God, he was gorgeous. I loved his too-long wavy hair that did its own thing. He pushed it off his face, and it’d fall across his forehead time and time again. I had this insatiable urge to run my fingers through his hair and mess it up even more. And those eyes, those fucking, mesmerizing eyes of his… They were this deep green, a color I’d never seen before. Maybe he wore contacts or something, though I’d seen no proof of it in the week I’d known him. Stuff like that got around to equipment staff in case a player lost a lens during the game, and they needed to provide him with another.

And his body. Holy shit. He had a body. Most of the guys on the team did, and I’d seen quite a bit of those bodies at one time or another on my trips in and out of the locker room. Mostly, I ignored the naked men, even while admiring their physiques. Only Axel was different. I had a hard time dragging my gaze off him when he was half-dressed or undressed in the locker room. He had tats, and I loved a tattooed body. My own was decorated quite liberally with ink. I’d seen a dragon tattoo on his hip. He had a large tattoo on his back of vines and stuff. I hadn’t really stared long enough to know what all was hidden in the intricate artwork.

My favorite part was his ass. Axel had one of those big, tight hockey asses that made a girl want to grab a couple handfuls and urge him to—

“Geneva? You okay?” Axel asked. His smirk gave me fear he’d read my dirty mind.

“I’m fine. Just fine.” I was flustered, and my face was hot. I ducked my head and dug into the food on my plate, ignoring the snicker from Teagan. She’d caught me ogling our dinner guest too.

“Do you have brothers and sisters, Axel? You seem comfortable in a large family.” I wanted to jump up and hug Eunice for taking the heat off me, but I wasn’t a hugger. Besides, she was practically rolling over for Axel so he could scratch her belly. Everyone was. Except Jock. And me, of course. I’d only been appreciating his body, that was all. I wasn’t stupid enough to fall under his spell.

“I have two brothers. I’m the middle child. My dad raised us after Mom left.”

“Your father never remarried?” Esme asked in between bites of Eunice’s rich, savory stew.

“No, he had his job as a plumber and his boys. That’s all he needed, or so he told us.”

I leaned forward, interested despite my dislike of this guy. “Isn’t your dad lonely now? I assume everyone is grown and gone.”

“Not really.” Axel’s gaze swept the room, as if assessing us, and settled on Esme and Eunice. He seemed to make a decision at that point. He folded his napkin neatly in his lap and cleared his throat. “My dad came out last year.”