The Playmaker (Players on Ice Book 1)

by Cathryn Fox

  “I just don’t,” I say, not wanting to tell her the real reason. My father was a bastard, and I wasn’t allowed personal things. I don’t want her pity. I don’t want anyone’s pity.

  “So you—” she begins, but I cut her off.

  “There was one room I made mine.”

  She puts her hand on her hip, her look somewhat disgusted. “Let me guess, your boudoir, or rather, dude-oir. Turned it into something that resembles the Playboy Mansion.”

  “Dude-oir?”

  “You know, boudoir but man style.”

  “Actually no,” I say, for reasons I don’t understand. I want people to think I’m that guy, to see me as The Playmaker, but for some fucking reason I don’t want her to. Shit man, she’s really getting under my skin, and nothing good can come from that.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, really,” I say. I never take a woman in my bed. It’s either her place or an impersonal hotel. Completely detached, no insight into me. No girl has complained yet. Why would they? As long as they’re showered with nice gifts and bragging rights for nailing The Playmaker, they’re happy.

  Surprise comes over her. “Oh, man cave then? Big-screen TV, big lounge chairs, fridge full of beer?”

  “Something like that. I’ll show you tomorrow in the daylight. I don’t want to turn the lights on tonight. It can set off the headaches.”

  She mellows, and gives a slow nod of understanding. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  My heart twists up at the sincerity in her voice, the genuine concern. “No, I’m good.”

  “It was the same for me. Loud sounds, too. That’s probably why you were dizzy in the car yesterday. You really should get that muffler fixed.” She turns on the tap and lets it run.

  “I told you, that’s how it sounds, and in case you’re still wondering, no, I’m not overcompensating.”

  As things shift between us, I put my hand over hers to turn the tap off and listen to her throat work as she swallows. With my bare chest pressed against her back, I keep my hand on hers for a moment, let it linger, revel in her softness, the scent of aloe vera and wintergreen in her hair. I put my mouth close to her ear and say, “I have cold water in the fridge.” As tension fires between us, and my blood pumps fast, I reluctantly let her hand go, and pad barefoot across the room to pull the jug of cold water out of the fridge.

  “I can get it,” she says, and hastily crosses the room and reaches for it.

  Why does she hate anyone doing things for her? I know she’s always been independent, but come on.

  She misjudges the distance in the dimly lit room, and her hand hits the jug. Water sloshes over the sides, landing on my bare chest and her nightshirt. She yelps and jumps back.

  “Damn that’s cold!” she shrieks.

  It might be cold, freezing even, but my skin is so fucking hot from pressing against her body, the water practically sizzles on my chest. But I can’t think about that. No, I can’t think about that at all, not when the prettiest girl I know is standing before me, looking like she’s about to take center stage at a wet T-shirt contest. Her breasts are small, like her, but so goddamn perfect, she’d win hands down.

  “You, ah, you’re all…wet.” Christ, way to state the obvious, but my brain isn’t quite up to speed right now. I gulp, swallow down the lust building inside me, but it refuses to be leashed in front of Nina. No, as the water spreads across the fabric, exposing her pert nipples, my lust expands, deepens, and demands attention.

  “I seem to be wet around you a lot.” As the words spill out, her eyes go wide and her sweet mouth forms an O, like what she said held all kinds of sexual connotations, too much, and she wants them back. She stays immobilized like that for a second—long enough for me to visualize my cock sliding between those lush lips—then she rushes on with, “I mean…first the rain, then the sink nozzle and the hot tub…now the water jug.” Jesus, she’s cute when she’s rambling. But I don’t want her flustered. Not around me. “I sort of have a wet theme going on around you. I mean…”

  I set the jug down, and even though every instinct is warning me to back off, pack a fucking bag and leave the country, before I get myself into something that can only lead to trouble, I grip the hem of the shirt and pull the cold dampness away from her body.

  “You should probably get out of this,” I say, and lift it slightly. I run my knuckles over her skin, creating warmth with friction. She’s so fucking soft, my cock is clamoring for attention, tenting my boxers in ways that Nina can’t seem to ignore, judging by the way she keeps sneaking peeks downward.

  Her breathing changes, becomes faster, erratic as I touch her. “It’s soaked,” she says. “I won’t be able to sleep in it now.”

  “I have more.” I nod toward the archway. “You want to come to my room and I’ll get you one?” I say, but we both know what I’m really alluding to. Her, in my bed. Me over her. Under her. Inside her.

  “I…ah…”

  Please say yes. Fuck man, fifty hand jobs aren’t going to cut it if she says no.

  “I…” she says, and even though she’s hesitant, there’s no denying the want in her eyes, the need in her body. But I have to hear her say it. I’m a motherfucking prick with a cocky reputation that I do my best to uphold—a detached guy who sleeps with nearly every woman who has ever thrown herself at me, and walks away come morning. But this is Nina, and it has to be her call, and I’m not so sure walking away is going to be that fucking easy.

  “Remember our deal?” I ask.

  “Deal?”

  “You know, tit for tat.”

  She takes in a quick breath, like she’s trying to suck all the air out of the room, then she nods quickly and says, “Yeah.”

  Testing her, and not sure if what I’m about to do or say is going to get me a kick in the nuts, I slide my hands up her body, lightly brush my thumbs over her nipples. Fuck, she feels good. When she doesn’t pull away, I apply more pressure to her lovely tits that my mouth is watering to taste.

  “You said there would only be the tat part,” I remind her. “You were pretty adamant about that.”

  “Yeah, I remember,” she whispers on a moan, and arches into me, her needy body betraying her completely, and I fucking love it. But I’m not about to take her until I’m one hundred percent certain it’s something she wants too.

  I lightly cup her breasts, massage gently, and her moan of want seeps under my skin and strokes my thickening cock. Her small hands go to my shoulders, her fingers burn my flesh as she explores my muscles.

  She wets her lips, a familiar habit when she’s needy. “Cole,” she murmurs, her head falling back, her long hair splaying over her shoulders. Goddammit, lust looks so good on her, and my fucking cock is done for.

  “Yeah?”

  “I…I might want the other part, too.”

  “Say it, Nina.” I reach up and give a slight tug on her hair, simply because I like the way it forces her mouth to open for me. “Tell me what you want.”

  Her eyes meet mine, her pupils dilating. “You know what I want. Don’t make me say it.”

  I run my hands over her curves, pull her against me, let her feel my hard cock through my boxers. “If you can write dirty words in a book, why can’t you say them?”

  “It’s…I can’t. Wait, how do you know what I write in my books?”

  Ignoring her question, and wanting her to shed every and any insecurity with me, I say, “You can say whatever you want in front of me, Nina. We don’t even like each other, remember? No sense in worrying about getting embarrassed or offended. I’m a prick, you know that, and you know I’m only out for a good time, so it’s safe to say things to me that might not go over well with someone else.”

  “I’m only out for a good time, too,” she says.

  “You do this kind of thing all the time, then?”

  “Yeah.”

  Liar.

  I slide my hand back up her body, coming perilously close to her nipples but never touch
ing. “Then tell me. Tell me what you want.”

  She’s quiet for second, like she’s tossing something around in her mind, then a change comes over her. “You’re right. We don’t like each other much, and I guess if you want me to speak frankly, Jess put the idea in my head that we should hate fuck.”

  Holy Fuck. Her bold words catch me by surprise. I know I’m not good enough for her, and I know she’s an innocent, but if she’s asking me for this, I have to give it to her. I’d give sweet Nina anything she ever wanted—other than my heart, that is. But it’s not my heart she wants, it’s my body, and I’m more than willing to give her that.

  “Hate fuck, huh?” I wrap her hair around my hand three times, and rub my cock harder against her. “When anger and desire mix.”

  “Yeah, something like that.”

  “And you think this is a good idea.”

  “I think we’re past the point of good ideas, Cole” she says, and moves her body, grinds against my rock-hard cock, the sexy move prompting me into action.

  Desperate to taste her again, I dip my head and capture her mouth with mine. She goes up on her toes, and I let go of her hair, slide my hands around her body and lift her. I back her up, until she’s sitting on the kitchen island, and I widen her legs to position my body in between.

  I put my hands on her legs and slowly slide them up. Her eyes are wide, filled with desire, and it rocks my fucking world.

  “How much did you hate me growing up?”

  “A lot,” she whispers. “You were always there, everywhere I turned. In my space, in my head, driving me crazy.”

  “Did you want to hit me, throw things at me, scratch my eyes out?”

  “All of the above,” she says, and wiggles restlessly beneath my invading fingers.

  I touch her lacy panties. “You always had such a smart mouth on you, Nina, and that fucking death glare.” I chuckle. “It made me want to hit something—or better yet, rip something.” I grip the thin lace on her panties and give them a good hard tug. The stitching tears, and she gasps.

  “Yeah, like that.” I ease the material away and toss it aside, giving myself full access to her sweet sex.

  She runs her nails over my back and scores my skin, deep enough to leave her mark on me, but that’s okay because I want it. “That’s all you got? I thought you said you hated me,” I taunt.

  “Still do,” she says, and drags more skin. I fucking love it.

  “When you would shoot your mouth off to me, this is how I wanted to shut you up.” I press my lips to hers for a hard, punishing kiss. She kisses me back, and I thrust my tongue into her mouth, taste her deeply. Jesus, there is so much volatile heat between us, it’s sparking something inside me, igniting things I’d never felt before—shouldn’t be feeling now.

  Shit. Why do I find it so hard to keep my shields up with her? If I knew what was good for me, I’d end this now. But when was the last time I did something that was good for me?

  I pull her closer, kiss her harder, and when she gives a low, needy moan, I inch back, and we’re both breathless as we stare at each other. I take in the anger mixed with desire dancing in her eyes, and I damn near shoot off in my shorts. I suck air, take deep, serrated breaths as I think about fucking her senseless, until I’m the only man she’s ever able to think about.

  “When you called me names, I wanted to grab you by the balls, show you exactly who you were messing with.” She puts her hand on my stomach and slides it down until she’s cupping my sac through my shorts. I suck in a fast breath, prepared to be punished, but she explores me gently. Thank fuck.

  “You know what else I wanted to do to shut you up when you shot your goddamn mouth off?” I say.

  “No, what?” she asks, her eyes alive, full of excitement as she slides her hand inside my boxers and takes my cock into her palm. Jesus, I love seeing her like this.

  “I wanted to push you to your knees and put my cock in here.” I shove my thumb into her mouth and she sucks on it. Hard. I feel the pull all the way to my dick.

  Motherfucker.

  I pull my thumb out and she says, “When you used to walk around like the cock of the walk, like I was just a little girl you could so easily overlook, know what I wanted to do to you?”

  “Throw something at me?” I gently bite her bottom lip, and she runs her hand over my cock, like she’s checking the length and girth, weighing it in her palm. Damn, I love the way she’s blatantly examining me, not bothering to hide her curiosity or excitement at what she’s discovering.

  “Yeah. I wanted to throw something at you,” she agrees.

  I push against her hand and groan. “Like what, one of those books you were always reading? Or maybe it was your fist. Did you want to throw your fist at me, Nina?” I take in the heat in her eyes, all her creamy skin and sexy curves, and that’s when it hits me. “Did you want to throw yourself at me, prove you weren’t a little girl to be overlooked?”

  “Yeah, I did, Cole. You were a real bastard.”

  “Still am,” I say, then brush my finger along her slit. A hard quiver moves through her and her eyes roll backward. I groan at her responsiveness and her chest heaves.

  She grips my hair and tugs. “I wanted to show you exactly what you were missing out on.”

  I dip my finger inside her tight pussy, and she’s so wet and wanting, I nearly fucking sob with pleasure. “Do it, Nina. Make me pay for overlooking you. Show me what I was missing out on,” I say, even though I’d never in a million years discount someone like her. She was just off limits. Still is.

  I can’t even count the amount of black eyes Luke handed out back in high school. If a guy so much as looked at his sister the wrong way, or the right way, he was done for. But she was so goddamn pretty, how could we not look? I guess I was just better at hiding it through the hateful teasing.

  I couldn’t risk losing Luke. He was the best friend I ever had, still is, and the one thing he never knew was that by always keeping his door open for me, he saved me more times than imaginable.

  Then why are you seducing his sister?

  “You first,” she says, and when she wets her bottom lips, I lose track of my thoughts. Truthfully, my mind is so fucking blown at this wild, sexy side of her, it’s all I can do to keep my shit together. “Show me,” she says. “Push me to my knees and show me how you wanted to shut me up.”

  My cock throbs, my whole body on fire, eager to do just that.

  “I need this off you. Now,” I say and tug on her wet shirt.

  She lifts her arms for me, and I peel the wet material over her head. My heart beats triple time when I glimpse her gorgeous body. I stand back for a second, and if she didn’t need me to do things to her, I’d spend the rest of the night just looking at her.

  “Cole,” she pleads, and reaches for me. Her warm fingers touch my jaw, trail to my shoulders, to pull me to her.

  I lift her from the counter, put my hands on her shoulders, and push until she’s on her knees before me. Jesus Christ, this is my every fantasy come true. My cock throbs against my boxers, and she runs her fingers over it.

  “I heard a rumor,” she says, her voice hot and thick with lust, but also with a hint of teasing.

  “What did you hear?”

  “That you’re as fast as a cannon on the ice, but the real reason they call you Cannon is because you’re packing.”

  “Is that why you’ve been checking me out these last couple day?”

  “Maybe.”

  “They call me Cannon because it’s my last name, but if you think there’s another reason, feel free to find out for yourself and see firsthand what I’m working with.”

  I grip the counter, and hold on as she fingers the elastic band on my boxers and slowly drags them down. Her breath catches on a gasp when my cock pops free and hits her mouth.

  “So it’s true,” she says, those desirous blue eyes of hers meeting mine. She turns her attention back to my cock and stares at it, like it’s a toy she’s too afraid to p
lay with.

  My dick pulses under her examination, grows harder, and the room sways around me, but it has nothing to do with my concussion.

  “Jesus fuck, Nina, please,” I moan. “Touch me. Take me into your mouth.”

  She takes me into her hands, slides them along the length of me, then parts her lips as she leans forward. Her wet, hot mouth wraps around me, and she takes me to the back of her throat. Perfect, so goddamn perfect, I have to clench my jaw to stop from shooting off.

  “Mmm,” she moans, and the vibration goes right through me. She inches back, sweeps her tongue out and licks the pre-cum dripping from my slit. Jesus, that’s sexy as hell. She runs her tongue along my length, teasing me with her warm heat, and my cock pulses hard.

  She gives me a coy look. “Is this how you envisioned it, Cole? Me on my knees, your cock in my mouth, anything to shut me up?”

  “Yeah, this is it exactly,” I say, and grab the back of her head as she opens her mouth wide, waiting for me to feed her my cock. I move my hips, slowly inch into her waiting mouth, and blood pounds hard in my ears as I hit the back of her throat. My fuck, I’ve never felt anything better. She works me with her mouth, and her small hand cups my sac for a soft massage. But I’m so damn close, my balls tighten, and she gives a little whimper when I growl.

  “Keep it up and I’m going to come in your mouth.”

  That only seems to drive her wilder, but I’m not ready to come, and when I do, I want to be inside her. “Nina,” I murmur, and pull her off me. She goes back on her legs and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. Sexy as fuck.

  “Yeah?”

  “Come here. There are things I need to do to you.” Her eyes go wide as I reach for her and pull her to her feet. “Leg’s around me,” I say as I grip her ass and lift her onto my hips.

  Without too much thought, I carry her to my bedroom and kick the door shut behind us. We’re the only ones in the house, so it’s not like we need the privacy, but for some reason I want the door closed, want to lock the rest of the world out while I have Nina in my bed.

  She steals a quick glance around, and I look at the room from her eyes. Pretty masculine, sparsely decorated with dark wood furnishing, and a light grey paint on the walls. The blinds are pulled, draping us in darkness.