Maybe This Love
Author:
Jennifer Snow
Series:
Colorado Ice #2
On
Sale: May 30, 2017
Publisher:
Forever
Formats:
Mass Market
Price:
$7.99 (mass market)
THE GAME OF HIS
LIFE
Hockey
player Ben Westmore has some serious skills---on and off the ice---and he's not
above indulging in the many perks of NHL stardom. When a night in Vegas ends in
disaster, he realizes two things: 1) it's time to lie low for a while, and 2)
he needs a lawyer---fast. But the smoking-hot woman who walks into his office
immediately tests all his good intentions.
Olivia
Davis doesn't need anyone derailing her career---or her dreams of starting a
family---least of all a skirt-chasing player like Ben. But soon he's unleashing
a full-court press to convince her that he's the real deal. She's slowly
falling for his sweet, rugged charm, but with so much on the line, Olivia has
to decide whether Ben can truly change---or if he's just playing the game.
“Relax,” he said smoothly, his gaze locked
on hers, his expression soft, unfazed—the look of a man not dancing with the
lawyer who could ruin his life or at least playoff season. She had to learn
this guy’s secret, because there was no way he was this unaffected. Yet, his
hands weren’t sweating the ways hers threatened to, and the only heartbeat she
could hear thundering was her own.
She forced a slow and what she hoped was
unobvious breath. “I am relaxed. I’m
not the one who should be worried.”
The palm of his hand spread across the
exposed flesh of her back and she prayed the tingling sensation in her spine
didn’t result in goose bumps. “So you’re saying I should be?” he asked, turning them in rotation to the steady
beat. Despite her resistance to this dance, her hips betrayed her by swaying in
sync with his, and her feet kept time with his every step. He led with a silent
authority that she was forced to follow. And for the first time in her life,
she wasn’t hating giving up control.
“I think so, yes. My client is…”
He brought their joined hands between them
and placed a finger to her lips.
Her heart all but stopped.
“Why don’t we save the shop talk for the
courtroom? Let’s just enjoy this dance.”
She swallowed hard, but nodded. Dancing in
silence, she could do that.
Unfortunately, Ben seemed eager to chat.
“How long have you been practicing law?”
He expected her to remember stats as his
hand on her back dipped slightly lower, his hold drawing her even closer? It
had been far too long since she’d been enveloped in the arms of a man who felt
and smelled so strong, so confident…How long would it be again if she went
ahead with her plans for a baby? She pushed the thought aside when he stared at
her, still waiting for an answer. “Twelve years,” she said, cutting out her
time as a junior lawyer and intern, so as not to age herself. She knew from his
online Wikipedia page that he was thirty-four, two years younger than she.
“Do you love what you do?” he asked.
“If I say no will I get the inspirational ‘do
what you love and it will never feel like work’ speech?”
“Is
that a no?”
She shook her head. “Actually, I really do
enjoy my job.” She couldn’t say watching families get ripped apart by bitter
divorces was something she loved without sounding like a sociopath, but she
enjoyed her career.
“Can I ask why only professional athlete
divorces?”
“I was dumped by a jock,” she said.
Ben laughed. “So one guy ruined it for us
all, huh?”
She nodded then shook her head. “No.
Everyday cases—with normal, everyday husbands and wives—just seemed a little
too…real,” she said.
His blue eyes burned into her and his grip
tightened on her hand. “So, guys like me aren’t real?”
She swallowed hard. He felt real…He felt
more than real—he felt amazing. His arm wrapped around her felt deceivingly
safe and his hand holding hers felt warm and secure. God, she could see herself
giving in to these painfully real feelings…“You’re probably one of the more
real ones,” she said, hoping he didn’t detect the slight quiver in her voice.
He nodded slowly as though unsure whether
her words were a compliment. “Have you ever been married?” he asked, rotating
them in time to the music.
“That’s crossing a line into personal.”
“Kids?”
“That’s less personal?” She raised an
eyebrow.
He smiled. “Guarded much?”
The effect of his smile from a safe
distance was knee-weakening. This close, it was downright dangerous. She
quickly averted her gaze to the other couples on the floor. “How long is this
song anyway?” She felt trapped the way she had in tenth grade when Robbie
Gropes-a-Lot Harris had tricked her into dancing with him at the winter formal
to “November Rain”—the full eleven-minute extended version. Except Ben’s breath
smelled minty fresh and not like tacos, and his arm draped across her lower
back made every fiber in her being spring to life, making her want to flee for
a completely different reason than the one Robbie had evoked.
“Do I make you uncomfortable?”
Damn right. And it should be her making him uncomfortable. There needed to be a power shift between them
and fast. “Of course not.”
He pulled her closer. “You make me
uncomfortable,” he murmured, his expression suddenly serious. Every inch of her
body was pressed to his and she could barely catch a breath. Dancing was a
really bad idea—a torturously bad idea. Being in his arms reminded her of all
of the things she’d sacrificed for her career, of all the things she’d told
herself she didn’t need…
“G-good,” she said, her voice cracking. “As
I said, my client…”
“I don’t mean the divorce case. I mean you.”
He touched her cheek and her skin burned. Thank God he was holding her so
tightly because she couldn’t trust her legs.
Their stare locked and held for what could
have been a lifetime, as everything seemed still and quiet around them.
Still and quiet.
The song had ended.
She yanked her hand free of his and
stumbled away from him, inhaling a gulp of air into her deprived lungs. “Well,
dance is over. I’ll…uh…see you.”
He nodded, the charming polite smile back
on his face and for a second she wondered if she’d imagined the intensity in
his gaze seconds before. “Goodnight, Olivia.”
Olivia.
Her own name sounded foreign coming from
him. She longed to hear the sound again, and she was an idiot for wanting
something so dangerous. The NHL’s biggest playboy had just worked his charm on
her, and she’d lost all common sense.
She turned and headed straight for the
table, leaving him on the dance floor.
She had to pull it together, but she also
had to admit the unfortunate truth. Never before had she been tempted to kiss
the enemy.
COLORADE
ICE SERIES
Maybe This Kiss
(Colorado Ice, #0.5)
Maybe This Time
(Colorado Ice, #1)
Maybe This Love
(Colorado Ice, #2)
Maybe This Summer (Colorado Ice, #2.5)
Maybe This Summer (Colorado Ice, #2.5)
Maybe This
Christmas (Colorado Ice, #3)
FOLLOW FOREVER ONLINE
No comments:
Post a Comment