Page 48 of Zero Pucks Given
For the first time since our date at Carlo’s, I understood howintimidating his presence must be on the ice. I didn’t envy the opponents who had to face off against him every game, staring through his helmet visor into the green eyes of a warrior.
Clearing my throat, I turned back to the camera. “And that’s all there is to it! You look so much better than before.”
He turned to smile at me. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”
It was the line we had agreed on before the video, but it felt so much more real hearing him say it out loud while our faces were mere inches apart.
Slowly, he raised his hand to my face. I stood still, thinking it was for the benefit of the video, as he cupped my cheek. He held it there a moment, staring deeply into my eyes like he was trying to convey a lifetime of thoughts and emotions in a single gaze.
And then he leaned in and kissed me.
I don’t know why I was expecting it, but I wasn’t caught by surprise the way I was at the Spurs game. It was like I’d been hoping,prayingfor this kiss since I invited him back here. I leaned into him, kissing him back with growing ferocity. His hand slid into my hair the way it had at the game, tightening in a fist as he demanded I keep kissing him.
Is this really happening?
A moan vibrated out of his throat, and I responded with one of my own. His free hand danced along my hip, pulling me closer, claiming my body. I deepened the kiss in response, our tongues swirling together and sending electric jolts of pleasure up and down my spine.
Grayson surged upward with need, as if I needed any other proof that he was enjoying this as much as I was. His lips were heady and addictive as he devoured me with kisses. He pulled me closer, and I threw a leg over his body to straddle him in the chair, not caring that the video was still rolling.
His hard-on was thick underneath me, and my body melted against his while our mouths churned hungrily against each other.
This was so much more than the kiss at the Spurs game, but it was only the beginning. The start of something wonderful, and filthy, and what we had both been secretly wanting since we shouted at each other on our first date.
His fingers tightened possessively in my hair, and in that moment I was totally, hopelessly,his.
But then his fist yanked my head back. He stared up into my eyes with a strange mixture of lust and confusion.
“I have to go.”
Grayson pushed to his feet, grabbed his phone off the table, and strode out of my apartment without another word.
I blinked, glanced at the camera, then said, “What the hell?”
24
Grayson
“What the hell am I doing?” I cursed to myself.
The driver glanced at me in the rear-view mirror. “What was that, sir?”
“Nothing,” I replied. “Just talking to myself.”
“Of course, sir.”
I stared out the window as we drove across town. This was supposed to be a marketing event. One of three dates required by my contract—an obligation. Sure, Josie didn’t piss me off the way she had on our first date, but it’s not like we had anything special. We’d just grown used to being around each other.
Then why did I kiss her?
I’d seen a lot of her makeup videos. There was something soothing about watching her apply makeup to herself, but it wasfarmore relaxing being the one sitting in the chair. The way she moved the brush over my face with care, holding my chin in place, was weirdly intimate. Somewhere between getting a massage and a haircut. Throw in the faint scent of her perfume, and the way her breath felt on my skin, and then the smile she turned on me at the end of the video, and the memory of the Spurs game…
Fuck. I couldn’tnotkiss her.
I knew it was a mistake. The playoffs were starting soon, and I would need to eliminate every single distraction in my life. Now was the worst possible time to get involved with someone—even if I was interested in such a thing with Josie.
Which I wasn’t.
But holy fucking hell, I was still reeling from the kiss. It was like a full-body high, a tingling sensation in my muscles and bones. I had the urge to get out of the car and jog the rest of the way home, if only to work off some of this energy possessing my body.
