Offside (23 page)

He kissed her on the mouth, a lingering, hot
kiss that branded her as his. Feelings churned in his chest, a
whole bunch of them that he didn’t have the time or inclination to
understand. What he did know—was that right here and now, this
woman meant more than a simple lay to him.

Billie-Jo Barker was the real deal and for
the moment, she belonged to him.

He ended the kiss. He exhaled a ragged
breath. And then Logan thrust inside her.

“Oh,” she breathed against his mouth as he
drew her hips around him, and began to stroke her slowly, and
intimately. He leaned toward her ears, nipped the honey-spot and
said hoarsely, “You’re the first.”

Logan was exactly two hours and twenty-nine
minutes late for work.

And he didn’t give a rat’s ass. His life—at
the moment—was as perfect as it had ever been. Hell, who was he
kidding? He could not recall ever feeling this content. Never. Not
even that first day when he’d opened his shop. Sure, he’d been
happy. He’d been proud and eager.

But this was different. It was on an entire
level above where he had been only a few days ago. It was the
Billie factor.

He paused and poured himself a coffee.
[i]
The Billie factor
[i].

He strode across the shop, toward his office
and while none of the guys mentioned his tardiness, he caught a few
sideways looks. He’d almost made it to his door when Janelle
stopped him cold.

“You’re late,” she said, her eyes studying
him intently.

“Yeah,” he replied as he tried to edge around
her.

“Everything all right?”

“Great,” he smiled and indicated that he
needed to get by her. “I have some paperwork to finish up before I
get to work on a new custom bike for the Mayor, so…”

“Uh huh.” Janelle moved out of his way so
that he could pass. “You’ve never been late before.”

Logan eyed the ceiling and counted to three.
“Nope. I don’t think I have.” He closed the door behind him and
crossed to the window. Outside the last remnants of leaves from the
surrounding trees swirled in the wind, their vibrant colors already
dimmed from the early morning frost.

God, he loved this time of year.

He glanced at the paperwork on his
desk—something that usually annoyed the hell out of him—and then
turned back to the window. He wondered what Billie was doing right
now. He wondered if she was remembering how good it was this
morning, because he sure as hell was. All he could think about was
how fucking hot and amazing it felt to be buried deep inside her,
to feel her heat and wetness around him with no barriers.
Nothing.

Skin on skin and oh so hot. He thought of
that little noise she made in the back of her throat, of how her
breasts jiggled softly as she rose and fell on his cock. Of how her
fingers had dug into his shoulders and how she’d cried out his name
as she came.

And her hair. Holy fuck her hair had slid
over him like water over silk.

A knock at the door and the sound of it
opening dragged him from his thoughts.

“Forest?” Shane’s voice was enough to douse
the flames of heat that rolled through him, but he shifted a bit,
his dick hard and aching.

“Hey, you in la-la land or what?”

Logan tossed his coffee cup in the waste
basket beside his desk as he turned, careful to keep his desk
between the hard-on between his legs and his buddy, Shane, who
stared at him with a grin that said it all.

Shane slid into the lone chair on the other
side of his desk, the grin not leaving, as he slowly chewed a wad
of gum.

“So,” Shane stopped chewing. “You and
Billie.”

Logan sat down in his chair, wincing a bit at
the restricted pull of his jeans. “Me and Billie,” he replied.

“Lucky son-of-a-bitch. You know that,
right?”

Was that a hint of warning in his friend’s
voice?

Logan sat up a little straighter. “She’s a
little nervous about people finding out.” He shrugged. “The whole
hockey thing is kind of weird for her.”

Shane nodded. “I get that. Half the town
thinks she’s screwing, literally screwing, a bunch of guys in the
league. I won’t say a thing.”

“Dumb fucks,” Logan said, irritated. “I don’t
get what the big deal is.”

Shane shook his head. “I don’t either but
this is small town USA. A town where hockey is King and there are
still a lot of small minds that don’t think women should be playing
the game. At least not with guys.”

“I guess.” Logan exhaled as he stared at his
friend and found words spilling out of his mouth that he hadn’t
meant to share. Not really. But nonetheless, they were out
there.

“I have to tell her about Betty.”

Shane blinked and scowled. “You never told
her about Betty?”

Fuck. It was bad. Logan shook his head. “It
never came up. Honestly, I didn’t even think about it until this
morning after Billie left.”

“Shit,” Shane murmured.

Logan’s gut rolled. “What happened with Betty
didn’t matter.” At his buddy’s arched eyebrows, Logan threw his
hands in the air. “At the time it mattered, but not now. I don’t
give a flying fuck about Betty-Jo Barker. She’s one cold piece of
work and is nothing like Billie. It amazes me that they share the
same genetics.”

Shane got to his feet and spit his gum into
his empty coffee cup. “Just like you

told me the other night my friend, it will
matter. They’re sisters. It will matter a lot.”

Logan swore and fell back in his chair. Shane
was right. He should have told her. And maybe he didn’t because he
was too damn scared she’d get angry and blow him off, or maybe he
was too damn horny.

It didn’t matter. The fact that he’d been
with her sister Betty [i]
was
[i] relevant and it wasn’t
something he could keep from her.

“I have to tell her.”

“If you tell her now she’ll think you were
hiding it from her.”

Logan was getting more than a little
irritated. “So what are you saying? Should I or shouldn’t I?”

“I’m saying, choose your moment wisely. Betty
hasn’t been home in months and from what I understand, she’s not
coming home anytime soon.”

“And you know this how?”

Shane shrugged. “I ran into Bobbi at The
Coffee Pot this morning.”

“Really.”

“Yep,” he nodded. “She was wondering where
her sister was and for some reason thought she was with me. Or you.
One of us.”

Logan groaned. Shit, he’d forgotten about
Bobbi.

“What did you tell her?”

For a moment Shane’s eyes darkened and a
frown touched his face. “Nothing. We chatted a bit and she
was…almost nice.”

Logan watched Gallagher closely. His friend
was still in love with Bobbi, that much was obvious, and he didn’t
have a damn clue what to say to him. Logan had never been bitten by
the love bug. He’d had a few infatuations of course, but nothing
serious.

So, what exactly was this that he felt for
Billie? It wasn’t infatuation. No way. It was a hell of a lot
deeper than that. The realization startled him and for a moment he
froze.

“I gotta work on the Mustang,” Shane turned
abruptly and left Logan alone with a churning gut, a mind filled
with images of a dark haired jezebel, and no clue how he was going
to deal with the whole Betty situation.

How exactly did you tell the woman you were
kinda crazy about that you had sex with her sister?

He swallowed and groaned. Not only had he had
sex with Billie’s sister—he had taken her virginity. Complicated
didn’t come close to describing his current situation.

Fuck.

“Billie, can we talk?”

Billie was hunched over the sink in the
laundry room, trying to clean the dried blood off her protective
chest gear—gear that had pretty much failed the week before. But
then again, Seth Longwood knew exactly what he was doing with that
stick when he’d jabbed her. He’d gone right for an area that wasn’t
always protected and he’d hit gold.

At least the gash wasn’t so sore anymore, and
even if it was, damned if she was going to let it keep her from
playing.

She tossed the gear into the sink, and winced
as she turned around, though she couldn’t help the smile that
followed it. She was sore all right. But it wasn’t her stitches
that were causing her pain. It was a muscle in her lower back. A
muscle that had been strained because the night before Logan had
done some wicked, wicked things to her body. Who would have known
she’d be able to twist that way? Who would have known he’d be able
to position himself and follow through on his promise to make her
beg him for more?

Ever since Monday she’d been sneaking out of
the house like a naughty teenager, spending most of the hours
between nightfall and dawn under the sheets with Logan.

“[i]
Hello
?[i] Billie? Are you
listening?”

“Yes,” she glanced at the clock. It was
nearly time to head to the arena for their Friday game. “What’s
up?”

Bobbi looked tired and something clicked
inside Billie as she stared at her sister. Bobbi’s perfect hair and
makeup complimented her perfect pinstripe suit and matching heels.
Her accessories were bang on, the lilac colored beads and earrings
a great contrast to her gray suit. But it was the look in Bobbi’s
eyes that didn’t match.

There was something there, something she
couldn’t quite put her finger on, and it made Billie feel guilty,
mostly because she’d been in such a great place these last few
days.

And because she was sick of being at odds
with her sister.

“How was Dad today?” Bobbi asked.

“He was good,” Billie answered. She’d spent
the entire day cleaning the house and puttering around with her
father. They’d even made it outside to help Herschel with yard
work. He had been responsive, interested, and most of all he’d been
in this time and place. “He had a good day. He’s in the family room
watching [i]
Criminal Minds
[i] with Gramps.”

Billie followed her sister into the kitchen
and leaned against the countertop as Bobbi helped herself to a
generous glass of wine.

“Want some?” Bobbi asked.

“No,” Billie answered. “I’ve got a game in an
hour…”

Bobbi took a long sip and then set her glass
down, glancing over to the Crockpot on the counter. “You made
chili,” she said.

Billie nodded. It was her sister’s favorite.
“I followed Gramps’ recipe to a T.”

Bobbi took another sip of wine and the
pressure inside Billie cracked. It crumbled and made it hard to
breathe.

“Bobbi, I don’t want to fight anymore.” She
shook her head. “I don’t. I don’t know what happened to us or how
so much time and space came between us and I don’t care. I,” she
exhaled and struggled to find the right words but in the end she
could only utter the truth. “I miss you.”

Her sister glanced up and Billie was
overwhelmed when she saw the tears that shimmered in Bobbi’s eyes.
One moment there was an entire kitchen between the two of them and
the next they were hugging each other as fiercely as when they had
been little girls and one of them had a boo-boo.

Adult boo-boos were so much more complicated,
but still, hugs were good and they went a long way in starting the
whole healing process.

Bobbi was the first to break away. She
sniffled and wiped at the corners of her eyes, where her perfect
makeup now ran and her eye shadow was smudged beyond repair.

“I miss you too,” she said quietly. She
paused and ran scarlet tipped fingers through her hair as she took
another sip of wine. “Everything has just gotten to me, you know?”
She kicked off her heels and sent them flying across the floor as
she slid into a chair. “Dad being sick has been pretty awful.”

There was no condemnation in her sister’s
words, just a sad and tired acceptance. Billie slid into the chair
opposite her sister. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help out, and
though I can’t change the past, I’m home now. And even though I’m
not one hundred percent sure what I’m going to do with my life,”
she shrugged. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I don’t begrudge your hockey career, Billie.
I don’t. And you have to believe me when I say that I’m sorry
things worked out the way they did, and….” She lowered her eyes.
“You were right. I [i]
was
[i] insanely jealous of you and
Betty for a long time,” Bobbi spoke softly, her fingers splayed
around the wine glass as she slowly swirled the dark liquid. “The
two of you took off and had these awesome careers and lives that
didn’t include me. I was stuck here, Shane was…things got
complicated and…”

Billie waited for her sister to finish but
she took a sip of wine instead and wiped away the past with a quick
brush of her fingers across her brow. “The point is that I think
I’m just a little jittery about the future and Gerald and well, I
was out of line the other day and I said some things that weren’t
exactly nice.”

“Okay,” Billie said quietly.

“Okay.”

Bobbi chewed her bottom lip for a few
seconds. “But we need to talk about Dad. About what his illness
means and what his future looks like.”

Panic hit Billie in the gut. “But, he seems
to be better.”

A sad ghost of a smile touched the corner of
Bobbi’s mouth. “He does. And he has been before too, but it comes
and goes and I’m afraid that he’ll do something crazy when neither
one of us is around to look out for him.” Bobbi sighed and shook
her head. “He came after you with a rifle.”

“But there were no bullets in the damn
thing!”

Bobbi gazed at her in silence, while inside
that little piece in Billie’s heart, the one that had been frayed
and torn, sort of disintegrated, leaving a hole where it had
been.

“What are you saying?” Billie whispered.

“I’m saying that he won’t be able to stay
home forever. I’m saying that his dementia isn’t going to get
better and you’ve got to prepare yourself for that. I’ve had time
to digest it but you haven’t.”