Playing the Game (The Renegades) (Volume 3) (13 page)

Putting her cell phone away, she looked around. It
was a nice neighborhood. Too bad she’d never be back here. His
house was a lovely modern design, but it wasn’t nearly as large as
she expected. She’d always imagined him living in some gated
mansion set away from everyone else. This was definitely a bachelor
pad, and he wasn’t a neat freak.

How did she get herself into this mess? A chill ran
through her, and she wasn’t sure if it was the icy wind or the
thought of how many other girls had been in that bed before her.
Where was Rylee
?

Headlights appeared at the end of the road. Paige
stood at the bottom of the driveway to make sure Rylee would see
her. The Honda pulled up, and opening the door, she quickly jumped
in. “Drive.”

Rylee was still in her pajamas, just like she said
she would be. Maybe she should’ve called a cab. “Thanks for picking
me up. I feel bad waking you up. What time is it anyway?”

“
Don’t worry about it. It’s five
o’clock; I’m just up a bit earlier than normal. Of course I would
come get you—you’re like a sister to me. But I expect the whole
story of what happened. I don’t want anything left out. Let’s start
with whose house did I just pick you up from? And were you sneaking
out?”

Paige never made her hook ups a secret from Rylee,
not that she had ever had many of them. “It was a night full of bad
choices. Remember I wanted you to meet me at that bar? Well, I went
anyway. I just wanted a drink or two, and maybe to dance a little.
But I ran into Tyler Kidd.”

“
Oh God, was he whoring around at
the bar like normal? I told you that boy had bad
habits.”

“
Yeah, I guess you could say he
was, until I got there.”

“
Did big-bad-Miss Paige scare the
skanky girls away? Did you flash your Renegades badge and order
them to leave?”

“
I kind of did.” Paige dropped her
head in embarrassment. “Then things got real fuzzy from
there.”

“
Fuzzy, how? Like you picked up
some random guy and had a crazy, wild night?”

“
I guess you could say that, only
the guy wasn’t so random.” Paige sighed heavily. “What did I just
do?”

“
Don’t tell me you… Paige?” Rylee
kept looking back and forth from her to the road.

“
Keep your eyes on the road, will
you? I told you, bad choices. He almost got the shit kicked out of
him and I couldn’t let that happen. It’s my job to keep him out of
trouble.” Paige explained what had happened with the jealous guy.
“But then I was so nervous being close to him—alone—that I just
kept drinking.”

“
Oh, yeah. Because someone has the
hots for Tyler.” Rylee teased.

“
Well, I needed to fuel my
confidence with alcohol to even sit next to him. Would you believe
he’s even more gorgeous in person?”

“
But don’t you interact with him
every day at the arena?”

“
Not always one-on-one. Plus, when
we’re talking to the guys he never pays attention.”

“
Paige.” Rylee pressed.

“
Okay, okay! I’m getting to that.
We both drank way too much. I made some dumb comment about leaving
and for him to have at the women at the bar, and that’s
when…”

“
When what?”

“
When he grabbed me and kissed me.”
Paige slunk down in her seat, covering her face with her
hands.

“
Oooo! This is getting good! Tell
me more.” Rylee slowly pulled into their driveway, and parked
quietly, careful not to wake Gram.

Paige sat up and looked out the window. She took a
deep breath and told the rest of the story.

“
Wow,” Rylee said. “Was he
good?”

“
He’s Tyler
freaking
Kidd.
I’ve had a crush on him forever. Of course he was good. He was
amazing. But you know that’s not the point. It can’t be anything.
We work together. With any luck he won’t even remember who exactly
he went home with and I can pretend like it never
happened.”

“
But it did happen, Paige—with
Tyler Kidd. You’re glowing, you know that?”

“
Rylee, it was a one-time deal.”
Paige didn’t know if she was trying to convince Rylee or
herself.

“
C’mon let’s get inside. Quiet, so
we don’t wake Gram.” Rylee gently closed her car door and they
walked towards the back porch.

But even if he didn’t remember, Paige knew it
happened, and that was the problem. She still felt him against her
skin, his strong hands tracing her every curve, finding those
special spots that made her body arch into raging pleasure. She
could still hear his groans of pleasure, the words he’d whispered.
She couldn’t erase the memory of last night, and she wasn’t sure
she even wanted to.

CHAPTER 13

Tyler rolled over, remembering that beautiful Paige
was in his bed. What was he doing with this girl? Better yet, what
was she doing with him? He watched her breathing as she slept. Even
asleep, she was beautiful, crazy beautiful. He wanted to move the
hair away from her face so he could see her better, but he didn’t
want to wake her. Why did he feel so strongly towards her? What was
happening to him? He’d never experienced feelings like this before,
especially the way that he couldn’t get enough of her.

I can’t believe she’s here with me. I’m not worthy
of a girl like this
. He’d done so much in his life, and none of
it made him content. Tonight was the first time in a long time that
he was happy. Looking at her stunning face, wanting to kiss those
lips, he realized he had never been truly blissful with Gia. He’d
thought that was love, but tonight he knew better.

He’d connected with Paige. He didn’t know why, but
she had to feel it too. The way they were in sync while they made
love…
Made love?
He’d never said or even thought those words
before; it was always just sex to him, something he took from a
girl willing to give it to him. But tonight he’d wanted nothing
more than to please Paige. What was going on?

Something in him had changed. His chest ached as he
realized he wasn’t good enough for her. She might leave in the
morning and not want this, not want him. To her, he was a player,
even if that wasn’t the whole truth. Paige stirred, grabbed the
covers and pulled them up over her naked body, but didn’t wake
up.

Watching her, he knew he’d been sleeping around just
to fill the hole in his heart, because right now his heart was
full.

He couldn’t deny he wanted her. He wanted to see her
again, many times. He didn’t even want to think about Melanie’s
rules, because thought of not seeing Paige again made his chest
hurt, even though he wasn’t completely sure why. But then the fear
drifted in. Fear of losing his heart, of being hurt and betrayed
again.
I can’t let that happen.

****

“What the—” Tyler woke to the annoying ringing of his
alarm. Rolling over, he covered his head with the pillow and willed
for the sound to stop; all he wanted to do was sleep. But the
annoying tone penetrated his brain and made his headache worse.
Great, I’m, hungover
. Admitting it wasn’t going to stop on
its own, Tyler tossed the pillow across the bed and grabbed his
cell phone to silence it. He sat up slowly as the room began to
spin. “Just another day in paradise.”

I have practice this morning, right? Wait.
Something gnawed at him.
Who did I bring home last night?
Glancing around his room, he searched for clues. But he didn’t need
evidence—a flash of her beautiful face infiltrated his thoughts. He
brought Paige home last night.

Normally his nights were occupied by women solely to
help him forget. But being with Paige was different. He hadn’t
exactly acted himself last night. Sure, she was hot and he’d wanted
her in his bed for his own enjoyment. But he’d wanted nothing more
than to give her pleasure. He’d spent the night making sure she got
as much as she could stand, intently watching her beautiful face as
he made her come again and again.

Just thinking about everything he’d done with her
last night, he’d grown so hard he was throbbing. He never wanted a
woman more than once, but here he was dreaming about touching her,
tasting her, being inside her again.

When he’d woken in the night, he’d even been pleased
that she was still there. He would’ve asked any other woman to
leave and not given it a thought. Yet there was something about her
that made him not want to let her go last night. She gave him
something he hadn’t had in a long time, but he didn’t understand
why he felt that way.

She’d left without a trace, like the other women he
brought home, and he should’ve been happy. But disappointment ran
through him that she hadn’t stayed, although he knew she must’ve
needed to get to work.

She’s probably cute when she wakes up. But then
again, it would’ve been awkward. I’m sure it will be weird enough
at the arena this morning.

He’d taken a risk bringing her home. Melanie had
rules, and he’d just broken the biggest one. Players didn’t break
her rules, they just didn’t. But his dick had an agenda all of its
own and professional behavior didn’t seem to matter last night. He
knew they couldn’t do it again, that is, even if Paige was willing.
But he couldn’t help wondering if there was any way they could keep
it secret if they decided to keep seeing each other.

What was he thinking? There’s no way that could
happen. And why would he even want it to? It was just a good one
night stand, that’s all. Just his dick doing the thinking
again.

He crawled out of bed. His body ached and his head
was heavy, but if he was honest, he felt fucking fantastic for a
change. A loud growling erupted from his stomach. He made his way
to the kitchen and swung open the refrigerator, grabbed a slice out
of pizza out of the box and ate it in four bites. He downed another
slice before closing the box.

Time to get ready for practice.

****

Coach Walker blew the whistle. “Let’s mix up the line
rushes. Dubois, work with the top line.”

Tyler heard the words but he wasn’t really listening.
His head was no longer spinning from his hangover. Now he was in a
fog. A fog caused by Paige.

They lined up and dropped the puck, but Tyler was
only half paying attention to the drill. Sliding the puck to Kris,
he absent-mindedly went through the motions, with Patrick as his
wingman. Kris passed it back to Tyler as he approached the net, and
he passed it to the wing in front of the net. Score! The guys
celebrated with a few high fives but Tyler skated in circles, too
much energy coursing through him to stand still.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know what he was doing, but
everything he did was a kind of a blur, while images of Paige
flitted through his mind. Her curves and the way she arched her
back with need. The little sounds of pleasure she made. Her smile,
her eyes, and the way she looked at him as though she knew what was
inside him. Why was she affecting him like this?

“
Kidd! That’s what I like to see
out there. Good job. Now let’s see if we can try that during the
game.”

“
Huh?” Tyler snapped out of the
haze to see most of the team looking at him. The smile left his
face and he frowned at them. “What?”

“
That drill we just did. We’re
going to try it in the game. What’s going on with you today, Ty?”
Coach asked, as he put another group of guys out on the ice to run
the same drill.

“
Nothing. I’m fine.”

“
You don’t look fine,” Kris said,
as they sat down on the bench. “You were out there with Pat and
didn’t even blink, much less lay him out on the ice. And you were
smiling. But your passes were perfect. What’s up? Don’t tell me
you’re high on something?”

Tyler shook his head. “Of course not. I’m just
preoccupied, that’s all.” So preoccupied that he hadn’t even let
Patrick rile him up today. Of course everyone was looking at him.
He didn’t blame them; his behavior was highly unusual.

“
Okay guys, hit the showers!” Coach
yelled.

Tyler skated away, heading off the ice. Patrick
stayed back talking to Coach, and Ty felt their stares as he
exited.

Tossing his pads in his locker, he decided he needed
to go find Paige. Last night was the best he could remember in a
long time, but he couldn’t deal with all these thoughts of her
messing up his head. They needed to get this out in the open and
set the record straight: it was a one-time deal. It had to be.
After taking a quick shower, he sat down on the bench by his
locker.

“
You need to talk?” Kris appeared
beside him, drying off his hair with a towel.

“
Not unless you want to talk about
that haircut.” Tyler nodded to Kris.

“
Leave my haircut out of this. I
had to do something to change the mojo of this team. I don’t see
you doing anything.”

“
Ha, you know I make bad choices,
bro.”

“
Did you make one last night? Is
that what has you in a daze? Was it another one of those stalker
girls who wouldn’t go home?” Kris started to laugh so hard he
almost couldn’t finish his sentence.

“
Not funny. No. Not this time.” He
would be in deep shit if Melanie found out. Taking a deep breath,
he lowered his voice. There were only a few guys left in the locker
room area, but he didn’t want to take any chances. “I broke a
rule.”

Kris tossed his wet towel in the laundry and sat down
on the bench. “What rule? What are you talking about, and since
when do you care about rules?”