Free Tales of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong Page B

there. Though I bet getting sent to the penalty box for it is a new experience.”
    He grinned. “It is. Nice in a way, though, to actually be called on my transgressions once in a while.”
    He pulled off his helmet and a glove and ran his fingers through his hair. Then he leaned against the boards and looked at me, still grinning like a little boy, face alight, and I knew I wasn’t just falling for Kristof Nast. I’d fallen. Hard. And as he looked at me, I felt my cheeks heat and his smile widened.
    One look at his face and I knew I hadn’t been wrong about why he invited me here. One look at mine, and he knew he hadn’t been wrong to invite me.
    I should have run screaming from the arena. Well, excused myself and fled at least. I’d spent the last few months saying it was okay to fall for Kristof because there was no danger of him reciprocating. But now there was. And I didn’t care, because when it came down to it, there was only one question to be answered. Did I trust him enough to take a chance? The answer was yes. I trusted Kristof more than I’d ever trusted anyone in my life.
    We stood there for a minute, just looking at each other, until I cleared my throat and said, “Your teammates will be looking for you.”
    He leaned farther over the board and I thought he was going to reach for me, but he just said, “There’s an empty changing room at the end of the hall. It’s locked, but I’m sure you can fix that.”
    “I can.”
    I paced around the empty changing room. What if he didn’t make the first move? I’d never made the first move. I had no problem with the general concept, but I’ve never chased a guy in my life—my ego couldn’t stand the rejection.
    I was supposed to be this tough, knows-what-she-wants, gets-what-she-wants girl. Maybe he’d expect me to make a move. How? What if I was wrong? I’d let Kristof see me make a fool of myself more than once, and I was fine with that. But this was different. Screw this up and—
    The door opened. Kristof stood there, only his skates off, the hockey uniform now paired with a pair of thousand-dollar Italian loafers. At any other time, I would have laughed, but now I just stood there, staring at him.
    “Is this still business?” he said.
    I shook my head. “It hasn’t been business for a long time.”
    He crossed the room in three strides and swept me up in a kiss that sent any last doubts flying. A deep, light-my-insides-on-fire kind of kiss—one I returned like I’d never returned a kiss in my life, arms going around his neck, body pressing against his, legs wrapping around him as he pressed me into the wall.
    We kept kissing, gasping for quick breaths, neither pulling back long enough to breathe properly, let alone say a word. He managed to get my T-shirt off with only a split-second break. I didn’t have nearly as much luck with his hockey uniform. With a little help, I got his shirt off, then the pads, and by then we were on the floor, still kissing, grappling to get out of our clothes as fast as we could. We were down to the bare essentials when he suddenly pulled back.
    “—need—better,” he said between pants.
    “Sorry, but I don’t get better than this.”
    He laughed, breath still heaving. “I mean, you deserve better. No changing-room floors. A hotel. I’ll take you somewhere. Anywhere.”
    “Huh?”
    He disentangled himself and backed up. “Where do you want to go? Someplace special. You deserve special.”
    “I do?”
    His gaze met mine. “You do.”
    I stretched out on the floor and considered it. “Bali, then. Or Monaco. No idea where either one is, but they sound special.”
    He laughed again. “Both then. Bali first. This weekend. The best hotel I can find.”
    “That’s very sweet.” I toyed with the front clasp on my bra. “But theweekend’s kind of far away, don’t you think?” I slipped out of my bra. “Three days. Four if we can’t get away until Saturday.” I tugged my panties down over my hips.