Scoring the Player Page 6

  As the time nears midnight, the realization hits me that almost everyone else in this room is paired up with a significant other or date for the night. I wouldn’t say I’m officially Brian’s date, but I also wouldn’t deny it, if asked. I’m curious to see if he tries to kiss me at midnight. As much as I try and push him away, I wouldn’t do it in return for a New Year’s Eve kiss.

  We are standing along the front row of seats in the suite. Brian is to my left and Becca and Scott are to my right. Other guys and their wives and girlfriends fill in the remaining area up front. The band ends a song with about thirty seconds to go before midnight. Some special graphics fill the stage, and screens show a huge countdown clock, as we count our way down to the new year.

  In my peripheral vision, I can see Becca turn into Scott’s arms, as they prepare to ring in the new year lip-locked. Brian tugs me closer to him, turning me so I’m facing him. He brings up one hand to cradle my cheek, slowly sliding his fingers into my hair, allowing him to tip my head back. He’s looking directly into my eyes, and I can feel it down to my soul.

  As the band and everyone in the arena counts down the last few seconds, Brian lowers his lips to mine and captures them, just as the crowd goes wild. Everyone that’s not being kissed starts cheering “Happy New Year,” breaking out into the traditional New Year’s song.

  Feeling Brian’s lips on mine for the first time has made my heartbeat go crazy. His lips are soft, yet commanding. He swipes his tongue along the seam of my lips, pulling a gasp from me. He takes advantage and sweeps his tongue into my mouth, deepening the kiss. I melt further into him, knowing that if he didn’t have his arm around me, my legs would have given out by now. After what feels like a lifetime, Brian breaks the kiss and pulls back, but only far enough so he can rest his forehead against mine.

  “Happy New Year, Kinley,” he whispers.

  “Happy New Year, Brian,” I whisper back.

  He pulls me into a hug, holding tightly on to me. He turns me in his arms, so my back is to his front, and we stay that way as the band starts back up and finishes out their concert.

  Once the concert ends, we gather around with Scott, Becca, their families, and a few of the others still in the suite. A few suggestions are thrown out to go grab a late-night bite to eat, but nothing comes of it, as almost everyone just wants to get home and into bed.

  On our way back to Brian’s condo, he picks us up some tacos. I can’t hold myself back and start scarfing down a taco in his truck, as soon as we pull out of the parking lot.

  “Hey, now, no getting that all over my truck,” he teases.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t,” I tease back, just as a clump of meat falls out the back side of my taco. Thankfully, it just drops onto the wrapper I have draped across my lap.

  We make it back to his place a few minutes later, and once inside, we eat our food fairly quickly.

  “Are you ready to head to bed, or do you want to watch a movie?” Brian asks me, as he gets up to throw away our trash.

  “I’m not feeling tired right this minute, but I guarantee that if you start a movie, I will be sound asleep within minutes. I think all it will take for me to sleep is some comfy clothes and a pillow. After flying all morning, and then the excitement of tonight, I’m going to crash hard. I hope you don’t have any early morning plans for me,” I tell him, as a yawn sneaks out.

  “I thought you weren’t tired.” He winks at me, having caught the yawn at the end.

  “It didn’t hit me until just now. Must be all the adrenaline finally leaving my body.”

  “Must be, and I don’t have any plans for tomorrow, so feel free to sleep in as late as you want. Maybe we can get together with Scott and Becca at some point.”

  “Sounds like a plan. I’ll send Becca a text to see what their plans are, and will let you know in the morning what she says.” I stand to head to the guest room, but stop and turn back to Brian. “Thank you again for picking me up and offering up your guest room. I really appreciate it.”

  Brian takes the few steps, closing the gap between the two of us. He reaches out his left hand to cup my cheek, his right resting on my hip. “You’re welcome here anytime,” he says tenderly.

  I stand still, staring into his eyes. I’m fighting my body’s urge to lift up and kiss him, and can tell it’s taking all his self-control not to drop his lips to mine. I still don’t know why I’m fighting this pull between us so much. The only thing I keep reminding myself is that there is no way we could make something work between us long-term, and I’m not looking for another one-night stand, or for a friend with benefits. I want a stable, committed relationship, and how in the hell would we do that with thousands of miles between us almost all the time?

  I finally break our connection, taking a small step back. “Good night, Brian,” I rasp out.

  “Good night, Kinley. You know where to find me if you need anything.”

  I quickly duck into the guest room, shutting the door behind me. I sink against the door and take a few deep breaths, willing my heart to slow down. After a few deep breaths, I grab my sleep shorts and tank from my bag, and head to the en suite bathroom to get ready for bed. After changing, brushing my teeth, and removing my makeup, I make my way to the bed and crawl in. I usually read before I fall asleep, but as soon as my head hits the pillow, I can no longer keep my eyes open and sleep overtakes my body.

  Chapter Nine

  Brian

  Kissing Kinley for the first time was everything I expected and more. The moment my lips touched hers, something shifted within me. Everything felt right, like this was where I was meant to be. I knew this was the woman who I was meant to be with, have kids with, and grow old with. I felt all that with just one kiss, and it almost knocked me on my ass. Now, I need to convince her to take a leap of faith and jump with me.

  I know she isn’t ready for a relationship beyond our friendship, so I will continue to bide my time until I can wear her down and convince her that a romantic relationship between the two of us is going to work, and work well.

  After Kinley retreated to my guest room, I sat back on the couch, replaying the entire evening in my mind. The only thing I would change from tonight would have been to convince her to join me in my bed versus sleeping in separate rooms. I just want to hold her again in my arms and breathe in her sweet smell, as I did when I stayed at her place all those months ago.

  Tiredness finally washes over me, and I head for my room. I stop as I pass the door to the room Kinley is in, and listen for a few moments, to see if I can hear any sign that she’s still awake, so I could possibly convince her to join me. Not hearing any movement, I continue down to my room, making sure to leave the door ajar, in case Kinley needs me. I quickly get ready for bed, and then crawl between the sheets, succumbing to sleep within moments.

  I wake the next morning to the smell of fresh coffee and something cooking. After stretching, I get out of bed and relieve myself in the bathroom, then pull on a pair of basketball shorts. I make my way out to the living room and can see Kinley in my kitchen, making what looks to be a gourmet breakfast.

  “Morning,” I rasp, my voice still scratchy from sleep.

  Kinley spins around, looking just as beautiful as ever. She’s got on some sleep shorts and a tank that leave nothing to the imagination, and her beautiful honey-colored hair is pulled up into a messy knot on the top of her head. “Good morning, sleepyhead,” she teases me.

  Looking at the clock, I realize it’s damn near noon.

  “Sorry, I guess I was more tired than I thought. Have you been up long?”

  “Only about a half hour or so; I was tired as well,” she says, turning back to the stove to mess with whatever she’s got cooking.

  “What’cha making?” I ask, as I walk into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee.

  “I hope you don’t mind that I raided your fridge and freezer, but I’ve got baked French toast in the oven, and am finishing up some bacon and sausage.”

  �
�You can raid my kitchen anytime you want, if it means I get to wake up to a spread like that,” I tell her, as I come up behind her, placing one hand on her hip and leaning down, so I can kiss along her neck. With her hair pulled up, it’s on display and I just can’t help myself.

  Kinley squirms, shrugging her shoulders to try and block my access to her neck, but her giggles tell me she’s enjoying it. “Stop!” she giggles louder. “That tickles!” she shrieks, turning in my arms so she’s facing me.

  She places her hands flat on my pecs, intending to try and shove me away from her, but is suddenly distracted by my bare chest. Stumbling on her words, she finally spits out, “Be-behave yourself, mister,” and turns back around to turn off the burner and remove the pan from the stove. I grudgingly step away from her, just to get out of her way and avoid being burned. I grab a couple plates from my cabinet, along with some silverware, and take it all to the table.

  I head back into the kitchen to grab my coffee, and snag Kinley’s, and carry it to the table as well. She brings out a plate that’s piled high with bacon and breakfast sausage that smells divine. She returns a few moments later, with a baking dish full of the baked French toast. My stomach rumbles; it smells so good.

  I pile my plate with the amazing food she has cooked for us, and nearly fall out of my chair after the first bite.

  “Holy shit, this is amazing,” I tell her, as I dig in for another bite.

  “It’s one of my specialties. I love to cook, and breakfast is one of my favorites. I don’t make big breakfasts like this just for myself, as it would take me forever to eat it all. But when I saw that you had all the ingredients, I figured you wouldn’t mind if I fed you.”

  “If this is how you cook, you can cook for me anytime.” I wink at her.

  We fall into a comfortable silence as we dig in to our food, finishing up a little while later.

  “Did you have any plans for today?” I ask Kinley, as I clear the table.

  “Nothing yet. I was going to text Becca and see what they are up to. Do you have practice today?”

  “Nope, we are off today. Back to the grind tomorrow. We have a game the night after. Would you like to come? You can use one of my tickets.”

  “Maybe. Let me talk to Becca and see what her plans are. I’m sure she’s going, and if so, I will probably just tag along with her. I’m going to text her now and see what they have going on.”

  While Kinley texts with Becca, I set out to clean up the dishes and kitchen. Once I’m finished, I head to my room to take a quick shower and get dressed.

  I come out of my room, and find Kinley curled up on my couch, reading something that has her grinning.

  “Reading something good?”

  “Oh, yeah, just my latest smutty book,” Kinley replies, smiling up at me.

  “Smutty, huh. Like 50 Shades smutty?”

  “No, not kinky. Smutty.”

  “Ah,” I murmur, having no clue what the difference is, but will believe what she’s telling me. “Did you hear back from Becca about any plans?”

  “They are open to anything, and invited both of us over to their place. They still have family in town, so they’ll need to stay close to home until they leave tomorrow.”

  “We can head over to their place then whenever you want,” I say, as I take a seat on the opposite end of the couch from her.

  “Let me just go put on some socks and grab my purse.”

  Kinley heads into her room and returns moments later, ready to go.

  My condo building isn’t very far from Scott’s, so we make it there in under ten minutes. Scott’s place is packed, as his and Becca’s families are all over at his place. Kinley makes herself at home amongst everyone, as she knows them all very well, having grown up with them. I’ve met Scott’s family before, and met Becca’s when they arrived before the holidays.

  We visit with everyone for a while before the girls break off and start talking wedding plans for Scott and Becca. It sounds like they already decided to get married in the summer, back in Alaska, which doesn’t surprise me at all.

  Throughout the day, even when I’m deep in conversation with the guys, I’m always aware of where Kinley is. It’s just this natural pull I have to her; I want to know where she is every moment I’m around her, and I can’t stop it. Just like when I’m near her, I want to be touching her, holding her close. I can only hope, one day, she’ll feel the same.

  Dinnertime rolls around, and the women have put the men in charge, so we go the easy route and order a shit ton of pizzas and wings from a local pizza place.

  While we’re waiting on the food to be delivered, the women update us on what they have already planned out for the wedding. Damn, they move fast. With both Becca and Scott’s moms here, as well as Kinley, they decided they want to head out to a dress shop in the morning, to start looking at dress ideas. They also ran a list of locations past Scott and the dads to get their input.

  While they all discuss wedding details, I talk hockey shop with Scott and Becca’s brothers. They both played growing up, but it never was a passion for them, like it was for Scott and me.

  Our food finally arrives, and everyone heads toward the kitchen to load up. Everyone lets Katie, Scott’s sister-in-law, get the kids’ plates ready first, before we all converge in the kitchen. I’m starving, as I haven’t eaten since Kinley’s big breakfast.

  After dinner is finished and cleaned up, Nathan and Katie, and both Scott and Becca’s parents, call it a night and take off for the hotel. This leaves me, Kinley, Scott, Becca, Becca’s brother Ben, and his fiancée, Ashley. We decide to play a game, and the girls pick Battle of the Sexes.

  As they set up the game, the guys grab drinks for everyone. The girls start out strong, kicking our asses, but the tables quickly turn. We are all having a blast, just enjoying our time together, playing and giving each other shit.

  We’ve been playing for a while, when I notice Kinley start to yawn. She’s trying to hide how tired she is, but I know she’s exhausted. We were all out late last night, and even though she slept in this morning, she still traveled all day yesterday and then hit the ground running.

  “I’m ready to call it a night, guys,” I say, as we finish another round.

  “Me, too,” Becca says on a yawn. “Plus, us girls have an early morning tomorrow, with trying to get into the dress shop before everyone heads back home.”

  “I’m ready to call it a night as well,” Kinley chimes in.

  We all help clean up quickly, and Kinley and I head back to my place. Before we leave, she makes plans for Becca to pick her up in the morning, so they can spend the day together.

  We make it back to my place, and Kinley goes straight to her room as I head to mine. I change into some basketball shorts and stroll back out to the living room. I flip on SportsCenter to see what happened in the league today with the few games that are played on New Year’s Day.

  Kinley comes out a few minutes later, looking sexy as all get out. She’s got on another pair of her “barely there” sleep shorts and a tank. Her hair is pulled up on top of her head and her makeup has been scrubbed from her face. It's moments like this when her natural beauty hits me in the gut, and causes my heartbeat to speed up. It also makes my dick stand up at attention, which I do my best to hide.

  Kinley heads into the kitchen, coming back out with a glass of water. She takes a seat next to me, but not close enough for my liking.

  “God, your TV is huge,” she comments.

  “It’s a projection screen. What can I say? I like watching sports, and it was the biggest I could get for this living room.”

  “Such a bachelor,” she teases me.

  “Yep, no point in denying it.” I wink at her. I reach over and grab her hand, linking our fingers together and tugging on her hand, silently telling her to move closer. She gives me a sly look before moving over, and I put my arm around her shoulders, pulling her into my side as we both sit back on the couch.

  We’ve only bee
n sitting together for a few minutes when Kinley breaks our connection and stands. “I’m going to head to bed. I’m exhausted. Will I see you in the morning before I leave?”

  “What time is Becca picking you up?”

  “At nine.”

  “Yep, I will be up. Did you talk to her today about the game tomorrow night?”

  “Yes, she was going to get me a pass to sit with her in the suite she watches from with the rest of the girls.”

  “Let me know if she can’t. I can get you one. I’m glad you will be there at my game,” I tell her honestly.

  “I’m excited to see you all play in person.”

  “Maybe you’ll be my lucky charm, and I’ll score a goal for you,” I say, winking at her.

  “Such a playboy,” she teases back.

  Chapter Ten

  Kinley

  I saunter off to Brian’s guest room, adding a little extra sway to my hips as I walk away from him. He has been laying on the charm pretty thick since I’ve been here, and I can still feel his lips against mine from that kiss the other night. I’ve been a little surprised he hasn’t tried again since that midnight kiss. I know I keep throwing up walls and blocking every advance he makes, and it’s getting harder and harder to do so. But I just don’t know how we would make anything work between us, and it’s killing me. I want to give in to him so fucking bad. I want to feel his hands and lips all over my body. But how do I let go of the doubt and let him in?

  I get ready for bed, pondering what I’m going to do. Brian has become one of my best friends over the past few months, and I don’t want to lose that by jumping into his bed for a roll between the sheets – no matter how satisfying he promises it to be.

  I toss and turn in bed, with so many thoughts going through my mind, and I see almost every hour on the clock. I even got up once to drink a cup of warmed milk, hoping that would help me fall asleep.