Kane (Face-Off 2)
“You will never let me live that down, will you?”
He grips the zipper of my jacket, our bodies so close we are almost touching, the heat from his lips brushing against mine as he bends down to my height. “No. Torturing you is part of the fun.”
I suck in a deep breath. My body is too aware of our close proximity. “Well, I’m not a toy you can play with.”
“Neither am I, but I have something else you can play with. Do you want an interview or not?”
He still hasn’t let go of the zipper. His fingers linger and almost graze my breasts. I can hardly formulate a single thought with Tyler invading my personal space, let alone come up with a decent retort. A few beats pass between us before I regain normal brain function and have enough oxygen circulating through my veins that I can pull myself together and act like a professional. After all, I need to save Sports Buzz from going down the drain.
“Of course, I want an interview, but will you tell me the truth? I want to know more about your personal life.”
“Why are you so interested in my personal life? There’s nothing to tell. Apart from the occasional model or puck bunny, I don’t do a whole lot outside of hockey. My entire life revolves around practice, training, and games. When I’m home, I watch Game of Thrones and Netflix just like everyone else. I go for runs in the park with Roxie. I am not as exciting as you may think.”
“I want to see where you live and where you grew up. To get a sense of what you’re like, I need to experience a day in the life of Tyler Kane.”
“You want to come to my house?” He hooks his arm around my back, and we walk t
o the door. “I hope you decide to wear that dress if you’re coming over because I sure as hell want to be the one to take it off.”
The sad part is I want to wear it for the same reason because Tyler is working magic between my legs with his sexy smile and modulated voice. Somehow, this weird as fuck conversation just took an odd turn, and over the course of an hour, I am starting to like Tyler Kane, which shocks the hell out of me.
“Not gonna happen,” I say, as he holds the door open for me, his hipbone digging into my stomach as we squeeze through the door together.
“We will see about that,” he challenges. “I have a few ways to change your mind.”
“Bring it, Kane,” I deadpan.
“Oh, it’s been brought, sweetheart. Just you wait and see.”
Chapter Six
TYLER
“What are you doing over there?” Donovan calls out to me from across the other side of the living room.
My house is so big this place makes some of the episodes of MTV Cribs look like a rowhouse in comparison. Because of the size, the vaulted ceilings and open concept floor plan make the room appear four times the size of the entire house where I grew up.
I look up from the laptop rested on my thighs. “Nothing. Just fucking off on the Internet.”
“Porn,” he says as if that is the only thing I do on my computer, which is half right. “You can’t watch the good shit without me.”
He gets up from the lounge chair closest to the fireplace and hops onto the couch, rustling the cushions as he plops his big ass down. With his sudden movements, Roxie looks up at me with those big doe eyes and jumps off her doggy bed to join us. She nuzzles next to me, poking me with her cold, wet puppy nose and licks my forearm.
I pat her back and kiss her on the head. “Good girl.”
“Hand it over,” Donovan says, holding out his palm, “or throw it up on the flat screen. Sharing is caring.”
Donovan is one mammoth of a man with a dark, grisly beard he plans to shave now that our season is over. Despite being well over six feet and pushing two twenty, his boulders for arms and tree trunks for legs make my eight-pack and muscular build seem average. And there is nothing ordinary about me.
While this exchange between us may be somewhat strange, it’s not all that weird. Donovan snatches the laptop from me, peeking up from the screen his eyebrows arched. “This isn’t porn. What the hell are you reading?”
“It’s a blog I heard about.”
“Long Sticks and Hard Shots.” He tilts his head back and laughs. “That’s a good one.” Scanning the page, his eyes glaze over, and his mouth opens wide as he continues to annoy me. “You’re reading articles about sex. Aww, man, I can’t wait to tell the guys about this.” Taking his cell phone from the pocket of his gray sweats, he types on the keypad. “Man, I need to tell Parker about this.”
“Don’t you fucking dare.” I steal the computer back from him, and he scoots closer to sneak another peek. “And it’s not like Parker will care now that he’s almost married to Coach.”
He nods. “Yeah, but what a score with that one.” Gripping the laptop with his bear hands, he tugs it away from me. “At least let me finish the article I was just reading. That shit was funny.”