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  Axel held her closer, pushing inside her again to coax one last sweet spasm, when his own climax blindsided him. He came hard and long until he was damn near breathless, his legs spent and his body totally sated.

  He wanted to pause the night right there. Make sure the sun didn’t rise for another seventy-two hours or so in order for him to get his fill of this woman. Then again, that would never be enough. Last night hadn’t begun to take the edge off his need today. If anything, being with her yesterday had only made the hunger sharper.

  Rolling Jennifer to her side, he held her close in his bed, the lights still bright in the room even though it was long past 1:00 a.m. He was lucky to have any juice in him after the game against New York. Actually, she was the reason he’d had any energy at all. But it caught up to him now—the game, the incredible sex.

  Exhaustion crept over him even as he pulled the covers tighter around Jen and smoothed her hair from her cheek to make her more comfortable. He couldn’t stop the morning from coming. And he had to find a way to protect her from his old gang.

  But letting go of her now?

  He might as well go out and tilt at a few windmills and rope the moon while he was at it.

  11

  “I’M TAKING YOU HOME.”

  Vincent’s words pierced through any lingering sleepiness from the snooze Chelsea had grabbed on the flight from New York. They’d been the last ones off the plane since she’d fallen asleep on Vinny’s shoulder. Now, the cool night air and the startling idea of going back to her place with a man had her instantly alert.

  She peered out into the small parking lot of the private airfield, the other players hopping into expensive cars and making tracks for home.

  “That’s okay,” she said reflexively, “I can drive…”

  Belatedly, she recalled that Misty had her car. Chelsea hadn’t thought about a ride from the airport when she’d agreed to take the flight to Philadelphia with the team.

  “I’m happy to call you a cab,” Vincent assured her, patient and low-key as he dropped their bags to the curb. “But you’ll be home a lot faster if I drive.”

  He took out his cell while her nervousness evaporated.

  “You’re right. It’s okay.” She raked her hands through her hair and wished she was normal. The kind of woman who didn’t freak out over small stuff like the offer of a ride from a perfectly nice guy. Actually, a really hot nice guy. “I trust you.”

  “You sure?” He kept the phone in his hand, hazel eyes more brown than green tonight in the buzzing fluorescent lamp high above them. “Not about trusting me. I mean about the ride.”

  His sheepish grin made her smile, too. Where did he get that ability to put her so at ease? Maybe it came from being around him for months. She’d seen him nearly every day—except when the team had gone on long road trips—since September.

  “I’m certain about both.” She reached for her duffel to lug it to his car, but seeing her intent, he grabbed the handle first.

  “Great, but I carry all bags.” He looped the straps of both bags over his shoulder and gestured toward the first row of the small parking lot. “I’m right over here.”

  In that gentlemanly way, he opened the passenger door of his heavy-duty truck, which looked as if it would be at home on a Minnesota farm—except that it was brand-spanking-new. He stowed the bags and slid into the driver’s seat. All the while she played back their conversation in the restaurant the other night. He’d asked her to have dinner with him tomorrow. No. Now that it was almost one in the morning, technically they’d be seeing each other again later today.

  He turned on the ignition and country music blared out surround-sound speakers. He hurried to lower the volume.

  “Whoops. Must have been rocking out when I pulled in here yesterday.” He shifted into Drive and stared at her in the light of the illuminated parking lot. “Where to?”

  She rattled off the address with more than a little pride. “It’s just an apartment, but it took me a while to get on my feet enough to make regular rent payments so…I love it. Just thinking about my very own place can still get me choked up.”

  Now that she had a home, she was at least normal in that way. She didn’t take it for granted for a minute.

  “Damn.” He steered the truck out onto the access road, turning the heater on low as the temperature had dropped. “That must have been a great feeling.”

  “It was. Even better than when I bought my SUV.” She tucked her toes under the heating vent beneath the dashboard and savored the scent of the new leather seats.

  The scents of “new” and “clean” were personal aphrodisiacs even after all this time since those homeless days. Then again, maybe the memory of waking up on Vinny’s shoulder had something to do with the warm simmer of blood in her veins.

  “How’d you do it, Chels? If you don’t mind me asking. How did you turn that corner from not having a home to—” he gestured toward her, an appreciative smile on his face “—to walking into the Phantoms’ practice rink and making half the team fall in love with you?”

  “Oh, please.” She waved away the over-the-top flattery. “Your teammates always love the women who don’t proposition them before even saying hello. It’s part of the irony of being an athlete, isn’t it? Tough to find romance when women expect you to be…you know…sexual gods, or something.”

  Vinny coughed—choked really—so that she thought she might have to pound him on the back.

  “I plead the Fifth on that one. I withdraw the comment, in fact.” He clutched his chest as though he was still finding it hard to breathe and when his gaze came her way again, there was an electric awareness in them that made her shift in her seat.

  “That’s okay.” She wondered if she’d been too forward to make such a racy remark. She honestly had no idea how to behave around a guy she liked. “I’m glad you asked about what turned things around for me. When most people hear that I’ve been homeless, they just change the subject as fast as possible.”

  His forearm flexed as he turned the steering wheel, driving toward her apartment under the glow of streetlamps and a few all-night restaurants. Of course, it didn’t take much movement to flex muscle on Vinny. He was incredibly strong. Perfectly made. Self-conscious about where her thoughts were leading, Chelsea felt her cheeks heat.

  “I’m sure they’re curious about how you put it behind you, too. Maybe most people don’t feel like they know you well enough to ask.”

  Whereas Vinny did. Her heart warmed inside her and it didn’t have anything to do with the heat blowing out of the vents.

  “Basically, I researched where to shower, where to find free clothes and where to nab easy jobs that paid by the day. I didn’t take money from the government because I was seventeen when I left home and the last thing I wanted was to be thrown into the foster care system.”

  “When you say ‘research,’ what do you mean?” He turned onto her street, slowing as he approached her apartment building. “You asked around?”

  “No. I went to the library and looked up gyms. I made a few fake membership badges.” She glanced his way to gauge his reaction. “It was dishonest, but you have no idea how well it worked to keep some of my stuff in gym lockers around the city. And obviously, the hot showers were a huge perk.”

  “Clever.” He pulled the truck into a space in front of her building. “But I’m surprised storage was such an issue. You couldn’t just lock stuff up in a bus depot locker?”

  “They’re not safe.” She shivered, trying not to think about some of her encounters in places like bus depots. “Airports are cleaner and more secure, but only because they police them better. Which means you can’t sleep there very long. But any place that lets homeless people snooze for hours at a time is going to attract crime.”

  He shut off the engine, his eyes seeing too much as he studied her across the truck cab.

  “Okay. So you researched to find the safe, clean places. You worked whenever you could. What else?”
He turned in his seat, giving her his undivided attention.

  She couldn’t remember anyone ever looking at her the way he did. As if he wanted to know everything about her and would wait as long as it took to find out. Some long latent dreams stirred to life as she stared back into his hazel eyes.

  “I, uh…” She forced herself to stick to the subject and not be too forward. No more uncensored comments, like calling him a sex god, damn it. “I tried to be patient and persistent. It’s impossible to get ahead very quickly because when you’re on the streets you’re so far behind it’s overwhelming to think about acquiring everything you need to build a life again. So you can’t dwell on it. You just have to take small steps toward it. Build your resources slowly and try to stay healthy and safe.”

  Her last word seemed to echo in the truck cab. But maybe it was just her ears. Her perspective. Safety had consumed her thoughts every second she wasn’t working at a job to get ahead.

  Outside the truck, the nighttime residents of the streets claimed their territory. An old man pushing a grocery cart, his layers of clothes flapping around him like bat wings. A middle-aged woman in a short skirt and ripped stockings, probably between clients, as she plied her dangerous trade. A teenager who walked as if he owned the city strode past them both, flicking a discarded cigarette on the old man as he brushed past.

  “I wish I’d been there to protect you.” Vinny’s words called her back from the scene outside.

  “Me, too,” she whispered, blindly reaching for his hand as she met his gaze. “I like being here with you. No one hurt me—you know, seriously hurt me. But I woke up once with a knee in my back and—”

  She hesitated.

  “You don’t have to tell me if you’re not ready.” He closed his fingers around her hand, his warmth filtering through to her, enveloping her.

  “It was a long time ago.” Besides, she trusted Vinny. “I made the mistake of sleeping in an alley in a good neighborhood. I’d cased it for days, checking out what kind of people went through there at night and it seemed quiet. But the first time I let myself fall asleep there, I got jumped by some rich kid who’d come home late and high as a kite.”

  Vinny swallowed hard and tried not to let his anger show in his eyes. Because he would have gutted the guy if he’d been there. But obviously, no one would have ever tried to touch Chelsea if he’d been there in the first place.

  It was more important that he be here for her in this moment, reassuring her tonight rather than wishing he’d been there to protect her in the past.

  “Thank God you got away.” He owed the Almighty big-time for that one, and he wouldn’t forget to pay back.

  He double-checked the lots to make sure he was taking good care of Chelsea. Thankfully, tinted windows gave them some privacy from the handful of people who’d drifted past the vehicle.

  “I lost a year’s worth of savings in the knapsack I left behind, but I was fast and I fought dirty. I don’t think I would have escaped if I hadn’t scoped the place out for so long ahead of time, but I found my way around in the dark.” She took a deep breath and flexed her fingers between his, squeezing. “I hid in a neighbor’s pool house until the guy got tired of shouting for me and lights started popping on around the neighborhood.”

  “Damn.” He shook his head, glad he’d been able to hold back worse curses. “You must have been so scared. I’m all tense just listening to you tell me about it.” Partly because he itched to strangle any man who would lift a hand to her. “Would it be okay if I held you? I don’t know if it would help you, but after hearing that, it would sure as hell help me feel better.”

  Her hand still squeezed his, but she nodded.

  Relief shot through him because he wasn’t lying. He needed to have his arms around her. Reassure himself she was okay.

  Untwining his fingers from hers, he slid closer to her on the big bench seat. But before he could slip an arm behind her shoulders, she ducked her head to his chest and looped her hands around his waist, relaxing against him.

  He realized then that he hadn’t exhaled since she’d started her story. Only now could he let out his breath. Resting his chin on top of her head, he stroked her back.

  “I’m so glad you fought dirty,” he whispered. “And that you were so much smarter than that piece of crap who came after you. Because I don’t know what I would have done this year without you, Chelsea.”

  She stirred, edging back to peer up at him in the cab.

  “What are you talking about?” Her brow crinkled in confusion.

  “Looking forward to seeing you every day—that’s what got me through the first half of this season when I was playing like crap and the hockey bloggers all said I should pack my bags and go home.” He smoothed a thumb over the creamy softness of her cheek. “I didn’t settle in with the team right away, but you were always there in the stands, cheering me on. I figured I’d stick with it long enough for a chance to ask you out.”

  “Thank goodness it took you a long time to ask me because now you’re playing like a super stud.” She blinked up at him from under her long bangs, her lips so full and kissable that he had to take deep breaths to rein himself in.

  No way would he scare her off by moving too fast.

  “By now, they’ll have to throw me out of Philadelphia to get me to leave.” In fact, he wasn’t sure how he’d be able to let her walk into that apartment building without him. She felt so good in his arms. So right.

  “But what if I want to see Minnesota sometime?” she asked, surprising him.

  Did she know how badly he wanted a future with her? How much it would mean to him to be able to take her home?

  “You’ve got a ride to Cloquet right here.” He patted the truck’s dashboard, then returned his hand to her waist, careful to stay closer to her rib cage than the subtle swell of her hip.

  She’d told him she’d been patient during those years on the streets. So he’d damn well be patient however long it took for her to let him touch her the way he wanted.

  “Vinny?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I think I’d like cows.”

  “You do?” He grinned and felt her snag another piece of his heart.

  “They sound very nonjudgmental.” She reached toward him, her hand alighting on his chest, right above his heart.

  She’d never taken the initiative to touch him before, since he didn’t count her falling asleep on him during the flight home. So having her fingers sketch ever so softly along his shirt seemed like the hottest foreplay he’d ever known.

  “I don’t know if I can get back to introduce you to them until the season’s over.” He tried to focus on the conversation instead of how good it felt to have her hand on him. “But if I can’t bring you to Cloquet, I can bring a little Cloquet to you. My parents are coming to town next week. Maybe you can meet them.”

  His first clue that he’d done something wrong came when her touch evaporated like dew on a hot day. In an instant, she retreated in so many ways his brain could barely calculate them all, but her shuttered gaze was the one that spoke the loudest.

  “Your parents?”

  He realized she edged backward on the seat so that he’d have to stretch if he wanted to keep his hands on her. Carefully, he released her and tried to soothe her worries.

  “Yes. I sent them tickets for our first home game in the playoffs. They’ll only be here for three days, but maybe we could have dinner together.”

  She’d already agreed to dinner with him tonight, after all. And he hadn’t even asked to come upstairs with her, so it wasn’t as if he was pushing any kind of physical relationship. Still, she’d backed up so much she bumped the power-lock button with her elbow.

  “I don’t know. Maybe.” She gave him a halfhearted smile. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t realize how late it was and I have to work at the gift shop tomorrow. I really should—”

  “Wait.” What had he done wrong? “I don’t want to pressure you—”

  �
��You’re not,” she assured him, snagging her purse and levering open the door.

  “I want to at least walk you into the building.” He reached out to keep her there.

  She tensed at his touch.

  “I’m sorry. I have to go.” She fumbled for her keys.

  He hopped out of the driver’s-side door and came around, but she was already at the entrance to her building.

  “Chelsea, what’s wrong?” He didn’t want to hold her there, knowing she had issues with being touched.

  God knows, he would never restrain her if she wanted to leave, but she was backing away from him so fast she’d never even hear him if he didn’t get closer.

  “I’m sorry.” She shook her head, flipping her key upside down to try it in the lock the other way. “I don’t know what I’m doing and I can’t…I just can’t do this.”

  For a minute he thought she meant she couldn’t open her lock. But then she had the lock open and stepped inside, holding the door half-shut to talk to him through a slit as if he was some kind of criminal.

  “I’m sorry, Vinny.” Her voice cracked as she squeezed the door in a white-knuckled grip. “You deserve a nice, normal girl. And that will never be me.”

  * * *

  THE FIRST INSTALLMENT of the documentary series would debut on television tonight.

  Jennifer had to leave Ax’s place at dawn to put in some overtime hours editing footage from the game and the team’s plane ride home the night before. She’d see Axel at the practice rink in a couple of hours, but when she’d left his house, he’d still been sleeping. Now, arriving at her temporary office, she peered over her shoulder, certain she’d heard someone behind her. But all seemed quiet.

  The morning was still cool as she shoved through the double doors to the conference room, surprised to discover no one else from the crew had reported to work yet. Maybe they’d opted to work late into the night instead.

  While she poured water into the coffeemaker, hoping some caffeine would wake her up, her cell phone rang. She set down the carafe and looked at her phone, noticing her sister’s number on her caller ID.