“I’m fine.” He straightened and focused. He shoved Emma out of his head. They only had a week until their first game. He scanned the rink for the puck. As soon as he saw it, he zeroed in and went balls to the wall.
For the next two hours, they yelled and played, strategized and fought. Sean slid into his routine, and it wasn’t until they were done and guys started skating toward the edge of the rink to say hi to friends and family that Sean looked for Emma.
He found her quickly enough since she was sitting with Norah. Norah came to the rail first and kissed Kai as soon as he had his helmet off. It was a pretty tame kiss, mostly because Kai still had his mouth guard in. His sister never was any good at waiting.
Sean slowed as he neared the rail and pulled off his helmet and spit out his mouth guard.
“Hey,” he said.
Her smile was enough of an answer. “Hi. Interesting practice. You guys usually beat each other up?”
He tilted his head toward Kai. “That’s Kai. He only feels good about himself when he’s beating someone up.”
“Wouldn’t have to do it if you were paying attention.” Kai skated away without another word.
“That’s harsh,” Emma said.
“It’s harsher if you saw him slam me. I bet I looked pretty inept.”
“Nah. It’s hard to tell what’s going on out there. Fun to watch though.”
“Wait while I shower? Then you can give me a ride.”
Emma angled her face and one eyebrow rose. “Where’s your bike?”
“I got a ride with Tommy so you’d have to drive me.”
“Still afraid I’ll skip out on our date?”
“Not as long as I’m riding with you.”
“What do I get for playing chauffeur?”
He braced his arms on the rail and leaned close. “A better version of what I gave you this afternoon.”
“I have pretty high standards. Sure you can meet that promise?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to wait.”
Sean skated to the other side of the rink and went to the locker room. He’d intended on taking the quickest shower imaginable, but Tommy stood in his way, bare-assed, as he made his way to the shower.
“Emma again, huh?”
“So?”
Tommy laughed and twisted on the spray. “You’re not a one-hit wonder after all?”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“It’s just that you’ve only had a woman in your bed for one night. Never any longer. I was planning on talking to Kevin and Jimmy to see where they went wrong. I mean, you give all O’Malleys a bad name if you’re so bad at satisfying a woman she won’t make a return trip.”
“You have no clue what the fuck you’re talking about. And you’re no better. Who was the last girlfriend you had?” As soon as he’d said it, he regretted the words. Tommy’s last girlfriend had done a number on him. Instead of addressing the issue, he continued on as if she didn’t matter. “Get outta my way so I can clean up. Unlike you, I have an actual date to get to.”
Tommy rinsed quickly and stepped away, offering him a smile. Taking Emma back to his room was sounding like a worse idea every minute. The last thing they needed was Tommy interrupting them.
Sean washed, rinsed, and toweled off. His skin was still damp when he jumped into his clothes, but Tommy had already left the locker room and Sean didn’t want him talking to Emma. Lord only knew what Tommy would say to her.
He shoved all his sweaty stuff into his gear bag and hauled it onto his shoulder. In the lobby, he found Tommy with Emma. Sean slid beside her and put an arm around her shoulders.
“Get your own girl.”
Emma stiffened a little at his side. “Tommy invited me to join everyone for a drink at a place called McGinty’s.”
“It’s a bar right around the corner we go after practice and games. They like us.”
Tommy laughed. “They tolerate us because we spend a lot of money there. I wouldn’t say they like us.”
“Whatever.”
Tommy spun and waved over his shoulder. “See you there.”
Sean stepped away from Emma. He checked her out. Although her clothes were different, she still wore a tank top that hugged her curves and jeans that fit like skin. “You look great.”
“So we’re supposed to meet your team?”
Sean paused. Her question might’ve been an accusation. He’d had more than one girl comment that his team was more important than their relationship. “Not if you don’t want to.”
He waited, watching. He’d give up drinking with the team tonight, but it wasn’t something he was willing to do regularly.
“A drink would be good.”
Sean smiled. Yeah, he definitely liked her. “Okay. The guys can get a little rowdy, but they’re not bad. Half of them have wives or girlfriends that will be there, so it’s not like you’ll be the only one.” As soon as the words left his lips, he realized how they sounded. For the second time in the span of five minutes, he’d referred to her like a girlfriend. The thought didn’t suck.
Emma led the way out of the rink and to her car. He stood by the trunk. “You don’t want this in the car. Trust me.”
She popped the trunk and he tossed his stuff in. When she slammed the lid down, he caged her in place with his arms. The position reminded him of their afternoon, and his dick twitched in response. She spun in his arms.
“I’m glad you came tonight.”
“Yeah?” she whispered.
“Yeah.” He lowered his mouth to hers, pressing his palms to the lid of the trunk to control himself. He wanted nothing more than to toss her on the car and strip her there.
She leaned into his kiss and slid her hands to his waist to hold on. Her fingers curled into his shirt, pulling it taut. Their tongues tangled and his hips bumped into hers. She released her grip on him.
“Thought we were going for a drink.”
“I don’t think I’m thirsty anymore.” He ground against her.
“Won’t your team miss you?”
He stepped back. Their day had gone well, and he wasn’t ready for it to end. “I doubt they’ll notice if I’m not there, but we’ll go and hang out for a while.”
“I don’t care if you don’t.”
She opened the door he usually sought. A simple fix, a quick screw. No strings. Just a good time. She was not only on board with it, but she was offering. She might be the perfect woman. Even with her weird love for birthday cake.
Instead, he shut that door and said, “Let’s go have a beer.”
Chapter Six
One beer turned into two. Sean didn’t want to rush Emma, but he was getting impatient. She was having fun with Caitlyn, a teammate’s girlfriend, and Norah. They danced and laughed, and Sean nursed his beer. He liked that Emma was at ease with his teammates and their women. Some girls would hold back and others would cling to him, but not Emma. She jumped right into talking with everyone.
Tommy pulled up a stool next to where Sean stood. “Your girl fits in nicely.”
“I don’t know if she’s my girl. Not yet anyway.”
“Why not?”
“We just met. It’s a little early to start calling her mine.”
“You might want to hurry it along. She won’t last on the open market. I’m surprised she’s single.”
Tommy had a point. Why was she single? They hadn’t talked about relationships and shit. He never thought to ask. Most girls just spilled. It was one of his tried and true methods of rating a girl’s crazy. Emma had shown no sign of crazy, so it hadn’t occurred to him to dig.
With her beer bottle in hand, Emma headed toward them, hips swaying to the beat of the music. “This place isn’t bad for a neighborhood bar.”
“It’s not all that special either.”
She snickered. “I spent my summer working at the crap dive bar with my mom. You saw the place.”
“You worked there?”
Emma took a swig of beer and nodded. “Extra cash over the summer. Never know when it’s going to come in handy. Like when my mom needs to borrow rent money.”
The thought of Emma working at that place bugged him. She was better than that. As bad as it seemed, her mom fit in there; Emma didn’t.
“Compared to Schmitty’s, this bar’s like the Ritz.”
Sean drained his beer. “You ready to go, or do you want another?” he asked to be polite, but he really didn’t want to stay.
“I’m ready to go if you are.”
Sean turned to Tommy, who had listened to their conversation without comment. “You spending the night somewhere else?”
“Don’t think so.”
Damn. Sean had been counting on Tommy getting lucky. He gave his brother a look that told him to find somewhere else to sleep for the night. Normally, they didn’t ask each other to do that, but rarely did either of them care.
Emma finished her beer. “Let’s go to my place. I don’t have any roommates.” She pointed at Tommy. “No offense.”
Tommy shrugged. “None taken. Have fun.”
“Plan to,” she said with a smile. She fisted a hand in Sean’s T-shirt and pulled.
With that look in her eye, he’d follow her just about anywhere. They pushed past the crowd of people and out into the night air. The temperature had dropped, but not enough to require jackets. If he’d brought his bike, though, Emma would’ve been cold riding.
She unlocked her car and they climbed in. Before she started the engine, Sean wrapped his fingers around the back of her neck and pulled her close for a kiss. One thing he really liked about her was that she didn’t pretend to be shy. She enjoyed the idea of them being naked every bit as much as he did, and she didn’t try to hide it. Her tongue slicked against his and his fingers tightened. A moan vibrated from her mouth into his.
He loosened his grip and she pulled back.
“Did I hurt you?”
“No. I want to get home. I’m too old for fucking in a car.”
The light in her eyes told him that not only had he not hurt her, but she was turned on. No different from when he’d grabbed her ponytail or demanded she not touch herself this afternoon. She started the car and took off. He paid no attention to where she drove. His focus was totally on her.
“Quit staring at me.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s weird.”
“I like what I see.”
She shook her head and pressed a little harder on the gas. She whipped into a spot in front of a six-unit building. Nothing fancy, but a nicer neighborhood than her mom’s. When they stepped out of the car, she asked, “You need your stuff?”
“Nah. It’ll stink up your apartment.” He followed her up the walk and through the front door.
She headed up the stairs and called over her shoulder, “I’m on the second floor.”
Walking up behind her offered him a great view of her ass, which reminded him of their afternoon with her bent over, gripping his dresser for support. His dick pressed against the zipper of his jeans. As Emma unlocked her door, he looked at the apartment across the hall.
“What’s it like living with so many neighbors?”
She lifted a shoulder and pushed through the door. “I don’t think about it much. I’ve met them, but it’s not like we’re friends or anything.”
“No fights or nasty gossip?”
She laughed and locked up behind him. “In order for that to happen, you have to do more than nod and smile in passing when you grab your mail.”
Sean thought about it. Even when he had lived in an apartment, it had been a two-flat so he’d only had neighbors below him. And they’d bitched about his noise all the time. At home, he knew all the neighbors. They always stopped to talk and catch up.
“So we can make all the noise we want and no one will complain?”
“Nope. Don’t care if they did.” She tossed her keys on a small table near the door and kicked off her sneakers. “You want something to drink?”
Fuck, no, he didn’t want a drink. He hadn’t wanted the two at the bar. But he didn’t want to say so. Politeness was killing him. “Only if you’re having one.”
“Maybe later,” she whispered. She tilted her head toward the hall. “Bedroom’s this way.”
Thank God.
Emma stripped her shirt off as she walked. She was in more of a hurry than he was. He stared at the tattoos on her back. As much as he enjoyed tracing them, he wanted to spend more time on her front. Working his way down from top to bottom. She stepped over the threshold to the bedroom, unclasped her bra, and flung it into the corner. Then she turned to face him while she shoved her jeans down.
“You’re a little behind there, O’Malley. Get a move on.”
His brain tripped for a minute while watching her get naked. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen her before, but she still stole his breath.
She took a step toward him and reached for the button on his jeans. “Need some help?”
“Maybe.” He tugged his shirt off while she unbuttoned him. When her fingers grazed his skin, his dick throbbed.
Emma took his jeans and underwear down simultaneously and lowered her body with them. She looked up at him from hooded eyes and licked her lips. His dick jumped like it was begging for attention. She wrapped her fingers around him and lowered her lips to the head of his cock.
Her tongue darted out and swiped at the head, swirling around. When her mouth engulfed him, he sank his fingers into her hair to her scalp and held tight. He allowed her to set the rhythm and barely withheld the instinct to drive his hips into her.
The woman was a master at giving head. She licked, sucked, and stroked him. Then she cupped his balls with just the right pressure. If she had a gag reflex, it didn’t show. Occasionally she’d hum and the vibrations tickled him. Not only was she good, she enjoyed it.
His fingers tightened on her hair to get her attention. As good as this blowjob was, he wanted her naked in bed. She slid off him and rocked back on her heels. He got off on the way she looked, staring up at him like that.
“Problem?”
“Only that you’re gonna make me come before I’m ready to. I can’t wait to get back inside you.”
She stood in one fluid motion and took a step back.
“Where are you going?” he asked as he grabbed her at the waist with one arm. He kissed her neck, right at the spot he knew would make her moan. Then he slid his fingers into her underwear to stroke her. She was already wet.
He circled her clit in slow motion until her hips were undulating with him. Then he pressed two fingers inside her, laying his palm flat against her clit. She stiffened in his arms for a second, a quick breath, and then she tried to grind against his hand, but he held her still.
Her heartbeat thumped under his lips at her neck. He nudged them backward until they were at the bed. He slipped his hand from her body and her underwear. The look on her face was one of disappointment. Sean nipped her bottom lip. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. We’re nowhere near finished. I want to lay you down and take my time.”
Her mouth eased into a smile, and she hopped back onto the mattress. With her back flat, she raised her hips to pull off her panties. Once she removed them, she tossed them to the floor with the rest of their clothes. She spread her thighs wide and said, “Whatcha waiting for?”
Her beauty and cockiness drew him to her. Her gaze locked on him, regardless of where he moved or what he did. He lowered to the bed and kissed her ribs. She giggled, causing him to smile. Giggling wasn’t something he thought of in regard to Emma. But that was a definite giggle.
She scooted to the side. “Ticklish.”
“I remember.” Then he set out to make her forget how ticklish she was. With a firm grip on her hips, he kissed his way down to her pussy, which was gleaming with want. Fuck yeah. He swiped his tongue over and around again and again, just shy of reaching her clit. Emma began to moan. When he l
ooked up, she was staring at him.
“You either don’t know what you’re doing or you’re trying to piss me off. Neither bodes well for a good evening.”
He chuckled, blowing his breath across her sensitive skin. “You forgot another option. Slow, sweet torment until you’re ready to explode. When I make you come, you’ll be begging for more.”
“Someone doesn’t have any performance anxiety.”
Instead of answering her, he moved his mouth back between her legs and delivered on the promise he’d made. Although he always made a point of making sure his partner orgasmed, he’d admit that, plenty of times, he rushed to the end. There was nothing special in his conquests, other than the finish line.
This was different. It wasn’t lost on him. He wanted her writhing and sweaty and begging him to stop and for more all at once. He wanted to ruin her for the next guy who thought he’d show her a good time.
In the back of his brain, that last thought was like a pinprick, but he let Emma’s taste and smell and sounds drown it all out. She started bucking beneath him and swearing. And when she came, it was loud and wet and fan-fucking-tastic. With his fingers back inside her, he felt the muscles contracting around them all the way to his dick. He was definitely going to make that happen again when he was inside her.
By the time he rose and covered her body with his, her face was relaxed and sated, but still filled with lust. The look she wore was completely open, as if she didn’t care how much of herself she exposed.
“You have a condom nearby or do I have to go find my jeans?”
“Drawer.” She pointed over his shoulder.
He opened the nightstand drawer and found a box of condoms. He also spied her toys. A vibrator, nipple clamps . . .
“Are you lost?” Emma had propped herself up on her elbows to look at him.
“Checking out what you have.” He grabbed a condom from the box and a red toy that looked like a rubber cock ring with a vibrator attached. He twirled it on his finger. “What’s this?”
She tilted her head. “You slide your dick through the hole with this at the top.” She sat all the way up and pulled at the cord dangling from the device. She flipped a switch and it vibrated in his hand. “Then that bumps my clit every time you slide home.”
In Your Arms Page 8
