Grinder (Seattle Sharks 1)

I stepped closer to him, my chest brushing against his. “You sure? Some of those hits looked intense.”

He sucked in a deep breath, his hand slipping around my hip and to the small of my back. The easy touch ignited sparks underneath my skin and my thighs heated up with the feel of his hard body so close.

“I’m solid.”

Yeah, you are. My heart raced, my realization earlier pushing me to cross the lines he’d drawn, and I moved my hand behind his neck. “Gage,” I said, my breath quickening. I’d watched the man play on the ice for hours and couldn’t stand the distance a second longer. I rose on my tiptoes, attempting to reach his lips, which he kept steady a breath away from mine.

“Bailey,” he growled and gently nudged me away from him.

I settled back on my feet and crossed my arms over my chest. I hadn’t mistaken the want in his eyes or the battle he raged with himself. He wanted me, too. I knew it without a doubt. It still hurt, though, a sharp sting in the chest I didn’t know how many more times I could soothe.

“I told you…we can’t---“

“Tell me something, Gage,” I cut him off. “Be honest, am I being too forward for you? I assumed with your track record this would be just another day for you.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose before glancing at Lettie still asleep in her car seat. “You know it isn’t that.”

I sighed. “Do you not…want me?”

His eyes snapped to mine and he advanced until I backed against the closed driver’s side door. He caged me with his arms. “Don’t think that. There is nothing I’d love more than to rip off those god forsaken tight pants you prance around the house in and worship you with my tongue until all you can do is ride my mouth.”

Yes, just yes.

My body responded to his words, begging me to do whatever necessary to make them the truth. I opened my mouth to speak, but he placed a finger over my lips. I lightly bit it, enjoying the way his eyes rolled back in his head.

“Then why—”

He jerked backward, putting a few feet between us. “You mean everything to me, Bailey. And to Lettie. What we have now would be ruined by what I would do to you. Because I’d fuck it up. That’s what I do. And the thought of hurting you like that, and crushing Lettie’s world at the same time?” He shook his head. “I won’t do it. Doesn’t matter how badly I want to hear my name on your lips, hear your breath in my ears, feel your body underneath me. The cost is too damn high.”

I licked my lips, his words all right and all wrong at the same time. “You won’t even try. We—” I nodded toward Lettie and then back to him—“we could be great. We fit, Gage. We always have.” I stepped toward him, pushing his wet hair off his forehead with my fingers. “If you’d just trust me…trust us—”

“I can’t.” He moved away from my touch. “Don’t you get it? You’re worth more to me than that. She’s worth more. And you both deserve better.”

Anger flushed my skin, a fight working up in me. I sharpened my gaze on him and shook my head. “That’s crap and you know it. You’re the best for her. She adores you, hell, I’m pretty sure she wants to be you. And me?” I sucked in a breath to steady my flaring nerves. “I think you’re worth every risk.”

He opened his mouth and closed it again before shrugging.

I rolled my eyes. Figured. A beast on the ice who feared no one, but dangle real love and passion before the man? Scared. I seethed all the way to the passenger side and slipped into my seat as quietly as my fuming body could handle.

Gage followed suit, sliding in behind the wheel and starting the car without a word. We drove in a charged silence and each second he didn’t speak I wanted to punch him, or kiss him, or maybe a wicked combination of both.

By the time I’d tucked Lettie into her bed, he was already in his bedroom, door firmly, and obviously closed.

Maybe it was Gage, or my own frustration, but for the first time since school ended, I searched for available internships at art galleries.

And in a quiet moment of desperation, where I wondered if he’d ever have the courage to open his heart to me...I applied.

Chapter 7

Gage

The lamp lit with seconds to go, and Warren threw his arms in the air in victory.

The final buzzer sounded, and within seconds, I was crushed by my teammates as they swarmed me on the ice.

Holy shit. We won.

“We shut those fuckers out!” Rory yelled.

“Hell yes!” Warren answered.

Every cell in my body hummed with energy, and I pulled out of the huddle to skate toward the ice. My girls were sitting right next to the glass, and Lettie met my hand with her own as I held it to the barrier. “My Daddy is a badass!” She yelled, her little blue eyes dancing with excitement.

Well, looked like I needed to talk to the guys about watching their fucking mouths around my baby girl.

“I love you, too, Lettie,” I said, unable to keep from grinning.

I looked up at Bailey and her thousand-watt smile blew me away. She was so beautiful with her cheeks flushed rosy from the chill in the rink, my little girl on her lap and my number on her back.

I tossed her a wink and skated back over to shake hands with the opposing team.

We’d started the season with a shut-out and I’d been on the starting line up.

Sorry, Rookie.

I patted the kid’s head as I passed him in the locker room a few minutes later. “You’re getting there, kid.”

“Yeah. Good game, McPherson,” he begrudgingly congratulated me.

“Damn skippy it was,” Warren said.

“And here we go,” Rory said, nodding toward the reporters that slipped into the locker room.

“McPherson!” the female reporter said, hopping over a pile of Rory’s gear with spiked heels.

Damn, couldn’t I even get out of my gear before they came in? Not like reporters in the locker room bothered other guys. Hell, Denison was over there with no pants on.

Then again, he didn’t have a kid at home, and the last thing I wanted Lettie to find on the net in ten years was a shot of her old man’s dick.

Pants on.

“Can I get a moment?” The blonde asked, waving her microphone with a smile.