cheating, and cheating is wrong.” Her deadpan delivery cracked him up, and he took off after her.
In five seconds he had her against the boards, pinning her in place. Heat rolled off her body, and that contagious laugh of hers echoed around the rink.
A little breathless, she tipped her face up. “So after sneaking into the rink in high school and showing off for the girls on your skates, what would you do next?”
“Tour of the dressing room,” he teased.
Her nose scrunched up. “Seriously? Wow,” she mocked, “Your romantic streak is a mile wide, Knight.”
He playfully bit down on her neck. “Cheaters don’t get to judge.” He released his hold, skating back to retrieve the puck and broken piece of his stick.
She was already off the ice, unlacing her skates, by the time he caught up, and the heartbreaking smile she sent his way did crazy things to his stomach.
Once his own skates were off, she held out a hand, and he slipped it into his own. He didn’t know what made her change her mind about the date with him, but he was damn glad she had.
“How did you convince Bernice to give up the date with me?”
“Seems our former mascot had a number of unpaid parking tickets and was close to losing her license. Would have been bad for business.” Hayley grinned.
“Your rebellious streak is still a mile wide, Stone.”
They walked a few laps around the arena before Jackson realized how good it felt to be there despite what had happened in the past. Maybe because the end of his professional hockey career wasn’t as important as remembering why he’d wanted to play to begin with, or maybe it had a lot to do with the woman next him. Maybe both.
They leaned against the rail that circled the lower section of seating. “I still would have gone for it,” he said quietly. “When you asked if I would have done things differently if I’d known my career would end too soon. I still would have gone for it.”
Hayley nodded.
“Already knew that, did you?”
“I had my suspicions.” She turned and sprinted down the hallway, in the direction of the stairs they’d used earlier to get down to the ice.
It was only fair to give her a slight head start before pursuing her. By the time he reached the bottom of the stairs, he caught a faint trace of her laughter. He stood opposite the home team’s locker room where the door hadn’t shut completely yet.
He pushed it open, spotting her shoes and pants in the middle of the floor immediately. There was nowhere to hide in the benched-off cubby area where players stored their gear during a game, so he moved deeper into the locker room, toward the showers.
Her T-shirt, sweater and bra lay on the tile floor, but he saw no sign of her.
“Hayley?”
Not surprisingly, she didn’t respond.
Hunting for her, he circled back to the main room. She stood in the middle of the floor, watching him. He walked toward her, arousal snaking down his spine and sinking straight between his legs. Hard and hot for her, he drew her close.
“Which one did you use?”
A half-naked woman with storm-cloud eyes and a killer smile was in his arms, and she wanted him to take a trip down memory lane? Christ, it was taking a lot of control not to devour every inch of her already. Talking could be a problem.
He indulged the need to touch her by running his hand up her arm. “Second one from the left.” He tipped his head to indicate which side of the room he was talking about.
“I should have remembered that.”
“Stalked the guys’ locker room, did you?”
“You’d be surprised where that mascot costume got me.” She ran a finger along his waist. “You’re overdressed.”
Jackson didn’t need to be told twice. His pants would have been around his ankles already if she weren’t taking her time lowering his zipper and pushing his jeans down. Really taking her time.
Hayley bent to get his pants and boxers down, then skimmed her hands up the back of his thighs. She didn’t move any quicker when she brought them around to his knees and up the inside of his thighs.
“There were never any girls in here with me. Not in any locker room.” He’d always been careful to keep hockey separate from his love life. And now he couldn’t imagine ever separating Hayley from that part of himself.
What would it have been like to come home from