Page 9 of The Player's Club
Adrenaline coursed through me. “Well, if you ever want to come here again . . .” I leaned down, my lips only a breath away from the curved lobe of her ear. “Give them the name Raven Blackwood. That’s my private password. They’ll know you’re a personal guest of mine and let you right in.”
Elodie took in a deep breath. “Okay,” she whispered. Her skin turned crimson again. I loved the effect I seemed to have on her. It had nothing to do with my hockey-star status, either, which was refreshing. She was simply affected by me.
And damn if I wasn’t affected by her.
ELODIE
I woke up freezing. Wrapping myself up in blankets as I shivered, I looked around, confused about where I was.
Then I remembered. I’d come to San Francisco to visit Todd. The nights—and early mornings—were always too cold for my delicate LA sensibilities. Todd liked to tease me when I went out all bundled up when it was all of fifty-five degrees out.
Speaking of Todd—I reached out to his side of the bed, but it was cold. So I grabbed my phone to check the time and sat up. It was only a little after seven. How long had he been awake? He’d mentioned he didn’t have to go into the office until closer to ten today, and Todd had always liked to sleep in.
The bedroom door creaked open. Todd came in with a mug of what smelled like green tea. He was shirtless and smiling as he sat down on the bed. “You awake yet?” He sipped his tea, raising an eyebrow.
My eyes fell to his toned chest. My boyfriend was a handsome guy—blond, lightly tanned, and muscles in all the right places. He took good care of himself, going to the gym regularly and making all kinds of green smoothies when he felt like he needed a detox.
“I’m awake,” I stretched and replied groggily. I started to push the blankets aside, but it was so cold in the damn bedroom that I couldn’t commit and pulled them up to my neck instead.
Todd laughed at me. “It’s not that cold, baby.”
“Is the heat even on?” I muttered.
“I’m not turning the heat on in the summer.” He patted the back of my hand. “How about I make you some hot tea to warm you up instead?” He kissed my forehead, not waiting for a response before getting up and heading to the kitchen. I grumbled, a little annoyed, mostly because Todd knew I wasn’t a tea drinker. At least he should have known that by now. I liked my morning beverage to be coffee—preferably an extra-large Americano with an extra shot of espresso. No cream, no milk, no fluff.
I braved the morning tundra to grab my bag from the closet and rifled around to find long pants and a jacket. The cold hardwood floor under my bare feet felt like ice, and I rushed to dress so fast that I nearly fell on my face. God, how fucking freezing was it in here?
When Todd returned with my tea, I drank it without complaint. At least it was steaming hot.
He picked up a balled-up piece of clothing that had fallen from my duffel bag and shook it out. The sexy lingerie I’d worn to The Scarlet Rope.I blushed, and then blushed harder when Todd chuckled at my expression.
“Now, why didn’t you wear this last night?” he asked.
“I forgot it was in my bag.” Which was true, to an extent, anyway.
“That’s a damn shame. I would’ve appreciated seeing you in this.”
After my adventure at the sex club, I’d gone home in a daze, but not before changing out of that bra and panties. I’d rolled them up and stuffed them into my overnight bag without a second thought.
Well, I hadn’t thought of the outfit again, but I had thought about the evening, mostly about a certain gorgeous man and the way he looked at me. How could I not remember the heat that blazed in Mac’s eyes while I wore those fabric scraps? I’d had a number of dreams about the hockey star, many of which had been so sexual that I’d awoken throbbing and desperate for a release.
Worse, I’d gotten myself off, imagining what Mac would do to me in bed. I’d told myself that everyone had fantasies, even people in long-term relationships. Fantasies were harmless. You literally can’t stop your imagination, only your actions.
Yet my guilt must’ve shown on my face because Todd’s expression changed to frustration.
“Did you hear a word that I just said?” He tossed the lingerie back into my bag. “I feel like you’ve been distracted since you got here last night.”
That was an understatement. I hadn’t told Todd about going to The Scarlet Rope. Or about Mac, beyond mentioning that I’d been assigned to write a story about him. Normally, I’d be inclined to tell Todd all the juicy details about a celebrity encounter, even though Todd was rarely interested in it. But this? This had felt like a dirty little secret from when Mac first approached me. The mere mention of his name would surely send my guilt into overdrive. Todd would be able to tell by the look on my face that this entire thing wasn’t exactly innocent.
I grimaced. “Sorry, sorry. Work has just been crazy, and I haven’t been sleeping well.”
“Have you been going to that yoga place I got you passes for?”
When I shook my head, Todd sighed. “I don’t get you, Elodie. I try to help you, but you never let me. You can’t sleep, so I offer solutions to your problems, but you refuse to do anything. And then the cycle continues—”
My phone buzzed from the nightstand. Todd and I stared at each other as if waiting for the other person to break first. But I knew that ringtone. It was Roy, and I’d been dodging his calls the past few days.
I wasn’t about to answer it when I was already accused of being distracted, so my phone kept buzzing and buzzing. It finally stopped, only to start all over again thirty seconds later. Roy wasn’t going to leave me a voicemail. He would haunt me until I picked up.