Page 9 of Against The Boards

My eyes tracked over him. He was wearing a red flannel button-down shirt that clung tight against his broad chest. He had rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, showing off his toned brown forearms.

Oh my God, those forearms! Why did this infuriating man have to be so hot?

“Can I help you?” I asked, with a hint of venom in my voice.

He held his hands up in surrender. “Just saying hi.”

“Mmmhmm.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“No,” I growled.

I looked down at the floor and tried not to stare at his forearms or at how nice his beard looked. I loved a nicely groomed beard on a man; it was a huge turn-on. Benny’s beard looked so good against his dark complexion. I would have appreciated his hotness more if he wasn’t such a jerk face to me.

I was having a hard time focusing on getting him to leave me alone when he crossed his forearms over his broad chest. “Rox?”

I glared. “What the fuck do you want?”

“Tell the truth. Why do you really hate me?” he asked.

“Because you’re an asshole.”

He smirked and stepped closer to me, caging me in against the wall. He leaned down and bent his lips to my ear. “Then why are you looking at me like you want to ride my dick?”

A shiver ran down my spine at his breath purring in my ear. Then my brain processed what he had said.

Wait...what the fuck?

I pushed against his chest. “That’s why! You’re such a dick!”

He smirked at me, and his brown eyes walked down my body. “Come on, Rox. Tell the truth. You love how I get you all riled up. You know you want to—”

I cut him off by throwing my cup of water right in his face and storming off.

I’d admit it was an immature thing to do, but it was my knee-jerk reaction. Sometimes I was a volatile asshole, and he seemed to bring it out in me. Tristan being the person who shoots the puck first and hopes it goes into the net? Yeah, I was exactly the same way. It was great on the ice deking past a defenseman, but not so much in real life when your emotions got the better of you.

As I headed for the door, I heard my brother calling me. He grabbed my wrist to keep me from leaving. “Roxie, what did he say to you?”

“He said I looked like I wanted to ride his dick!” I seethed.

Tristan tried not to laugh, but he couldn’t help himself. “I’m sorry. I made him do shots. He’s pretty drunk.”

“That’s not an excuse!”

Tristan sighed and pulled something out of his wallet. “Here.” He pressed the object into my palm, and I realized it was a key. “I fly out early tomorrow, so you’ll need a key.”

I shoved it back at him. “I’m going to get a hotel until I find a place. Or maybe Dinah and Noah will take pity on me and let me stay on their couch.”

“You can’t do that. Just play nice with Benny, okay? For my sake?”

“You’re not gonna persuade me to stay tonight?”

He shook his head but pressed the key back into my hand. “Nah, you’re in a shitty mood.”

“Bye, hoe!”

“Bye, slut!”