Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Lola

Another firm knock on the front door makes me jump as I stare at the unopened entryway.

“Go fuck yourself, Graham,” I shout angrily through the solid wood. “Or your store manager. Again.” I can’t believe I’m the one that helped Graham hire her. Nicole, the traitorous bitch I caught having sex with my fiancé.

Turns out, the man I thought was loyal and head over heels in love with me, isn’t.

Because if he was, he wouldn’t have cheated on me.

I hate them both.

Anguish mixed with fury makes me clench my teeth. If I open the door, I’m either going to whack Graham in the nuts or chop them off with the hockey stick I’m wielding like a sword. I might do both in the hope it makes me feel better.

“And how did you get past security, Graham?” I removed his name from the list. “You cheated on me, and I never want to see you again. Please go away.”

“It’s not Graham. It’s me, Jordy.”

Oh God, what the hell is Jordan Miller, the star wingman for the Edmonton Eagles hockey team I work for, doing here?

“What’s happened, Lola?” His tone sounds worried, then there’s silence for a beat. “Did he cheat on you?”

“Yes.” I choke out the answer.

“Bastard.” Jordy’s muffled voice is then followed by a knock. “Open the door.”

“We broke up.” Covering my mouth with my hand, I stifle my sob, my heart cracking open, leaking pain and the feeling of betrayal into my chest like toxic waste.

There’s another gap of silence before Jordy requests softly, “C’mon, baby. Let me in. Please.”

The hockey stick I’m holding drops to the ground with an echoing clatter as it hits the floor.

When I glance in the mirror, it reveals the toll this day has taken on me.

I run my fingertips over my red, blotchy cheeks, my typically bright eyes have been replaced with puffy slits.

“I look godawful. I don’t want to see anyone.” Or talk to anybody. I’m so humiliated. But I know I can’t stay here all night. I need to find a place to stay as this isn’t my house. It’s Wade Collins’.

I’m Wade’s assistant and I’m here, in his new house, organizing the hundreds of sneakers he collects, while he’s in LA on a photoshoot with his publicist, Kali Roth.

Spoiler alert: she’s more than just his publicist.

I know this because I caught them kissing. Not that I would ever tell anyone because Wade is special to me.

He’s my brother.

Not that he knows that yet.

But he will. Soon. Once the hockey season is over.

Jordy cuts through my thoughts. “You need people around you right now, and I know Wade and Kali are in LA.”

“They are,” I confirm.

If Kali wasn’t busy with Wade today, I would call her to tell her what happened. She’d know what to say to make me feel better. She always does.

“So you’re all alone in there?” Jordy asks.

Painfully so. “Yeah.”

After discovering Graham and Nicole screwing in the stockroom earlier today, I couldn’t face returning to our rental. Every piece of furniture, photo, and memory is a sharp reminder of a life I thought Graham and I were building together. It would have been like stabbing me with hot blades. Instead, I opted to come to Wade’s house and unpack his moving boxes in the hope that it would distract me. It didn’t work, but it was worth a shot.

“I’m not leaving,” Jordy says more firmly.

“I don’t want to see anyone.” I suck my bottom lip into my mouth to conceal another sob, wiping my runny nose with the back of my hand. I’ll need to check myself into a hotel for the night. I can’t go back to the house.

Not yet.

I’ll return to pick up my belongings. Ideally, when Graham isn’t there.

Jordy lets out a loud sigh. “Well, you’re going to have to see me. I have Wade’s new uniform bag, and it’s full of merch from one of our sponsors.” He pauses. “I was using it as an excuse to stop by and was secretly hoping you’d be here because I wanted to sneak in and see Wade’s new fuck pad. That’s the type of guy I am. I’m jealous and nosy. Mainly nosy.”

Jordy’s confession makes me chuckle.

“Does he really have a heated indoor pool?” he asks.

“And a movie theater.” I find myself telling him while using the sleeves of my sweatshirt to wipe my wet cheeks.

“Bougie bastard.” Jordy knocks on the door again. “Now you have to let me in because I need to see them. C’mon, Lola, unlock the door.”

Tentatively, I take a small step forward. “You promise you won’t judge the state of me?”

“I would never do that.”

“I look frightening.”

“Impossible. You’re always beautiful.”

At any other time, I would be swooning at his kind words, but today I’m just too sad. There is no denying that Jordy is handsome. He’s picture-perfect magazine material that makes the puck sluts’ panties wetter than Niagara Falls.

He’s also Wade’s best and closest friend on the team, and I trust him implicitly. That’s the only reason I’m giving him the all access pass to see my sad face.

In a few short steps, I unlock the door and pull it open.

Jordy’s warm eyes hit mine, twitching for a split second as he takes in my swollen features. “Lola.” His voice is laced with sympathy as he pushes the door open, throws Wade’s new bag full of merch onto the hall floor, wraps me into his arms, and shuts the door behind him with his foot, causing a gust of icy fresh air to swirl around us. “I’m sorry, I brought the cold in with me.”

I shiver for a moment, but I don’t care. With him wrapped around me, the numbness from the shock of Graham’s deceit melts away a little.

His big comforting arms have me breaking down again as I bury into his chest, his refreshing aftershave, which smells like clean ocean air and comfort, enveloping me.

Most puck bunnies would sell their kidney to swap places with me right now.

“It won’t always feel this bad, Lola.” Jordy squeezes me tighter for a split second before he releases me, then stands back. “Did you see him with her?”

I nod, dipping my gaze to the floor, unable to look at him.

“Hey, pretty girl.” Jordy’s knuckle slides under my chin, guiding it upward to meet his handsome face. “You have nothing to be ashamed about. This is not your fault.” Shaking his head, his mouth lifts in a soft smile. “You are beautiful, kind, and smart. The best personal assistant on the team. You sort Wade’s shit, organize his food plans, calendar, and I bet you’re doing some sort of fancy shit in here to sort even more of his things out.”

“I am,” I confirm with a nod.

“Knew it. You are incredible. Fuck Graham for not seeing that. You deserve a real man. Someone who worships all five foot whatever you are.” He looks me up and down. “Three?” He tilts his head to the side.

“Two.” I’m more than a foot shorter than Jordy. I know this because it’s my job to know everything about the team. Jordan Miller—Jordy for short—looks Roman. Regal even. With a big bump in the middle of his nose, his floppy dirty-blond hair is always perfectly barbered, and he has the kindest of eyes. Don’t get me started on his megawatt smile. It’s bright enough to light up any room.

He adds, “You’re five foot two of sheer perfection.”

“I’m not, and maybe I didn’t try hard enough.” My voice cracks as the words that have been swirling around my head get stuck in my throat. “Maybe… I-I-I’m not sexy enough. Or maybe…”

“Don’t say it. Whatever you are thinking, stop right now, Lola.” The cold tip of his thumb feels comforting against my hot cheek as he glides it across my skin. “You’re the gold standard of every man’s dream. Don’t ever let anyone tell you any different.” Clearing his throat and with a hint of humor in his voice, he asks, “Do you want me to kill him for you?”

“Maybe.” Smiling, I nod my head at his fake offer. “You would do that for me?”

He throws me a sexy wink. “Absolutely. Disembowelment by hockey stick would be a long and painful death. It would take weeks. But I would do that because he made you cry and I fucking hate that. Hate him for upsetting you.” His fingers drift down the column of my neck to my shoulder, then my arm, where he finally takes my hand in his, entwining our fingers. “If you want me to make him scream in pain, you call me.”

“I’ve got your number if I decide to go through with your offer,” I joke, and for the first time since lunch, I feel slightly better.

“Good, now where is this pool?” Jordy sweeps his gaze around Wade’s home, and whistles in appreciation at the interior décor.

“It also has a theater,” I remind him, making him tut in fake annoyance.

“What a fucking showoff.”

His hand is still in mine, which feels intimate, and makes my heart flutter. Something it shouldn’t be doing. Because it’s broken, completely devastated, and feeling anything other than heartbreak right now feels as though I’m cheating. When I’m not. Because Graham and I are not together anymore.

We’re done.

“After you’ve given me the grand tour, would you like to come out for dinner with me, then we can go have some fun?” Playfully, Jordy squeezes my hand.

I scrunch my nose. “I don’t think I’m up for going out.” Right on cue, my stomach growls, as if accepting his dinner invitation.

“Your hunger pangs disagree.”

I chew the inside of my mouth, considering his proposed night of fun .

He tries to persuade me. “I’ll make you feel better.” His gaze locks on me, unblinking, as if challenging me before he throws me one of his pantie-soaking grins. “Promise.”

I’ve just split up with the man I was supposed to marry. I should be eating a gallon of ice cream and crying into it while watching The Notebook, shouldn’t I?

But that sounds so unappealing. And quite frankly, really depressing.

“Okay. I’ll come out with you,” I agree.

“Atta girl.” He teases his lower lip between his teeth, a gesture that has me wondering what it would be like to kiss him. It feels wrong to be having these sinful thoughts. For one, I’ve just split up with my fiancé, and two, Jordy is my brother’s best friend.

Jordy sounds confident when he says, “I’m going to make you forget you ever had a fiancé.”

I let go of his hand. “Oh, I’m sorry, was I engaged?” I slide the engagement ring off my finger, examining the small Cubic Zirconia. “It’s not even a real diamond. He couldn’t afford one and promised me he would replace it eventually.” I paid for everything else, I refused to pay for my own engagement ring.

Jordy makes an ugh sound from the back of his throat as if he’s disgusted, then lays his hand out flat and does a gimmie gesture with his fingers.

When I lay the ring in the palm of his big hand, it looks so tiny, so pointless. It no longer has any meaning.

A tight lump fills my throat. “I’ll have to cancel all the wedding plans.” A surge of emotion builds behind my eyes and like a dam, it bursts, and I’m crying again.

Jordy pushes my ring into the pocket of his jacket and sweeps me up in his powerful arms. He’s so big, he could swallow me whole.

“I’ll lose the deposits,” I whisper, aware that my tears have soaked into his expensive-looking canary yellow padded jacket.

“Fuck the deposits,” he says.

I look up as he looks down, brown eyes hitting mine, and somehow his long fingers are now wrapped around the back of my neck.

He continues, “It’s better losing them now than being unhappily married for the rest of your life.” His thumb brushes back and forth across a sensitive spot at my nape. It tickles and sends a wave of something I can’t explain down my spine. Excitement, arousal? I don’t know, but it feels nice in comparison to how I have been feeling all day.

“All I want is to be happy, Jordy.”

“That’s where I come in. Tonight, I’m going to take you out, cheer you up, and help you forget about your punk-ass ex. Okay?” With the sleeve of his jacket, he wipes away my tears.

“Don’t do that. The salt will leave a mark.”

“Hush now, Teacup. Let me take care of you.”

Teacup?

I stare into his beautiful face. I could get lost in his eyes that are deeper than a pool of melted chocolate.

When his lips curve into another smile, I get the sudden urge to kiss him, which is deeply inappropriate.

What is wrong with me?

Everything feels out of balance.

“Now, show me around, Lola. Then let’s go and have some fun.”

“You can’t overdo the alcohol during hockey season.” I can’t be responsible for a hangover that messes with his training plan. No way.

“We’re not drinking tonight. I plan to take you somewhere I think will help you. A lot.”

“To help me forget?” I blink once, then twice, mesmerized by his massive, calloused hands that have moved to cup my face.

“You bet your sexy ass I’m going to make you forget.”

Jordan Miller thinks I have a sexy ass.

“How exactly are you going to help me forget?” I ask.

“Wait and see.”