I pulled into the players’ lot and parked my truck, mentally steeling myself for spending the next couple of hours with Pepper. It’d been a week since I’d nearly fucked everything up, and I’d managed to keep my hands and my mouth to myself, which was becoming more difficult day by day.

I pulled my bag from the cab and headed toward the rink just as Connor pulled in.

“You skipped out on us again last night,” he said as he climbed out of his car.

“Had better things to do,” I answered with a shrug.

“Does that better thing happen to have blonde hair?”

“I’m just watching out for her like her dad asked.” Even I could hear the excuse my voice like I needed an explanation for watching my fourth Marvel movie since meeting Pepper.

“Uh huh,”  he gave me the fake thumbs-up sign, letting me know what he thought my bullshit excuse. “You’re playing with fire.”

“Leave it alone,” I warned him. “I’m not doing anything I wasn’t explicitly asked to do.”

“Change of subject. Halloween party costumes?”

“Are you kidding me?” I wasn’t twelve anymore.

“Dude. We have to go. It’s for charity.”

“Fine. You pick. Nothing lame. Pregnant nuns are not an option.”

“Excellent.”

We quieted as we approached the door, which was bordered by a line of fans behind a steel barrier. As we got closer they all held out pucks sticks pictures—anything they wanted signed. As usual, I couldn’t let myself walk by a kid and not take a second to sign whatever he had. Conner joined in, and we made our way down the small gathering.

“What’s your name?” I asked a small brown-haired boy.

“Colin,” he replied. “You’re Eric Gentry.” He had that tone of awe in his voice that small boys always reserved for their heroes. It never ceased to amaze me that I become someone kids looked up to.

“I sure am,” I said as I took the puck and silver Sharpie he’d brought with him, quickly scrolling my name and number across the black surface. “You play?”

“Goalie.” The kid nodded slowly, his eyes wide.

I smiled, nodding as I handed the puck back to him. “Best position there is.”  I ruffled the kid’s hair and moved on to the next one, and then the next, and the next until I’d signed everything every child brought.

“Gentry,” a voice called out of the crowd. “Any chance the rumors are true about the Sharks getting a trade this year?”

Fucking paparazzi.

“Not the place, gentlemen,” I said over the top of the kids and their waiting parents.

“Is that a yes?” Another one called out.

I ignored him, waved goodbye to the kids and headed toward the doors, where a security guard kept the entrance clear of non-Sharks.

“Can you comment on the nepotistic hiring of Pepper Harris?” A woman asked.

I stopped in my tracks.

“Shit,” Conner sighed.

“I’m sorry?” I asked the woman who’d spoken up. Nepotistic? Sure her dad was the coach, but she was a fucking MIT graduate and more than qualified as an analyst.

“Pepper Harris. She’s the coach’s daughter?” A corner of her mouth tilted in a smirk. She knew she’d hit a nerve.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and glanced back to see Connor shake his head.

He was right. I couldn’t snap on a paparazzi. I’d never done so, and starting now wasn’t an option.

“I guess I’ll just ask her,” she said as Pepper came our way, focused completely on her iPad.

More than a few cameras popped out at her.

“Pepper! What do you say about allegations that your father didn’t use fair hiring practices when it came to you?” One asked.

“Pepper! Are you and Mason Hall getting back together now that you’re on the same coast?”

“You were spotted leaving the rink with Mason a few days ago, care to comment on the state of your relationship?”

Questions fired at her fast, and the paps were so aggressive that parents pulled their kids out of the way.

Pepper’s eyes shot up, wide in surprise as she took in the scene, clutching her iPad to her chest.

I moved quickly, putting myself between her and the paparazzi, and pulling her under my arm.

“Come on,” I said gently, walking her past the melee.

We made it through the door to the rink, and the guard shut it behind the three of us.

“Damn,” Conner muttered. “Vultures.”

“The team is doing well this year,” Pepper said. “It’s only going to get worse.” She looked up at me and smiled. It was soft, personal, and hit me in the gut like a wrecking ball. “Thank you. I’d almost forgotten how horrid they can be. I’m usually better than that, but they caught me off-guard, I guess. They left me alone while I was in college.”

“Don’t worry about it.” My voice sounded gruff even to myself.

We stood there, locked onto each other as electricity snapped between us, tethered us together. Fuck, I wanted her. Not just in the watch-Marvel-movies-with-me way. No, I wanted her under me, curves in my hands, gasps in my ear, taste in my mouth.

Connor cleared his throat.

Shit.

My arm was still around her shoulder. I let it fall away and stepped back, putting some much-needed distance between us. Damn, I’d been around her for a minute or two and was right back to the edge of my control.

Her cheeks tinged pink and she glanced from Connor back to me. “Right. Well, I have the stats from Saturday’s game if you want to go over them after practice today?”

In her office. Alone. While she smelled like fucking strawberries and cream. Not a good idea.

“Sure. I’ll bring Ryan with me. I’m sure he’ll want the numbers, too.” Throwing my goalie coach into the mix would definitely keep my dick in check.

“Oh, yeah, of course. Great idea. See you then!” She flashed a smile and ran off, her ponytail swinging behind her.

Damn, her ass was made to be grabbed by both hands and—

“Damn, dude,” Conner chastised.

“What?” I pried my eyes from Pepper’s retreating figure.

“What? Seriously? You pretty much eye-fucked each other. In the rink. Where anyone could see. Are you trying to get fired?”

“Nothing’s going on,” I argued, readjusting my bag on my shoulder and heading toward the locker room.

“Look, it’s none of my business. But whatever is going on? You’d better keep it quiet. I mean dead quiet.”

“Well, since nothing is going on, that should be easy,” I said over my shoulder as I walked into the locker room.

“Yeah, okay,” he said sarcastically but dropped the subject.

I wasn’t going to cross the line with Pepper, and when it came to a Shark keeping his mouth shut, I wasn’t the one to be worried about.

Crosby was.

“I’m Maverick,” I said as we walked into Club Thirty-Five on Halloween. The Sharks had rented the nightclub for the evening, and fan tickets had gone for over $500 a pop.

Of course, we weren’t exactly in disguise with the costumes Connor had picked.

“Fuck you, I’m Maverick,” Connor answered, tugging on his aviator glasses.

“If anything, you’re Goose.”

“Are you serious? Look at our hair.” He pointed to his dark brown shag of a hair-do.

“Point is? I save your ass time and again. I’m Maverick.” We passed the bar, which was packed to the brim with people ordering drinks.

“Everyone is in the VIP lounge,” Lukas shouted above the music as he pointed at a text message on his phone.

I nodded to acknowledge him and we made our way through the throng of people on the dance floor, pausing to take pictures when a few fans asked.

Lukas tapped me on the shoulder. “Isn’t that your girl?” he asked, pointing a few gyrating couples away.

My stomach dropped as I saw her pale blonde hair, her curves swaying to the—

Damn, and Connor thinks I’m playing with fire.

“Nope,” I answered, more relieved that I should have been. “That’s Ivy.”

“How can you tell them apart?”

“Just can.” I shrugged. It wasn’t just that Pepper’s hair was tipped with pink. She had a softer smile, and her hips had a more generous curve that made my palms itch to get ahold of her.

Sure, Ivy was beautiful, but she was missing that magnetic element that drew me to Pepper and turned me into a drooling pile of primal need. There was no better way to say it: she just wasn’t Pepper.

We passed the crowd and headed up the spiral staircase as my cell phone buzzed inside my flight suit. I slipped it free and swiped my thumb over the screen.

MOM: I seem to have received a large deposit in our account.

ERIC: Oh?

I responded as we climbed to the second floor.

MOM: Eric. Gentry.

ERIC: Get the combine fixed. Tell dad it was an unexpected refund from something.

MOM: Like what? A House?

A smile broke across my face, imagining the way she no doubt had her eyebrow arched in my general direction right now.

“Ahhh, they’re here!” I heard someone say, and looked up to see that we’d entered the VIP lounge.

ERIC: Whatever you have to. Just please let me take care of you. You’ve always taken care of me.

MOM: That’s my job.

ERIC: It’s mine now, too. Gotta run. Love you, Mom.

MOM: Love you. And Eric...thank you.

I didn’t answer her because I never knew how to. She didn’t need to thank me. Any son would do the same for the parents who sacrificed everything for him. I put my phone away and turned my attention to—

Holy fucking shit.

Pepper cut between the dozen or so people sitting on couches and gave me a smile that went straight to my dick. Or maybe it was her skin-tight leathers that put every curve she had on display.

“Hey!” she said with a little bounce in her step. “It’s about time you showed up. Do you get it?” She pivoted, giving me a mouth-watering view of her ass.

I needed to gouge out the eyes of every guy here. Immediately.

It was a good thing I was wearing this flight suit because I was definitely going to need a little room south of the belt.

“Black Widow,” I answered, then cleared my throat.

“You paid attention!” She smacked me in the chest.

“Hard not to in that outfit,” Lukas muttered.

I gave him a glare that had him dropping his aviators down.

“Red?” I asked, motioning to her flaming locks.

“Temporary,” she answered. “You?”

“I’m Maverick.”

“I’m Maverick.”

Connor and I spoke simultaneously.

Her eyes flickered between us. “Oh, are you?”

“Seriously?” I asked Connor.

“Bro. Why would I pick out Top Gun costumes and then assign myself Goose?” He looked at me like I’d grown a second head.

“I’m Ice Man,” Lukas said, fully comfortable in his role.

“That, you are,” Pepper laughed. “Come on, let’s get you three some drinks.”

I grabbed a beer from the bartender in the corner, and we sat with our teammates on a long, sectional couch.

Two shots later, I wasn’t drunk, but I sure wasn’t feeling any pain. Pepper moved closer, sliding under my arm, which stretched across the back of the couch.

Scratch that. My cock was in plenty of pain.

Did she have to smell so good?

“Want to go dance?” she asked.

“No,” I answered instantly, thinking of all the gyrating bodies on the floor. The last thing I needed was her moving to the beat, swaying her body with mine. I already rode a knife edge of control when it came to her, and that would push me right fucking over.

“Not a dancer?”

“Not tonight,” I answered, trying to keep my voice soft so she didn’t feel rejected. Hell yes, I wanted to dance with her. But I needed to stay on the team, which meant keeping my dick to myself.

“Oh come on, have you two fucked yet, or what?” Ivy asked, sitting across from us with her leg thrown over Crosby’s.

Pepper spit out her amaretto sour, spraying it to fine mist all over the carpet.

I let my eyebrows go north to let Ivy know what I thought of her question.

“Really, Ivy?” Pepper laughed.

“What? You’re together twenty-four-seven. It’s bound to happen. Look at you.” She motioned to where Pepper sat tucked against my side.

“It’s possible for a guy and a girl to be friends, you know,” Pepper fired back.

“Sure, but not when you look like you two,” she answered.

“And how is that?”

“You’re hot,” I admitted before my brain could stop my mouth.

Pepper’s eyes swung to mine. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Oh shit. I could drown in those eyes. They were like a truth serum, yanking shit out of my mouth I had no business saying.

“You are, too.” Her hand lightly raked down my trimmed beard.

My hand stayed firmly on the couch, gripping the leather like my life depended on it so I didn’t grab her leather.

“Yeah, that’s gonna happen,” Crosby threw his hat in the ring.

“Oh, it’s imminent,” Ivy agreed.

Pepper cut her eyes back at her sister. “We’re mature adults. We can just be friends.”

“Sure,” Ivy said as Crosby ran his hand up her leg. “Until you cross a line. Friendship is great, but when there’s the promise of sex, biology is kicking in the door.”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “That’s not true.”

Then she had both of her hands on my face and her lips on mine.

Before I could react, they were gone, leaving mine blistered and hungry.

What the fuck?

“See?” Pepper said, dropping her hands. “Line crossed. Shockingly, we’re not ripping each other’s clothes off or going at it on the couch, because we have something known as control. Oh, and common sense, we have that, too.”

She’d kissed me.

Had that even qualified as a kiss? I hadn’t even gotten to taste her. What the hell was this emotion coursing through me? I felt...cheated.

“I didn’t even feel anything!” Pepper exclaimed.

Annnnnd that was the final fucking straw.

“If you’ll excuse me,” I bit out as I stood. Scanning the room, I saw a door marked, “Private Viewing Area,” and damn-near ran to get out of there before I showed her what feeling it would be.

Shutting the door behind me, I found a small room that overlooked the dance floor, wide enough only for a couch and a half-dozen feet before the windows I knew were blacked out from the outside.

I folded my arms across my chest and drew air through my lungs in measured counts, mentally listing the reasons I couldn’t walk back in there and kiss the shit out of her.

My job was on the line.

Girls like Pepper didn’t hook up, and guys like me didn’t make time commitments they couldn’t keep during the season.

I really liked my job.

She deserved someone who could devote a hundred percent of his attention to her.

The door opened and shut behind me.

“I’m fine, Connor,” I said.

“Not Connor,” Pepper answered.

Fuck.

“Are you mad at me?” she asked softly, walking over to stand at the opposite end of the couch from where I stood.

I clenched my teeth, shaking my head as I watched the couples dancing beneath us. If I so much as looked at her, it wasn’t going to end well.

“Come on, Eric. All I did was prove that we don’t really have chemistry, so implying that we’d end up—”

“What?” I snapped, finally looking at her.

Those blue eyes flew wide. “I mean, I didn’t really feel anything during that kiss…”

The tiny thread of control I’d clung to evaporated. I stalked her, letting my intentions show on my face with every step I took in her direction.

“That was not a kiss.”

“It wasn’t?” She retreated until her back hit the wall.

“No.” I took her face in my hands. “This is.”

My mouth took hers in a deep, sipping kiss. I stroked my tongue across the seam of her lips, asking for entrance, and she parted.

I claimed, my tongue sweeping inside her mouth. Fuck, she tasted sweet, with a hint of the amaretto she’d been sipping on. I captured her gasp as I explored the sensitive ridge behind her teeth and growled when she kissed me back, swirling her tongue around mine.

Tilting her head, I kissed her deeper, longer, until I knew every curve of her mouth intimately. Until she arched, pressing her breasts against my chest, and her hands gripped the fabric at my shoulders.

I never wanted to stop.

Which was why I did. I broke the kiss and moved back, putting a few feet of distance between us. Hell, half the club wouldn’t be far enough.

“Feel that?” I asked, my breathing embarrassingly irregular for a world-class athlete. Next time they wanted to test my heart, they didn’t need to put me on a treadmill—just wire me up and put me in a room with Pepper.

Her fingers grazed her lips and she nodded slowly.

“Good. Now that we’re on the same page—”

She all-but jumped the distance between us, and I caught her out of reflex. Her legs wrapped around my waist as her mouth settled over mine.

This time it was her tongue exploring, her hands in my hair, her soft lips caressing mine over and over.

Her ass filled my hands and I squeezed, groaning at how fucking perfect she felt. Thank God this was a leather cat-suit, or I would have had her naked in two seconds flat. As sexy as it looked, it was also the comic-book version of a chastity belt. There was almost no way to get to her.

I backed up, sinking down to the couch as she straddled me, rocking her hips over my erection.

“Fuck,” I hissed at the intense burst of pleasure.

“You feel something, too,” she teased, rolling her hips over me again and letting loose a sweet little moan as I thrust against her like we were high school kids.

I gripped her hair and pulled gently so she met my eyes.

“You. I feel you.” I flexed my hand on her ass and yanked her back to my mouth.

Then I kissed her like I’d fantasized about since the second I saw her. I took her mouth with intention, letting myself go, thrusting my tongue in a rhythm that let her know kissing wasn’t the only thing on my mind.

I wanted to be inside her, stroking her, filling her, hearing what she sounded like as I brought her to orgasm.

My cock twitched in agreement.

She whimpered when I set my lips to her neck, licking and sucking my way to her collarbone and down the low V of leather.

I pulled her zipper down and kissed the swell of her breast.

“You’re fucking perfect. So soft,” I said against her skin.

“More,” she pled, arching against me.

I heard the click of the door handle and reacted with the speed that won me an NHL contract, spinning Pepper’s tiny frame so she lay over my lap horizontally, out of sight from anyone in the doorway.

The door opened. “Hey, Coach wants us to go mingle since people paid and all,” Connor said.

“I’ll be down in a couple minutes,” I said, hoping it was enough to get him out of here before he came any closer.

“Sounds good. Hey, I thought Pepper was in here with you.”

Her body tensed, and I stroked a hand over her ass.

I nodded toward the door at the other end of the room. “She left a few minutes ago.”

“Okay, cool. I’ll see you down there.”

The door clicked shut, and we both sighed in relief.

“Whoa. That was…” She rolled off me, coming to her feet and zipping her costume in a manner that would have made Natasha Romanov proud. “You know, I’m just going to meet you down there.”

I nodded, clenching my teeth. “Yeah, I need a moment.”

Her eyes dropped to my dick, and her cheeks tinged pink. “I can see that. I mean, not that I didn’t feel it a few minutes ago. You know what I mean. I’m going.” She started toward the door.

“Pepper, we should talk about this.”

Fuck talking. Put your mouth on her.

“Right, we should. Later.” She escaped.

Fuck, what had I done? Ivy had been right. I’d crossed that line and now that I’d had a taste, I wanted it all. I wanted Pepper under me, with her legs around my hips, making that moaning sound as I slid deep inside her and fucked us both to blissful oblivion.

Okay, not helping the dick situation.

I took a few minutes to get my body under enough control not to embarrass myself and headed downstairs.

Pepper was already gone.