Playing for Keeps/Body Check (Rules of the Game) (14 page)

The fundraiser was an annual event, and attendees often numbered near a thousand.
 
An elaborate dinner would start off the evening at five hundred dollars a person, followed by a celebrity auction, where past and present members of the Thunder would present their prized personal mementos, offering them to the highest bidder.
 

Happiness filled him when Mia agreed to attend the dinner as his date. He knew it was difficult for her to date again after her bad experience.
 
Sweet, sexy, funny, he loved being with her. His childhood often filled with loneliness, Mia filled that void in his heart that he'd been missing all these years.

He'd never had parents that loved him, no siblings, although the children he grew up with at St. Michael's were his substitute family.

Now, at the age of 29, he was ready to love, with all his heart, with all he was.

He wanted all that with Mia.

Back home in his apartment an hour later, Quinn threw his keys on a nearby table, turned on the lights and grabbed a remote to turn on the huge wall screen, and tuned in to Sports Scene.

He stripped on his way to the shower, his mind and body focused on Mia.

The past few months had been murder on his body, but he was a disciplined athlete, and controlled his frequent hard on, putting all his energy into playing hard and winning games.

But as he turned on the shower, stepping under the huge nozzle, allowing the spray of water to hit him hot and hard, he found he wanted her more and more every day.

Grabbing a tube of body wash, Quinn lathered himself, rubbing the smooth, fragrant substance over his head, under his arms, down his chest, to his flat abs, and below.

The soap and hot water engulfed him in a humid fog.
 
He thought the heat would relax his muscles. Instead when he slid the suds over and under his stiff erection, he wished she was here, sharing the shower where he would wrap her legs around his waist.
 
He'd devour her, taste her, touch her and listen to her cry out his name in pleasure.

Her past relationship had ended in a mess, and Quinn wanted nothing more than to help her heal, help her to know a lover who would treat her like a woman should be treated.

They would be together. If she needed a little push, Quinn thought as he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, he was just the guy to do it.

And in the interim, prove they belonged together.

CHAPTER five

New York Thunder Fundraiser/Auction

March
 
11
th
- Waldorf Astoria Hotel

Mia had agreed to meet him here at the hotel, but she had yet to make an appearance.
 
She'd been running late and told him she'd meet him at the dinner.
 
She was almost an hour late.
 
Where was she? Why wasn’t she here yet?

He realized he couldn’t sit still and excused himself from the table. He walked out of the room, greeted teammates and acquaintances, then headed toward the front entrance.

She was just walking through the door. In a dress that made his mouth water.

He forgot how to breathe as his eyes took her in and devoured her as if he were a starving man. To say she was stunning was a gross understatement.
 
Gorgeous, sexy, alluring, all described what he was thinking at that second.

He also knew something else. He wanted his hands on her.

Quinn was utterly, completely, crazy about her.

She saw him, and her smile widened.

In a long column of gold bearing a seductive slit up her thigh, with thin, almost invisible straps and a black wrap shot through with threads of black and gold, she was a vision.

Long, sparkling gold earrings swung from her ears as she walked. Her heels were so damn high he wondered how she maneuvered in them. But that didn’t matter. Her hips swayed, her breasts gently bounced, her thick waves framing her face and spilling down her back.

Quinn itched to thread his fingers through her hair, pull off that gown and make love to her in nothing more than those tall, skyscraper shoes.

As she came closer, he grew hard as stone. Her perfume swamped his senses and pulled him closer to her.

"Hi." She approached him, almost standing eye to eye, a result of her height and her heels.

"Hi." He took her hand, and then leaned in to sample the softness of her lips.

"If you wore that dress to drive me insane, it worked. You look incredible and smell like sin, a very lethal combination, Miss Sinclair." He tucked her arm in the crook of his own.

Her soft chuckle stiffened him further. "And you look quite dashing in your tux."

"Uh-huh. We goalies clean up well, I'm told."

He led her to the table, pulled out her chair, and after she sat, settled himself next to her.
 
"Champagne?" She nodded her thanks as he poured for both of them.

Mia greeted the other players and wives at their table, and accepted a soft kiss on the cheek from Adam Piersson. It appeared the Thunder's captain had attended the function alone, and Mia mused that Elena would find the news very interesting, indeed. Pouring himself a glass, Quinn lifted it to her, tapped it with a clink, and whispered in her ear. "If at any time you find yourself bored with this party, I can promise you a better time at my place later. Interested?"

Her eyes held the slightest hint of doubt. She took a sip, her gaze never leaving his. "You're pushing again, Rafferty."

"No I'm not," he protested half heartedly.

Mia placed her glass on the table. "I feel your footprints all over my back."

"And a beautiful back it is, too."

He'd cornered her, and he knew it. So Mia did what she always did when he pushed. She changed the subject.

"Dance with me."

He exhaled, then held out his hand and led her to the dance floor, wrapping her in his arms. Her legs were long, and their thighs touched. "Just how long do you plan to make me suffer?"

"Look Quinn, I agreed to come with you. Let's just have fun, ok?"

He raised his eyebrows. "We'd have more fun if we were alone and I could see what you're wearing under that dress."

When he said things like that to her, Mia didn’t know whether to ignore him or kiss him.

Holding her in his arms, having her so close, dancing with the houselights dimmed, Quinn swallowed hard and attempted to rein in his reaction to her.
 
"Do you have any idea what I want to do to you?" he whispered in her ear, feeling her shiver as his hand settled over her back, just above her rear.

She looked up at him, her eyes wide and unsure. "Yes."

That single word nearly brought him to his knees.

It was going to be a long night.

***

"Oh look, the auction's about to begin. That's your cue, Rafferty."

Quinn smiled at her, winked, then left their table to go up on stage.
 
He was handed a jersey that he'd worn his rookie year when he won the Rookie of the Year Trophy as premiere goaltender in the League.

Now he was auctioning it off for charity.

Mia watched him as she sipped her wine, wondering as to the character and personality of this man who'd decided he wanted her in his life.

Quinn was moving a little too fast for her, but she couldn’t help it, her attraction for him was growing, and the fact that they saw each other all the time, didn’t help matters.
 
The truth was, he made her feel beautiful and wanted.

Her body responded to him in ways she couldn’t control. Mia didn’t want to want him, didn’t want to crave his killer kisses, but she admitted to herself that she cared for him. She had a decision to make tonight.

She'd think about it after the auction.
 
 
 
 

Coward
, she thought.

So here she sat, watching him on stage, making jokes, and waiting for the bidding to start.

Thunders coach Terry Gilbert walked to the podium, looking dashing in his tux. He'd be the caller for the auction.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the New York Thunder charity dinner and auction."

He waited until the applause died down.

"We're here at the beautiful Waldorf Astoria to enjoy a fabulous meal, dance the night away, and of course, to raise money for our pet charity
,
Families Forever.

"Our first item tonight to be auctioned off is a jersey worn during his rookie year for the Thunder. May I present to you all our teammate and goaltender, not to mention the chairman and founder of
Families Forever
, Quinn Rafferty."

Again the crowd stood and applauded as Quinn raised his worn blue and red home jersey, his name and number seventy five emblazoned on the back, bearing small tears in the neck, chest and arm areas, as results from opposing sticks. The front of the worn jersey showed the symbol of the Thunder: a pair of black hockey skates, silver blades shining, with its white laces entwined around the words, New York.

Mia turned her head to the back of the room, smiled, then turned back to listen and enjoy the auction. She felt suddenly naughty that she'd devised a plan to bid on, and win Quinn's jersey

"We'll start the bidding at two thousand."

Someone yelled, "Two thousand!"

Quinn looked at her and winked, making her lips curve in a smile. She winked back and his blue eyes seem to twinkle.

"Do I hear twenty five hundred?"

Mia touched her ear, her eyes on Quinn, who held up his jersey with pride.

Someone in the back table raised a paddle stamped with the number seventy five to meet the bid.

Mia tipped the glass to her lips and savored the taste on her tongue, all the while thinking of how gorgeous Quinn looked. That tux made him look like a cover model. Watching him, something down deep in her center throbbed, while ribbons of arousal swirled within.

"Do I hear three thousand for Quinn Rafferty's rookie jersey?"

A woman near the front of the room raised a finger to meet the bid and Mia frowned, touching her ear again. Again the hand holding the paddle with number seventy five printed on it raised their banner.

The crowd cheered and the auctioneer pointed to the person in the back. "I have five thousand; do I hear fifty five hundred?"

Not another sound for three seconds; Mia could hear a pin drop.

"Five thousand, once, five thousand twice, sold to the person holding number seventy five, for five thousand dollars."

Mia took a last sip of champagne, placed her glass on the table, and whispered, “Yes.” Smiling like a Cheshire cat, she anxiously waited for Quinn to re-join their table.

CHAPTER SIX

With the auction a complete success, and Quinn's head still reeling from the five thousand dollar bid on his jersey, he excused himself from Mia to make the rounds and greet the many fans who'd paid a great deal of money to contribute. Quinn always lauded the fact that the Thunder possessed the greatest fans in the world. And shaking hands and talking with many of these people just assured him.

He spied teammate Adam Pierson standing at the bar and decided to join him.

      Adam was a good guy, a top notch defenseman, a veteran of fifteen seasons with the Thunder, and captain of the team.

 
 
 
 
 
"No date tonight?" Quinn asked as they sipped a beer, and leaned against the bar facing the crowd.
 

Adam shook his head. "But I see you're with Mia. Good for you."

Quinn nodded, his gaze like radar, automatically finding Mia, beyond sexy in that gold flowing dress.
 
Her hair, long and professionally tousled to look as if it was a mess, tumbled over her shoulders.
 
She was talking to one of the wives of his teammates, and her smile was genuine, her laugh warm and inviting. He loved looking at her, knowing she was here with him tonight.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
"Hey, earth to Rafferty, you with us, man?"

 
 
 
 
 
 
Quinn turned back to Adam and chuckled. "Sorry, that was rude of me."