“Probably some other short girl with dark hair.”

“You’re right. It must have been some other woman who looks exactly like my twin sister.”

“Fine.” Bo sighed and turned her pale face toward Chelsea. “I’ve been known to get drunk and call Jules.”

“How often?”

“Two or three times.”

“If you like him, why do you have to drunk-dial him?”

“I didn’t say I liked him.” Bo scowled as if they were ten again and boys were yucky. “Jules has a huge ego and dates a lot of different women. We’re just friends. Sort of.”

She remembered what he’d said once about liking girls who didn’t like him. “Maybe he wants to be more than friends.”

“Then why hasn’t he ever called and asked me out? No. He just wants a booty call.”

Chelsea’s mouth dropped. “You’ve given him the booty?”

“Not yet, but I’m afraid I will.” She pushed her short hair behind her ear. “Did you see his body? I don’t know how much longer I can hold out before I go all Basic Instinct on his ultra-fine behind.”

“Like stab him with a pick?”

“No. Like throw him down and jump on him.”

She liked Jules. “Maybe you should let him know how you feel.”

“I don’t know how I feel.” Bo reached into the cooler and pulled out a Coke. “Sometimes I don’t even like him. Sometimes I like him a lot. But it doesn’t really matter. I could never date Jules.”

“Why?”

Bo popped the top. “Because we work together. You can’t date someone you work with.”

Chelsea rolled her eyes, forgot she was hungover, and winced. “That’s ridiculous.”

“No. It’s not. It’d be like you dating Mark Bressler.”

“There is a difference between work with and work for.” She could never make out with her surly employer, let alone date him. He was a rude hard-ass, and those were his good qualities. The thought of a booty call with Mark was…was…

Was not as distu Ss nrbing as it should be. The thought of her sliding her hands all over his muscles should freak her out. For some reason it didn’t. Instead, the thought of touching him triggered thoughts of deep-kissing his mouth. Of looking into his dark brown eyes as she combed her fingers through his hair. Of putting her lips to his warm neck and pressing her hot, sticky skin to his.

The fact that these thoughts didn’t disturb her, disturbed her more. Sure, he was a handsome man, but she’d never had a thing for big guys. Macho guys who used their bodies and punched each other in the head. Yeah, hockey players wore helmets, but she’d seen the tapes of Mark hitting other players and getting hit himself.

And she’d certainly never had a thing for superstars and athletes. Certainly not superstar athletes. Athletes were the worst kind of superstar. A lot of them partied hard in the offseason and deserved their bad reputations. She’d never read anything bad about Mark, but she figured if she looked hard enough she would. She doubted he’d been an angel.

It didn’t matter that Mark no longer played professional hockey. When he was in public, he was still treated like a star athlete. He was given the sort of deference that she’d always found so disgusting.

So why didn’t the thought of sliding her hands on his rock-hard body disturb her? She didn’t know. Maybe because it had been a while since she’d slid her hands over anyone but herself. Maybe Bo was having the same dilemma. Or maybe it was Bo’s sexual frustration being transferred to Chelsea. It really was true that she could sometimes feel her sister’s physical pain. When they’d been younger, if one of them fell off her bike, the other felt it. It didn’t happen as much these days, but last year when Bo had broken her clavicle skiing, Chelsea had felt the pain in her shoulder and they hadn’t even been in the same state at the time. So she supposed it was possible that she was attuned to Bo’s hot, pent-up lust. Especially since they were lounging together on the very same couch.

She turned and looked at her sister, sitting there all...

Bo pointed to the television. “Can I wait for a commercial or do I have to git-‘er-done right now?”

“You can wait.”

Luckily, Chelsea didn’t have to depend on her sister to cure herself of her not-so-disturbing thoughts. Mark took care of it by being his usual disagreeable self.

Thank God.


Tags: Rachel Gibson Chinooks Hockey Team Romance