BLAZE: Enemies to Lovers College Hockey Romance by Eddie Cleveland (ebook reader macos .txt) 📕

attention.  Everyone is listening. Her red-rimmed eyes dart from me to them and back again. She still doesn’t want them to know her dirty little secret. Me.

Her silence says more than her words ever could. “That’s what I thought.” I start to walk away.

“I’m sorry!” She blurts it out, and I stop. “I didn’t know you were helping Rookie out at Foxies. I assumed that it was your idea to go there again.”

“You assumed I didn’t change.”

She looks down, frowning and swallowing. “You’re right. But I was wrong. You did change. You’re a better teammate. You’re a better friend. You’re a better person,” she murmurs.

“Guys, just take it up to her room already!” Canuck makes a joke and laughter erupts in the room. It completely vanishes when I grab her and walk down the hall with Prissy to do exactly that. My lips cover hers in a slow, steady kiss. My arms surround her, and she presses into me like her body was designed for exactly that.

“Wait, I was just kidding. Are they a thing?” Canuck sounds confused.

“Called it,” Griz says.

“Okay, shit just got real,” Rookie chimes in.

A man wheeling a cart with dome-covered plates makes his way down the hall toward us.

“Let’s go to your room,” I whisper in Prissy’s ear. She bites her bottom lip and nods.

“Good night guys. Enjoy your meal.” I hold Prissy’s hand in mine and walk out with her.

“Yeah, you too!” Canuck calls back. The laughter from the room keeps fading as Prissy and I walk away.

29

Love Mute Button Blaze

Prissy pulls a keycard from her sweatpants pocket. My eyes slide over her ass slowly, the same way my tongue is going to when she gets that fucking door open. My cock is already throbbing, and I haven’t even touched her.

She’s so sexy. If it wasn’t for the frozen four final game tomorrow, and the fact that I’ve already got a rap sheet for public indecency, I would’ve taken her in the elevator. Just rip those pants and underwear right down her legs and fuck her against the wall.

Prissy tests my self-control, but it’s about more than how she makes my cock feel. If I lost her, it would’ve broken my heart a second time. I’m not ready to find labels for the way she ends the dull ache I’ve been carrying around in my chest for years. I don’t need to. I just know it’s different with her.

It’s how I miss her when she’s not around. How she is when other people aren’t around, and not just in bed.

Her hand hangs in the air, and concern crinkles her brows as she tries to read my face. “Are you okay?”

“Okay? Yeah, why?”

“You look deep in thought. Are you still upset about what I said at Foxies? We can talk about all this more. I didn’t really get to say everything in front of the guys.”

Prissy opens the door to her hotel room, and I shove my foot out to stop it from slamming in our faces.

“Nope.” I circle my arms around her, bear squeezing her until I’ve got her lifted off the floor. Prissy’s shoes fall off her dangling feet and I walk over them as I let the door slam behind us.

“No talking, unless it’s dirty.” I walk her over to the bed and toss her down. She flops back, laughing.

She gets up on her knees and it gives my cock a fucking pulse. She’s got me so hard I’m standing here worrying about having another involuntary cock sneeze. That better not happen again. Before Prissy, it’s not something I ever questioned let alone fucking worried about. She looks up at me with a smile I’d love to see wrapped around my cock.

“Take off everything,” I demand, narrowing my eyes.

Prissy’s gaze widens, but the flush of her cheeks tells me how turned on she is. She slowly slides her hands down across her belly until they cross over. She pulls up the fabric and peels off her shirt. Her hands reach around her back to the hooks on her bra when she stops and locks eyes with me.

“Need help?” I lift an eyebrow, but when I see the sadness, I get serious fast. “What’s wrong?”

Prissy’s lips tug down, and she drops her head. She sits back on her legs and the sadness seems to spread over her. “I just… I want you to know how sorry I am. I said some awful things last night. I really underestimated you.” Her eyes shine when she finally looks back up at me.

She did underestimate me, but not that long ago she would’ve been right. It feels like forever since Prissy went up on the stage at Foxies doing her Becky Ball-Buster routine and got our asses tossed out.

Not long ago I was that guy. And, I was that guy for a long fucking time.

“I was wrong. I know you’ve changed. I think I was worried it would hurt too much if I fully believed that you did and then it turned out not to be true. You really have changed into someone I think I…” she trails off.

She was going to say love.

I know it in my cells. In my bones. In my soul. I know she was going to say it because I feel it too. And I’m not ready to say it yet either. Even though it burns inside me and takes up my brain, I keep the words inside. Love is my favorite movie playing on a big screen that I’m watching on mute. The love mute button is stuck right now, but I’m still enjoying the show.

“Listen, I know it’s hard not to get jealous.” I smirk and climb onto the bed with her. “You see your man at the strip club, and you’re worried all the girls are gonna want a piece. I get it.” I try to lighten the mood with a bit of swagger. “But you got nothing to worry about. This big