Gloves Off: a marriage of convenience hockey romance (Vancouver Storm Book 4)

Jamie, Pippa, Hazel, Rory, and a few other teammates are already at the Filthy Flamingo when we arrive later that night. Jordan mixes drinks behind the bar. She looks up, sees us, and tips her chin in greeting before turning back to the drinks.

“Go sit.” Alexei takes my coat and hangs it up. “I’ll get our drinks.”

At the table, Rory whistles. “That was some kiss back in the box after the game.”

“Don’t tease her,” Hazel tells him. “You kiss me like that.”

“I know.” He grins at her. “Because I think you’re hot, I love you, and I score every goal for you.”

My face goes hot. It’s not the same with Alexei and me. He’s just getting good at this pretending thing.

Start over, he said. A new direction.noveldrama

Even I’m having a hard time believing this is just pretend, but I don’t want to acknowledge the other option. Not yet.

He reaches the booth and slides in beside me, pushing my drink toward me. He rests his arm on the top of the booth, just above my shoulders. The smell of his body wash makes me feel the weirdest mix of woozy and horny.

“Nice bracelets,” Hayden says to Alexei.

He’s wearing the friendship bracelets the girls made him. With his towering, broad frame and the hard, brutal lines of his face, they look laughably silly.

And yet extremely hot. Annoying.

“Thanks,” he says, unfazed, unembarrassed, and that’s hot, too.

“Heyo, party people.” Luca slides into the booth, and everyone cheers.

Alexei shifts over, and his arm drops so it’s resting around my shoulders now. I’m tucked against his side. I’m still buzzing from the kiss after the game, and now all this touching feels strangely intimate and comfortable.

“First goal, buddy.” Rory claps Luca on the shoulder. “First of many.”

Luca smiles ear to ear. “I hope.”

“You will, man. It’s your first year.” Hayden nudges Alexei with his elbow. “And you got this guy on your side, helping you.”

“You did good tonight,” Alexei tells Luca.

“I felt good,” he admits. “I felt like I was flying.”

Something changes in Alexei’s expression, but he just nods. “That’s what it’s supposed to feel like.”

“We’re proud of you,” Rory tells him. “All of us.” He looks to Alexei. “Including Volkov.” He raises his eyebrows at Alexei, waiting.

Alexei clears his throat and nods at Luca. “Proud of you, Rookie.”

Everyone goes awww and Luca grins, the tips of his ears going red.

Darcy joins the booth, but there’s no room. Alexei stands, holding out his hand to me.

“Let’s go sit over there,” he says, tilting his chin to an empty table at the other end of the bar.

“Where are you going, Volkov?” Luca asks.

Alexei holds my eyes. “I want my wife to myself.”

A shiver of delight runs through me and I take his hand. Darcy grabs Hayden’s arm as they exchange a private look, but I ignore them. Alexei leads me to the quiet booth, and I feel the weight of our friends’ gazes on us. Jordan and I meet eyes—her brows lift, eyes sparking.

When I sit down, he pulls me into his lap, warm and solid beneath me.

“Does your shoulder hurt?” I ask quietly. He collided with a guy tonight, hard.

He makes a low noise, hands still on my waist. “It’s not so bad.”

“Not so bad, or not as bad as usual?”

He gives me a wry look. I reach up and press into his shoulder gently, feeling for tension.

“Ow,” he groans, pretending. “You’re hurting me.”

“I’m barely touching you, you big baby.” I don’t know why I’m even doing this. I can’t help myself, I guess. It’s the injury recovery specialist in me, knowing he’s in pain and wanting to do what I can to help.

“It hurts.”

“This is why you need regular massages.” I push my thumb along the muscle. “It won’t hurt so much next time.”

“There won’t be a next time.”

I meet his eyes, raising my eyebrows. “Yes, there will be.”

With his eyes on mine, he makes a low, humming noise, and electricity zings through me. I pull my gaze back to where my hand’s working, working the tension out of his shoulder.

“Hellfire.”

“Mmm?”

He stares at my shoulder. “Is that one of the things I bought you?”

I glance down, where the edge of my bra strap peeks out from the jersey’s collar. My body flushes with heat.

“Tell the truth.”

My mouth tips up but I keep my gaze on his shoulder. “Maybe.”

He makes a low, pleased noise, chest rising and falling with a deep breath. Delight crackles through me. Wearing the things he bought me should feel like losing the game—but it doesn’t.

It just feels fun. A wave of self-consciousness hits me.

“So, you figured it out with the rookie,” I say, glancing at the bar, where Luca’s now flirting with Jordan while she ignores him.

When I look back at Alexei, his eyes are on me. “I figured things out with the rookie thanks to you. Soccer practice. Watching you coach. It helped me. You helped me.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Yes, you did, Georgia. You’re a good coach.” He tilts his gaze to where my hands work on his shoulder. “And a good doctor.”

My thoughts drift to a question that’s been rising in my mind more and more these days.

“What’s that look?” he asks, studying me.

Nerves tumble in my stomach. “Why did you call me incompetent, two years ago?”

I’ve replayed that meeting a thousand times, read over my notes again and again. He said I reminded him of his ex, and I know he was upset that I recommended him for retirement, but I feel like there’s more.

“Did I do or say something that made you think I wasn’t good at my job?”

He takes a deep breath. “Are you sure you want to know?”

I brace myself for criticism. “I can handle it.”

A tiny shard of vulnerability rises in his eyes. “You called me a lost cause.”

I sink. I did call him that.

“Even if you hadn’t, though, I would have asked for another doctor.”

“Why?” I breathe, and he hesitates.

Here it comes. Whatever Alexei’s about to say, it’s going to hurt so much worse now that I know him. Now that I have this ridiculous crush on him.

“While you examined me,” his eyes meet mine, dark and intense, “I was hard as a rock.”