Offside (The Barker Triplets 1)

Logan laughed. “Nah, she’s just being herself.” The woman was an undeniable flirt. He didn’t know how Jake put up with it.

Tracy snuggled closer to her fiancé and grinned. “Logan is asking after Billie-Jo.”

Jake’s smiled died. “She’s here?”

Tracy nodded, “of course she is,” she paused dramatically, “with Connor Forest.”

“She’s got her nerve,” Jake growled..

Jake’s eyes narrowed and he went from soft to hard in under two seconds. Logan knew Jake had been so pissed that a woman had infiltrated their league that he’d asked for his money back and drove out of town to play in another league, the next county over.

“Honey, don’t get your shorts in a knot.” Tracy pulled back and looked up at her fiancé. “It’s just hockey and if I don’t mind sayin’, Billie is probably the best player in your league.”

“It’s not my league anymore.” Jake disengaged himself from the little red devil at his side. “That’s not the point.”

“Well, then what is?” Logan asked softly. He was fed up and considering the fact that Longwood had cleared out of the arena before either he or Shane had had a chance to set him right on a few things, Logan was itching to do….something. He thought of the bruises on Billie’s legs, the gash beneath her arm—his brother’s hands all over her—and his gut roiled with anger.

“The point is, she’s a woman and it’s a men’s league. Last time I looked, she didn’t have a dick between her legs.”

“No,” Logan agreed. “Just a slap shot that will take your head off, or your,” he glanced down, “balls if she wanted to.”

Jake scowled. “Since when did you become Barker’s personal cheering squad? She spreading some around? Is that what this is about?”

Logan eyed Jake, a dangerous glint in his eye, his muscles bunching as he took a step forward. He’d known Billie would meet some resistance, but hadn’t thought the guys would get [i]this[i] bent out of shape over a female in the league.

Fortunately, Tracy stepped in and diffused the situation. “Jake, you’re being an asshole. If you don’t get rid of that sourpuss attitude it’s going to be a long, cold, winter…understand? Billie’s a good friend of mine and she needs this more than you know, for reasons you couldn’t even begin to understand. So give her a break and let’s just call this what it really is, because it sure as hell isn’t about the fact that she’s a woman.” She slammed a pointy finger into Jake’s chest. “And this isn’t about her invading some sacred, freaking night so don’t give me that shit either. You’re intimidated by the fact that she’s damn good and better than any of you.”

Jake scowled, but finished his beer in silence.

“And Logan?” Tracy, nodded behind him, blowing a long strand of hair off her face. “Billie’s right behind you.”

Chapter Fourteen

Billie spied Logan as soon as he entered the party room. Not that she was looking for him or anything. She just happened to be glancing toward the entrance and boom, there he was.

Keep telling yourself that.

She melted into the shadows that bordered the dance floor—halfway between the bar and the stage—and took just a few seconds to stare at him unobserved. As a young man he’d been beautiful, but that had been merely a preview of the man he would become. The promise she’d seen all those years ago had bloomed and he took her breath away.

The funny thing was, her stomach tumbled just like it used to when she was fourteen and seventeen…and eighteen. And her heart sped up like a freight train. And dammit, that was something she was going to have to work on. She wasn’t a teena

ger anymore. She was a woman. A fully grown woman. One who needed to keep her cool until she figured out exactly what was going on between the two of them.

If there was anything going on other than a mild flirtation.

[i]Uh, that kiss the other day wasn’t a mild flirtation[i].

Billie shook her head and bit her lip. She really needed to stop talking to herself.

Besides, there was no sense in letting her mind wander, running down that street—the one called hope—because as far as she could tell, Logan Forest didn’t do relationships. And if anything, Billie knew that casual wasn’t what she wanted. Not from him.

She pressed cold fingers to her hot cheeks. Not with anyone.

She watched Logan stride across the room and pause at the bar. She watched the way every female head in his immediate orbit turned and watched. And she couldn’t blame them. Apparently the only woman in New Waterford immune to his charm was her sister, Bobbi. And that was only because she was in love with Shane Gallagher, even though she’d deny it until the cows came home. Or until she married Gerald Dooley.

Billie, sighed and took a sip of her drink, wincing as the slick, sweet, concoction slid down her throat. She was usually more of a beer kind of girl, but Connor had brought her a glass earlier and she’d politely accepted it.

It wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t her.