Hockey Hookup: One Night with My Brother's Best Friend

Liam

I pride myself on having good peripheral vision. On the ice, I can spot a defenseman creeping up from my blind spot before he even makes a move.

But on the campus quad, standing under the bright September sun next to my best friend, I was completely blindsided.

"Ava, this is my best friend and roommate, Liam Carter," Chase said, clapping a heavy hand on my shoulder. "Liam, this is my little sister."

My heart gave a violent, erratic thud against my ribs.

The girl standing in front of me was wearing a modest pastel cardigan, her hair swept up in a neat claw clip, looking every bit the innocent, sweet freshman Chase had spent the last three years bragging about.

But I knew better.

I knew that under that cardigan, her skin was unbelievably soft. I knew that when she lost her temper, her big brown eyes turned into literal fire. And I definitely knew she wasn't as quiet as Chase claimed, considering the last time I had seen her, she was screaming "You stole my virginity!" at the top of her lungs before slamming my hotel door so hard the frame rattled.

Chase's little sister. I was dead. I was a dead man.

"Nice to finally meet you, Ava," I murmured, forcing my lips into a slow, wicked grin just to mask the absolute panic clawing at my throat. "Your brother talks about you all the time."

Ava turned a shade of crimson that rivaled a fire engine. Her jaw clenched so tight I thought her teeth might crack, but she held my gaze, her eyes promising murder.

"Nice to meet you, Liam," she said, her voice dripping with enough fake sweetness to cause cavities.

"Alright, let's get these boxes up to her dorm," Chase said, completely oblivious to the silent nuclear war happening right in front of him. "Liam, grab that blue tote, will ya?"

"Actually," Ava intervened quickly, her voice sharp. "Chase, can you go ahead? I... I think I dropped my student ID near the parking lot. I need to go look for it."

"Want me to come with?" Chase asked.

"No!" she snapped, a bit too fast. She cleared her throat, softening her tone. "No, it's fine. Take the boxes up. I'll find it."

"I'll go with her," I volunteered smoothly, tossing the football I was holding to Chase. "I need to grab my sunglasses from my truck anyway. Keep me from having to carry that heavy-ass tote up three flights of stairs."

Chase laughed, catching the ball. "Lazy bastard. Fine. See you guys up there. Room 314, Ava!"

The second Chase turned his back and walked into the dorm building, the fake smile dropped from Ava's face. She whirled around and began marching toward the edge of the quad, near the secluded brick pathway by the athletic fields.

I followed her, my eyes tracking the angry sway of her hips. Fierce. That was the only word for her.

As soon as we were behind the cover of the heavy oak trees, away from the bustling crowd of students, she spun around. She marched right up to me, poking a rigid finger directly into my chest.

"Are you insane?" she hissed, her voice a lethal whisper. "What are you doing here?"

I caught her wrist, stopping her from bruising my sternum. Her skin was warm, and the second my fingers wrapped around her pulse point, a memory of last night... of her gasping "don't stop" into the crook of my neck flashed behind my eyes. My throat went dry.

"What am I doing here?" I repeated, leaning down slightly so I was in her space, letting her feel the full weight of my height. "I live here, Red. I'm a senior. The real question is, why didn't you mention that your brother is the guy I share a kitchen with?"

Red. She'd been wearing that devastating red dress the night she crashed into my life, and the name had burned itself into my brain right along with her.

Ava pulled her wrist out of my grip, her cheeks flushing beautifully. "I didn't know! I didn't even know your name until five minutes ago! You were just... a guy at a party!"

"A guy at a party," I echoed, stepping closer, deliberately testing her boundaries. The spicy scent of her perfume was messing with my head. "Is that all I was? Because if I recall correctly, you weren't calling me 'just a guy' at three in the morning."

"Shut up!" She slapped a hand over my mouth, her eyes darting around the empty path in pure panic.

My chest rumbled with a laugh against her palm. I didn't move. I just looked down at her, taking in the fierce, defiant glare she was giving me. She was terrified of getting caught, but she wasn't backing down from me. I liked it. I liked it way too much.

She dropped her hand, wiping it on her jeans as if trying to erase the feeling of my lips. "Listen to me, Liam. Nothing happened last night. Do you understand me? It was a mistake. I have a boyfriend. A boyfriend I love."

A sharp, unpleasant pang hit my stomach at the word boyfriend. "Right. The guy you were screaming about on the phone before you jumped into my bed."

"I did not jump into your bed. You lured me!"

"You literally asked me if the sheets were as soft as they looked, Ava."

"That was the alcohol talking!" she fired back, crossing her arms over her chest, stepping so close our clothes practically brushed. "Look, Chase cannot find out. If he finds out, he will kill you, and then he will lock me in a tower. We bury this. We don't know each other. We never speak. Got it?"

I looked at her... like, actually looked at her. Her lower lip was trembling just a fraction, despite the fierce posture. She was drowning in guilt, and as much as I wanted to tease her, I wasn't a monster. And she was right about Chase. If he found out I had touched his little sister, our friendship was over, and the team chemistry would implode before the first puck even dropped.

"Fine," I said, my voice losing its playful edge and turning dead serious. "We bury it. I don't know you. You don't know me. We're strangers."

Ava let out a long, shuddering breath, her shoulders sagging in relief. "Thank you."

"But let's get one thing straight, Red," I added, stepping into her personal space one last time, my eyes dropping to her lips before snapping back to her eyes. "I didn't steal anything from you last night. You gave it to me. And don't call it a mistake just because you're scared of how good it felt."

Ava's breath hitched, her eyes widening as the heat between us flared up like a struck match. For a second, neither of us moved. The tension was thick enough to choke on.

Then, she blinked, broke the spell, and took a step back.

"I'm going to find my brother," she whispered, her voice a little breathless.

She turned and walked away, her head held high, leaving me standing alone under the trees, my hands shoved deep into my pockets to keep from reaching out to pull her back.

Strangers, I reminded myself. You're just her brother's roommate.

I swore under my breath, looking up at the sky. It was going to be a very, very long season.