Trouble : Boston Bolts Hockey

Track 3

SAME OLD LOVE

For the first time in maybe ever, I woke up questioning my decision to sneak out of a woman’s bed. I never do sleepovers, but we’re staying in the same house, so there was a moment where I considered it last night. But when I looked over at her sleeping form, studying the way her chest rose and fell, how her lashes fluttered as she dreamt, I got lost for far too long.

That’s all it took to have me hightailing it out of her room last night. I could get lost in a woman like her, and getting lost in people is a bad idea.

The grump I find sitting in the kitchen, a cup of coffee in hand and a spread of donuts on the table in front of him, is proof of that.

“Surprised you’re still here,” I grumble, moving through the kitchen. “Figured you’d have left early for work after last night.”

“What are you talking about?”

Is that how he’s going to play this? He’s going to pretend he didn’t stand in the shadows and watch as Mel gave me the best goddamn blowjob of my life? That he didn’t eat up the way she bounced on my cock? That he didn’t disappear to his bedroom so quickly I can only imagine what he did as soon as the door shut?

Fuck. The idea alone makes my dick swell.

“Nothing,” I say, heading for the coffeepot. When I’m out of his line of sight, I discreetly adjust myself. If he doesn’t want to talk about it, then we won’t talk about it. He’s a man of few words. It shouldn’t surprise me, and it shouldn’t piss me off.

Even so, it does.

“If you’re talking about how you claimed her as your girlfriend last night, then yeah, we do need to talk about that. It was reckless and stupid.”

Teeth gritted, I swallow back a curse. “It was just one reporter.”

“One reporter who probably blasted it to every news outlet in the country, but only after he sold the photos to TMZ or some other cockroach entity that will now be staked out, waiting to catch a glimpse of Calina.”

My lip quirks, and then I can’t hold it in. I laugh. “Did you just give Melina and me a celebrity couple name?”

Declan palms his face. “Fuck, I don’t know.” Dragging his hand down, he shakes his head, and for an instant, I swear he’s smiling. “I think I did.”

“Dude,” I grumble.

He blinks, his face a stony mask once again. “This is serious. You fucked her. Now you’re going to head back to Boston and what—be seen with another woman tonight?”

With a shrug, I snag the milk from the fridge. “Or a man.”

He glares as I pour a splash into my coffee.

I set the jug down and hold up my hand. “I’m just kidding. No, I’ve got a game tonight. And I can keep it in my pants for a few days.”

He grunts. “How chivalrous of you.”

Sighing, I lean against the counter and cross one ankle over the other. As I sip from my mug, savoring the first hit of caffeine, I take him in. He’s in a pair of gray sweats and a long-sleeve white T-shirt that says Bristol Fire Department in red. His BFD baseball cap makes him look more relaxed than I’ve seen him in years.

“I’m serious,” I say. “I like the girl. Maybe I’ll come back and fuck her again.”

I bring my coffee cup to my lips, studying him over the rim.

He picks up his coffee, seemingly ignoring my comment. “Whatever you do, remember she’s got a stalker. Real life problems. She doesn’t need you bringing drama or attention here.”

Chest tightening with a hint of hurt, I lift my chin. “Sounds like you don’t want me to come back while she’s here.”

Declan shifts in his chair and angles toward me. “You know that’s not what I’m saying.”

“Then what are you saying?”

The question comes from the curvy brunette who walks in wearing nothing but an oversized T-shirt I found in a drawer in her room. Fuck. The sight of her in Declan’s clothes is a bigger turn-on than I could have imagined. Especially when paired with her messy hair, makeup-free face, and bare legs covered in a smattering of freckles. Need instantly heats my blood. What I’d do to drop to my knees right now, push up her shirt, and explore just how high those freckles go.

At the table, Declan is gawking at her, his mouth ajar. I’d feel bad that he’s so tongue-tied if he wasn’t being such a judgmental ass right now.

He yanks his cap off his head and runs a hand through his hair. “I got donuts. Do you want a coffee?”

To Mel’s credit, she doesn’t back down. With her hand on her hip, she glares at him. “No, I’d rather you fill me in on your house rules. If you’re uncomfortable with what happened last night, I can check into a hotel.”

Declan glances at me, his eyes pleading for me to step in and help. But I won’t give him the out he so desperately needs. Finally someone is calling him on his mixed signals.

And fuck, was he giving them last night. One minute, he’s laser focused on the way I’m touching Mel, smiling even, and the next, he disappears from the bar. Then, as I was breaking out the tequila, he came out of his room. He could have joined us, but he made a choice to stand in the shadows. To watch. He knew I knew he was there. We made eye contact the moment she circled my cock with those perfect lips of hers. And he licked his.

He wanted to watch. Hell, I have a feeling he wanted more than that. Maybe he doesn’t understand the desire or the reason behind it. And maybe he doesn’t intend to ever act on it. That’s fine. I made my peace with that years ago. But this? The way he’s forcing us to try to figure out what he wants when his actions say one thing and his lips say another? It’s a mind fuck. It’d be so much easier if he’d just come out and tell us his rules.

He gets up and pulls a mug from the cabinet. Silently, he fills it with coffee and sets it on the table. Once he’s settled in his seat again, he motions to the empty spot where he set the mug. “You’re welcome to stay here for as long as you wish. There are no rules. I just want you to be safe.”

Mel crosses her arms over her chest, the move making the T-shirt ride higher on her thighs. “And I wasn’t being safe last night because I had sex with your best friend?”

Damn, this girl is impressive. The way she holds her ground and stares him down is making me hard as steel.

Once again, Declan side-eyes me. I know the instant he sees how turned on I am, because for a beat, he lowers his focus, and his chest rises with a heavy breath. He forces his gaze back up to my face and holds eye contact as he says, “It’s not about that. It’s about what happens after. Cade isn’t a relationship guy.”

Smiling, I lean back against the fridge, ready to tell them that she may just be worth changing for, but before I can open my mouth, she once again steals the air from the room.

“Good thing I was just looking for some fun, then, huh?” With a sharp breath in, she clutches the back of the chair and eyes me. “Listen, I know this probably isn’t ideal for you, but if you wouldn’t mind keeping up with the relationship story for a little longer, I actually think it would be helpful. That way, people will assume I’m in Boston with you, and my ex⁠—”

The pain etched on her face as she turns away has my heart sinking and my grip on my coffee cup tightening.

She clears her throat. “The person who’s been stalking me won’t think to look for me here.”

Up until ten seconds ago, the armor she wore, the strength she showed, was so damn natural, so smooth. Now, though, her mask has slipped. Her knuckles are white from squeezing the chair so tight, and her eyes are swimming with fear. Whoever did this to her, whoever made her feel that she couldn’t be comfortable in her own skin, will pay.

Determined to ease her worries, I stride toward her, grip her by the neck, and gently angle her so that she can only see me. “I’d be a lucky bastard to date you—real or fake. You’ve got me for as long as you need, hear me?”

Those green eyes mist over, and she swallows thickly beneath my thumb. “Thank you,” she whispers.

I lean in close and press my lips against hers. Dammit, I wish I could swallow her pain.

When we pull apart, her lips tip up just a little. “I’m heading over to Lake’s, and then we’re going to grab lunch.” She bites her lip, and that hint of a smile turns wicked. “I’ve gotta shower first, though.”

With one more kiss to her lips, I release my hold on her neck and step back. “Okay.”

Mel turns toward Declan, whose presence I completely tuned out during that exchange. “And for the record, you could have joined in last night.”

My heart stutters, and I’m left blinking at her as she snatches a donut from the box on the table, shoots me a wink, and backs out of the kitchen. “So fucking good,” she mumbles around her first bite. Laughing, she points her donut at me. “Shower sex. Now.”

At the table, Declan shakes his head, grumbling, “Not a word out of you.”

With a shrug, I stride across the kitchen. At the doorway, I spin to face him. “I’m going to take a shower. You heard what she said; you could join.”

With one hand, I pull off my shirt and grin. The bastard won’t follow, but fuck if I didn’t wish he would.