Bennett (On the Line 2)

“No.” I glared at him.

He stepped back, looking bewildered. “It’s not . . . and it’s due in June?”

“Yes.”

“Jesus, you didn’t wait long after we broke up, did you?”

That was an understatement, but I wasn’t about to tell him how long I’d waited. It was none of his damn business.

“Are you sure?” he asked in a low tone. “I mean, it could be mine.”

I shook my head. “My doctor pinpointed the conception, and it had been three weeks since you and I had been together.”

He gave me a disgusted look. “Three weeks? Christ, Charlotte . . . whore around much?”

My urge to slap him was so strong my hand shook. “Don’t you ever speak to me like that again,” I said, my calm belying the storm of anger inside me.

“So you’re with this guy now? I haven’t even dated anyone else, and you’ve found a guy and gotten knocked up already?”

“Turns out I’ve got a thing for big dicks,” I said, shrugging.

“This is not a joke. I loved you.”

“Past tense, Riley. I’ve moved on and you should, too.”

His gaze was hard and cold. “Clearly,” he said, brushing past me to leave the room.

I sighed deeply as I went out to the common area of the office. Sara gave me a sympathetic look. I smiled at her and headed for my office, stopping when a Flyers sweater caught my attention in a photo on the Sports page of the local paper that was lying on the coffee table in our client waiting area.

It was Bennett and Killian, both smiling and holding their sticks in the air on the ice after a home game win. Seeing Bennett’s million-dollar smile made me warm all over. He’d done a lot more than just scratch my itch for sex the other night. I’d felt just like I remembered feeling our first night together—sexy. Seeing a big, powerful man like him worked up over me was a heady feeling.

He’d stayed for breakfast the morning after our night together, kissed me good-bye, and left. I’d thought of him constantly since. My bedsheets had his leather and cologne smell now, and I wouldn’t be washing them anytime soon.

I folded the Sports section in half and took it into my office with me. As soon as I logged back on to my computer, there was an email waiting from Riley. I rolled my eyes and opened it.

Charlotte,

I’m sorry. I didn’t mean the things I said to you in the conference room. That was my hurt talking more than anything. Please forgive me and give me another chance to talk to you about this.

Riley

I closed the message and got to work on my research. There was nothing else for me to talk to Riley about. He just wanted to interrogate me about who I’d been with and when, and that was none of his business.

I’d been working for a few minutes when I glanced over at the Sports section I’d tossed on my desk. The photo wasn’t showing, so I flipped the paper over and put it next to my mouse pad.

The boring case-law research had to happen. Might as well look at Bennett while I did it.

Bennett

The locker room was loud today. Spirits were high because we’d won our last game and had just finished a grueling practice. I’d showered and was about to go to a buffet with Killian and Liam, where I’d eat more than my money’s worth.

“The bed was knocking against the wall ’til three this morning,” my teammate Tony Karpas said to Shuck. “Did she manage to walk out of our apartment this morning or did you have to carry her?”

Shuck turned a dark shade of crimson. He was a super nice, non-womanizing guy who didn’t get a lot of women in the sack.

“Shucked her pretty good, eh?” another teammate said, laughing.

“Did you shuck her in the ass?” someone else yelled.