Page 7 of Her Power Play

Tipping my head back, I look up to meet his eyes. I don’t know who he is, but he’s tall, and considering I’m standing pressed up against Liam, who is also very tall, that’s saying something.

“You’re the girl who made the great fuckin’ cupcakes?” he asks.

I swallow the saliva that I haven’t been able to since he appeared at my side. “Yes,” I whisper.

His lips twitch. “You got a shop or something? My mom would really love some of these. I’d like to send some to her back home.”

“I do,” I murmur.

Then, because I’d decided an hour ago that this was going to be a networking thing, I slip my hand into my pocket and produce a card. He reaches out, wrapping his fingers around mine as he slips the card from my grasp.

That’s when he smiles, and he’s got dimples. Panty-melting dimples. This guy is trouble. Downright rotten trouble. Then again, the one with his arm wrapped around me like a hard band isn’t a choirboy himself.

In fact, as my gaze wildly searches around this room. I see them. One by one, my gaze shifts from one man to another. One gorgeous, tall, athletic man to another. I blink. I knew they were all going to be hot, but this might be too much hotness for one confined space.

Trouble.

All of them.

EIGHT

LIAM

Her eyes flick around the room, and I watch as her expression changes. I don’t know what is going through her mind, but it’s definitely nothing sexy, and right now, I need her to feel sexy.

Really fucking sexy.

Deciding that I can’t have her freaking herself out, I shift us to the side of the arena, where the locker rooms are. I need to get her alone and find out exactly how to get into her panties.

I have a feeling she’s going to make me work for it—hard. And there are two things I’m willing to work for: hockey and good sex. I’ve already had practice today for hockey, but I haven’t had sex yet today, so that’s next on the agenda, and I’m ready to work.

“Where are we going?” Ruby asks after we’ve taken a few steps away from the crowd. “I didn’t even get that guy’s name. I want to make sure I help him when he comes into the bakery to send his mom a treat.”

I snort. “Corey Simms was not worried about his mother.”

“He seemed sincere,” she says.

I don’t stop moving, guiding her closer to the locker rooms. I hear the crowd and the music growing quieter as we move farther away. Flexing my muscles around her waist, I tug her closer to my side.

“He wasn’t,” I mutter. “He thought you were hot. He may have a mom who loves cupcakes or whatever, but that was his in to get to you.”

Her feet stop.

Then mine do too. Turning to face her, I don’t allow any space between us. I think space gives her mind time to focus and freak out. I want to keep it jumbled and on the verge of giving in to me—and I’m aware that makes me an asshole.

Gripping her hips, I hold on to her, afraid that she might just get away from me. I’m not going to let her go anywhere, at least not yet. I’m not done working for her. Because we are going to fuck. Soon.

“To get me?”

My lips twitch into a smirk at the confusion-laced expression she’s wearing. I’m not sure how every single look she wears is cuter than the last. I don’t know when confusion turned me on this much.

But it really does.

Maybe it’s not the expressions, though. Maybe it’s the woman herself. Ruby is cute as shit. I can’t stop thinking about all the parts of her that are adorable as hell, but then I realize she’s looking at me and waiting for an answer.

“Yeah,” I say, confirming her question. “To get you… in bed.”

“But that’s not what you’re doing?” she asks, her lips twitching into a knowing smirk.