Page 34 of Slapshot Summer
“I didn’t mean it like that.I only meant that a no-fuss, no-muss hookup is exactly what you needed, and you were brave to put yourself out there.You’ve been rewarded.Fuck his brains out all week—and let him fuck yours—then bye-bye, no strings, have a nice life.”
Anna’s words zapped any remnants of Lexi’s giddiness and soured her topsy-turvy stomach.A weeklong fling.That’s all this was and would ever be.But that’s what Lexi had been after, wasn’t it?Somehow she hadn’t thought of saying good-bye at the end of it—maybe because she was still busy saying hello, getting to know Josh, and liking everything he revealed under that gruff veneer of his.And there was so much yet to discover.
“Lex?You there?”
“Um, yeah.”
“Uh-oh.Don’t tell me your little heartstrings are getting attached.”
“No, of course not!”Lexi’s voice pitched a little too high.
“Uh-huh,” Anna countered with an overabundance of sarcasm.Then she exhaled.“You be careful.A guy who looks like he does and who makes his living as a hockey player has way more experience than you.Don’t let him burrow into your heart, Lex.He’ll only break it.”
Lexi bristled at her best friend’s warning tone.Yes, Anna loved her and wanted the best for her, but Lexi didn’t need any lectures about Josh.Never mind that Anna had pegged Conrad for the asshole he was from the very beginning.Lexi was entering into this … this affair or whatever it was with eyes wide open.Some fun, some companionship, and yes, some mind-blowing sex with a handsome, talented lover who would become nothing more.She could safeguard herselfandher heart until she said good-bye at the end of the week.Yes, she absolutely could.
“Anna, room service is here.I’ve got to run,” Lexi lied.She loathedthe idea of fibbing to her bestie, but she also didn’t want to take part in this conversation anymore.
They hung up, and Lexi dropped her butt on the edge of the bed, her good feels utterly flattened.How could she have plummeted from such an incredible high to the dumpster in a few heartbeats?
When a knock came, Lexi jumped up and whipped open the door, expecting a server loaded down with a tray of food.Instead, Josh filled the frame, a backpack in one hand and a cockeyed smile on his handsome face.He draped his free arm casually against the jamb, and her heart lifted to a dizzying height.His hair was a mass of unruly locks left over from their sexcapades, and she longed to plow her fingers through the thick tangle.God, she was in so much trouble.
“Hey,” he said in that sultry Josh voice that made her knees melt.
Stepping back, she opened the door to let him through, and he brushed past, pecking her lips and closing the door behind him.He dropped his backpack and pulled her in for one of those deep, mind-bending kisses that had her fisting his shirt to pull him closer—the kind of kisses that made her want to rip off his clothes and run her hands over every hard inch of his perfect body.
Breaking the kiss, he rested his forehead against hers.“Miss me?”
Shehadmissed him … and it had been less than an hour.That truth did not bode well for the end of the week when they would go their separate ways.
“It’s only a fling.Let yourself go and just enjoy,”her inner voice—which sounded a lot like Anna’s—urged.
Theysatacrossfromone another at a round glass table on the lanai, lunch spread out before them.Josh filled her wineglass with a crisp pinot grigio he’d selected, then filled his own.
He wore black gym shorts and a soft sage T-shirt that somehow brought out the silver in his eyes.Sipping her wine, she watched as he chowed down, though her own appetite flailed.
Pausing, he pointed at her plate.“Everything okay?I thought you were starving.”
“I was.I got distracted, and my stomach forgot.”
“Fuel up, Alexis Grace Campbell.You’re gonna need it.”He winked at her.
Her core pulsed with desire.“For what, exactly?”she teased.
“I’ll show you later.”
“Why not show me now?”
Unmistakable lust flamed in his eyes.“I’m waiting on an email I need to take care of.After that, I’m all yours to use any and every way you want.”
“An email?”It was none of her business, but she couldn’t contain her curiosity.Besides, it distracted her from thinking about getting her greedy hands on him.
Placing his utensils on the table, he swiped his mouth with his napkin, tossed it on the table, and sat back.“My agent called.I’m getting an offer.”
“You don’t seem too happy about it.”
“It’s not the one I want.”He probably read the puzzled expression on her face because he continued.“It’s from the KHL—that’s the Russian league.”
Her throat tightened.“You mean you might move to R-Russia?”
