Page 28 of The Attack Zone
Great. I’m more self-conscious now. Excellent.
“What is it, Mitchell?” I ask.
His grin turns into a playful glare. “I think we’ve well established that it’sMitchat this point, love,” he says. My mind goes back to how I basically chantedMitchover and over again last night and my cheeks flush bright red. “But you’re just very sexy in the morning, that’s all,” he continues.
I’m ... sexy?
Logically, I know we had sex, so it makes sense that he’d at least find me mildly attractive. But sexy?Verysexy? That’s news, and it’s throwing me off.
Can you think people you hate are sexy?
I guess I do find him sexy (insanely so, admittedly). And I guess he told me he doesn’t really hate me in Miami. DoIreally hatehim?
My brain is running a million miles a minute and I still haven’t said anything back to him.
“Um ... thanks?” I say. It’s dumb and awkward and I’m so annoyed with myself right now. I reach for my purse I dropped by the door and avoid eye contact.
He laughs.
The fucker just laughs like I’m not being the most unhinged person imaginable this morning. It makes me laugh a little too, much to my humiliation.
“No problem, love,” he says. After we just stare at each other smiling like morons for a second, he continues, “Hey, if we aren’t doing this again, I’d like to kiss you goodbye. If that’s okay with you, of course.”
I can’t think of a reason why not, and I have to admit that he’s a very good kisser. One more kiss couldn’t hurt, right?
“Okay,” I say.
He steps towards me and wraps a hand around the back of my neck, pulling me in. Then his lips are on mine and I can’t for the life of me think of anything better than kissing Mitch Greggs. His lips are soft, but he moves them with purpose as his tongue slides into my mouth. Then his hands are in my hair and mine are in his and I’m moaning against his lips. It’s both hot and sweet at the same time, which I didn’t think was possible.
When we finally part and my eyes flutter open, I’m left breathless, unable to focus. Once I finally regain my composure, I reach down for my purse, which I’d unintentionally dropped on the floor.
“See you around noon?” I ask.
“I’ll pick you up then,” he says. Once I get up the guts to make eye contact with him, I notice his light blue eyes are filled with kindness and have just a bit of sparkle in them. And once again, I’m speechless. “Bye, love,” he says when I don’t say anything else.
“Bye, Mitch,” I say, reaching for the door handle.
I wonder if I’ll ever be able to say his name again without thinking about last night.
God, I hope so.
CHAPTER 14
MITCH
ABOUT AN HOUR LATER
My skating needs work. Sure, I’m paired with Caleb on the D-line during most games, and yeah, I’ve run some successful power plays this season so far, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement. So today I’m using our optional ice time at the practice rink to run some drills. The only other guy out here right now is Thomas, and he’s working on his wrist shot at the other end of the ice.
I guess you could say Thomas is my best friend. He’s helped me through some hard stuff, and I like to think that I’ve helped him too. We’re usually super open with each other about pretty much everything, so when he showed up today while I was getting changed, it took every ounce of control I had to not immediately blurt out that I hooked up with Stacey. Thomas knows how I feel about her; he even orchestrated us working together on Caleb and Cassie’s wedding so we’d have to spend more time together.So not telling him feels so strange, but I have to respect Stacey’s stance on this. Even if she said it won’t happen again, and even if we’d never actually be together anyway, I still need her to be willing to spend time with me for this wedding andRebounds for Rescues.
Why had she said it won’t happen again like it was such a sure thing, though? She’d said it as if I would be in complete agreement, which I’m definitely not. I’m not saying I want to be in a relationship with her or something. I can’t really handle those well on top of the rest of the shit I’m dealing with. But even before last night happened, I knew I’d want it more than once. And now that I’ve tasted it—tastedher—I can’t get her out of my mind. I’m trying to work on my skating, but my mind keeps slipping to last night.
Mitch, Mitch, Mitch ...
Jesus Christ, she’d been so sexy. How am I supposed to sit in a car with her for four hours today without wanting to drag my lips across her entire body?
“Earth to Mitch,” a voice says with annoyance.