Meet Me in the Penalty Box (Orchid City, #1)(13)

Harper



It’s just too risky. I have too much to lose.





So, she wasn’t saying she didn’t want to. It was more a matter of we couldn’t because of what could happen.

Nico



What if I told you that no one would ever find out?





Harper



Someone always finds out, Nico.





I shook my head at my phone and tucked it into my pocket as everyone got up from the table. We had a bus waiting out front to take us to the airport where we would board our team’s jet and head back to Orchid Beach. I followed Wes out of the restaurant and my phone was burning a hole in my pocket.

The last words that Harper sent continued to plague my mind until we were all filing onto the jet and taking our seats. Some of the guys had fallen into comfortable conversation and a few were already half asleep. Wes was reading a romance novel and I wasn’t even about to approach that subject.

Instead, I pulled out my phone and opened up the message thread between Harper and me. She wasn’t wrong with her statement. In most cases, that was what happened. Things always got out and then you were fucked.

What Harper didn’t know was I wouldn’t tell a single soul, not even Wes. If I could prevent anyone from finding out, that was what I would do. She didn’t understand the weight we put on good luck charms.

I needed her around, even if she didn’t want to take me up on my offer.

Nico



That’s where you’re wrong, love. I plan on keeping things between us quiet but have no intention of you being quiet.





Harper



Are you always so sure of yourself?





A smile pulled on my lips and I stared down at my phone as the pilot drove the jet onto the runway. I had approximately a minute before we would be in the air and needed to put my phone on airplane mode.

Nico



How else do you think I stay on top?





Harper



You’re a top all right…





Damn. She made my dick hard with one sentence.

Her response was not what I had expected. I had definitely underestimated her and now I didn’t feel as badly about coming on as strongly as I did. I wasn’t here to fuck around. Not in the sense of leaving things open to her interpretation. I knew what I wanted and was simply making sure she knew it too.

Nico



You want to play, love? I can show you how good it feels to win.





Three small bubbles popped up and disappeared as she typed and deleted a response. My heart pounded against my rib cage and excitement rattled my system as I waited in limbo for her response.

“Cirone, we’re about to take off. Phone.”

Our coach made me feel like I was back in high school all over again as he scolded me for having my phone out. A sigh escaped me as I closed out of the message thread. I quickly switched it over to airplane mode and slid it back into my pocket.

I caught Wes looking at me from where he was sitting. A smirk played on his lips and he cocked an eyebrow.

I shook my head at him. “Just don’t.”

I had half a hard-on and felt awkward as hell as I attempted to adjust myself in my seat with my best friend staring at me the way he was.

“I didn’t say anything,” Wes said as he feigned innocence and held up the novel he was reading. “I’m just over here minding my own business.”

“Sure you are,” I threw back at him as a laugh escaped me. “You have a habit of making everyone’s business your own.”

Wes gave me the middle finger as he laughed along before he got back to whatever the hell it was he was reading. Shaking my head, I settled back in my seat, feeling the plane lift into the air as I rested my head against the window.

I hated that I would have to wait until we touched down to read Harper’s response, but good things took time.

And I planned on having the best fucking time with her.





CHAPTER FIVE





HARPER





“You’re quiet today,” Ava said as we both sat down at the table in the coffee shop. It had become our little thing before work. We would meet here, if neither of us had anything going on, and grab some coffee before we had to head to the arena.

I hadn’t told Ava anything about Nico. All she knew was about some random guy at the club, but I never told her the truth about who it really was. I also never disclosed the fact that he played professional hockey for the same team that we worked for.

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Ava. She was the only friend I really made since moving to Orchid Beach. She hadn’t given me a reason not to trust her, but at the same time, I still found myself hesitant. If I let her in on anything that had to do with Nico, how would I know that she wouldn’t end up saying something to someone?

It was really hard to make that judgment when you didn’t know someone completely.

And on the other hand—it’s not like there was anything real going on between Nico and I. Some harmless flirting and whatnot after our run-in at the club. He had propositioned me and I didn’t take the bait. No harm, no foul. Neither of us could realistically get in trouble for what had happened between us so far.