Page 5

“She’s done, and we were just leaving,” Dex says, stepping in between us.

I glare at my brother. “I don’t want to leave.”

“Ivy, this is a bad idea,” Dex says, turning to me. “He’s a hockey player known for headlines. Don’t you think we have enough of that shit to contend with?”

A hockey player?

That’s why I didn’t recognize his name. I follow football since four of my brothers play, and I watch my other brother when he’s got a baseball game. My life is filled with sports as it is. I haven’t made the leap to hockey yet. But if this is what hockey players look like…

Maybe I should start.

“It’s my birthday,” I say to Dex. “I decide when I’m leaving.”

Cash raises a brow. “It’s your birthday?” When I nod, he says, “Let’s get this girl a drink!”

The people dancing on the floor around us cheer. Clearly they know who Cash Maddox is, and somehow I’ve been living under a rock or something because I should know who this man is.

He leans in toward me a little, which has the effect of my brother stepping back, and I get a whiff of his scent.

My brain that was short-circuiting before seems to explode at his proximity. The heat rolls off him, and the warmth wafts toward me. It’s too much heat for one man to bear, and it’s leaping off of him toward me, roping me in.

He smells fucking amazing. Like a literal fantasy. It’s all clean and masculine, and I’m too many drinks in to actually identify what the scent is, but goddamn. It’s something.

I want to leave his place tomorrow morning smelling like that.

I focus long enough to hear his words as they heat near my ear. “Happy birthday.”

I shiver at the feel of his breath too close to my neck.

Oh my God, I want his lips on my skin. Right there. My thighs press together to try to quell the ache between them, and my stomach is doing cartwheels so close to him.

Okay, fine.

I’m a little drunk.

One more won’t hurt, right?

Before I can thank him for his all-too-sexy birthday wish, my big, dumb overprotective brother steps in. “We’re leaving,” he grits out.

Ainsley links her arm through mine, and Dex is on my other side, his hand gripping my bicep as the two of them literally escort me out of the club. I think about kicking and screaming, but honestly, throwing a tantrum will only legitimize the way he’s treating me.

“Let go of me,” I say, ripping my arm from his grasp. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“I’m just looking out for you,” Dex says calmly.

“This is ridiculous. You’re not my father.” I huff out a sigh. “You have to let me live my life, Dex.”

“I’m your older brother, and I will always look out for you.”

“As if I needed the reminder.” I roll my eyes.

“That guy is close to the same age as me, Ivy,” he says. “Way too old for you, and he’s a fucking player. He’s an asshole. You deserve so much better than what he could ever possibly give you.”

“He’s too old for me, but Ainsley wasn’t too young for you?” I point out. “He’s a player and an asshole, as opposed to you before you found Ains?”

Dex clenches his jaw.

I purse my lips at him. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”