Dirty Score, A Rough Riders Hockey Novel(59)

Dammit.

“You must not have gotten my message.” She went for cool but not bitchy. “I said—”

“Great game? Celebrate with the guys, I’m going to do the party on my own? Screw that.” He slid in beside her and closed the door. The driver peered over his shoulder, his dark eyes darting between them. “Go wherever she told you to go.”

The driver cut a look at Mia. She sighed, nodded, and avoided talking to Rafe until they were on the road and the angry aura around him had simmered down a notch.

“Thought you’d be in a pretty good mood tonight,” she said. “You kicked ass in the game.” She looked at the rasp above his left eye. The one he’d gotten from a header into the boards. A header that had cut off Mia’s air for long seconds until he stood up again. “You should probably put ice on that.”

“I was going to grab some at your room,” he bit out, cutting her an angry look, “but you weren’t there.”

“If you had read your messages,” she said trying to hold her own temper, “you would have known I wouldn’t be there.”

“I didn’t check my messages because I was hustling to get ready so I wouldn’t make you late.”

“Don’t take out your pissy mood on me. Dekker’s the one who slammed you into the boards.”

“Dekker’s not the one who put me in this pissy mood.”

“Why are you yelling at me?”

“Because you just tried to ditch me, and you’ve ignored my texts all day when you’re the only thing I can think about.”

He hooked a hand around her neck, pulled her in, and covered her mouth with his. An angry murmur vibrated in her throat, and she pushed a hand against his chest. Rafe broke the kiss and curled his fingers into her hair, making her gasp. Then kissed her again. Taking advantage of her parted lips, he plunged his tongue into her mouth, stealing her breath.

Mia’s frustration melted in the heat, and she tightened her fingers in his shirt. Rafe hummed into her mouth, the sound hungry and pained as he took the kiss deeper. Then he tipped his head and cradled hers in the crook of his elbow. His other arm slipped around her waist and tightened.

His heart thundered beneath her palm. His tongue warmed her mouth. Mia wanted to drown in him. Wanted to beg him to make her world stop spinning out of control.

He broke the kiss and dropped his forehead against her shoulder while he gasped for air.

When he didn’t speak, Mia eased her hold on his neck. “I need to make a good first impression on these people. You know, pretend I’m stable. Someone with a normal life who will be dependable and predictable. Not someone who does rash, risky things that disrupt everyone around me. And as volatile as you and I have been lately, I thought it would be better for us to retreat back into our own lives. We have to do it soon anyway.”

“The reason we are so volatile is because we’re always worried about Tate finding out.” He lifted a hand to her face and cupped it. “This is the perfect opportunity for us to be together without anyone watching. Just be ourselves with each other without worries we’ll be seen or word will get back to Tate.”

That might or might not be true, she didn’t know. It all depended on how closely this group followed hockey. “You make it sound like we haven’t already known each other for twenty years.”

“What is wrong with you tonight? Why are you so angry?”

Mia’s patience snapped. “Because I’m leaving you in a couple of days. Because I have to learn how to live without you in my life all over again.” She hadn’t meant to yell, but her words reverberated in the cab, and the driver cast frightened looks in the rearview mirror. “I shouldn’t have come. I should have known I couldn’t keep things casual with you. Why couldn’t you have been an asshole after we slept together the first time? Why do you have to be so, so, so damn you?”

She looked out the side window, and the streetlights and taillights blurred in the tears filling her eyes. Which, of course made her angry. “Damn you,” she said with less force as she wiped at her eyes. “Now you’re going to make my mascara smear.”

Rafe swallowed her in a hug, pulling her into his body and pressing his face to her hair. “Stop,” he murmured, holding her tight. “Stop, Mia. I’m right here.”

But he wouldn’t be right there for long, and the realization turned her into a freaking faucet. And even though she tried to push Rafe away, he held tight, reassuring her with a patient, warm voice. “Shhh, I know this is hard. I know you’re scared. It’s going to be okay, baby. It’s going to be better than okay. They’re going to love you. You’re going to love them. Shhh…”