Jude scoffs as he reaches for the puck and says, “You sure didn’t. He’s beating you now.”

He then sends the puck to me as I line up along the pink line. I wasn’t going to wait for him; if he wants to blow the game off for a girl, that’s on him. I’m here to win, but before I can push off and start for the goal, a voice stops me.

“Can I play?”

Cutting my gaze to the voice, I’m stunned. When I saw her on the beach, I was mainly curious since she was staring at me. But she never came up to talk to me like her friend had. Since I didn’t want to look desperate, and also because I’m not looking for a relationship or hookup, I stayed away. But now, looking at her, I’m a bit speechless.

She’s fucking hot.

Her hair is a soft blondish brown, all thick and sexy back in a braid. Her eyes are a sweet hazel color, a color that I can’t decide if it’s more green or brown. She has a nice nose too, beautiful plump lips, and high cheekbones, giving her face sharp, stimulating angles. Her shoulders are thick, more muscular than I am usually attracted to, but hell, she works it. As my eyes travel down her body, I take in her short shorts that show off her delectable thighs and then her thick calves. I can tell she works out, and for some odd reason, that turns me the fuck on.

Which is really weird.

Usually I like small, cute women who are soft and sweet. Being a big guy, I like my girls smaller than me, but this girl is probably only a couple inches shorter than my six three. And there is something in her eyes—or body, hell, I’m not sure—but the point is she’s got my pistols pumping. Got me all twisty inside, and suddenly hooking up for the weekend doesn’t seem like that bad of an idea.

As long as it’s with her.

When Delanie smacks her friend softly in the thigh, my brows go up as she glances at her and waves her off. She then leans in, and I swear I hear her say something about it only being roller hockey. But that doesn’t make sense to me and I want to know what she means.

Looking back at Jace, she asks, “Do you have extra skates?”

He scoffs. “You want to play with us?”

She nods, and I don’t miss the confidence in the way she squares her shoulders. “Yeah.”

“Hockey?”

She nods again. “Ugh, yeah.”

“But you’re wearing shorts,” Delanie points out.

And thank God for that, I think as I mentally lick up those naughty, thick thighs.

“So? I’m good,” she says, waving her off. “I’ll need a stick too.”

Jace looks back at us, and I can see that he is confused. It’s very rare that a girl, besides our sister, wants to play with us. We are kind of intimidating together.

With a grin, he asks, “I don’t care if you guys don’t.”

With the chance of rubbing up against her to keep the puck away, yeah, I don’t care at all. The fact she wants to play does something to me. Causes my heart to beat a bit faster and my hands to sweat unexpectedly. I know it isn’t the heat either. It’s her.

“What size do you wear?” I ask, finding my voice as I drink her in. She’s wearing the bikini from earlier under the Beatles tank she has on. I want to be a jerk and say she can’t play without taking off her shirt, but I’m sure that would be frowned upon. Plus, if Claire found out that Jude was involved in playing hockey with a chick in only a bikini, she’d skin him. And me, since I suggested it.

“Ten,” she says, and I like her voice. It isn’t sweet and soft, it’s tough and has meaning. She knows what she wants and it’s refreshing.

I nod. “Yeah, here,” I say, skating to our bag. We all have extra pairs of skates since we are so rough on ours. I reach for the skates and turn to hand them to her, happy that she followed me over here. “You can wear Jace’s. He’s got baby feet.”

She grins and I find myself grinning back. She has a sweet smile. One that can knock a guy on his ass, and surprisingly, almost knocks me on mine.

Taking the skates from me, she asks, “Do you have socks?”

I glance down at her feet, seeing that she is wearing rubber flip-flops, her toes painted a lime color. Cute.

Tearing my gaze from them, I reach back down for a pair of socks and smile back at her.

“They stink.”

She shrugs. “No biggie.”

I eye her as she drops the skates and then to her ass to put them on. She isn’t like other girls, and the more she talks, the more I want her naked. Watching as she quickly laces them up, I have a feeling she’s done this before. Crossing my arms as I balance on my stick, I ask, “You play?”

She glances up at me, her eyes sparkling as she shrugs. “A bit.”

“I have to say, I’m impressed.”

She grins as she ties the other skate up quickly. Getting up with ease, she reaches for one of my sticks that is laying across the bag. She leans into the stick, testing its curve and then looks back at me. “You haven’t even seen me play yet.”

“True, but not too many girls want to play hockey with a bunch of big dudes, in short shorts.”

Still grinning, she holds my gaze. “Think my shorts are short?”

Before I can even think, I say roughly, “Oh yeah.”

Coming close to me, she asks, “So you’ve been looking?”

Leaning into her, I don’t understand the pull, but it’s there. I’ve always heard of instant chemistry—hell, it happened between Claire and Jude—but I never really thought it would happen to me. But with this girl, I think it’s happening. Either that or the fact I haven’t been laid in six months is finally taking its toll.

Looking deep into her eyes, I nod. “Yeah, and believe me, I will every chance I get.”

Skating back a bit, her tongue comes out, wetting her lips as she nods her head. I’m completely in a trance, watching as her arms flex as she plays with the stick, her eyes still locked with mine. “So I have to watch out for you then?”

“Maybe,” I say with a wink.

She perks her lips out, and hot damn, I can’t help but think she’s gonna kiss me as she comes toward me. She has the look in her eyes. The one that can cause damage, but instead, she takes the puck, going around me like a fucking pro and shoots the puck, hitting the pipe smack-dab in the middle.

Speechless, I look from the net to the pink line where she is fucking standing and then meet her gaze. She stands there like it’s no big fucking deal that she just scored from our pseudo blue line. Did that just fucking happen?