I nod. “I see. And the purpose of this is…?”
“Sometimes we just need to see ourselves from a different angle. Through someone else’s eyes.”
“That seems simple enough.”
I cross the small room, stopping right in front of the stool.
My hands are shaking just the slightest bit, and I shove them in my pockets so she doesn’t see.
I’m nervous, which is ridiculous really because it’s pretty damn obvious what my biggest flaw is.
She watches me closely, finger poised and ready to press record.
I can tell she’s conflicted inside. The photographer in her is thrilled to have another subject, but the people part of her knows this is hard on so many levels.
Finally, I take a seat.
“Things might get a little awkward at home afterward.”
Her brows draw tight together. “Why is that?”
“Well, because I have to whip my dick out.”
She sputters. “W-What?”
I nod solemnly. “Yeah. My cock. It’s just…huge. So heavy to carry around. A burden, really. Definitely my biggest flaw.”
“See, I would have thought it was your not-so-sparkling personality.”
“Not-so-sparkling? You’re telling me you don’t see the rainbows and glitter always shooting out my ass?”
She tucks her lips together, crossing her arms over her chest. “Are you quite finished, Rhodes?”
“Yes, ma’am.” I wink at her, the tension in the room now thinned. I rub my hands over my thighs and nod once. “Hit record.”
There’s a barely audible click as she presses the button and a red light sparks to life. They’re the only indications that she’s recording.
“What is your name, age, and occupation?”
“My name is Adrian Tyler Rhodes. I am twenty-seven years old, and I am an NHL defenseman for the Carolina Comets.”
“Do you believe you are flawed, Adrian?”
I don’t know why, but hearing her say my first name does something to me that I’m not expecting. In the time I’ve known her, not once has she called me Adrian. And to my surprise, I like it.
I don’t look at the camera; I look at her. “Aren’t we all flawed in one way or another?”
“I suppose so. Is that why you’re here though? Because you’re flawed?”
“Honestly, I’m just here so I can get my wife to show me her titties later tonight.”
“Even the wonky one?”
“Especially the wonky one.”
She barely holds in her laughter. “If this goes well, I’m sure she’ll take that into consideration.”
“So behave? Got it.”
She shakes her head, smiling. “If you had to pick out a singular flaw for yourself, what would it be?”
I clear my throat and look away from her penetrating gaze. I tug at my dress pants, that nervous itchy feeling returning. “I think it’s pretty obvious, no?”
“Not to me.”
My gaze snaps back to hers, and somehow, I know it’s not photographer Ryan talking to me; it’s the Ryan I know.
“It happened during a routine practice the summer I turned sixteen. It was at a sleepaway hockey camp I attended every year. I knew that place like the back of my hand, and I knew the players out there with me. They were all good guys. Nobody would ever intentionally hurt anyone else, and that day was no different. We were running board drills and I guess I lost an edge, and I went down. Unfortunately for me, the guy I was running the drill with didn’t realize I went down. His focus was solely on getting the puck out, just like it should have been. His skate came back and it caught me right under the visor, sliced me from here”—I point to the spot just below my eye—“to here.” I drag my finger along the scar, stopping where it ends at my chin.
I hear the click of the camera as I move my fingers and try hard not to flinch.
“What happened after that?” Ryan asks, still clicking away.
“I…I don’t remember.” I run a hand through my hair. “I think I passed out pretty quick. Shock, blood loss…I have no clue. I woke up in the hospital looking like a monster.” I huff out a humorless laugh. “My face was a disaster, puffy and bruised. I looked just like you’d imagine. God, I remember the look on my mom’s face when I woke up. She was so fucking relieved that I was alive. And I was relieved too, ya know? I was okay. I still had my vision. I would still play hockey. But then when I looked in the mirror, I…”
I clear my throat, trying hard as hell to ignore the way it’s tightening.
“The hockey camp was out in the middle of nowhere, and the doctor at the nearest hospital completely botched fixing it. He’d never seen anything like it before and had no clue what he was doing. I had two plastic surgeries to fix it, and I still fucking look like this.”
All those same feelings from back then come rushing in.
“Before that, I wasn’t one to obsess about my looks. I was an average-looking kid who blended in with the crowd. But after…after I was this whole new person. Suddenly, I wasn’t average. I was disfigured and ugly. Little kids in the stores would stare at me, and my friends stopped wanting to be seen with me. My scar was all I was. And sometimes…” I exhale shakily. “Sometimes I think it’s all I’ll ever be. I’m going to carry this…ugliness around with me forever. Who the fuck wants to love a beast like me?”
Ryan sets her camera aside, then crosses the small room.
She doesn’t stop until she’s standing between my legs. She takes my face in her hands, running her thumb gently over my scar and the tears that are dripping down my cheeks.
I didn’t even realize I was crying. Why the fuck am I crying?
She leans forward and presses her lips to the jagged, marred skin.
She’s kissing it. She’s fucking kissing my scar.
She’s kissing my scar, and she’s kissing my soul.
“Adrian…” She whispers my name, trailing her lips across the part of me I hate the most and somehow making me hate it less. “You’re beautiful. Not despite your scar, but because of it.”
They’re the same words she said to me that night in Vegas. I wasn’t sure she meant them then, but I know she means them now.
I swallow thickly. “Ryan?”
“Yes?”
“That kissing rule…you said I could only kiss you if it’s warranted, right?”
“Yes.”
“Does this count as warranted?”
She sighs against me. “Yes.”
And I claim my kiss.
14
RYAN
Everything else ceases to exist.
The only thing that matters at this moment is Rhodes and the way his mouth is moving against mine.
I know he joked before about his kisses being good and like sex, but I’m starting to think he wasn’t too far off the mark.
If this is how it feels just to kiss Rhodes, I can’t wait for more.
My fingers brush along his face, wiping away the tears I don’t think he realized he was shedding. His story…it almost broke me. He was so raw and real and open. It was a side of him I’ve never seen before.
And it was a side of him I’d like to see again.
His fingers dig into my hips as he tugs me closer. Slowly, he bunches up the material, dragging it up my waist until I feel the cool air on my bare ass. All the while his mouth is moving over mine in perfect strokes.
His hands run over my bare ass, and I moan.
He breaks the kiss for the first time, peering up at me with glassy eyes.
“Are you wearing underwear, Ryan?”
I shake my head. “No. Didn’t want panty lines.”
A low growl rumbles through his chest. “You left the house without panties?” I nod, and he glowers at me. “I don’t like that.”
“I don’t care what you like,” I say, lifting a challenging brow.
His eyes darken as he lifts my dress higher until my pussy is exposed, not stopping until it’s bun
ched around my waist. I shiver as the cool air hits me.
His hands knead at my cheeks, then he rubs down my thighs, digging his fingers into me just enough that it stings a little.
“God, you smell so fucking good.” He nuzzles his nose against my stomach, inhaling me. He nips at me a bit, licking away the stings with short strokes as I slide my hands through his hair.
“No one can see us in here, right?”
“No. Nor hear us.”
“Good.” He places a kiss just below my belly button, then slides off the stool and onto his knees right in front of me. “Spread your legs, darling. I need to taste you.”
For once, I don’t hate the pet name…and I do as I’m told.
I widen my stance and close my eyes, waiting.
But nothing happens.
I look down and he’s just sitting there, staring up at me.
“That’s much better.”
I furrow my brow. “Huh?”
“If you want me to eat your pussy, you’ll have to watch. Got it?”
Oh. Oh.
I gulp, nodding. “Okay.”
“No. Say Yes, husband.”
Another gulp. “Yes, husband.”
“Very good.”
Without breaking eye contact, he flattens his tongue and runs it over my clit. My eyes begin to flutter closed at just the barest of touches, and he backs off.
I want to scream in frustration, but I also want to please him.
I open my eyes again, and he grins wickedly, then returns between my legs.
This time, I make sure to follow directions. I don’t close my eyes. I don’t even dare blink.
I hold his gaze as he laps at me. Stroke after torturous stroke, his hands kneading my ass cheeks over and over again until I’m literally bucking against him.
Even though I’m looking right at him, I don’t see it coming.
I let out a loud yelp that turns into a moan as he lands a loud thwack to my bare ass.
My eyes flare as he grins up at me around my pussy as he massages my no-doubt-red stinging cheek.
He remembers.
Rhodes lands another blow, then another, and my knees begin to shake so violently I have no idea how I’m still standing.
How? How is it possible he has me this close to the edge so quickly? It’s like he’s inside my head and knows just exactly what I like. There’s no way anything can compare to this.
He smacks my ass again, and I know I’m seconds away from an orgasm.
He knows it too.
He sucks my clit into his mouth, applying the perfect amount of pressure, then smacks my ass again.
I break.
I’m rocked by the most intense orgasm of my life, my legs quaking so hard I can barely stand. Rhodes has to physically hold me up.
I ride the wave as he continues to gently lick at me. With one last long, slow stroke, he sits back on his haunches.
His eyes are darker than I’ve ever seen before, and his face is shining with the evidence of my orgasm. I’m incredibly turned on by the sight and am slightly sad when he wipes the back of his hand across it.
He rises to his feet, keeping his hands on my waist because even he knows if he lets me go, there’s no way I’ll be able to stay upright.
He presses gentle kisses up across my jaw and down my neck, then back up until he captures my lips. He gives me a quick peck, then pulls back, cradling my face and tilting it up.
“Thank you,” he says quietly.
Thank me? Pfft. I should be thanking him.
“Thank you for letting me tell you my story.”
Oh. That.
I wrap my arms around his waist, holding him close. “Thank you for telling me. And for the orgasm.”
He chuckles. “Trust me, the pleasure was all mine. But, Ryan?”
“Yeah?”
“I still definitely want to see your titties when we get home.”
Sitting through the rest of my exhibit was torture. Cleaning up afterward? Even worse.
And it’s all because of the looks Rhodes kept sending my way.
Every time I looked at him, I blushed. Having his eyes on me was a permanent reminder of what we did in the booth. And a reminder of how badly I wanted to do it again.
When we finally push through the front door of the house, I am more than ready to rip my clothes off and let him have his way with me.
Apparently, he has the same idea.
The door isn’t even latched, and he has me pinned against the wall, my dress hiked back up around my hips and one of my legs thrown around his waist. Based on the way his cock is pressing against my core, he wants this just as badly as I do.
His lips find my neck and he bites and sucks at me. I just know I’m going to have marks tomorrow. At this point, I don’t care.
He claims my mouth again, his hand climbing up my throat, applying just enough pressure to make my knees shake with desire.
“Please,” I beg. “I need…”
“What? What do you need?” he says against me. “Tell me what you need.”
“You. Just you.”
He crashes his mouth to mine and palms my ass, pulling me up until I wrap my legs around his waist. He carries us down the hall, not stopping until we reach his bedroom. With my legs still around him, he puts one knee on the foot of his bed, slowly dropping me onto my back.
He wrenches his mouth from mine.
“I want to savor you and devour you all at once.”
I want that too. But I say, “Devour now. Savor later.”
So he does.
He shoves his suit jacket off, then undoes his pants, pushing them down just enough to free that damn beautiful cock of his.
I want to see it. I want to taste it.
But not now.
Now, I just want him.
He bunches my dress around my waist and then slips his hand between my legs.
“So wet,” he mutters. “So fucking wet and so fucking perfect.”
He wraps one arm around me, his hand fisting my hair. With the other, he lines his cock up with my core, then pushes inside me.
There’s no preamble. No going slow.
We are straight-up fucking at this point, and it’s just what I need.
I slide my hands into his hair, tugging at the strands and pulling his lips down to mine as he slams into me over and over again.
I need to kiss him. Need to feel him fuck my mouth with his tongue as he fucks my pussy with his cock.
“Holy shit,” he moans, breaking the kiss but not his stride. “You feel fucking incredible. Better than I imagined.”
“You’ve imagined me?”
He gives me a look. “You know I have.” He ruts into me again. “You know I do.”
He kisses me again, slowing his movements. But I don’t want slow. I want fast. I want hard. I want more.
I try to pick up the pace, but he doesn’t let me.
“Stop,” he says against my lips. “I’m seriously about to embarrass myself if we keep this up.”
“It’s fine, Rhodes.”
“It’s not.”
I pull away, grabbing his face, brushing my thumb against his scar. “It’s. Fine. I want this. Please. Fuck me.”
That same rumbly growl from earlier moves through him again, and he strokes in and out of me with a newfound purpose.
I can feel my orgasm building. Getting closer and closer to that sweet, sweet high.
I just need…
Like he can read my mind, Rhodes slips his hand between us, his thumb pressing against my clit as he bucks into me.
Oh. That.
I count down in my head.
One.
Two.
And I explode.
I squeeze my eyes shut as my pussy clenches around him. Rhodes lets out a string of cuss words, and I know he’s not far behind at all.
“Oh, fuck. No. Fuck, fuck.”
“What?” I ask. Or at least I think it sounds like what. My brain is so scrambled r
ight now I can’t tell up from down.
“Condom—I forgot a condom.”
“Birth control. I have an implant. Recent checkup. All good.”
He laughs. “You’re talking in caveman, and it’s kind of doing things to me.”
“Shut up.”
“I’m good too. We get tested regularly by the doc.”
I nod because it’s all I can muster at this point.
“You know,” he says, “at least if you did get pregnant, it wouldn’t be out of wedlock.”
I groan. “Rhodes…”
“What? I’m just saying.”
“I swear…I’ll—Oh! Holy fuckinggoddamnshitballsfuck!”
“That’s a mouthful. Rhodes will do just fine.” His thumb is back on my clit and he’s hitting that just right angle inside of me.
“Don’t stop. What you’re doing right now, do. Not. Stop.”
He doesn’t.
And before I know it, I’m going off again, and this time he follows right along behind me.
Just like there was no real beginning, there’s no real end.
Rhodes rolls off me, and all that can be heard is our harsh breaths echoing around the room.
I’m pretty sure I died.
I must have. There’s no way I can have three orgasms in a night and this not be heaven.
“Are we dead?”
The bed shakes with his laughter. “I think so. Oddly enough, I’m okay with it.”
“Same.”
His hand finds mine and he tangles our fingers together. He rubs at my wedding ring like he always does.
“I hate to bring this up to you right now, but I told you you’d want me.”
I roll my eyes. “Shut up, Rhodes.”
Somehow—and I don’t know how he does it—he rolls over until he’s hovering just above me.
He grins down at me. “Make me…wife.”
And I do.
When I wake with an arm wrapped tightly around my waist, déjà vu washes over me.
I’ve been here before. This same position with this same person.
Blind Pass (Carolina Comets) Page 12
