Edge by Brenda Rothert Page A

very war-like. For the first time in my life, I was sexually charged up before a game. Dell’s texts to me, the rosy shade of her flushed cheeks and the thought of watching her shower sent adrenaline rushing through my veins.
    Damned if that woman wasn’t the sexiest I’d ever known. Part of her allure was that she wasn’t overtly sexy. She didn’t hang out of her clothes or send secret fuck me stares. No, only I got to see this side of her. The way she fought her shyness and dared to leave her comfort zone for me was a huge turn-on.
    “You okay, man?” Niko’s brow was wrinkled with confusion as he looked at me.
    “I’m fine, why?”
    “You look really happy,” he said. “Giddy. You gonna fuck some guys up or frost cupcakes for ’em?”
    I scoffed and gave him the finger. “Watch and learn, Daniel-san.”
    I was scoring twice in this game or getting ejected trying. I wanted to watch Dell shower, and fuck if I couldn’t tell she wanted it, too. We’d both be disappointed if I missed the mark.
    When I hit the ice for the puck drop, I pictured John London’s face on every opponent. I hit harder and charged faster when I was practicing to beat his ass.
    We were breaking for a timeout when I caught a scrawny kid from the other team studying me from the corner of his eye. Definitely a rookie.
    “What’s up, darlin’?” I asked him, breathing hard. “You look like you wanna suck my dick.”
    “Fuck you,” he muttered without much enthusiasm.
    “You want some?”
    He hesitated and I laughed. “I’ll break you in, sport. Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle.”
    His eyes darkened with anger. Hell yeah. I fed on that during a game. So much of hockey was mental.
    I almost felt bad when I moved around him and shot the puck into the net hard enough that their goalie fell on his ass trying to get to it. Almost.
    He swore and bashed his stick on the ice. He’d get shit from his coach for looking like an old lady when I pushed past him. But hell, it’d be good for him.
    I wanted to look at Dell, but I forced myself not to. Not until I scored the next one. That meant I had to keep my eyes off her in the locker room during intermission. She was busy, anyway, wrapping and icing other guys.
    Waiting until the third period would wind me up, so I set my mind to scoring again in the second one. Right out of the gate, I landed in the penalty box with a slashing penalty. Dell looked at me across the ice while I sat out my two minutes and I smiled.
    I charged out as soon as my door was opened. The other team was fighting back now, and I took a couple aggressive hits. Another hard hit took me down, but I shot from my knees, collapsing to the ice afterward.
    When I looked up and saw Niko’s arms in the air, I knew I’d made it. I scrambled up and joined the celebration, glancing at the bench. Dell and I locked eyes and I wondered if she was thinking what I was.
    I couldn’t wait to get her alone. We couldn’t do it on a game night because the arena had too many people around, even when it was late. But tomorrow after our night session, I’d get my prize. I was already wondering if I’d be able to keep my hands off Dell once I finally got to see all of her.
    ***
    Dell
     
    I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Was I really about to do this? The locker room was silent and deserted except for me and Luke. And I’d just undressed and slipped into a robe. Geez, the lights in here were bright.
    “You okay?” Luke asked. “You look nervous.”
    “I am,” I admitted.
    “We don’t have to do this. I don’t want you to if you’re not comfortable.”
    I met his gaze with a small smile. “I want to. You’re sure you locked the door?”
    “Positive.” He ran a hand through his short hair. “Listen, if you change your mind, you can stop, okay?”
    I nodded and reached for the tie of the white terry cloth robe, untying it but keeping the robe closed with my hands. Swallowing, I looked down at the white tile floor of