She squinted, studying him. "Hmmm, probably not. You'd likely try and kick my a.s.s."

"You're right about that." He moved in closer, backing her toward the boards until she was cornered. He pulled off her helmet and it clattered on the ice.

"You should take better care of your equipment. It needs to protect your head."

"That's practice equipment. We treat game equipment like gold." He pulled off his gloves and pressed his hand against her neck. His fingers were cold. They felt good against her heated skin. Who knew one could sweat like this on the ice? She knew the guys worked hard when they played the game-she watched how fast they skated and wondered how they didn't exhaust themselves. Ty's muscular body told her how hard they worked at it.

When he swept his thumb over the pulse point in her neck, she grew even warmer, especially with his pad-covered body pinning her to the boards. He drew in closer, close enough to feel his warm breath ruffle her hair. Her nipples tightened.

"So," he said. "Figured out yet what you wanted to talk to me about?"

She pulled off her gloves and dropped them, then laid her palms on his chest, wishing there wasn't all this...stuff...between them so she could touch his skin. "Not really. I'm confused."

"About?"

"You and me."

"What about you and me confuses you?"

He stroked his thumb behind her ear, slid his hand into her hair.

How was she supposed to talk to him when he was touching her like that?

"Ty."

"Yeah." His gaze bored into hers, and she didn't think he was all that interested in what she had to say, which was a good thing because she didn't much feel like talking anyway.

He tilted her head back and her lips parted for him just as his mouth covered hers.

His kiss was hungry, making her muscles clench as he moved his lips over hers in a way that demanded more. This wasn't a light and easy kiss, it was hard and pa.s.sionate, his tongue sliding between her teeth to lick against hers. She gasped and held on to him as he pushed her against the boards and demanded everything from that kiss, stealing her breath as he wrapped his arm around her and pressed his body intimately against hers.

Pinned against the boards, she could only hold on to him. The ice was slick and she dug the edge of one skate into the ice for balance, clutching Ty's pads while he kissed her senseless.

She was on fire, her body needing his touch, his skin against hers. She'd missed him, had missed...this. This connecting to him on that intimate level. She didn't want to talk, didn't want to hash out everything that was screwed up in her head, or all the reasons she didn't want to be with him, because right now none of that mattered.

She did want to be with him. Here and now, with hot and cold swirling around her, driving her into a frenzy of need and desire.

When he pulled back, his eyes were half lidded, desire darkening them to a stormy gray.

That's what she needed to see, what she focused on. The rest of it was just extraneous fluff she didn't want to make sense of right now.

Not when he gave her a look like that.

She swallowed, her throat dry. She licked her lips and he zeroed in on her mouth and kissed her again, tugging her bottom lip between his teeth until she threw her head back against the gla.s.s and moaned out of sheer pleasure. He pressed kisses to her jaw, her neck, using his teeth to graze her throat.

"Ty, please."

"I love when you say my name. Do you have any idea what that does to me?"

"No. Tell me."

"I think I'll show you instead."

The next thing she knew he had untied the pads she wore, removed his own pads and tossed them across the ice.

It was distinctly cooler without all that padding. Her dress and tights weren't warm enough.

"I'm cold. Can we go now?"

"I'll warm you up." He cupped her face with his hands and kissed her, this time a gentle brush of his lips, and then he paused. She held her breath, waiting for him to continue. He pulled back and she saw his lips curl in a smile that turned her world off balance. She reached up to rub her fingers over his lips, then arched up on her skates to reach his mouth.

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her deeply, and she forgot all about being cold. His hands and body were like a blast furnace as he moved them over her, drawing her within his heat. His lips were hard and demanding, making her melt from the inside out. She was surprised the ice wasn't thawing beneath them, sinking them in a sea of liquid.

His hand found her breast, molded to it, and fire spread through her. She arched against his palm and he thumbed her nipple through the material. Oh, she wanted to be naked, but there was something so primal about being here on the ice, fully clothed, with him touching her like this. He shifted his thigh between her legs and held her there, his mouth doing delicious things to her lips while he touched her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

She was on fire. That, coupled with standing on the cold ice, was a study in contrasts that inflamed her senses and sent her spiraling into arousal. She wanted more than this fully clothed petting. She slid her hand under his shirt to touch his bare skin, to feel the warmth of his back.

He pulled his mouth away from hers and stared down at her, touching his hand to her cheek. Her breath caught and held as he moved his hand down her neck and across her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He mapped a casual trek down her body, making her gasp as his touch snaked south, teasing her by not touching her where she wanted to, where she was throbbing with need. He grabbed the hem of her dress and lifted it, then slid his hand over her s.e.x to cup her through the thin material of her tights.

She gasped as he rubbed his palm back and forth over the ache that had settled there. She arched against him, trying to balance on her skates. He held her firmly in his grasp, more comfortable on the ice than she was.

"Here?" she asked.

"Yeah. Right here."

"How?"

"We'll make it work. I want you, Jenna."

Their gazes fused and she saw the fierce need in his eyes, in the tight set of his jaw, his muscles tensing under her hands. It catapulted her desire to feverish levels. The idea of making love with him here on the ice suddenly seemed perfect.

He slipped his hand inside the waistband of her tights, finding the heat of her center. Her breathing quickened as the icy cold of his fingers found the warm wetness of her s.e.x.

She clutched his shoulders and held on as he fingered her p.u.s.s.y, flicked the ring around her c.l.i.t and caressed her there.

"Your fingers are cold."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. G.o.d, it feels good. Put them inside me."

He slid two fingers inside her, pumping them in and out of her until she thought she was going to die from the sheer pleasure of it. She melted around him, convulsed as he rubbed the heel of his hand against her s.e.x. She arched, needing more, wanting to touch him, too. His erection was outlined through his sweats and she cupped it, stroked his shaft, each time she touched him causing him to react by sliding his fingers deeper inside her.

"I need you, Ty. No more foreplay."

He gave her a wicked smile, then bent and grabbed her tights, pulling them down to her ankles. He pulled a condom out of the pocket of his hoodie and drew his sweats down, revealing his swollen c.o.c.k.

She licked her lips and swallowed, impatient as he put the condom on and pressed her against the wooden boards. He raised her dress and held on to her b.u.t.t, spreading her legs as wide as they could go considering the problem with her tights and skates.

When he slid up inside her it was heaven. Cold and hot, she felt like the ice was melting around them. She cried out and held on as Ty plunged into her, brushing her c.l.i.t with every thrust. With her legs practically closed, she felt every part of his c.o.c.k inside her, every part of him touching her, spreading her, driving her crazy.

"Oh, it's good. Yes, like that."

His fingers bit into the flesh of her a.s.s as he held her, taking easy strokes at first, but she wanted so much more.

"Harder. Make it hard and make me come."

He bent and powered up into her again, then ground against her, sending sparks of pleasure to her core. She bit down on her lip as he pushed into her, felt him swell inside her. His c.o.c.k jerked and quivered and she was close. Oh so close. She dug her fingers into his shoulders and slammed against him, causing him to groan and give her more of what she wanted.

"I'm going to come in you, Jenna."

His words spiraled her out of control, made her quiver with her oncoming o.r.g.a.s.m. "Yes. f.u.c.k me harder. I'm going to come."

He banged her against the boards with a punishing thrust. She fought to dig her skates into the ice, but it was Ty holding on to her with his strength, Ty keeping her upright as he tunneled into her, pistoning his c.o.c.k into her p.u.s.s.y.

It hit her like a blast. She came with a wild cry that shattered her.

Ty kissed her, groaning into her mouth as he emptied himself, shaking and holding her.

She panted against him, sweating, her legs shaking, and if Tyler let her go she'd drop right on the ice. But he held her firmly in his grasp, and finally withdrew, pulled up his sweats, and dropped to the ice to pull up her tights.

He stood, wrapped his arm around her waist, and pressed a warm, sweet kiss to her lips that made her tremble.

She laid her head against the gla.s.s and looked at him, so shaken that for a moment she couldn't speak.

Then she grinned at him. "You take all your girls to the ice for a little s.e.x action?"

He frowned. "I've never had s.e.x with any woman in the arena, or on the ice before. Just you."

He pushed off and started gathering up the gear.

Well. d.a.m.n. She felt special.

And now she was right back where she'd started, not knowing what the h.e.l.l to say.

SEVENTEEN.

LIZ LAID HER HEAD IN HER HANDS. "I'M BORED."

Jenna grinned and refilled Elizabeth's gla.s.s of wine from the bottle sitting at their table. "You're not bored. You have an awesome job that keeps you running all the time. Your problem is that you miss Gavin."

"Of course I do, though I'd never admit that to anyone but you." She picked up the gla.s.s and took a sip. "Spring training sucks. Baseball sucks."

Jenna fought back a laugh. "You agreed to marry him. You know what he does for a living. h.e.l.l, he was your client until you two got engaged and you had to give him up because of conflict of interest."

"Yeah, that part sucked, but what could I do? I can't negotiate on behalf of someone I'm in love with. I can't be objective where he's concerned. But I got him a great agent. Not as great as me, of course."

"Naturally."

Liz had called her this morning and asked for a lunch date, and since Jenna had the day off, it was perfect. After her last encounter with Ty, she needed some perspective and girl talk, and Liz was a no-bulls.h.i.t straight shooter. Jenna didn't confide in many people, but Liz was one of those people she trusted.

"You could fly down to Florida and visit him."

"I'm a distraction and he needs to focus on work."

Jenna dug into the bread on the table and pulled out a piece, waving it at Liz for emphasis. "And I'm sure he misses you as much as you miss him. He'd probably play better if you were there."

Liz shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not."

"Are your friends Haley and Shawnelle down there?"

"Shawnelle is. Haley couldn't make it because she has cla.s.ses this semester."

"Then Shawnelle could probably use a friend, too. You should go."

Liz leaned back in the chair and grabbed a piece of bread. "I should." She looked up and met Jenna's gaze. "G.o.d, I'm a mess, Jen. Who knew I'd fall so ugly in love with a guy? He's made me a sloppy romantic. All I do is think about him. When he's on the road we text, we s.e.xt-"

Jenna held up a hand. "Way too much information. Gavin's my brother, remember?"

Liz grinned. "Tough. You're my friend so you have to listen to the s.e.x parts, too. Just pretend he's someone else. I can't get enough of him. I thought I was old enough to get past the infatuation, that it would ease off after we were together for a while, but it hasn't. If anything, it's stronger now than it ever was. Not just the hot s.e.x, though that's still spectacular. But the romance, the way I feel when he looks at me or holds my hand. It's like a G.o.dd.a.m.ned fairy tale."

Jenna's heart did a flip. "It's love, honey. That's what it's supposed to be like."

"I guess. I just never knew." Liz reached across the table and squeezed her hand. "I'm going to get all sappy here and tell you that when it hits you, it's going to be a lightning bolt to your heart and you're never, ever going to be the same. It'll change you."

Jenna laughed. "I don't think everyone falls in love the same way."

Liz took up her gla.s.s and sipped, then slathered b.u.t.ter on her bread. "Don't they? Look at Tara and Mick. Their wedding was like watching a freakin' Disney movie. I've never seen two people more in love with each other. Gavin and I are like that. You can't tell me lightning doesn't strike twice." Liz gave her a direct look. "Or three times."

Jenna shrugged. "I'm not in love."

"Maybe not yet, but it's going to happen for you, and when it does, you're going to feel it right down to your toes. And that's when you know that no other man in the universe will ever do it for you like that one man does."

"You make it sound so easy."

Liz laughed. "Easy? h.e.l.l no, it isn't easy, because he's the only one who will ever have the capacity to hurt you. And oh, G.o.dd.a.m.n, when it hurts, it hurts so bad. But he's also the only one you're going to love with your whole heart."

"Good G.o.d, woman, you've got it bad."

"I know, right? I told you I was ugly in love."

Jenna laughed. And as she and Liz ate their lunch and Liz chatted about her and Gavin's wedding plans, Jenna thought about that whole love thing.