Matt’s fingers tangle in my hair, pushing me down further on his hardness. I gag, but recover quickly. My eyes find his as I go down on him. He’s got the biggest smile on his face.
I continue to suck on him, occasionally paying attention to his balls too. He moans and shifts, showing me exactly what he likes. I like a guy who knows what he wants.
“Sophie, stop,” he says. “I’m close.”
“It’s okay, baby, I want it.”
Matt shakes his head. “Not this time.”
I grin. I know what he means. He tries to adjust us so he can return the favor, but I stop him.
“I need you inside me,” I practically beg. “Please, Matt.”
“Do you have a condom?”
I reach into my side table. Girls should always be prepared. We can’t always expect guys to remember.
I’m on birth control, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.
Matt puts the condom on while I take off my clothes. He pulls off his shirt, so we’re completely naked together for the first time.
“You’re so beautiful, Sophie,” he says when I rejoin him on the bed. His cool hands slide over my body, sending a shiver down my spine.
When his hands find my wet slit, I open my legs wide. I’m soaking wet. I have been since Matt walked in looking so damn hot. I may have been mad at him, but that doesn’t change how attractive he is to me.
“You’re ready for me, baby,” he says. “Soaked.”
“Please,” I moan, arching my back. I might explode if he doesn’t enter me right now.
Luckily, Matt doesn’t make me wait any longer. His hard cock finds my entrance and slides in easily.
“Oh, God,” I cry. “So good. I’m so full.”
“That’s it, baby, take it. Just like that.”
Matt’s thrusts are quick, then slow, then quick again. We kiss and paw at each other like teenagers who might get caught.
I can’t get enough of him.
Neither of us last very long. We’re too pent up. This should’ve happened weeks ago.
“I’m close, Sophie.”
“Me, too,” I say. “I want you to cum for me.”
Matt’s fingers find my sensitive button and dance around it. It’s too much for me to handle.
“That’s it, Sophie. Cum for me. You have to go first.”
And I do. His thrusts, his finger on my clit, and his words send me over the edge. My entire body convulses with the most intense orgasm I’ve ever had.
“Fuck yeah, baby, I’m gonna cum too!”
Matt joins me in extasy. As we both come down, he collapses next to me on the bed.
I’ve always loved cuddling. I’m still frustrated about the project and that Matt was late, but right now, all I want is for him to stay.
“Do you want me to leave?” Matt asks, obviously unable to read my mind.
I shake my head against his chest. “No. I want you to stay.”
So, he does. We fall asleep naked, holding each other tightly.
It’s the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a long time.
12
Matt
I wake up with Sophie tucked against my side. I don’t want to move. If I could, I’d live in this moment forever.
At some point in the night, we both put some clothes on. I’m in my boxers and she’s in sweatpants and a T-shirt. She still looks amazing, no matter what. This girl has a hold on me. It’s terrifying.
“Good morning,” she says with a yawn. “Did you sleep okay?”
“Yeah. Did you?”
Sophie smiles. “I did. I had a nice pillow.”
“Glad I could be or service.”
Sophie snuggles against my side for a second before climbing out of bed. “Okay, we should work on the project. When do you need to leave?”
I check the time on my phone. It’s almost dead. I need to remember to pack my charger for the drive to the game today. I won’t survive an overnight without my phone.
It’s only eight in the morning. We’re leaving at noon, so I need to be at the arena by 11:45.
“I can stay until eleven, but then I need to go home and pack.”
“Perfect! Plenty of time to finish the stuff you didn’t do yesterday.”
I ignore the dig. We had such a good night, I don’t want to ruin it. I thought we’d moved passed me not finishing the work, but apparently Sophie holds a grudge. Whatever. If she wants to keep hounding me, I’ll take it. The two sections will take us way less than two hours to finish, anyway.
Sophie makes coffee while I get settled on the couch with my laptop. Dr. Cruise wants us to create a budget for the jobs within our assigned field and go over the salary ranges. I do a few quick searches and write down the answers. I can make it look pretty later. At least I have the data.
“Are you emailing questions?”
Shit. I forgot about that part of the project.
“No, but I have the salaries so the budgets will be easy.”
“Well, yeah, that was always the easy part. What we need is the interviews with people in the field. Were you even listening to me yesterday?”
“I was, but...”
“Don’t make excuses. This is ridiculous. You should just go.”
“What the hell? Sophie, I can send out the questions now. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“It is to me! You care more about hockey than school. That’s fine when it’s only your grades on the line, but this time it affects me too. Do you even care?”
“I’m pretty sure me being here shows that I care.”
“You care so much that you keep doing the wrong work.”
“It’s not the wrong work. It’s all part of the project. You’re just mad I’m not following your plan exactly.”
“No, I’m mad that your stupid hockey schedule means we only have a few hours total to work!”
I sigh. “I know it’s hard, but we can make it work.”
“No, we can’t!” Sophie shouts. Why does it feel like we’re talking about something other than the project now? Is hockey the reason Sophie won’t give me a chance?
“Sophie, come on.”
She shakes her head. “Forget it. I want you to leave. I’ll finish the project and email you the final product. We can go over the presentation during our regular class time on Monday, and then we’re done.”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“I’m not!”
I shoot her a look. “You are. I don’t know what all this is about, but you need to get over it. This is our project. Not yours. We’re in it together.”
Sophie takes a few deep breaths. This is definitely about more than the project, but I’m not worrying about it. It seems like she has things to work out on her own. She can take care of that when I’m gone. For now, I actually do care about our project, no matter what Sophie seems to think.
“Okay. I’m sorry. Let’s just work.”
“Good. Now, let’s come up with ten questions to email everyone. If we send to twenty people, we should get enough responses by Monday to finish our project.”
“Sounds good.”
We work on that part of the project as a team. We finalize a list of questions and make contact with twenty people working in our assigned field. Hopefully, they’re the kinds of people who spend a lot of time on their email accounts and are willing to help us out. If we don’t get enough responses, Sophie is going to flip out on me again.
We’ve got good momentum going. I hate to leave, but it’s already a little after eleven. I need to get home and pack before tonight’s game. If I could blow it off, I would. If only so Sophie doesn’t have any more fodder to be angry with me.
“You should get going,” Sophie days when she notices the time. It’s not malicious like it was earlier. “Thank you for staying and for your help. I think we’ll do well, don’t you?”
“Definitely. Our presentation will kick ass.”
She laughs. “Are you free tomorrow night?”
“Yeah, I get back in the afternoon. Why?”
“My parents were supposed to come up from Pennsylvania tomorrow and stay for a couple days, but there’s a snowstorm so they’re not going to make it. I’m free tomorrow night now if you want to get together and work on the project some more?”
“I can manage that. We might hit traffic on the way back so I can’t give you an exact time. I’ll text you when we’re on our way and keep you posted.”
“Sounds good. Thanks, Matt. I’ll see you tomorrow night, then.”
“Perfect. I’ll see you then.”
As I gather my things to leave, I rejoice a bit. Her Sunday plans were with her parents, not Zack. That means I still have a chance.
I mean, we did sleep together last night. She wouldn’t have done that if she wasn’t interested. And, Sophie was the instigator. I was hesitant, but she insisted. I’m glad I gave in. It was an incredible night. The sex was fantastic and sleeping beside her was almost as good. Maybe we can have a repeat tomorrow night.
Sophie hands me my laptop bag. “Thanks again, Matt. I’ll monitor my inbox for answers to our emails.”
“Sounds good.”
We stand a bit too close to each other, neither of us moving or saying a word. I know there was some tension earlier, but things feel okay now. I take a chance and lean forward to kiss her.
Sophie pulls away without a word or explanation. What the hell? There’s no way I was the only one having a moment there. There’s electricity between us but Sophie refuses to see it. Or maybe she refuses to acknowledge it.
I don’t understand why. Didn’t last night go well? I thought it was going to mark a change in our relationship. Clearly, I was wrong.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Sophie says, opening the door for me. She doesn’t give me a chance to respond. The second I’m out the door, she closes it.
I stand outside for a few minutes trying to process what just happened. I used to think I was great at reading signals. My exes told me I understood them well.
Now, I feel like they were bullshitting me. I thought Sophie’s signals were clear last night and just now when she lingered close to me. If she doesn’t want me to kiss her, what does she want? Is this just about sex for her?
I’m not okay with it if it is. I know hockey guys get a reputation for being players, but that’s not me. I date one girl at a time. I’m not but on random hookups. I prefer to be with the same person repeatedly. I like going on dates, too. The guys rib on me for being a romantic. They might get less drinks thrown in their faces if they were more like me. When I tell them that, I usually get a drink thrown in my face.
I resist the urge to slam my fist against the wall. Sophie is so damn confusing, but then she does something that makes me think she’s worth fighting for. She laughs at my joke or the conversation flows so easily that I never want to stop talking to her. It seems small, but those are the things that make a relationship great.
If only Sophie could see that. The harder I try, the more she pushes me away. The closer we get, the further away I feel.
I’m not ready to give up yet. Sophie may have pushed me away today, but she pulled me closer yesterday. That’s what I want to hold on to.
I start heading towards my apartment when my phone rings. It’s Coach. Didn’t he ream me out enough yesterday? He kept the entire team late to basically express how badly I suck as goalie because I had a rough night. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have been late to meet Sophie and we might not have gotten into a fight.
Then again, maybe I should thank him for that. Our fight led to some epic sex. Maybe that’s the trick. Sophie and I need to fight in order to show our passion.
That’s not true. We fought today, and I couldn’t even get a kiss goodbye.
I answer the phone just before it goes to voicemail.
“Hi, Coach.”
“You need to get your shit together.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
I don’t point out that it was only one bad game. Everyone is allowed to mess up sometimes. The problem is that there were NHL scouts in the stands.
It won’t be the last time they show up. They’ll come see a few games to see if we’re consistent. I’m sure there will be more tonight who will make note that I’m a good player, I just had an off night.
“Not only were the scouts unimpressed with your game last night, but they are wondering why they bothered to show up in the first place.”
That doesn’t seem fair. We won the game even though I played like shit. I gave up three goals, the worst game of my career. Luckily, our offense scored four. That’s a high scoring game, so they should’ve been impressed.
“I’m sorry, Coach.”
“Apologies are meaningless without action. I expect you to make up for it in tonight’s games, and in every game forward. The team is counting on you. If you want to be in the NHL, you can’t be distracted. Do you understand?”
Of course, I understand. It’s not like I purposely sucked. I was thinking about Sophie. I wanted to make our second meeting of the day better than the first. I was focused on the project instead of the game.
The funniest part is that Sophie thinks it’s the other way around. She doesn’t get that I almost ruined my chances of being drafted because I was thinking about her.
It won’t happen again. If I’m going to pursue Sophie, it needs to be on my time, not on the ice.
“I understand, Coach. I promise I’ll be at my best tonight.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Matt. I’ll see you on the bus. I want to talk strategy with you and Damien.”
Damien is our team captain, but Coach always wants the goalie to be in on new plays. I have to be ready in case they go south.
“I’ll be there.”
I’m going to try my damn hardest to keep my promise. I can practically taste the majors. The dream I’ve had for so long could finally come true. Nothing will stop me from making it happen.
Not even someone as amazing as Sophie.
13
Sophie
“You owe Matt an apology.”
“Wow. Good morning to you, too.”
Carmen laughs. “Good morning. You owe him an apology.”
“Did he say something to you?”
“He didn’t have to. You told me everything you did and said. You need to apologize. I can’t believe you haven’t already.”
“Ugh, I know,” I say. I drop down onto the couch.
Even though we live together, I feel like I never see Carmen at home. Our schedules are so different that we cross paths on campus more than we do here. It’s by chance that we’re both home this morning. Carmen usually has class Wednesday mornings, but it was canceled today so she doesn’t have to go to campus until later.
“Seriously, you were a bitch to him.”
“Okay, Carmen, I get it.”
She sits next to me and hands me a mug of coffee. “I’m just saying. You got all mad at him for playing hockey. That’s ridiculous. I know he was late and you were stressed about the project, but it’s kind of awful to accuse someone of caring about their passion too much. You know he wants to go pro, right?”
I do know that. He mentioned it to me. He also said there’s a pretty good chance it’ll happen because scouts for the NHL keep coming to games. I didn’t need Matt to tell me, though. Carmen keeps me up to date on anyone going pro from our university. She has an actual binder in her room that she tracks players, teams, moves, and stats in. It’s impressive, honestly.
I might have taken a peek at Matt’s entry last week. I may not know a lot about hockey, but I know enough about statistics to know Matt is good. He’s really good.
“I’ll apologize, okay. I know I was too hard on him.”
“It’s not like you to snap like that, though. I’m wor
ried.”
I roll my eyes. “You said it yourself. I was stressed. This project is ten percent of our grade!”
“Are you sure that’s it? You weren’t taking out some extra frustration on Matt because you’re afraid of falling for him?”
“I thought we agreed like two weeks ago that we weren’t going to talk about Matt anymore. It was your idea, too.”
“Well, I changed my mind. I thought you guys had fun on the double date.”
“We did, but it was because I was on my best behavior for you. And look how it worked out!”
Carmen blushes. She and Travis made things official a week after that date. I’m happy for them. It’s about time they stopped circling each other and acting like they aren’t madly in love.
I know it’s a big transition for Carmen. She hasn’t had a steady boyfriend for as long as I’ve known her. Despite that, I know she’s going to be fine. She likes Travis enough to make it work.
Honestly, the same could probably be said for Matt and me. I do like him a lot. Working on the project has proven we’re good together. On Monday, we finished things up and did a run through of our presentation. It took forever because we couldn’t stop laughing and joking around. All the tension I caused was gone.
“You’re blushing. Why are you blushing?”
“I’m not!”
Carmen grins. “You so are! You like Matt, don’t you?”
I shake my head. “I don’t. Even if I did, it doesn’t matter. I have Zack.”
“Please. You barely like Zack.”
“I like him enough!”
“You like him enough? God, Sophie, how many times are we going to have this conversation? You can’t just date a guy because he’s good enough. He should be better.”
“And you think I should date Matt?”
“I don’t know,” Carmen says. “But I do think you need to look at your priorities when it comes to a relationship.”
I bite my lip. Of course, Carmen has a point. I shouldn’t be with Zack because it’s easy. Actually, it’s not that easy. I like being with Matt a lot more than being around Zack. Especially in bed. I haven’t slept with Zack, but I doubt it’ll be as good as it was with Matt.
Cocky Puck: A College Sports Romance (Hockey Hearthrobs) Page 8
