Risky Business Read online

  Oh, yes. That was exactly what she needed. Soon. Just not with Theo. As if he’d ever want to do that with her anyway.

  “Why’d you get up?” Harper asked. “Were you going to try to talk to him during his penalty?”

  Allison cleared her throat and tried her best to snap out of the trance Theo had put her in. “No. I was going to give him a cheery smile and a thumbs-up, just to be obnoxious.”

  Harper laughed. “You really have his number.”

  “Well, he has mine, too. That’s the problem.”

  “You two will figure it out. I’m sure he’s happy, deep down, that you’re here.”

  Allison shot her an oh, please look. “Doubtful.”

  “Yeah, I was blowing smoke up your ass with that one, but it was worth a try to get you to stop worrying.”

  Worrying was only one of the things she needed to stop doing where Theo was concerned. Also on that list: egging him on, holding out hope that he’d decide to help her learn the business, and picturing him naked.

  Late in the third period, the game was tied two-two, with Bomb Squad unable to stop the Blarney Stoners offense from sneaking two past Bomb Squad’s goaltender, Gabe. On the next drop, Liam took the puck and sped the play to the goal zone. He had a perfect shot, clear of defensemen, but instead he passed it to Brandon, who was near the blue line.

  Harper tipped her head back and groaned. Marlena rubbed her hands together. “Here we go, ladies.”

  “Pucker up, Harper,” Presley added.

  With Will applying pressure to the Blarney Stoners’ forward defensemen and goalie, Brandon took a shot. It ricocheted off the goaltender’s stick. Theo, who was in position near the goal crease, recovered it. He spun, evaded a defenseman’s check, and fed the puck to Brandon.

  Harper sank lower in her seat. “This is ridiculous. They’re going to lose the game and end their unbeaten streak if they keep not taking shots when they have them. And all for what? A stupid bet.”

  On the third pass to Brandon, the defensemen were starting to catch on. Brandon rushed the net and passed the puck to Theo, who bounced it right back to him. It tipped off Brandon’s stick and dribbled past the goaltender. The ref signaled the score and the crowd erupted in cheers, including Allison. Even Harper rose to her feet, clapping and hooting.

  Katie woke with a cry, took a look around, then let her eyes flutter shut again.

  For the last three minutes of the game, Bomb Squad held the Blarney Stoners’ offense in check. The crowd stayed on their feet. Everywhere, all around her, Allison felt the connection of optimism and community. Harper had been right; this was the heart of Destiny Falls. People who’d braved the early spring chill and dedicated a work night to supporting a local team of veterans who’d overcome obstacles that Allison couldn’t fathom. Some of the crowd waved American flags, others held up their sodas or waved scarves.

  Allison could hardly wait for next Thursday.

  After the final buzzer ended the game, and after the players bumped gloves with the opposing teams, the teams headed to the locker rooms, all but Brandon. He skated to the official’s table, his attention locked on Harper. His eyes smoldering, he pounded on the plexiglassss once with the side of his fist. Harper’s friends twittered and cooed.

  Harper sighed, exasperated, and gave a little shake of her head as if to say, “You’re impossible.” Even though Allison was only looking at her in profile, she could see the affection glowing in her eyes as she watched him skate away.

  “You should sleep with him,” Olivia said, tapping Harper on the shoulder. “Just once. I’d love to know if there’s any skill behind the promises that body makes.”

  “Why don’t you?”

  “Because, one, he’s yours as soon as he gets his act together, and, two, Liam would kill me.”

  “Liam Liam?” Allison asked, gesturing to the ice. “Why would he care?”

  “He’s my brother,” Olivia said. “We manage an apartment complex together, and even though his apartment is on the opposite side of the complex from mine, he’s managed to drive away every guy I’ve brought around.”

  If Allison hadn’t just met Olivia, she would have pointed out that they were grown-ups and why did her brother get a say in her dating life? But she held her tongue and decided to ask Harper about it privately, if at all.

  “You’ve got to find a guy who’s not scared of him,” Harper said. “That’s the key. You don’t want a man who’s going to be intimidated that easily.”

  “I know, and I know Liam’s doing the best he can, but it’s hard sometimes, dealing with his moods. Maybe the best solution we have to our current problem of needing to know what Brandon’s like in the sack is for Marlena to answer the call of duty, since Presley’s off the market.”

  Marlena laughed. “Call of duty? I don’t think so. He’s all yours, Harper. Not my type.”

  Harper looked mildly affronted. “He’s every woman’s type.”

  “Not mine,” Allison said.

  Marlena held her hand out as if Allison were exhibit A in her defensive argument. “Thank you.”

  “Okay, then, Allison, what’s your type?”

  She had to think about that. It’d been a long time since she’d given any consideration to what she wanted in any aspect of her life beyond being a mom. A look down at her chest told her Katie was asleep again. She smoothed Katie’s baby-fine hair, considering the question.

  She had no idea what her type was, beyond physical desire, but for her first post-divorce sexual test-drive she knew she wanted fireworks. She thought about the crew repairing the fire damage at Cloud Nine—Will, Liam, Brandon, and Duke. The ones she looked at a little too long were all thick and tall and burly.

  “I like them big,” she answered.

  Everyone giggled. It took her a beat to figure out what she’d said. “Oh, my God, I said that, didn’t I? Not what I meant. Well, that would be nice, too. But I was talking about their bodies.”

  The giggling increased. “That’s what we were thinking about, too.”

  She joined them in laughter again. “No, not that. For example, Brandon’s too . . .”

  “Scrawny?” Marlena said.

  Harper huffed with mock-indignity. “He’s not scrawny, he’s lean. He’s got an eight pack that says he’s not scrawny.”

  Marlena gave Harper’s shoulders a squeeze. “Okay, stand down. Geez. I meant he’s too lean.”

  “I was going to say too handsome, but yeah. He’s lean and he’s gorgeous, but that’s not what gets me going,” Allison said. In her mind’s eye, she saw the look Theo had leveled at her from the penalty box. The sweat, the muscles, the intensity. Even now, the memory of it sent a tendril of desire through her body. Yeah, that’s what got her going.

  Presley pulled her face back. “There’s no such thing as too gorgeous.”

  Allison shrugged. Maybe not, but she knew what she liked.

  “I feel the same way,” Marlena said. “I want to be squished. I want beard abrasion.”

  “What would your massage clients think about seeing beard abrasion on your face and neck?” Olivia asked.

  “I didn’t say where the beard abrasion would be.”

  Harper offered her a high five. “That’s my girl.”

  Allison grinned. Beard abrasion and getting squished were what she wanted, too.

  Marlena added: “I want a man who’s able to carry me without wincing or breathing hard.”

  Marlena’s body was a lot like Allison’s. They were both a healthy size, and Marlena was clearly fit, being that she was a yoga instructor, but their baseline size was more like a ten than Harper, Olivia, and Presley’s six. Allison loved her body type, especially now that she’d lost most of her pregnancy weight and could ditch her nursing bras and granny panties.

  Theo had carried her without issue, up and down the do
ck stairs. No popping veins in his forehead, no hard breathing. He’d swung her into his arms as though she had Harper or Presley’s body, and he’d held her so tight and sure that she was never afraid of being dropped. Afraid of being tossed into the water, sure, but that was a different story.

  “Penny for your thoughts?” Marlena said.

  She smiled and put the memory away. “Thinking about how impossible men are, and how much we want them anyway.”

  “Our girl speaks the truth,” Harper said. She glanced at the time on her phone. “Speaking of men, I’d better get over to Locks before the crowds. That’s where everyone celebrates Bomb Squad’s wins. You in?” She added a friendly nudge with her elbow.

  “Theo usually goes?” Allison regretted the question instantly. Harper’s eyes twinkled like maybe she thought Allison was asking because she had the hots for him. Which she did, but that was beside the point.

  “Of course.”

  Katie gave Allison an easy excuse to decline because Theo wouldn’t want her there at Locks, and her gut was telling her that invading the team’s after-party would be one step too many over the line.

  “I think I’ll give him his space tonight, which is just as well because I’ve got to get Katie to bed. She’s been a good sport about being out so late, but I’d better not push my luck.”

  “We need to get you a babysitter. If you’re up for the idea, one of my staff’s teenage daughters babysits. I can get you her number, if you’d like,” Harper said.

  Harper and her friends’ unpretentiousness and warmth were refreshing. The women she’d socialized with in Buffalo hadn’t been so altruistic. “Thank you. I think Katie liked the game, so I’ll plan on bringing her next week, but a babysitter would be nice so maybe we could all go to dinner or get drinks sometime.”

  “Absolutely,” Olivia said. She draped her arm across Harper’s shoulders. “We’re always trying to get this one to step out from behind Locks’ bar to have some fun.”

  With the promise that they’d meet at Locks for dinner before next Thursday’s game, if they couldn’t make it work to meet up sooner, everyone exchanged hugs and farewells. Allison made her way through the spectators to the restroom while the rest continued on to the parking lot.

  She was an old pro at peeing while wearing a baby pouch, but Katie still woke up, so Allison took the opportunity to change her diaper on the off chance that once they reached Cloud Nine, she’d be able to carry her up to the crib without waking her.

  The parking lot was mostly empty by the time she made it out of the building, and Katie had gone back to dozing. She recognized Theo’s bike as the one in the second spot nearest the entrance to the rink because of the swords and maple leaf emblem on the side of the gas tank. After a look around to make sure no one she knew was around, especially Theo, she stepped up to the bike to read the writing beneath the emblem.

  Vigilamus pro te, whatever that meant. No doubt a symbol of his time as a soldier in the Canadian military. She was still having trouble reconciling the idea of him being a soldier who’d been wounded in battle with the surly mechanic she knew.

  Then again, he’d saved her from getting burned, like a true hero, though leaping with her into the canal had been a huge overreaction. She couldn’t help wondering if the two were somehow related, his past and his overzealous response to her being in danger. And what of the way he’d dug in his heels and refused to help her with the business? Where did his heroism fit in with that?

  She splayed her hand over the bike seat, letting her fingers bump over the seams in the leather. She’d never ridden on a motorcycle before, due to a lack of opportunity, but she’d always been drawn to them and to men who rode them. The motorcycle fit perfectly with Theo, as she knew him—solitary, dangerous, and out of her league.

  Regardless, the two of them needed to figure out a way to work together. She couldn’t operate Cloud Nine without him, but he seemed determined to make her life as difficult as possible. Tomorrow, she’d find the deed to Lanette and hand over ownership of it to him. At least then keeping him as her employee wouldn’t feel as much like coercion.

  “You came anyway.” The unexpected voice gave her a jolt.

  She whirled to face him, bumping her butt against the motorcycle seat in her embarrassment that Theo had caught her handling his bike. His hair was damp, like he’d just showered. He wore jeans and a burgundy short-sleeve T-shirt that clung to his body as though he hadn’t been patient enough to dry off thoroughly, his hockey bag slung over his shoulder. Sexy didn’t even begin to describe him. “Yes. It was a great game.”

  He lifted the hockey bag strap over his head, then set the bag on the seat, his body brushing hers as he loomed over her. He radiated heat and, though he smelled clean, it was more like clean sweat than soap. She suspected that his shower hadn’t done enough to cool him down properly after the game.

  It would be the right move to step away from him and the bike, but like the day he’d carried her onto the dock, she couldn’t seem to make her legs work. He didn’t move away from her touch, either, so she had to assume he was trying to intimidate her with his nearness, but two could play at that game. She bent her knee and brushed her leg against his.

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “It wasn’t enough for you to invade my place of business, now you’re inserting yourself into my private life, too?” His tone dripped with simmering irritation.

  She almost explained away her choice, so commanding was his presence, but she didn’t owe him an explanation. Her friend had invited her and she’d wanted a way to get to know the community. And irritate Theo. So, mission accomplished, she supposed.

  She gestured to the symbol on the bike. “You’re a vet.”

  He huffed. “You’re unbelievable. You know that?”

  Maybe so. “I find you pretty unbelievable, too, if that’s any consolation.”

  Brows raised, like he couldn’t believe her audacity, he reached passed her and grabbed the black half helmet looped over the handlebar, then strapped it on.

  There had to be a way past his anger at her, a way for the two of them to engage in a civil conversation. She wasn’t quite ready to give up for the night. “You were wounded. You’ve seen combat.”

  “That’s what soldiers do.”

  She jumped a little when his hands circled her waist. His fingers and palms molded to the flair of her hips. “What are you doing?”

  He answered in terse French, then huffed and shook his head. “I’m moving you so I can leave.”

  Before she could respond or extricate her hips from his grip so she could move on her own, he half-lifted, half-pushed her away from the motorcycle.

  Her breath caught, watching him swing onto the seat, then turn the engine over. The roar startled Katie awake. Her arms and legs flailing, she turned her face to the sky and cried.

  Allison snuggled her close as she called over the sound, “I know you resent me for being here, but I don’t have a choice. I have a child to support. Could you just give me the chance to prove that I can make this work before you decide to hate me?”

  He flipped the kickstand up and revved the engine. Either he didn’t hear her or had decided to pretend he couldn’t, as was his usual MO. The motorcycle took off out of the parking lot.

  “You jerk!” she hollered at the top of her lungs, stabbing the air with her finger. “Maybe I’ll go to Locks anyway! I’m starting to enjoy pissing you off.”

  “He can’t hear you,” a man’s voice said behind her.

  She turned to see Will. He looked fresh from the shower, too, with wet hair and clinging clothes, though he didn’t get close enough to her for her to catch his scent as she had with Theo. The prosthesis he wore was different from the one he’d used during the game or the one he’d worn while working construction at Cloud Nine. This one was flesh colored and an excellent likeness to a hand.

 
“He didn’t want to hear me,” she said. “He’d rather pretend I don’t exist. He’s been doing that all week.”

  Will pointed to his ear. “He’s partially deaf from his TBI. Any background noise and he can’t hear anything.”

  “Oh. Oh.” His combat injury. “What’s a TBI?”

  “Traumatic Brain Injury.”

  That was going to take a little while for her to process. Theo had suffered—no, overcome—a brain injury? “That’s . . .”

  “It sucks, is what it does. Except that anytime Theo wants to check out, he gets on that bike or cranks up the radio or works on loud machinery, like he has his own personal mute button for the world. Pisses everyone off when he pulls shit like that, so don’t feel like you’re the only one he does it to—but I’m not going to lie and tell you I didn’t wish I could do the same sometimes.”

  Something akin to sympathy for the man who’d made her life a living hell that week took root inside her . . . right up until she thought back to all the times he’d turned up the radio or started heavy machinery when she walked his way. He’d been drowning her out on purpose. Muting her. What an asshole.

  “I didn’t know that,” she ground out through gritted teeth.

  Will grinned, his eyes twinkling like he’d enjoyed stirring up the tension between her and Theo. “You coming to Locks?”

  Tempting. Really tempting now that she thought about the satisfaction of committing petty revenge. “I wish, but it’s past Katie’s bedtime and, as you can see, she’s not handling it well. Next time, though.”

  She loved being a mom, but, man, did she miss hanging out with friends or getting out of the house for a drink without wearing a baby pouch. Maybe she’d take Harper up on her offer to connect her with a babysitter.

  “That’s too bad. The other guys and I would’ve had fun watching Theo sulk.”