Killian (On the Line 1)

I grunted with realization. “Give it to her good, brother.”

He said nothing, which was unlike him. Strange. Liam was like me. He’d never had it bad for a woman.

I left the locker room, planning to find a way to run into Sidney. It didn’t take any effort since she was waiting in the tunnel, talking to a reporter who had a microphone in her face.

She was so pretty, but none of her striking features compared to her confidence. It was written on her face and in the way she held her shoulders. In her wide, perfect smile.

Women who felt empowered by the way I looked at them? That was fucking awesome. But this one, who was empowered all on her own? She was irresistible.

I stood to the side, watching as she finished the interview. And then my night got about a hundred times better when she looked at me, smiled, and walked over.

“Hey,” I said, grinning at her.

Her glistening green eyes sent a charge of arousal through my body. I loved to find a willing woman after games, especially when we won. And tonight there was only one woman I wanted.

“You’ve gotta come out with us,” I said. “Have a drink with us to celebrate.”

And then come home with me and get fucked senseless.

She wanted it, too. I could see it in her slightly pink cheeks and the way she bit her lip nervously.

“I don’t belong there,” she said. “That’s for the team. But thank you for the invite.”

“Of course you belong there.”

She slid on her dark wool coat and buttoned it. “Not really. Even though I’m wearing a skirt, I’m still a suit.”

I took a step closer to her and lowered my voice so only she could hear. “I want you there. Come with me.”

She took a step back, her eyes widening. “I can’t. You’re positively dangerous in that suit, Killian. The uniform was enough, but now . . . I need to go home.”

Her refusal sparked my temper. We were two consenting adults who wanted each other, and I couldn’t figure out why she was being so damn stubborn.

“Walk with me,” I said, leading the way to a vacant hallway. “You’ve got a boyfriend, don’t you?” My bitter tone was laced with anger.

“No.”

“Then what’s the fucking problem, Sid?” I eased closer and this time she didn’t move back.

“If you don’t know why it’s a problem, then you’re not as smart as I’ve given you credit for.”

“We don’t have to make our personal lives public. I don’t kiss and tell. Do you?”

She shook her head and narrowed her eyes at me. “You think I can get in your car, go to a bar and have a drink and then leave with you and no one will talk? Are you kidding me?”

“Fine,” I said, shrugging. “I’ll take someone else home later. It’s all the same to me.”

“Fuck you, Killian.”

“Not tonight, baby.”

With an icy glare, she turned and left. My high from the win had dissolved. Now I was just pissed off.

I walked to my Jeep and got in, hoping the drive to the bar would mellow me. Instead I kept a death grip on the steering wheel the whole way and was even more exasperated by the time I parked. All I could see was Sid. The way she’d looked at me in that last second before I’d left the locker room had lit a fire in me that burned through the entire game. Seeing her button her long, conservative coat made me want to unbutton it and slide my hands beneath it.

She was smart and sexy and really fucking stubborn. But she was also full of integrity, and damned if that didn’t make me like her even more.

Cosmos, our team’s favorite post-game bar, was jammed when I walked in.

“Killian Bosch!” someone yelled. “Fuck yeah, man!”

I raised my hand in a half-hearted wave and made my way to the table in back where the guys were starting to gather.

Bennett elbowed me as soon as I walked up. “The fuck was that with you and Sidney in the hallway after the game? She’s got no right being pissed off about that game.”

I took the shot from his hand and tipped it back. It was Jack, and it burned going down. Bennett raised his brows at me.

“I needed that more than you did,” I said. “It was nothing. We just rub each other the wrong way, me and her.”

“I’d rub her any way she let me.” His smirk made me want to shove him, but I grunted and pulled out my wallet.

“Will you get me another shot and a new one for you?”

“Sure,” he said, not taking the money I offered.

I was about to sit down when arms encircled my neck.

“Amazing game, Killian,” a female voice squealed. Her heavy powder scent reminded me of a stripper.