire tomorrow and live in comfort. So if you think concern about my career will stop me from defending my girl, then you’re wrong.”
A kernel of worry began to form in the pit of my gut. He sounded a bit too convincing. Alec wouldn’t actually do anything to throw his career away because of me, would he?
I couldn’t let him. I never should have gone along with this ruse in the first place.
“Alec,” I said, laying my hand on his arm. “Perhaps we should—”
“Admit it’s fake?” Thad suggested, his voice higher and less confident than before.
Without taking his eyes off Thad, Alec said, “Does this look fake?”
And then he turned and kissed me.
He caught me off guard and I gasped against his lips, which were firm on mine.
At first, the kiss was chaste. Alec was making a point. But then he softened and drew me against his body, cupping the back of my head with one of his big hands.
I tilted my face, angling myself closer. I wanted more.
His tongue brushed along the seam of my lips and I shuddered and parted them for him. He delved inside, his tongue caressing mine. A groan tore from him and he pressed himself tighter against me.
Something stiff and insistent throbbed against my belly.
Oh, God. He was hard.
My best friend was kissing me, and he liked it so much that he’d gotten hard. Was this a dream?
I pretended not to notice, worried that drawing attention to the situation in his pants might stop this glorious, all-consuming kiss. He tasted of sugar-free soda. His fingertips dug into the soft flesh of my hips and I whimpered.
He released me. My eyes flew open and I gazed up into his. They were almost black, his pupils blown out. His breath came in ragged bursts.
I searched his face, wondering what he was thinking and how much of that had been real. It was too raw to have all been a show, wasn’t it?
A whistle pierced the air, and we leapt apart.
I looked around. Thad and Coral had gone, but we’d drawn quite an audience.
“Let’s go to our room,” I suggested, immediately blushing when I realized that he might think I was coming onto him. “Before there’s any more drama, I mean. Not for anything else. You know I—”
His expression eased into a smile. “I know, cocobug. Let’s get out of here. We’ve had enough excitement for one night.”
