Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33281 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33281 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Me: Don't shouty caps me.
Not My Future Husband: Do you like my name?
Me: You mean this one?
I take a quick screenshot of the change I made to his entry and send it to him.
Me: Love it. Very accurate.
Two seconds later, my phone rings.
I hesitate long enough for him to send another text.
Not My Future Husband: Answer the phone, Temptation.
I swipe to answer. "Don't tell me what to do, Atlas."
"You changed my name in your contacts."
"Who, me? I guess anyone can do anything when they own the phone."
He growls at me. And wow. I didn't know men actually did that in real life. Or that it'd sound so menacing and hot at the same time. Coming from him, it's both. A shiver works its way through me.
Crap. He's working hockey hunk voodoo on me.
I shake my head hard, trying to focus.
"We aren't getting married, Atlas. I don't even know you."
"You will," he says confidently. "I'll tell you anything you want to know."
"What did you do to get sent down from the NHL?"
"I sent a bag of dicks and a glitter bomb to the owner of the team."
"What?" I laugh in shock. "Are you serious?"
"As a heart attack."
"Why?"
"He nixed fighting a suspension for a teammate that never should have happened. It was a bad call, so I let him know how we felt about it. I guess he didn't feel like eating a bag of dicks that day."
I choke on laughter, clamping a hand over my mouth. "You're terrible."
"I'm honest, Temptation. It wasn't my first time pissing in his Cheerios. I'm not someone who goes along quietly. He didn't like that, so I got sent down."
"You are honest," I whisper.
"You talked to Hollie."
"I did." I take a deep breath. "I'm woman enough to admit when I'm wrong, and I was wrong. I'm sorry I called you an oversized manwhore."
"You didn't call me an oversized manwhore."
"I did in my head." I pause. "A lot. Like a lot."
He laughs quietly at the way I draw out the word. "I've been called worse."
"I'm also sorry I called you a big jerk and accused you of lying."
"That one you did say out loud." He chuckles and then sobers. "You believe me now?"
"Yes. Um, she told me what really happened."
"Care to share?"
It's not really my business to share her business, but I figure I owe him a few answers at this point, so I give him the Cliff Notes version. "She's in love with my brother. Things got spicy between them. She didn't know how to tell me."
"Ah, I see."
"Please don't get her fired," I plead quietly. "She only used your name because she was afraid to tell me the truth and your name was the first one that came to mind. She didn't know I was going to confront you. She didn't think I'd ever even meet you. Had she known, she never would have given me your name. She feels awful."
"I'm not interested in going after her job, Temptation. I'm interested in something else."
"W-what?"
"You," he growls.
"Atlas."
"I saw the way you looked at me before you remembered you were supposed to hate me, baby. You felt the same spark zinging through your body that had my cock ready to burst. I know you did."
I did feel it, but I don't tell him that. I don't say anything.
"I couldn't tell through that fucking parka you had on, but I'm guessing it had those little nipples hard and your panties soaked, didn't it?" he rasps.
I bite my lip, fighting the urge to admit the truth.
"Didn't it, Temptation?"
"Yes," I whisper. In the moments before I remembered why I couldn't like him, I felt an avalanche move through me, twisting me all up and putting me back together in some new order. My body ached for something I've never had…the same way it aches right now. I want this man in a way I've never wanted anything.
That scares me. It excites me. It frustrates and annoys me. I don't want to like him. I don't want to want him. I can't because what was true in the living room earlier is just as true now. My brother still owns the team he plays for. He's already gotten booted from the NHL by an irate owner. What happens if Jordan decides he wants him off the Falcons?
Many AHL players don't have the same temporary permanency that NHL players do. Once an NHL player is on a team, it takes a lot of jumping through hoops to move them before their contracts are up or the season ends. For an AHL player like Atlas, all it takes is a phone call, and they're on a plane, loaned to another team, even if it's the middle of a season.
I don't want Jordan to make that call for Atlas in some misguided attempt to protect me. I'm twenty-two, old enough to make my own choices. But our parents died when I was four, leaving Jordan to raise me. Convincing him to see me as a capable, functional adult instead of the little girl who needed him to slay the monsters under her bed is far easier said than done.