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own personal player. Hmm, I think I’d like that.”
    The husky tone in her voice made his head snap around to her and the amused light in her eyes made his muscles clench.
    “What do you want to know? Ask me anything.”
    “Well, now.” Her eyes widened. “That’s almost too good to pass up.”
    The teasing note in her voice, combined with that private little grin, made another shiver run up his spine.
    “What do you want to know?”
    Her head tipped to the side, as if she were thinking. “Do you enjoy what you do?”
    Too easy. “Love it. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”
    “That’s amazing. So many people have jobs they hate just so they can eat. But you get to do what you love.”
    Something in her voice made him ask, “Don’t you enjoy what you do?”
    She shook her head as she unbuttoned her coat. “Oh, don’t get me wrong. I love working for my aunt. And I love what I do. It’s just…”
    He walked back to take her coat, trying not to salivate as she stripped it off. “What?”
    She shrugged, drawing his gaze down to her chest. Then he gave himself a figurative slap upside the head and dragged his gaze back up.
    “It’s kind of isolating.” She shrugged. “It must be nice knowing you’ve got an entire team at your back.”
    He laughed. Couldn’t help himself. “Well, it’s kind of like having this huge family of brothers. You spend so much time together that you get to know everybody really well. That also means you get to know them too well. We’ve got a good group of guys this season but there’s always a few, you know? The ones you want to strangle when they tell the same damn joke for the thousandth time. Or is always borrowing something and never returning it. And they all know just what to do to get under your skin.”
    Her smile made his cock twitch. “ That I totally understand. I have a big family and there are days I want to strangle them all and days I wouldn’t know what to do without them. It’s tough growing up with four older brothers.”
    She seemed to want to say something else but never finished.
    “Were you ever able to date? I figure with that many brothers, they’d scare off anyone who tried.”
    He waved her toward the couch. She took the hint and sat, toeing off her shoes before curling her feet under her legs.
    “My two older brothers were away at college when I started dating and my younger brothers… well, they had their own stuff to deal with. But my dad… He used to be a cop. Want to get rid of a guy fast? Have your dad tell your date he’ll throw his ass in jail if he dared lay a hand on me. Of course, when I told my mom, she read him the riot act. After that, he just glared at every guy I brought home and then my mom would do something to distract him. They’re pretty much the perfect couple. Always have been.”
    Shane laughed. “Yeah, my parents were pretty freaking perfect, too. My mom worked at home so she was always there. Dinner on the table every night, homemade cookies after practice. My dad worked days at the paper plant so he coached all of my teams from the time I was five until I went to high school.”
    “Sounds like the American dream.”
    He grimaced at how perfect it’d been. “Yeah. I can look back on it now and know that, but back then… Man, it felt like I never had a minute to myself.”
    She propped her arm on the back of the couch and rested her head on her hand. “Do you have siblings?”
    “Younger brother and sister. Twins.”
    But he’d been the focus of his parents’ lives for seven years before his mom had gotten pregnant again. And when it’d become evident that he had enough talent to actually make a career out of hockey, his parents had done everything they could to get him where he needed to be.
    “My brother plays too but my sister spent most of her childhoods in hockey rinks and doesn’t play. She’s actually a damn good ice skater but…”
    “But what?”
    She sounded genuinely interested and he