Fuck, he needed to cool off. Since throwing himself into one of the snowdrifts outside wasn’t an option unless he wanted to freeze his dick off, he got up and went into the kitchen. He grabbed one of the water bottles from the pantry and took a huge gulp as he scrolled on his phone in vain, looking for hockey updates when he didn’t have shit for a signal.

It wasn’t the best use of his battery, but it was better than sitting on the couch thinking about Shelby, because she was very much off-limits.

When the new owner had come in, he’d gone over in great detail how there was to be no fraternization, as he put it, between players and anyone else involved with the team. With his busted thumb, the drama in the locker room, and the fact that the Ice Knights were in a fight for their playoff lives, the last thing Ian needed was to make more waves for the team. All he wanted was to keep his head down, do his job, and stay the fuck away from Christensen.

As long as that happened, he could finish out his contract in Harbor City and then transition into a career in coaching.

He was a man with a plan, and he was sticking with it no matter how tempting Shelby was.

Water finished, he set his phone down on the edge of the counter and then crumpled the plastic bottle before shooting it basketball-style into the recycling bin on the opposite end of the counter. During the day, the sound would hardly register, but in the middle of the night with the wind finally calmed down, it boomed in the open space. He whipped around to make sure he didn’t wake Shelby, accidentally hip-checking his phone off the counter. It crashed down onto the hard tile floor, hitting just right so that his screen cracked in three places.

Fucking A.

He jerked his gaze over to Shelby on the couch, but she was still—amazingly—dead to the world. Curled up on her side, her breathing steady and the occasional mumbled word coming from her lips.

Instead of looking softer in her sleep, she managed to still look badass, even with that stupid bear-covered comforter pulled all the way up under her chin. It was her lips that really got to him, though. Full, pale pink, and slightly parted in sleep. His cock started to thicken against his thigh and he forced himself to pivot from thinking about her mouth to rehashing every missed pass he’d ever had in his career—yes, he remembered them all.

He’d been an ass to her enough as it was without adding in her waking up and spotting him sporting a tent in his pants as he watched her sleep. She’d probably go after him again with her Taser, and he wouldn’t blame her.