Seduced by the Game (55 page)

When he’d returned weeks
later, he’d expected to have another night of servitude, but the Domme had
hooked up with another submissive man. Tim ended up sitting at the bar nursing
a beer and talking about the game with the chatty bartender. A sweet, young
submissive woman with platinum blond hair had joined them and something in his
head had just…clicked. He’d turned to her, and the way she’d lowered her eyes…

Topping her for the night
under the supervision of one of the experienced Dommes had brought out a
confidence in him that he’d never known he possessed. The Domme had explained
to him, once all was said and done, that he was definitely a switch.

At the club, he could
usually tell whether the night would lead to him playing a Top, or a bottom, to
the right woman. But beyond that, he could never be sure. He’d dated vanilla
women and easily read the kind of man they needed him to be. More often than
not, they expected a gentleman in public and a beast in the bedroom.

He could give them that
for a while, but then his inner balance would shift the other way and he’d
crave a powerful woman who could return to him all he gave. Direction,
pleasure, control.

Work and life had kept him
from the clubs. Madeline had made him forget how much he needed to maintain
that balance. This was less about being a gentleman now than it was a way to
prevent disappointing her and ruining a good thing.

Because they had something
good. Something worth taking their time with. Maybe if he found a club and a
powerful Domme, spent a few hours on his knees, he’d get rid of those urges.
But he couldn’t do it yet.

“Tonight has been
incredible, Madeline.” He kissed her forehead, then took her hand to walk with
her away from the waves gently lapping the sand in the darkness. “Will you hate
me if I say I can’t stay?”

She frowned, studying his
face before shaking her head. “I won’t hate you, but I don’t understand.”

“I’m sorry.” And he really
was, but if he caved, he’d ruin everything. She needed a strong, alpha male.
He’d do whatever it took to become one for her. “Does it help if I promise to
make it worth the wait?”

She laughed, spinning as
she wrapped her arms around his neck when they reached the sidewalk. Pressed
her lips to his with a contented little hum. “Yes. Bring me to my hotel. I’ll
spend the night dreaming of how you’ll fulfill that promise.”

He chuckled and they
continued to a taxi stand so he could ride with her to her hotel before
returning to his own. He kissed her again before saying the words that had been
on his mind since they’d left the beach. “You’ll dream of me?”

With a wink and a sly
smile, she patted his cheek. “It wouldn’t be ladylike to say what I’ll
really
be doing, all alone in my bed tonight. Sleep well, Tim.”

Long after she’d
disappeared beyond the rotating doors, Tim let the cabbie run the meter and sat
there, wishing he could get out of the damn car and go find her. She was
incredible. Amazing. Dean would call him an idiot for letting her walk away.

And he’d be right.

But all that mattered was
she’d be back. And next time the opportunity came, Tim would be ready.

Chapter Three

Sipping at her coffee,
Madeline gazed out the window at the snow-covered walkway and the peaceful
street beyond. Overnight a blizzard had blanketed everything in white, and she
wasn’t looking forward to shoveling out her car, but she had to admit, the
pristine stillness outside was beautiful.

Over the past week,
Madeline had managed to unpack all her boxes and make her new house feel like
home. She’d had only three flights, which had given her plenty of time to spend
with Tim. His schedule was a little more hectic, but he’d taken her out to
dinner twice and come over once for lunch. Seeing him here had given her
ridiculous ideas of the future, but the way he’d kissed her, telling her yet
again to wait, had shifted those ideas to an urge to strangle him.

Being a gentleman was one
thing, but she was starting to wonder if he wanted her at all.

When he touches me, when
he kisses me, there’s no question that he wants me.

Still, there was
something…something holding him back. She’d been perfectly fine not looking
deeper into the shallow relationships she’d had with men in the past, but she
wanted so much more with Tim. He made her laugh, he was smart and caring,
tender when he held her, looking at her like she was the most beautiful woman
in the world.

Being with a man like him,
a man who she could already see having a permanent place in her life, was worth
the effort. She wouldn’t be stupid about this. Until she figured out what was
going on with him, she’d be cautious with her heart, but she wasn’t ready to
give up just yet.

Draining her coffee, she
stood and went to the kitchen to deal with the breakfast dishes. There was no
game scheduled tonight. She’d be leaving Sunday for a longer flight, and he was
going on a road trip with his team. She wanted to see him tonight.

So she’d damn well call
and tell him so. She dried her hands and picked up her phone.

He answered on the first
ring. “Good morning, sweetheart.”

An involuntary smile came
to her lips at the warm tone of his voice. She rested her hip against the
kitchen counter. “Good morning.” The sounds of the ice came through the phone,
telling her he was at practice. He didn’t usually bring his phone out to the
rink. He must have been expecting her call. “I didn’t know you’d be working
today. I can call back.”

“That’s not necessary. I
wasn’t sure if you’d be sleeping in, so I wasn’t going to call for another
hour, but I wanted to talk to you so we could make plans for tomorrow night
after the game.”

Tomorrow night?
She frowned and pushed
away from the counter. “You’re busy tonight?”

He went quiet. Spoke
quietly. “Yes. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

“But I am. And…there’s
something we need to discuss which might change everything. I’ll know by
tomorrow. Just know I will be completely honest with you.” The sounds of the
ice became muffled, as though he’d covered the phone. Then he let out a heavy
sigh. “I’d take you out for lunch today, but it doesn’t look like I’ll get out
of here any time soon.”

“I could always bring you
lunch. There’s leftover pulled pork from the other day.” Damn it, did she sound
desperate? Pathetic? But no, she couldn’t start thinking like that. There was
nothing wrong with going out of her way to see a man she was interested in. She
wasn’t a little girl who needed a man to chase her to show his interest.

He made a low sound of
appreciation in his throat that quickened her pulse and reminded her exactly
why she wasn’t ready to give up on him. “You spoil me, woman. There’s no way I
could turn down an offer like that. Having you and your delicious food for
lunch would be perfect.”

She laughed. “If I didn’t
know better, I’d wonder exactly where you intended to ‘have me,’ Tim.”

“Not here, Madeline. As
much as it tempts me to have you come down now so I could ravish you right here
on the bench—stop grinning like that, White! Go practice on the face-off!” Tim
snorted and she could hear White in the background shouting “Hi, Madeline!”
Clearing his throat, Tim continued. “I want more for you. I’ll be able to give
it to you tomorrow, if you can wait that long.”

Again with tomorrow. She
shook her head. “I don’t understand. Tim, you don’t need to plan anything
extraordinary. Let what happens, happen.”

“I know what will happen
if… Look, I have to go. But I’m looking forward to seeing you at lunch.”

There wasn’t much more she
could say besides “Goodbye.” She hung up and put the phone on the charger,
standing in the kitchen for a time simply giving the irritation within time to
fade. She went about her morning without letting herself dwell on the
conversation, watching a few of the shows she’d recorded during the week and
then calling her mother to catch up on family drama. Her second youngest
brother had gotten fired. Again.

News of her brother moving
back in with her parents did nothing to improve her mood. Mother would do
everything for the boy and he’d laze about, taking advantage of her mother’s
guilt in having been away at work most of his life. Which was unfair and had
Madeline wanting to go back home just to smack some sense into the ungrateful
child.

By the time she’d finished
shoveling out her car and was ready to head out to the Forum, she had half a
mind to call Tim to cancel. She had to force herself to pull out onto the street
and drive into Dartmouth. The streets were slick and most people seemed to have
forgotten how to drive.

There was no available
parking near the Forum. She parked two blocks away and trudged through the
snow, her arms full of Tupperware with enough food in them to feed the whole
team. She reached the Forum and struggled to open the door. For some reason,
the automatic doors weren’t working. The handle slipped from her numb fingers.

A man in a suit stepped up
to hold the door open for her. She smiled up at him, then swallowed when she
realized it was Tim’s brother, Dean.

“I didn’t realize we were
having lunch catered.” Dean chuckled as he took the two largest containers.
“It’s pretty nasty out. You did all this just for Tim?”

The question made her feel
like maybe she’d gone a little too far. Of course, as she’d been putting
together lunch, she’d thought about White and wondered if anyone would make
sure he had a good meal. Before she knew it, she’d prepared way too much food.
And wasn’t about to let it go to waste.

“I enjoy cooking. And I
had extra—”

“You were thinking about
the boy again.”

Am I that transparent?
She grinned. “Yes. I’m
used to feeding big boys and ended up overdoing it.”

“I’m positive you won’t
hear any complaints in the locker room.” He nodded toward the elevators and
continued speaking as they descended. “But I can see why Tim speaks so fondly
of you. Those boys mean a lot to him. I was afraid that would be an issue when
I hired him, but he’s an amazing coach.”

“And an assistant coach
can be a bit more of a friend to the players than the head coach.” Not that she
knew for certain, but it seemed likely. Tim spent more time with the players
than the Cobras head coach, Paul Stanton. Whom she’d admitted to Tim she didn’t
like at all. Paul was aloof with the players, and she’d seen him shouting at
White on the bench during the last game. Granted, coaches did yell at the
players—Tim hadn’t looked too pleased with White after the penalty he’d
drawn—but it wasn’t the same.

Dean watched her, his
expression unreadable as they stepped off the elevator. “Have you only started
watching hockey recently?”

“I’ve become more
interested in it, but I’ve watched it before. Why?”

“No reason.” Dean led the
way down the hall, stopping in front of the locker room. “Tim’s whole life is
the game. Not many women can put up with that. You might want to make sure you
can before you get in any deeper.”

“It won’t be a problem.”

“Good. You’ll both have
enough challenges in your relationship without your careers coming between you.”
He moved to pull the door open. She reached out to stop him. His lips thinned.
“I could be wrong about you. You’re pushy for a sub.”

She blinked at him. Took a
step back. “How did you know?”

“I didn’t. I guessed. You
have a way about you that reminds me of the women I play with at the club.” He
gave her a slow smile as his gaze traveled over her body. “The way you go still
when I use the right tone… I believe you’d kneel quite gracefully if I asked
you to.”

At one point, she’d have
done so without a second thought. But not anymore. She hiked her chin up and
sniffed. “You are well aware that I’m seeing your brother. Speaking like this
to me is inappropriate.”

“Is it?” He moved closer
and his tone turned rough. “I could give you what you need and then we could
both carry on with our lives with no harm done. Tim will do everything in his
power to give it to you. And he’ll fail.”

“I don’t understand. Do
you have a problem with me, Dean? I’ve treated your brother well. We’ve only
been dating for a week and—”

“And he’s already trying
to change for you. I don’t have a problem with you, Madeline.” He gave her a
stiff smile. “Yet. I’ll wait and see how you handle this situation. As of right
now, I believe the best thing for you both is to end things before he goes too
far.”

“He goes to the club too,
doesn’t he?” She took a deep breath at Dean’s sharp nod. “And he’s not a Dom.”

“He’s a switch.”

Madeline wrinkled her
nose. “Oh.”

With a bitter laugh, Dean
inclined his head. “Yes. Oh. Exactly the reaction I expected.”

That was quite enough.
Since the man didn’t affect her as a Dom anymore, she had absolutely no issues
with putting him in his place. She smiled sweetly up at him. “Duly noted. I
must say, I wasn’t aware you were so opinionated about your brother’s life. It’s
admirable. Really.”