Offside by Kelly Jamieson

what kinds of plans he
wanted her to have for him. But somehow he doubted her plans
involved whips, chains, handcuffs or even just a lap dance. He
shifted in his chair.
    “Well, after looking through the
foundation’s portfolio and doing some research, I have a few
ideas.”
    Business. Sure. That was what he
wanted.
    Christ, getting dirty ideas about
Honey Holbrook was not a good idea. The things his friends had said
yesterday about her had pissed him off, but had also served as an
eye-opening reminder of the reputation she still had.
    Shit. That stunk worse than his hockey
equipment after a game.
    He watched her sitting there, looking
sweet and clean, with glowy skin and pale, shiny lips, hair smooth
to her shoulders, talking all earnestly about corporate donors and
funding research into children’s illnesses. She was trying so hard,
it made his chest clench. How long were people going to judge her
on her past?
    Probably forever.
    That fucking sucked donkey
balls.
    “Matt?”
    He blinked at her. “What?”
    She stared back at him. “Weren’t you
listening?”
    “Nope,” honesty compelled him to
admit. No point in bullshitting. “I was distracted by your
beauty.”
    Color washed up into her face, making
her even prettier. But then her eyes took on an angry glint. “Don’t
bullshit me,” she muttered.
    His mouth fell open. He’d resorted to
complete, unadulterated truth, and she accused him of lying. He
frowned. “Uh. That was the truth.”
    Her lips thinned. “Come on, don’t
screw around with me. This is serious.”
    “I know, Honey. Give me a break. I’m a
guy, and you’re a gorgeous woman and I can’t help but
notice.”
    “Oh please. Men are perfectly capable
of carrying on intelligent conversations with women. Your dick
doesn’t control your brain, despite popular opinion to the
contrary. Men just use that as an excuse for bad behavior, like
you’re sex-crazed animals or something.”
    He laughed. He leaned forward, elbows
on the table, fingers loosely holding his wine glass. “Well. I
wouldn’t call myself sex-crazed, but…there is some truth to that
theory about men being controlled by their dicks. When we see a hot
chick, our brains produce dopamine and…and some other chemical that
makes us feel good.” Damned if he could remember the name of it,
but whatever. “It affects how our brains process information.
Sometimes we do stupid things because we’re flooded with those
feel-good hormones that we get when faced with…” He waved a hand
toward her with an up-and-down motion.
    Her lips twitched. “Uh-huh. Well,
maybe you need to learn to use the big sex organ between
your ears so you can control the smaller one between your
legs.”
    He jerked his chin down with affront.
“You did not just call my dick small.”
    It was her turn to laugh. “The
ultimate male insult. I apologize. That wasn’t what I meant. I know
perfectly well how…big…” She stopped and blinked at him as if the
words had started coming out before she’d thought that all
through.
    His mouth widened into a grin again.
“Uh-huh,” he said encouragingly. “You know perfectly well how
big…what?”
    Her cheeks got that rosy flush again.
Her mouth twitched again too, and then she lifted her chin. “Fine.
I’ll say it. I know perfectly well how big the sex organ between
your legs is.”
    Fuck, no, she didn’t, because it was
getting bigger by the second. Bigger and harder. He
winced.
    Their eyes met and he got the feeling
maybe she did know what was going on with his dick. The air
around them became hot and thick, making breathing difficult. Their
eyes connected with a magnetic force that made it impossible to
look away. Her tongue came out in a quick swipe over her bottom
lip, and a sharp bolt of need shot straight to his balls. They
continued to stare at each other as if they were both in a
trance.
    He felt like his entire body was
pulsing.
    Oh wow. This wasn’t over between them.
No way could he ignore