Beast Behaving Badly by Shelly Laurenston Read Free Book Online Page A

longer. “That’s it?”
    â€œThat’s it.”
    â€œ ‘My puck’? You don’t think about anything else? Like strategy or what your teammates are doing or time on the clock or—”
    â€œI’m aware of all that, but I’m thinking ‘My puck.’”
    â€œHow . . . one note.”
    â€œIt works.”
    He had a point. Novikov had brought nearly any team he’d been on to championship, was the all-time scorer in the league, and was considered one of the best players of all time. As much as Blayne hated his lack of fair play, she couldn’t ignore the fact that the man was a winner.
    Something Blayne wanted to be, she just didn’t know until this moment how much.
    And as she stared up at the seven-one, nearly four-hundred-pound descendent of Genghis Khan himself, it suddenly occurred to her that the one person who could help her become a winner was standing right in front of her.
    That’s when, for the first time since Sunday brunch, Blayne smiled.

    Why was she smiling at him like that? It wasn’t that big, sweet smile she usually had. What he secretly called her “doggie grin.” No, this was the wolf in her coming out, and the cat in him didn’t like it one damn bit.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œNothing.” She skated closer. “So, do you train every day?”
    â€œOf course. Don’t you?”
    â€œNot really.”
    â€œYou should.”
    â€œOkay.” She moved around him. “Are you here every morning?”
    â€œExcept Sundays.”
    â€œI guess you get in bright and early, huh?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œLike . . . what? Five thirty? Or six?”
    â€œSix.”
    â€œYou start at the rink or the gym first?”
    â€œRink. That way I can—” Bo’s eyes narrowed. “Wait.”
    She skated to stop in front of him, and her smile had turned decidedly false and misleading.
    â€œNot in this lifetime.” Bo turned away from her, but she zipped in front of him, proving she was as fast as she’d seemed on the track.
    â€œYou haven’t heard my offer.”
    Bo took a step back. “You’re not going to offer me sex, are you?”
    Blayne scowled. “No. I wasn’t. But I’m not sure I like the look of obvious disgust on your face.” She slammed her hands onto her hips. “Are you saying you wouldn’t want to have sex with me? Because you were the one who asked me out. And I don’t appreciate—”
    â€œFreight train. Brakes.”
    She snorted at him. Like a bull.
    â€œIf you’re going to offer sex,” he went on, “I just think it should be for something life or death. Or money.” He thought on that a moment, nodded. “Yeah. Life-or-death situation or money. But for a chick hobby? That’s a little beneath you, don’t you think?”
    â€œA chick hobby?” she spit at him.
    Bo wiped his chin. “What would you call it?”
    â€œA sport! A valid sport!”
    â€œOh, come on.”
    â€œGreat. Another guy afraid of women in sports.”
    â€œI’m not afraid of women in sports. Wait. I’m lying.”
    â€œA-ha!”
    â€œThe sows on the Kodiak hockey team . . . I’m afraid of them. They’re mean.”
    Her anger slipped away as quickly as it had come. Now she seemed fascinated. “There are women in the hockey league?”
    â€œYeah. It’s just . . . kind of hard to tell sometimes.”
    â€œI had no idea.”
    â€œHockey league is coed. And if you saw the women play, you’d understand why.” She slapped his arm. “Ow.”
    â€œYou respect the sows in the hockey league—”
    â€œAnd She-wolves.”
    â€œâ€”but you don’t respect derby?”
    He laughed and bam! Her anger was back.
    â€œWhat’s so damn funny?”
    â€œIt’s like comparing Queen Boadicea to Pam Anderson.”
    â€œDon’t make up