Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
He was built only the way a defenseman could be, with muscles that coiled his arms and back and abdomen and legs. I didn’t need to see him without his clothes off to know that, either. You could see the bulges, lines, and cuts through his button down, could spy how his thick thighs stretched the seams of his slacks.
My bet was that he had an ass of stone, too.
I’d make that my number one mission to find out when we stood up to get off this bus.
As if the fact that he had a body cut by years of playing one of the most brutal sports wasn’t hot enough, he’d also covered half that body with tattoos.
Long, sweeping lines of blue and black ink wrapped around his right arm, covering him from wrist to shoulder. I couldn’t see those tattoos now, not in the suit he was wearing, but I’d marveled at them that first day I’d seen him on the tarmac.
I wondered if it was just his arm that was inked, or if there was more to discover under those expensive threads he wore.
And the icing on the Jaxson Brittain cake?
His eyes.
Diamond blue, somehow icy cold and searing hot at the same time. His dark brows were almost always folded over them, even when he smirked, but those blue pools shone regardless. They were the kind of eyes that saw right through you, that made you want to back down and look away for fear of having every dirty little secret you’d ever kept hidden discovered.
Those eyes were fixed on me at the moment, narrowed a bit, like he was trying to figure out the answer to a question I hadn’t asked him.
“You’re going to get me into trouble tonight, aren’t you?” he asked as the bus carried us toward 6th Street.
I smiled, my hair falling over my face a little as I took a sip of my beer. I peeked up at him with a smile that would have made my not-boyfriend Trent grit his teeth in jealousy. My high heel dragged against the outer seam of his dress slacks as I crossed my legs the other way, leaning in a bit closer, and his eyes followed that movement with one eyebrow slowly arching into his hairline.
“I have a feeling you can find trouble all on your own.”
It was a dare, one I could make with faux confidence because I knew none of my brother’s teammates would ever take it.
But when Jaxson slicked his bottom lip, his blue eyes sparking with mischief…
I prayed he’d be the first.
One-Two Punch to the Gut
Jaxson
She wasn’t wrong.
I was perfectly capable of finding trouble all on my own, and with her in the seat next to me, I didn’t have to look far.
The first time I’d laid eyes on Grace Tanev on the tarmac at the Tampa Airport, I hadn’t known she had that last name attached to her. I hadn’t known those toned, tanned legs under the sundress she wore were off limits, or that the curious smile she’d thrown at me was her laughing in her head at my expense.
She’d known I was observing her with intent, that I wanted her.
And she’d had a grand ol’ time watching me put the pieces together once I realized she was Vince’s little sister.
That was months ago now, and I’d dropped the thought of her easily with us being in the heat of a winning season.
But when she’d walked onto this bus tonight, I’d felt that same spark in my chest, the one that made me want to grab her by the waist, sit her in my lap, and bark at any one of my fucking teammates that dared get too close.
That fire had been doused, however, when Vince told her to sit with me — tacking on that I was the only one he could trust.
Fuck me.
Now, her leg was brushing mine, bare and smooth under the little black dress she had on for the night’s occasion. She also had a delicate pair of crystal-studded heels strapped around her ankles — one of which she not-so-subtly dragged along my leg when she switched positions.
She knew exactly what she was doing.
And if I didn’t show restraint, my teammate would have my ass.
“Why are you so tense?”
Her question snapped my eyes back to hers.
I hadn’t realized I’d been trailing her again, but it was a habit I was hard-pressed to break when I had a fucking knockout right in front of me.
She was the kind of beautiful that socked the breath out of you, a one-two punch to the gut every time she flashed her bright smile in your direction. Long blonde hair, plump pink lips, emerald green eyes laced with fire — all wrapped up in a sweet little package that made me want to toss her onto the nearest bed just because I knew I could do so easily.