by Sarina Bowen
He sat up and knelt between her legs. Lifting one of her knees, he straightened her leg until her calf lay on his shoulder. Then he tugged her hips toward his body. He lined himself up at the door to paradise and pushed himself home.
The sensation of coming together was so intense that they both gasped. Below him, Georgia’s lips parted as she tipped her head back, her arms outspread.
Looking down at her this way for the first time in years, it was hard to catch his breath. He’d been worried that time and circumstance had severed their connection. But there was so much trust on her blissed-out face right now. We’re going to be okay, he allowed himself.
She caught him staring, and she tucked her hands behind her head. “Never saw you hesitate in the middle of a game before.” She gave her hips a push, and he damn near shuddered with joy. “Where’s your hustle?”
Leo smiled. Hugging her knee against his chest, he rocked his hips. The motion was subtle, but it emphasized all the places they were touching. The sensation amazed him—he could feel every soft particle of her body holding him. She was the only one he’d ever fucked without a condom, and he was grateful as hell that he’d saved that for her. He wanted nothing between them ever again. Forget hockey. He was going to do only this, forever.
Georgia moaned. “Yes. More.” She ground down against him, and Leo’s balls tightened. Okay, so doing this forever wasn’t going to work out. Ten minutes would be a challenge if she made that sound again.
“Why are you so far away?” Georgia sighed. She lifted her arms, reaching for him. “Kiss me already.”
“Soon,” he teased. “I like the view from here.” But he was just stalling. He knew if he could feel her sweet body underneath him, and her plundering kisses, it would be all over but the crying. Georgia turned him into a teenager again. Maybe they’d lost six years together, but his body didn’t know that.
Georgia gave a sexy thrust, and he felt his pulse kick up a notch. Then she lifted her hands to play with her breasts, and he had to take a deep, slow breath in order to stay where he was. His girl knew she had his attention, too. He knew that even before she gave him a secretive smile and then slid a hand down her own body to the place where they were joined. She rubbed herself, and her fingertips brushed against his root, and he had to grit his teeth to keep from blowing his load right then and there.
But it was too soon, because he needed her closer.
Leo grabbed her naughty hand. In one smooth motion he eased her leg down to the bed and then stretched out over her body. When they were nose to nose, skin to skin, he kissed her, sliding his tongue into her tempting mouth. Georgia moaned and lifted her knees to squeeze his hips.
There was something primal about this position—his girl underneath him, right where she belonged. And since she was still making happy, encouraging noises, holding back was no longer an option. He had to move, had to fuck her in earnest. He jacked his hips while she panted into his mouth.
“Leo,” she gasped. Her body squeezed him everywhere at once, and the sound of his name on her lips made him feel like a god.
That was all she wrote.
The next thing he knew, he was thrusting and shooting and roaring with sweet victory. A moment later he did a face-plant in her pillow while her arms clamped around his neck. Then they just lay there, breathing hard, wrapped up in each other.
And everything was right with the world.
TWENTY-FIVE
Grinning like an idiot into the darkness, Georgia did not want to let go of the big, sweaty man who had collapsed onto her body. There was nothing better than this. Especially because he didn’t seem to want to let go, either. After they’d both calmed down, he made no move to untangle himself from her. Instead, he just rolled them both to the side and tucked her against his chest. His fingers threaded into her hair and he let out a sigh of contentment.
After a while Georgia began to drift into the drowsy, half dreams of the sexually satisfied.
“I want to stay,” he whispered, waking her.
“Mmm.” She sighed. “I’ll find you a toothbrush.”
“I brought mine.”
She pinched his hip. “Awfully sure of yourself.”
“I don’t hear you complaining.”
Point Leo. “You go first. Use anything you need in the bathroom.”
While he was in there, she put on an oversized Bruisers T-shirt, then spent thirty seconds wishing she had sexy nightgowns like Becca’s. But she wasn’t a sexy nightgown kind of girl, and there was really no use pretending she was.
Leo shuffled back into the room a minute later, naked, and climbed into her bed. When she joined him after brushing her teeth, his eyes were closed. But he reached for her anyway, folding his arm around her body, pulling her close. His hand snaked up under the shirt, and he made a sound of approval. “I like this,” he said with sleepy lips. “Good access to the tatas. Night,” he said, giving her left a gentle squeeze. “Night,” he repeated, cupping the other.
She fell asleep with a smile on her face. And she would have stayed that way, except some time later her phone began to vibrate beside the bed. She opened one eye. It was pitch dark in her bedroom except for the phone’s glow. She closed it again, deciding that the phone was unimportant. Not only was she sleepy, she was warmer and more comfortable than usual. Leo’s big body was stretched out beside her.
Heaven.
The damned phone buzzed again. Nobody called her in the night. In fact, she was pretty sure she’d set it to be silent after eleven PM, except for a couple of crucial phone numbers.
Crap.
Georgia woke up all the way now. If her phone was making noise, that meant it was important. She reached for it when the apartment’s buzzer rang. Maybe Becca was locked out?
She swung her legs out of bed, grabbed the phone, and padded into the living room. The phone’s screen said Missed Call: Dad. She tapped redial. While she waited for the call to connect, she noted that Becca’s door was closed. So her roommate was home . . .
“Honey?” her father said into her ear. “Can I come up?”
“What? Why? It’s . . .” She couldn’t see any clocks. “Late,” she guessed.
He chuckled. “I know, and I’m sorry. But I went out drinking and missed the last train to Huntington.”
“Where’s your car?” Georgia asked.
“Can’t drive it,” her father muttered. “For a skinny guy, Nate sure can drink. I don’t know where he puts it.”
“You’re at the front door?” she asked, finally catching on. Her father intended to crash in her apartment. Where Leo was currently sleeping naked in the bedroom. Holy hell.
“Yeah, honey. I promise not to make a habit of this.” He gave a drunken chuckle.
Georgia leaned on the button which opened the door downstairs. “Tell me when you’re in.”
“I’m in.”
She disconnected the call and then scurried into her bedroom for the extra set of sheets and the blanket she kept for visitors.
“Wha’s the matter?” Leo asked sleepily.
“Nothing,” she hissed. “Can you do me a favor? Be absolutely silent? My dad is on his way up.”
“’Kay,” Leo said sleepily.
She left her bedroom, pulling the door partially shut, then scrutinizing it, hoping it looked like it was casually half closed. When a tap came on the apartment door, she opened it to admit her father.
“Hi, Princess,” he said, with a little slur. “Never drink with people half your age.”
“I’ll try to remember that.” She moved over to the world’s ugliest couch and dropped the folded sheet onto it. Holy hell. There were clothes all over the floor. Thank God it was pretty dark in here. Panicking, she kicked Leo’s big shoes under the couch. “Why don’t you use the bathroom? There’s, uh, an extra toothbrush in the medicine cabinet. In the package. You
can’t miss it.”
“Thanks,” her father mumbled. “Dental hygiene isn’t my biggest issue right now. You got any Advil?”
“Help yourself.”
As soon as he lumbered into the little bathroom, Georgia dove for Leo’s belt and their shirts. She scooped them into her arms and carried them into her bedroom, depositing them on the chair in the corner. How had she turned into someone’s misbehaving teenage daughter again? This was ridiculous.
Back in the living room, she shook out the sheets and the blanket and put a pillowcase onto one of her throw pillows. It wasn’t the Plaza Hotel, but her father could just deal with it.
“Thanks, honey,” he said when he emerged from the bathroom. “Sorry to wake you. I really appreciate the favor. We were right in the neighborhood . . .”
“I get it.” She sighed. “Sleep tight.”
“I’ll take you out for brunch tomorrow as a thank-you.”
“Uh, thanks. Good night.”
Damn it. There went her lazy morning in bed with Leo. Her heart thumping guiltily, Georgia tiptoed back into her own room and shut the door all the way. She slipped into bed again.
Leo rolled onto his side and pulled her in. “Hey. You okay?”
“Shh!” she whispered into his ear. “He’s right on the other side of that door!”
He was quiet, but she could feel his belly shake with laughter. Then he put his lips right up to her ear, his voice a low growl. “Ours is the love that dares not speak its name. Does this mean there won’t be any morning nookie?”
“Leo,” she warned in the lowest voice she was capable of using. “Please. He can’t know.”
He licked her earlobe. “Are you ashamed of me?”
“No!”
Still chuckling, he pressed his face against her cheek. “Is it awful that I just want to be outed? You’re mine, Gigi. I don’t care who knows.”
“Just a little while longer,” she mouthed. “The trade deadline is soon. I don’t want to lose you.”
Leo rolled on top of her. “Okay,” he whispered. “But I’d sure like to make a whole lot of noise right now.” He kissed her neck.
She wrapped her arms around him and sighed. It really was such a pity.
* * *
When Georgia woke up next, there was plenty of sunlight in her room. And she was alone in the bed.
Shit!
She sat up fast, listening. She heard her father snoring on the sofa. And then the flush of the toilet. There was the creak of the bathroom door, followed by someone moving carefully through the apartment.
A moment later Leo slipped into the bedroom again, wearing his boxers and nothing else except a grin. It was a fine sight, but it still made Georgia anxious. He closed the door behind him, then crawled onto the bed, pushing Georgia down into the mattress.
“He could have seen you!” she whispered.
“The man is sawing logs out there,” Leo said, nuzzling her ear. “I need to get going home, though, while the getting’s good.”
Except he didn’t go. Instead, he began to drop gentle kisses onto her cheekbone. One of his hands wandered under the covers, skimming up her knee, sliding onto her thigh . . . It was the stuff of fantasies. Waking up with Leo on a weekend morning.
With her father in the next room.
Sigh.
She gave him a little shove on the chest. “Behave,” she whispered.
He gave her a naughty smile. But then he got up and grabbed his jeans off the chair.
“Your shoes are under the couch,” Georgia whispered. “That end,” she said, pointing.
When he was finished dressing, Leo patted his pockets for his phone and keys. Then he kissed Georgia on the head. “I’ll call you later.”
She caught his scruffy face in two hands and held on just a moment longer. “Okay. Sorry about breakfast.”
“Next time.”
She stood up to watch him make his escape.
Leo slowly opened the bedroom door one more time. Her father’s snores were loud, with a nice big honk at the end of each one, just like in a cartoon. Leo tiptoed over to the end of the couch and bent down. He slowly drew out first one shoe and then the other. He hooked two fingers into the heels and slowly rose.
That’s when everything seemed to happen at once.
Her father’s snore gave an extra loud honk and then stopped—going absolutely silent. Leo froze midstep toward freedom. And Becca’s bedroom door snapped open. “Hi . . .” she said before breaking off, probably picking up on Leo’s awkward body language.
From the sofa, Georgia’s dad coughed and rustled the sheets. She couldn’t see him from where she stood, but it was the sound of a man waking up. She gestured frantically toward Leo and the door.
Leo had been a natural at sports all his life. He knew how to spot an opening, and how to take a shot before the opening slammed shut. So now he hustled toward the door.
“Morning, Becca!” Georgia said loudly and with false brightness. “Sleep okay? My dad is here.”
Leo was out the door by the time she got to the end of that sentence. But Georgia flinched at the sound of the apartment door opening and closing.
“Um, yeah,” Becca said, wide-eyed.
“Princess?” her father called. “You just come in?”
“Yup!” she said with too much enthusiasm. “Checked for the newspaper, but it wasn’t down there yet.”
He sat up. “What time is it?”
“Excellent question,” she said, her heart still pounding. “I’ll just find out.”
She escaped to her room with a pounding heart. And three minutes later she got a one line text from Leo. I’m home now, but I forgot something.
What??? she replied, hoping her father wasn’t just about to discover Leo’s watch in the sofa cushions.
I didn’t get to say good-bye to the tatas, damn it. I miss them.
She practically slumped with relief. They miss you, too.
There were, in fact, quite a few of her body parts she would have liked for him to have visited this morning. But you can’t have everything. Georgia got dressed slowly, then went to see how her father was doing.
“It’s quarter to ten, Dad. You can take me to brunch anytime you’re ready.”
“Okay,” he said, getting up off the couch. “I’ll take all my roommates out. Where do you like to eat, Becca?”
Her roommate snickered. “Oh, I didn’t realize you meant me.”
Georgia glared.
“Right. Of course you meant me,” Becca said. “Let me just get my handbag.”
* * *
The next week was both wonderful and exhausting.
Georgia was still buried by work, and Leo had every player’s relentless schedule of practice and home games. The team tied Boston and beat Washington, D.C., with Leo earning a goal and two assists.
In the PR office, things hummed along. The interview with Nate and her father went live on the front of the Times sports section. “A Young Billionaire and His Young Hockey Team.” Nate seemed pleased enough with it, so Georgia was counting it as a win.
Even though it wasn’t easy for Georgia and Leo to find time together, they solved this problem by staying up late into the night. The only fly in the ointment was Georgia’s exhaustion. She wasn’t used to staying up until the wee hours with Leo to catch up on six years of lost sex and then getting up early to catch up at the office on six days of lost work.
And even when Leo slept beside her, Georgia fought to stay awake. The sound of him breathing quietly in bed beside her was precious, too. The comfort of sharing a bed with the man she loved was an entirely new sensation. She looked forward to the warmth of his sleeping form, whether they were at her place or his.
On Thursday night Silas had gone out drinking, so she and Leo had the run of the loft. They watche
d about seven minutes of television on the big screen before attacking each other on the leather sofa.
Later, Georgia had set her phone alarm for an early Friday wake-up. When it went off, she was very disciplined. She only spent one or two minutes admiring the godlike body asleep in the big bed beside her before tiptoeing off to the glamorous glassed-in shower stall in Leo’s en suite bathroom. She washed and shampooed, but then the bathroom door opened and Leo appeared, naked. He stepped into the shower, then, without a word, dropped to his knees.
“Good morning,” he rumbled, before reaching up to palm her backside in two big hands.
“Good . . .” she got out before he leaned forward and placed an open-mouthed kiss right at the juncture of her thighs. “Unnnngh,” she said, splaying her hands out onto the tile wall for stability.
“Mmm,” Leo said, the sound vibrating right in the center of her suddenly needy body. He pressed forward, his tongue making a pass right where it counted, and she dropped a hand into his wet hair and moaned.
She hadn’t gotten to work today quite as early as she’d planned, after all. And she was still tired from their late night frolicking the night before. That’s why coffee was invented.
But even better than caffeine was the spark of possibility each day now held. Even if she rarely glimpsed Leo at work, just having him nearby filled her with excitement. Who needed skydiving when your secret boyfriend just might turn the corner in your office corridor and give a secretive wink that made you blush? And since it was Friday, and all the bullpen kids were chattering about their weekend plans, nobody expected her to be sharp as a tack anyway.
She worked late, of course, because the media invite list for their upcoming charity banquet for a Brooklyn women’s shelter was not going to organize itself. But by six it was quitting time, thank God. She’d finished the most dire items on her to-do list. Finally. Before she left for the night she had to return a file of information on Nate’s foundation to Becca’s desk, so at least her own desk would be a clean and orderly place when she sat down there Monday.
Once again, Georgia had stayed later than any of the minion mob. As she passed the outer office, all their computer monitors were dark, except for one still displaying a screensaver of O’Doul scoring the winning goal in a game against Detroit last year.
