Hooking - Kristine Allen Page 0,45
breath. “Okay, okay. Come on. Put your knives away, I’ll make you coffee.”
I followed him inside, and he popped a K-cup in the machine but filled an insulated mug instead of a regular mug and handed it over. He pushed the sugar bowl toward me and pulled creamer from the fridge.
Raising a brow, I doctored my coffee and sampled it to see if I had it right. A sigh slipped from me at the heaven that washed over my tongue.
“If you don’t stop that, you’re going to ruin my plans,” he said as he glanced at the clock on the stove. An evil smirk curled my lips as I slowly licked the coffee off my top one. Victor wandered into the kitchen and wove around my legs, meowing.
Alex ignored his feline as he growled and gently grabbed my elbow. “Let’s go.”
As I settled into his car, I sighed. “Ohhh, this is nice,” I said as I set the cup in the holder and stroked the leather. “This looks expensive.”
He shrugged as he backed out of the driveway. “It wasn’t too bad.”
“Will you let me drive it sometime?” I was kidding, of course. He didn’t look at me because he was concentrating on the early morning traffic.
“Sure. When?”
I almost choked on the coffee I was sipping on. “Uh, I was joking, but whenever. Except I can’t drive a manual transmission.”
He laughed. “Then why’d you ask to drive it?” A quick glance my way showed the twinkle in his gorgeous eyes.
“I was kidding?” I wrinkled my nose and shrugged.
“I could teach you,” he offered, and my mouth dropped open.
“You’d teach me to drive in this? God, I’d be terrified I’d wreck it!”
He shook his head with a smile. “It’s only a car. Besides, I’d take you to an empty parking lot somewhere until you got the basics down.”
“You’re serious!” I said in amazement as I turned in the seat to get a better look at his expression. He glanced my way again before returning his attention to the road with a sexy smile.
“Of course I am.”
I was surprised when he pulled up to the practice arena. They didn’t always practice at the main stadium, and sometimes skated at the smaller rink that was incredibly close to one of the apartments I’d narrowed my search down to. It was actually within walking distance.
“What are we doing here?” I asked in confusion.
“You ever skated before?”
“On the ice?” I asked with huge eyes and my mouth hanging open.
He chuckled in that ruggedly sexy way of his. “Yeah, babe, on the ice.”
“Uhh, no.”
“Then come on. I’m going to teach you.”
“Uh-uh! No way!” I argued. He got out of the car, reached in the back seat, walked around to my side, and opened the door. One arm on the roof of the car and one on top of the door, he leaned toward me. A duffle bag was slung over his shoulder.
“Sydney? Get out of the car or I’m going to pull your pants down right here and have breakfast.”
“You wouldn’t!” I narrowed my eyes at him. Then I had to shake away the image it evoked, because hell if it wasn’t tempting.
His answer was to raise his brow and smirk. “Sweet Jesus, you would,” I muttered as I jumped up, forcing him to stand upright. Still he kept me caged between his arms.
“Don’t worry. No one will be here. Everyone is out resting and shit before we fly out tonight.” He gave me a half smile.
“You had a morning skate yesterday, the game last night, a flight tonight, then a morning skate tomorrow, with a game tomorrow night, and you want to skate now?” I asked, incredulous.
“Babe, if I could fuck in skates I would.” Once he said it, he looked thoughtful.
“No! Absolutely not!” My outburst had him laughing like it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard.
He took my hand in his and tugged me away from the car so he could close the door, then dragged my protesting self into the arena. We stopped at the counter where a young guy was sharpening skates. When he looked up, he grinned.
“Hey, Alex. What are you doing here?”
“Gonna get a little ice time. Need some skates for her. Mmm, and a helmet. Think you can hook us up?”
After figuring out what size I wore, he pulled out a pair of skates that looked like they were kids’ skates compared to Alex’s that he was lacing up as he sat on the bench. He patted the spot