“Not a problem, I was happy to contribute.” She paused. “I saw all those girls trying to get you to autograph their boobs.”
He choked on a laugh. “Nobody asked for that!”
She smiled. “Whatever. I know they wanted it.”
“We have the right to refuse to sign anything.”
“Have you ever signed boobs?”
“Fuck no. But I’ve seen other guys do it.”
She snuggled in closer. “Okay, good.”
He was so damn glad she was here in his arms and in his bed. His feelings for her were growing fast. She was amazing and strong and beautiful, and even better, she seemed to think he was amazing too. He had so much fun with her, no matter what they were doing. He was getting serious about her. He wanted to claim her as his, tell the world she belonged to him. But the knowledge of her background and the fact that she didn’t want people to know who she was still nagged at him and held him back. He was going to have to talk to her about that at some point.
But as she kissed her way down his chest to his stomach and his blood heated, he decided the conversation would happen another time.
Chapter 21
“Holy shit.” Duper slouched on the couch with his computer on his lap the next day.
Duncan took a big gulp of cold chocolate milk from the jug. “What?”
Duper glanced at him. “Jesus, man, use a glass.”
Duncan grinned and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth.
“Uh, you might want to see this.” Duper grimaced and set the computer on the coffee table.
Duncan sauntered over. “You watching porn again?”
Duper snorted. “No. Christ. This.” He turned the computer.
Duncan sat on the edge of the couch and looked at the screen. It was a picture of his sister and Amber and Jenna, taken that day at the fundraiser for Max and Ariana. Amber’s beaming smile made him smile too. “Nice.”
“Yeah, not so much. Scroll down.”
It was one of those “hottest WAGS in the NHL” blog posts.
Amber Johnson, girlfriend of Chicago Aces right winger Duncan Armstrong, is a new addition to this list of hottest wives and girlfriends in the NHL. Amber works part time at the Sin Bin, owned by Chicago Ace Jared Rupp, and part time as a model…duh.
He arched an eyebrow at the snarky tone but scrolled farther down.
His eyes popped wide open.
A picture of Amber in a tiny bikini appeared. He blinked, frozen. His first thought was, Holy shit, she’s fucking hot. His next thought was, Holy fuck, this is all over the Internet. “Jesus.”
“Keep reading,” Duper said.
Not only has Amber got a hot body and a gorgeous face, she has an interesting background in professional sports. She is the daughter of disgraced NFL player Deke Johnson, who was recently released from prison after serving a three-year sentence for a variety of offenses. You may remember Deke Johnson’s days as one of the best receivers the NFL has ever seen, including three Super Bowl wins, but he snorted, drank, and screwed his way into bankruptcy, cheating on his wife and leaving her and their daughter destitute.
“Fuck me.” Duncan closed his eyes as a wave of scorching heat burned over him.
“Did you know that?” Duper asked quietly.
“Yeah.”
“Huh.”
Duncan read the last paragraph: Amber was a high school athlete herself, playing soccer at Pacific Heights School, where she scored seventy-three goals with forty assists in sixty-five games. Lovely Amber was twice named a NSCAA High School All-American. While she was on the team, Pacific Heights won two consecutive Class A California Championship titles, and our sexy soccer star was selected for the U-14 and -17 National Team Pools.
Yeah, that didn’t surprise him. But, of course, she hadn’t said anything about that.
He scrolled past one more photo of Amber in sexy lingerie, then shoved the computer away. He rubbed his face. “She didn’t want people to know. That’s why she left L.A. and came here for college.”
“Deke Johnson.” Duper shook his head. “Wow.”
“I know.” Duncan exhaled sharply, not wanting to share the other personal stuff Amber’d told him, like catching the housekeeper blowing her dad, and knowing he was cheating on her mom.
“Well.” Duper pursed his lips. “So much for that cat getting out of the bag. It’s not only out, it’s running wild in cyberspace.”
Duncan’s lips twitched. “Uh. Yeah.” He tipped his head back. “Amber is gonna be so pissed.”
“Maybe she won’t see it.”
He thought about that. He could ignore it and hope she never did. But what were the chances nobody else would see it and bring it to her attention? His chest felt like a cement block was sitting on it.
He had to tell her. If she was going to be blindsided by this, it had to come from him. They’d figure out a way to deal with it. Together.
Guilt smacked the back of his head. This was all his fucking fault. Christ.
“What the fuck do I do? We’re leaving for Colorado in an hour. She’s at school. By the time we get back it could be all over the place and she’ll be freaking out.”