4. Hayden

I might"ve gone overboardwith the flowers, but I couldn"t resist. And the look on her face as she walked into her apartment and saw them was worth every damn penny.

The hour that I spent hiding in the tiny hall closet so she wouldn't know I was there was worth it, too.

She"s scared. I can tell by the way her breathing picks up and her gaze darts around the room, searching for me.

Her fear makes my dick hard.

I"ve been waiting for this moment for hours—ever since I landed in Seattle and started tracking her down. It took some digging, some help from a contact of my father's, but I found her address and waited until she left for work before sneaking into her apartment.

Unfortunately, I can"t stick around and watch her sleep the way I want to, not with an early skate with my new team in the morning. But I have a feeling she"ll be thinking about me while she"s in bed tonight.

I wait until she's in the shower, and then I sneak out the same way I got in—through the front door. It's tempting as hell to go climb in there with her, but something tells me I'm already on thin ice and I don't want to push too far too fast.

As I head back to my hotel, I relish in the knowledge that I've gotten under Cassidy's skin. She hasn"t blocked me yet, which means she"s interested.

That"s all I need.

The next day, I"m buzzing with anticipation as I get ready for the first practice with the Anchors. They"re a shitty team, so they need a little extra push to make it to the top. And I plan on giving them exactly that.

The Bluetooth in my rental car announces I have a call and I glance at the screen, grinning when my brother's name pops up. "Miss me already?"

"Hey," he says, sounding distracted. "You busy?"

"Just heading to practice."

"Oh yeah," he says and his voice goes muffled for a second, like he's talking to someone else. "How"s Seattle?"

"Gray," I say, since so far in the couple of days I've been here, it's living up to its depressing rep. "How're things back home?"

"Same old shit," Sawyer says with a sigh. "Hayden..."

"What?"

He pauses before saying, "Couldn"t you have waited until the end of the season before getting your ass traded? Do you have any idea how hard it"s going to be for me to transfer hospitals?"

I laugh. "You could learn not to be so codependent on me and just wrap up the year where you are."

"Fuck you," he grumbles. "You"re just as codependent on me."

"Bet." I pull into the practice facility parking lot and find a spot. "Look, I gotta go. I'll text you when I'm done." He wasn't wrong about us being codependent. Sawyer's not just my brother, he's my best friend. My other half just like I'm his. He's also the only person I've ever let close.

"Yeah," Sawyer says. "Don't get your ass beat on your first day."

I scoff. "If anyone's throwing punches today, it's gonna be me."

"Okay, NSYNC. Go before you're late."

We hang up and I head inside, ready to show my new team what I"m made of.

The game tonight was fucking brutal. We lost by two goals and everyone"s pissed. But not me. For once, I"m feeling good.

Because I know where she is. My brain's already switched off the clusterfuck on ice and is now honed in on my new obsession.

As we file into the locker room after the game, I can"t stop thinking about Cassidy. My mind is all sorts of fucked up and not even close to focused where it should be—on hockey. It"s on her.

Coach Morin pulls me aside to talk to the media after the game and then, when I'm done, he asks me how I"m adjusting to Seattle so far. "It"s different," I say, knowing that"s an understatement. "But I"m ready to help this team win."

More like carry their asses on my back because as they are, they're dysfunctional as fuck. I still haven't figured out why because I know they've got the talent to be playing better than they are.

"That"s good to hear," Coach says, looking relieved. "You"ve got a lot of talent, Hayden. Let"s see what you can do with it."

I nod and head back into the locker room, feeling like I"m on a mission as I tear off tape and unlace my skates. Warren St. Claire—aka War—sinks down beside me. "You"re coming out with us tonight."

I raise an eyebrow. "That doesn"t feel like a question."

He grins. "Nope. You"re coming out. We need to get you drunk for team bonding."

I laugh. "I"m not sure that"s a good idea." I'm a mean drunk and there's at least one fuckface in this locker room my fists are already itching to meet.

"It"s always a good idea," he says, clapping me on my sweaty shoulder. "Besides, there"s this bar downtown, The Sin Bin. It's got the hottest bartenders in Seattle. You"ll love it. Just ask RoMo."

My pulse picks up at his words. Fuck, that"s Cassidy"s bar. Something I discovered last night.

And in no fucking universe will I ask Roman Morozov for anything. The guy"s a dick of the highest order.

"Fine," I say, trying to act like I don"t care when my pulse is already flying into outer space. "I"ll go."

Warren grins and heads off to shower and change, leaving me alone with my thoughts again. And all I can think about is how I"m going to see her tonight. Face to face.

Fuck, this is going to be fun.

When we get to The Sin Bin, it"s packed and loud as hell. I scan the crowd for Cassidy, but there are too many people here for me to find her without actively trying. So I head to the bar and order a beer, waiting for her to make her way over to me.

It doesn"t take long before she"s standing in front of me, her bright green eyes flashing as she asks me what I want, like she doesn"t know who I am. I"ll play her game for now. "Just a beer," I say, giving her my best smile, the one that never fails to make panties drop.

She"s so much hotter in person and it"s all I can do not to walk behind that bar, toss her over my shoulder and haul her into the bathroom right now. Or maybe bend her over the bar and make her scream my name so all my teammates know she"s already mine.

But I don"t want to make a scene. Yet.

As she sets down my beer in front of me, I ask, "What time are you done here tonight?"

She raises an eyebrow. "Too late for you."

"Come on," I say, leaning closer to her. "Stop pretending you don"t love this as much as I do, Princess. You know all I"d have to do is snap my fingers, and you"d be mine."

Her cheeks flush slightly, and she looks away from me. "I"m not yours."

"Not yet," I say with a smirk. "But you will be."

She rolls her eyes and turns away from me, flipping me off as she heads down the bar to help some customers while I check out her ass. Fuck, it's tight and perfect and my dick wants to get better acquainted.

When she glances back over her shoulder at me and then rushes to break eye contact when she catches me staring, I know I"ve got her. She won"t be able to resist me for long.

And that"s exactly what I want.

I should be with my team, bullshitting and getting to know the guys, but instead I"m sitting at the end of the bar watching Cassidy as she works and hoping I"ll catch her looking at me again. I"m like an addict waiting on his next fix, even though I know she might be my downfall.

Just as her gaze flicks to mine for the dozenth time and I give her a smirk because I caught her—again—my asshole teammate Roman blocks her from my view by leaning across the bar and flirting with her.

Fuck no. That"s not happening.

I push up off my stool and head over there, ready to claim what"s mine. "Hey," I say, putting a hand on Roman"s shoulder. "Back off."

He turns to me with a scowl. "Don't touch me, Vaughn. And who the fuck do you think you are coming in here making demands?"

"If you make me say it again, it's going to be with my fist in your face."

His scowl melts into a smirk. "You"re new here, so you don"t know how shit works, but Cassidy and I have history. Isn"t that right, babe?" He turns his slimy smile in her direction and she shoots him a glare filled with so much hate it makes my dick hard.

Huh. Guess it's not just her fear then.

"Get the hell out of my bar, Roman," she says, crossing her arms over her chest, blocking my view of those perky tits of hers. "I don"t have time for your cheating ass tonight."

He laughs and turns back to me. "She loves to play hard to get."

My fingers curl into fists.

"I"m not playing anything," she snaps. "Now get out or I"ll call the cops and have you thrown out."

He holds up his hands in surrender and backs away from the bar, still smirking as he goes. "See you later, Cass."

She shakes her head and turns to me, her eyes flashing with anger. "You can go, too."

"Nah, I"ll take my chances. See, I don"t think you really want me gone."

Cassidy rolls her eyes but doesn"t argue, grabbing another beer for me and sliding it across the bar. "What gives you that idea?"

I shrug. "I already told you. You want me and you like this game we're playing."

She scoffs. "You're delusional."

"Oh, so you blocked me, then?" I say, taking a long pull from my beer before I pull out my phone and open Instagram, sending her a DM. Her phone dings and her eyes narrow. "That's what I thought, Princess. I"m not going anywhere."

"I don't date hockey players." She sounds annoyed, but there"s something else there too. Something I can"t quite put my finger on. But whatever it is, somehow when I hear it, I want her more. "So you"re wasting your time. Go find someone else to fuck."

"Not gonna happen," I say with a smirk as I lean closer to her, breathing in her sweet scent that"s driving me fucking crazy. "I"ve got forever, Princess. And the only one I'll be fucking is you." I wave my hand around. "So we can keep doing this until you're ready to spread those thighs for me, but I promise you it will happen."

She opens her mouth and then closes it, does it again, and then turns away, heading down the bar again to help other customers who're waiting for drinks, glancing one last time over her shoulder at me. I watch her every move like a predator tracking my prey.

Fuck. I need to calm the hell down.

But as I sit here and drink beer after beer, watching her work and trying to figure out how the hell I"m going to make her mine, I realize something that scares the shit out of me.

I think she"s already got me hooked.

And I don't care if she likes me or not. I'm not letting her go.