It had been years since he’d seen this side of her. Well, not since she started dating that spawn of Satan, Derek. She was always so prim and nauseatingly proper when she was around him. “Well, you’re barking up the wrong tree, cupcake. Why don’t you go ask your boyfriend for help?”
She bit the inside of her cheek. It was quick, and someone else might not have noticed it, but Henrik knew her too well. He’d spent too many hours dissecting the nuances of her every reaction, searching for the real emotion trapped within her chilled exterior, not to recognize the fire she desperately tried to barricade behind that smile. “He’s busy,” she stated, her tone acidic.
Suddenly intrigued, he flung the door shut.
Surely, Leila wasn’t upset with her perfect little golden boy.
“Busy doing what, exactly?”
She shrugged, attempting to appear casual, but her hand clenched into a fist. It was one of her tells, which meant she wasn’t going to hold it together for much longer. “His other girlfriend,” she said, her exasperation finally consuming her, “or at least that’s the impression I got from the voicemail the slut left on his machine.”
Henrik grinned.
It was a bullshit move, but he couldn’t help himself. He absolutely hated that asshole. They’d been rivals since the Junior World Championship almost a decade ago, their feud running much deeper than just a few on-ice antics. He hated Derek on a much more personal level. He’d finally get what he deserved now. The idiot should have known better than to screw over the little sister of the league’s most deadly enforcer. There would be hell to pay, and Austin would enjoy exacting revenge on his little sister’s behalf.
He had to give it to Leila, though, going back to the situation at hand. Any other woman who just found out her boyfriend of two years was cheating on her would probably still be off crying in her Baskin-Robbins.
Not Leila Blakely. She was too stubborn for that weak shit.
“If you’re looking for someone to kick his ass, you should call your brother. I’m certain he’ll be more than happy to oblige you.”
She hummed for a moment, the thought apparently entertaining. “That isn’t why I’m here.” There was something in her tone that he couldn’t quite identify, but then she smiled back at him.
Vengeance.
Yes. This was the Leila he knew.
He crossed his arms over his chest, his curiosity kindled. “I’m listening.”
“If I wanted his ass kicked, you’re right, I would have called Austin. If I wanted a shoulder to cry on—”
“You would have called my brother,” he finished for her.
“Exactly. I’m not in the mood for crying.” She crossed her legs, bringing his attention back to that damn hemline again. “Now, why do you think I came to you?”
His throat tightened at the thought. She couldn’t be serious. His exploits weren’t exactly a secret. He never hid the fact that commitment was on the bottom of his list of priorities in life, but this was Leila.
The Leila.
They weren’t exactly on a friends with benefits level. Hell, they weren’t even friends. She was his best friend’s little sister.
Scratch that.
She was his best friend’s stuck-up, pain in the ass little sister, who voluntarily dated his arch nemesis.
“You realize you hate me, right? The last time we saw each other, you refused to acknowledge I was even in the room.”
She cocked a daring brow at him. “If liking you was a requirement, you’d never get laid.”
He pursed his lips. She had a point.
He shook his head, trying to keep even the thought of what she suggested out of his rallying thoughts. “There is one minor fact you seem to be forgetting.” He paused, unable to keep his eyes from raking down her body. He didn’t remember her figure ever being so intoxicating. Actually, that was a lie. He’d always been aware of her. He just knew better than to let his thoughts linger too long. He felt almost drunk as his eyes trained on every perfectly proportioned curve. “Guys have rules about sisters.”
She stepped forward, a slow smile forming on her lips as her fingers played with one of the pearls on her necklace, which just so happened to be at eye level with her cleavage. “So, it’s not that you’re not attracted to me?”
Damn. She was good.
He bit his lip, a sure sign he was nervous, which was ridiculous, because women didn’t make him nervous. “It’s not just Austin, you know. Drew will kill me. You know he’s in love with you.”
Everyone and their mother knew his little brother had a thing for her, and she was no exception. She was off limits any way he looked at it.
She intentionally licked her glossy pink lips before quirking a smile at him. “You want me to drive to Manhattan and sleep with your brother?”
He crossed his arms over his chest in return. “No,” he said flatly, suddenly feeling a flash of hormones as his breath tightened in his throat. “I was just making a point.”
“That?”
“You’re asking a lot,” he half stuttered before clearing his throat.
She smirked, her voice velvety in a way he never thought possible. “I’m offering you sex, no strings attached. Heaven forbid I be so cruel.”
“We aren’t strangers who stumbled upon each other in a bar, Leila.” He wondered if she could hear the urgency in his voice—the panic that started to set in.
“I know that. I could go out tonight, take home some random guy, but that isn’t what I’m after. I came to you because I’m thinking the exact same thing you are right now.”
“That being?”
“Fuck Derek Deroty.” She grinned, stepping toward him, leaning just close enough to eye the tiny, pink cut on his lip. “He gave you a cheap shot tonight, did he not?”
Henrik’s eye twitched at the thought of it. He hated that she was right. He had been thinking that exact thought. Oh, he wanted Leila, always had. She was beautiful enough to make him question his loyalty to his best friend and smart enough to know he’d never been worth her time. But the thought of having her, compiled with the fact that she was doing it just to piss Derek off, made it that much better.
She reached up and touched her fingers to the cut, and he had to make an effort not to flinch, or worse, release the sigh that threatened to escape. “He smiled after he hit you,” she whispered, grazing her thumb across the bottom of his full lip. “The same shit-eating grin he smiled at me before he left tonight.”
He caught her hand as her fingers tugged his lip down, contemplating what was right and what he’d inevitably end up doing anyway. She was forbidden fruit, and he, after all, was just a man destined to drown in his own temptation.
“Don’t worry.” He let his breath intentionally brush against the skin of her wrist. She wasn’t the only one with a few tricks up her sleeve. “He’s going to regret that in more ways than one after tonight.”
It was wrong. There were so many rules against dating sisters, and ‘no one night stands’ was on the top of the list. He’d been warned on multiple occasions. Threatened, even. Leila would never be an option for him.
Except she was here, and he was touching her. Rules no longer applied. The temptation was too much. The old saying ‘you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink’ didn’t apply to him. He’d drink every time.
That was why she came here. That was why she chose him.
He let go of her wrist and lifted his hand to her temple, hesitating only a moment before brushing a strand of her scarlet hair away from her eyes, which rounded in anticipation. His fingertips lingered, causing her breath to falter, and it unwound what little was left of his inhibition.
It was reckless and irresponsible, but that was his middle name. Besides, he couldn’t comprehend a thought that didn’t involve making her lose her breath. In an almost instinctual gesture, he cupped her chin in his hand and tilted it up. Her lips parted, releasing the most delicate whine he’d ever heard. He planned on waiting for her to make the first move. This was her rodeo, after all. But again, his own eagerness won out, and he touched his lips to hers without thinking twice about it.