Playing for Keeps/Body Check (Rules of the Game) by Heather Peters Page B

for them to be together had failed miserably. Mia cared about him a lot, but she wasn’t about to break her own rule of dating a hockey player. And in her case, another hockey player. Been there, done that.
    "Please Quinn, I'm not ready."
    "Can you really say that to me after knowing me for nearly two years? Just say the word and we'll go to my place and change our 'friendship' status, and let me point out, you're the one who put the label on our so called friendship.   I don’t have a problem being friends and lovers." He shrugged. "Come with me to the dinner dance, and we can see where this all goes. I'm not going away, Mia, mine. What do you say?"
    He called her 'Mia, mine' when he poured on the charm, and it was dripping now like maple syrup. She couldn’t help but laugh at his blatant persuasiveness. "Does the word 'no' even exist in your vocabulary?"
    Quinn took a long pull of beer, then shook his head. "That's not the word, or the answer, I was looking for." He sat there looking smug and cover athlete model handsome in Hugo Boss. Lifting her hand, he pressed his lips to her warm flesh. She had to admit that Quinn sparked something inside her, and it wasn’t the alcohol in her drink.
    She attempted to gently extract her hand from his, but it only served to make him more determined. He squeezed tighter, and brought both hands under his suit jacket, over his chest, where his heart pounded against her palms.
    "Feel that?" he leaned in to whisper, his warm mouth touching her ear, his breath moving tiny strands of her hair.  
    "That's what you do to me, day in and day out. Don’t look at me like that," he breathed. "It makes me want to kiss the hell out of you in front of everyone."
    Her body trembled at his words as she slipped her hands from his, immediately missing his touch. She cared for Quinn but would never admit it, her bed was off limits. Her breasts swelled when he talked about kissing her. She secretly loved his game of pursuit, and adored the way his killer dimples flashed when those blue eyes of his darkened with desire and focused on her. Yet her heart deeply conflicted with common sense.
    "Stop pushing me, Quinn. In case you haven’t noticed, I work for the team, namely my father, and I've just gotten out of a pretty tough relationship. I'm not ready, so please, give me some room, ok?"
    But the brick wall didn’t give an inch. "Come home with me, Mia. I know you want to. You know you want to."
    Mia was amazed at how well Quinn knew her. All her denials didn’t faze him in the least. He knew she liked him. But even if she wanted to go home with him, it wasn’t going to happen now. Was he just playing with her?   Quinn was a champion jokester and perennial fun loving guy.   Mia couldn’t help but smile at his persuasive abilities, but before she could answer him, she felt a tingle run up her spine.
    Her heart fell to the floor when she looked across at the entrance to the bar, at the suddenly silent room, and saw her father enter the crowded establishment.
    Players looked up from the pool table, others turned from watching the television, and still others ceased conversation in mid-sentence. The boss was here.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER two
     
     
    Mia automatically straightened as her father's dark eyes focused, searching the room as if looking for someone. That someone was her.
    J. P. Sinclair's dark, almost hawk-like gaze zeroed in on her and Quinn as though he'd found the enemy in his sights, and was about to fire some imaginary weapon right through their eyes.
    Quinn merely returned the old man's gaze, as if challenging him. Oh shit, Mia thought, it's going to hit the fan now.
    Before Mia could shift her position so her father wouldn’t see her sitting so close to Quinn, he brought his arm across the back of her chair, essentially trapping her. Quinn didn’t seem fazed in the least by the old man's intimidating manner and 'if looks could kill' gaze.
    It really didn’t amaze Mia