Ice Cold Reception

Brynn’s POV

I shoved my hands backward, trying to push him off me. My palms flattened against bare, burning hot skin. The ridges of rock-hard abdominal muscles flexed sharply under my touch. Panic spiked through my veins. He was almost naked. As my hands scrambled lower for leverage, my fingers brushed against the rough terry cloth of a towel slung precariously low over his pelvis, barely concealing his groin.

"Don't fucking touch me."

His grip clamped tighter around my wrists, crushing the delicate bones together. He drove his weight forward, mashing my spine harder into the wall. My lungs seized up, trapping my breath in my throat as the dense wall of his chest restricted my ribcage.

"It has been a while since I met someone this shameless. How did you get past the security desk downstairs? Do you have connections in the building? Did you sneak into my room expecting me to give you something?" he bit out, his tone dripping with hostile accusation.

I kicked my heel back, though it barely clipped his shin. I twisted my neck to glare over my shoulder at him.

"Sir, you are gravely mistaken. I thought this was the main rehabilitation room. That is the only reason I walked through that door."

"I have heard that exact excuse a dozen times before. You are not fooling anyone with that act. Furthermore, who are you to even be lingering around the rehab room?"

"I am the new Physical Therapist assigned to the team. Now let go of my wrists so we can speak like civilized humans."

"No. I am calling security right now."

The muscles in his chest shifted against my back. He easily corralled both of my wrists into one of his massive hands, trapping them against the small of my back. He held me captive like my physical struggles meant nothing to him. The sheer strength disparity was terrifying.

I tipped my chin back, forcing my voice to remain steady and strictly professional.

"Wait, sir. Stop and let us talk about this properly."

"Shut up."

Perfect. My first day on the payroll, and a deranged athlete had me pinned to a wall like a common criminal.

The heavy wooden door clicked and swung open. My stomach plummeted to my shoes. I assumed the security guards were here to drag me out by my ankles.

"Kaelen, I just got off the phone with Ares Magazine. They want to put you on their new cover—"

Gwen stopped dead in her tracks in the doorway.

"Oh my gosh. What are you doing in here?" she shrieked.

The suffocating pressure against my back vanished instantly. Released so abruptly, I stumbled a few steps forward. I sucked in a massive lungful of oxygen, feeling like a drowning victim finally breaking the surface of the water.

Gwen rushed forward, grabbing my elbow and pulling me securely to her side to put distance between us.

It was only then that my brain processed the chaotic scene and pieced everything together.

The man who just pinned me against the drywall was Kaelen Vance.

The star Center Forward of the Los Angeles Avalanches.

One of the most famous men in the country.

You did not need to be a hockey fan to know his face. He dominated downtown billboards, sports network coverage, and elite brand campaigns despite having zero personal social media presence. My brother Declan used to talk my ear off about him, analyzing his gameplay and mimicking his signature moves on the ice. He was the ultimate idol to thousands of up-and-coming players.

Yet here he stood, scowling at me with pure venom.

"Who the fuck let her into my room?" he demanded.

The rampant locker room rumors about his atrocious personality were dead accurate.

I smoothed down my rumpled shirt and glanced over at the team manager, needing to clear my name immediately.

"I thought this was the physical therapy room."

Gwen released a harsh breath and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Kaelen, what did we discuss about acting civil toward the staff?"

He clicked his tongue in stark annoyance. He turned his back to us and stalked over to the bedside table. He snatched a plastic bottle of medical-grade alcohol spray and started furiously spritzing it over his own chest and arms. He grabbed a wad of paper towels and scrubbed his skin red, treating the spots where my hands had touched him like a toxic biohazard. He possessed an extreme level of mysophobia. He was treating my brief touch like an infectious disease.

Despite my raging irritation, my eyes dragged over his physique.

The fitness magazines did not fabricate a single detail. He possessed broad shoulders and a sharply defined chest. A deep, sculpted V-line disappeared right beneath the low-hanging towel wrapped around his waist. He was prime athletic perfection, showcasing every muscle group.

"Fuck. I got dirty." he muttered, throwing the crumpled paper towel toward the trash bin.

My jaw locked together. The lingering shock in my system burned away, replaced instantly by a rising tide of hot, prickling indignation.

Dirty?

Gwen leaned in close to me, lowering her voice.

"I am sorry about his behavior. Please cut him some slack today. Kaelen, this is Brynn. She is the new Physical Therapist."

He froze halfway through reaching for another paper towel. He slowly turned his head to look at me. His icy gaze swept over my frame with blatant disdain. Despite his garbage attitude, his facial structure looked meticulously carved from stone. He was infuriatingly handsome, and if he did not have the personality of a feral cornered beast, his looks alone would be lethal.

I refused to let him intimidate me on my first day. I squared my shoulders, pasted on a professional mask, and took a deliberate step toward him. I held out my right hand in greeting.

"It is nice to meet you. My name is Brynn, and I will be overseeing your physical therapy moving forward."

He stared at my outstretched hand as if I was offering him a bag of rotting garbage. He did not move a single muscle to reciprocate the gesture.

He shifted his focus back to Gwen, pretending I was invisible.

"Where is Gabe? I need my right shoulder checked before practice starts."

Gwen pursed her lips into a thin line.

"Kaelen, Gabe resigned. I already gave you this information on Friday."

"He was in the building yesterday."

"He came in solely as a favor to you. He only stayed because you threatened to skip therapy if anyone else touched you. Gabe has a private life. His wife is due to give birth any day now, and he needs to be with his family."

"Call him back."

I dropped my unacknowledged hand back to my side, refusing to let the awkwardness show. I took another step closer to his towering frame.

"If you are experiencing discomfort, I can take a look at your shoulder right now."

I raised my hand again, reaching carefully toward his tense shoulder joint to assess the muscle.

He smacked my hand away with a harsh, stinging slap before my skin even grazed his.

I froze in place. A heavy beat of silence stretched through the room. I slowly lowered my tingling hand to my side. My professional smile dissolved into a flat, hard stare. Every warning I ever heard about this man was glaringly true. He was an obnoxious tyrant.

He looked past my shoulder, aiming his attention straight at Gwen again.

"What were you babbling about when you walked in?"

Gwen crossed her arms over her chest, the exhaustion clear in her rigid posture.

"Ares Athletics wants you for their May magazine cover. As our star player, they requested your presence for the shoot this weekend."

"No."

Gwen dropped her hands to her hips, her voice rising in evident frustration.

"Kaelen, they are one of our most lucrative franchise sponsors. We cannot afford to risk losing their funding before the regular season even kicks off."

"Then find a substitute."

"They are doing a massive feature on the whole roster. They specifically require our Center Forward on the front cover."

Kaelen marched over to his duffel bag on the floor. He picked up his phone and swiped at the screen, deliberately tuning her out.

Gwen threw her hands in the air.

"You truly refuse to make a single aspect of my job easy, do you?"

He did not even spare her a glance.

"Rehire Gabe by tomorrow morning. I do not want that woman putting her hands on me."

My breath stalled in my chest. My hand drifted up to rest against my collarbone.

That woman?

A tense silence coated the room. I waited for Gwen to cave. Giving the superstar athlete what he wanted was the standard protocol in professional sports. Nobody ever told a player of his caliber no.

Gwen anchored her feet to the floor, her tone shifting into pure, unyielding steel.

"Gabe's wife is eight months pregnant. On top of that, he already accepted a new position at a private clinic with fixed daytime hours. Brynn is the official Physical Therapist for this team, and she is staying here whether you approve of it or not."

The power dynamic in the room snapped into a new alignment.

Kaelen went rigid. He slowly lowered his cell phone to his side.

He turned his head and locked his dark gaze onto mine. The raw intensity of his stare was suffocating. It carried a heavy, dangerous physical tension. It slammed into me like a direct, silent challenge. A spike of heat shot straight up my spine. My pulse hammered against my throat under the sheer weight of his overt hostility.

I planted my feet firmly into the floorboards. I met his icy glare head-on.

I would rather die than be the first one to break eye contact.

His lips twitched. He raised a single dark eyebrow, a flicker of dark amusement crossing his features. He leaned his hip back against the edge of the mattress, acting like he had all the time in the world to break me down. The casual, arrogant shift in his posture drew immediate attention to the lean, corded muscle of his abdomen and the dangerous, low dip of that white towel clinging to his hips.

His eyes bored into mine, unrelenting and predatory.

"Let's see then..." Kaelen said, his voice dropping into a quiet, lethal rumble.

His eyes did not leave mine.

"Let's see if she can stay."