The Sweetest Seduction, Breakaway Hearts (24 page)

“Can you kindly drop a hint that she’s happily married to me?”

“Will do.”
Along with another hint that he wasn’t welcome here
.

She took her time crossing the room from the bar in the center to his little corner booth. “Back again?”

“Couldn’t resist,” Ben said with a grin.

Nine years ago, that same grin had won her over and had her ready to follow him back to his hotel room for best orgasm of her life. But now she knew what he was really like.

That still didn’t ease the twinge between her legs when she remembered how wonderful he’d felt inside her.

“What’ll you have?”

He glanced at the card on the table. “No specials tonight?”

Her lips twitched as an evil thought entered her mind. “It’s Cindy’s meatloaf tonight.”

“Any good?”

Her grin widened. She couldn’t wait to see his face when he took the first bite. “She’s from Texas and came up with most of the recipes here.”

“Then I guess I can give it a try.”

Sucker
.

She made a show of writing it down on her pad. “Anything to drink?” Because he sure was going to need something after tasting the special.

“What do you have on tap?”

She gritted her teeth. This conversation couldn’t end fast enough. “What are you in the mood for?”

“Something local.”

She rolled her eyes and rattled off the different microbrews they had on tap. Knowing her luck, he’d probably choose something generic like a Labatt or a Bud Light.

But when she finished, he said, “I’ll go with the Old Yale Pale Ale.”

Hailey jotted that down and returned to the bar to pour his glass. Her revenge on Ben Kelly started tonight, and hopefully, when the night was over, she’d never have to see him again. She dropped the beer off at his table without saying a word and went back to the kitchen to heat up a slice of Cindy’s meatloaf.

At first glance, the slab of meat looked quite good—thick and juicy and perfectly browned, nestled next to a mound of fluffy mashed potatoes and steamed green beans. But it was Cindy’s secret spices that turned plain ground beef into a raging inferno on the tongue. Lumberjacks had wept after tasting it. Ben shouldn’t be any different.

Her father’s eyes widened when she came out of the kitchen carrying the plate. A couple of the locals elbowed each other and snickered. They all knew what was about to happen.

“Here you go.” She set the plate down in front of him and tried to keep a straight face. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

She dashed back to the bar and stood next to her father. Everyone in the bar stared at Ben’s booth, waiting for the moment when he took that first bite.

Oblivious to the spectacle he was becoming, Ben cut off a chunk of the meatloaf, speared it with his fork, and brought it to his mouth. Five seconds later, a hoarse cough filled the room, followed by boisterous laughter. Another person had fallen victim to Cindy’s meatloaf.

Her father stopped long enough to toss her a few packets of saltines. “Give him some of these to ease his pain.”

She approached the table slowly while Ben guzzled dry the pint of beer she’d given him earlier. “Here, try these.”

He took the crackers from her and ripped open the cellophane like a starving man, stuffing the saltines in his mouth. His cheeks were flushed, and the sound of constant sniffling broke up the munching sounds. After he’d eaten the last one, he took a deep breath. “Is there a reason why you don’t seem to like me?”

“Several.”

“And that gives you reason to prank me like this?”

The grin fell from her face. “Everyone in town knows about Cindy’s meatloaf. You were just gullible enough to try it.”

“So this is more of a locals versus outsiders thing?”

“Nope.” She leaned on the table and spoke so only he could hear her. “Listen, even though you’re trying to lay low with this new look, I know who you are.”

He leveled his eyes with hers, refusing to look away. “And?”

Now was her chance to tell him everything, to publicly humiliate him in front of the whole bar. But when he covered her hand with his, a storm of emotions erupted inside her, and her tongue refused to work. She’d never revealed the name of Zach’s father to anyone, not even her dad. At first, it was because she didn’t know more than his first name. Then, when she’d finally realized the starting goalie for the Vancouver Whales was the same man she’d had a wild one-night stand with, she doubted anyone would believe her. And after she’d gotten the letter from the team’s public relations manager stating that Ben had denied ever knowing her, she’d decided it wasn’t worth it.

But now she had him. Now he was at her mercy, and she still couldn’t bring herself to tell him about Zach.

Worse, she couldn’t look away from him. Fire raced up her arm from where he held her hand, warming her blood and reviving the same rush of desire she’d felt nine years ago. And the longer she stared into those steely blue eyes, the stronger the memories of that one night grew.

God help her, she was still attracted to him, even after all the shit he’d put her through.

Hailey jerked her hand back and lowered her eyes. “Listen, just stay the hell away from me, got it?”

She didn’t wait for a reply. Instead, she retreated back to the bar and poured another pale ale. “Pop, can you take this to twelve? I need a minute.”

Her father gave her a questioning look, but took the glass to Ben’s table and dropped it off as she cut through the kitchen and went out the back door. The cool night air soothed her raw nerves and cleared her mind. She gulped it in and wrapped her arms around her midsection. For nine years, she’d imagined hundreds of things she would say if she ever ran into Ben again, and tonight, none of them had come out. But at least she’d made it very clear she didn’t want him around.

When she came back in, he was rising from his table. A stack of bills sat on the edge, no doubt a smaller tip than the one he’d given Cindy. She waited until he slipped out the door before collecting it.

A slip of paper sat on top of the money. It was worn and yellowed, the creases held together by tape in some places. The ink had faded, but she still recognized her own handwriting.

It was the same note she’d left in Ben’s hotel room that night.

She closed her hand around the note and dashed out the front door after him. Most of the local business had closed, and the streets were nearly deserted at this hour. The streetlights cast cones of light on the sidewalks below. She looked to the right, then the left, searching for the man she needed answers from.

Several heartbeats later, she spied a solitary figure climbing into a Land Rover. Hailey ran toward him and grabbed his shoulder, spinning him around. She didn’t care that he had a cane in his hand that could probably leave her battered and bruised if he chose to use it. She held up the note. “What’s the meaning of this?”

He searched her face for a moment as though he were worried he’d made a mistake. Then he pulled her against him and covered her mouth with his own.

At first, she was too shocked to move. She stood there in his arms, paralyzed as he kissed her. When her arms decided to move, they betrayed her. Instead of pushing him away, they wrapped around his neck. Her mouth opened and allowed him to deepen the kiss.

Dear God, he was even better than she remembered. The warmth she’d felt earlier from his touch was a mere candle to the raging inferno that blazed through her now. She pressed her body against the hard planes of his chest, his abs, his shoulders. She followed his tongue in a seductive entreaty that made her forget about the pain of the last nine years. It was as if time had reversed, and they were back in that elevator on their way to his hotel room.

And if she had to do it all over again, she doubted she would say no.

He pulled away, heat simmering in his eyes. “I thought that was you.”

She stumbled back, gasping for air. What the hell had just happened?

“See you around, Hailey.” He climbed into his SUV and drove off, leaving her stunned in the middle of the street.

She had no idea how much time had passed, but when she looked down, she still had the note in her hand and no more answers than what she’d started with.

“Is everything okay?” her dad asked when she returned to the Sin Bin. “He didn’t short us on the bill, did he?”

She shook her head. She had no idea how much he’d left, but it had seemed like more than enough to cover two beers and the special. “Pop, do you think you’ll need me to help close up for the night?”

His face hardened. “There’s something you’re not telling me, isn’t there?”

“Maybe.” She folded the note, taking care with the fragile creases, and tucked it into her pocket. “I just need to go home and check something.”

The corners of his mouth tilted down, but he went back to drying the clean glasses. “Don’t make a habit of this.”

“I won’t.” She grabbed her things from the office and drove to the small trailer on the edge of her dad’s property that served as her home. He’d given it to her when Zach had gotten old enough to need his own room. There wasn’t an inch of it that didn’t remind her of her son, and yet she refused to move.

She went straight for her bedroom and pulled a box out from under her bed. Inside was a scrapbook she’d made, cataloging every event in her son’s brief life. She pulled it out without opening it, looking for the stack of letters she’d received from the Vancouver Whales.

When she’d first realized who Ben was, she tried reaching out to him, saying she wanted to talk. She got no answer. When Zach got sick, she’d tried a more desperate approach, trying to let him know about his son before it was too late. That’s when she had gotten the letter from their PR manager, claiming that Ben denied ever knowing her.

She unfolded the letter Ben had left on the table tonight and laid it on the bed next to the letter that said he didn’t know her. Her gaze went from one to the other, reading each word carefully.

If Ben had told his PR manager he didn’t know her, then why had he kept her letter all these years?

Chapter Five

Ben threw his arm over his eyes to block out the sunlight that streamed through his window. That was the problem with summers in BC—the sun was up at an ungodly hour. It didn’t help that every time he closed his eyes, he dreamed of a woman with sexier-than-sin dimples lying underneath him. Sometimes her hair was blue, sometimes blond. It didn’t matter. All he knew was that he was hornier than a teenage virgin looking to get laid before graduation.

Nine years had passed since he’d first met Hailey, and nothing had doused the heat between them. That kiss last night was proof. It had taken every ounce of self-control not to invite her back to his place and recreate that one night between them. The only thing that had held him back was the change in her demeanor.

She obviously hated him, and he had no idea why.

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t discover the reason. He had time to kill here in Cascade, and he’d been given a second chance with the one woman he could never forget. Maybe if he was persistent, he’d get lucky in more than one way.

He sat on the edge of the bed and tested his knee before standing. The doc had cleared him to start skating again, but caution still held him back. It was all mental—he freely admitted that. Even as he stood and put all his weight on it, he only felt the slightest twinge. But the idea of getting back on the ice—of falling to block a puck only to get slammed by another player and have his knee ripped apart again—set his heart thumping faster than a set of speed-skating drills.

He reached for the reassuring comfort of his cane. As long as he carried it, no one pressured him to return to the team.

An hour later, he’d completed the reps of exercises his physical therapist back in Vancouver had given him to do. The muscles still fatigued quickly, but every day, they grew stronger. And every day, he came closer to making a decision he would’ve liked to put off indefinitely.

Would he return to the team next season?

He wiped the sweat from his face and pondered that question, still unable to come up with an answer. All he knew was that the ice still called to him, whether he liked it or not.

Only now he knew the ice would be occupied by one player whose love of the game surpassed his own.

After a shower and breakfast, he found himself back at the ice rink. He came in through the back door and waited in the shadows like before. And just as he’d expected, Hailey was on the ice.

Today, she was alone. No high school kids to beat up. No grumpy Gus yelling at his boys to keep up with her. Just a line of pucks along the blue line and a cardboard cutout of a goalie standing in front of the net.

Hailey launched a slap shot at the goal. It hit the cutout in the crotch, knocking it over.

Ben reflexively covered his own crotch and winced. No man liked watching a nut shot, even if it was on an inanimate object.

It did little to comfort him when he realized the cutout was of him. “Do you really hate me that much?” he asked after she reset it.