by Unknown
Well, until tonight.
“Thanks. That’s him in the picture of me when we won the Stanley Cup the first year. He came to every single game. His was the first face I saw when I came to after I wiped out on the ice that day, when I wrecked my leg.”
Audra felt her throat tighten at the absolute love in his voice, and the sadness.
“And your mother?”
“She’s fine. Doing better now. She’s been traveling a lot, and she comes by now and then to visit. She sold the house. I don’t think she wanted to stay there anymore without him. My brother bought it—he has four kids, so he needed the space more than I do. They’re here.”
He pointed to another picture of himself, topped on the ground with four grinning kids, three boys and one girl sitting on top of him. Audra smiled.
“They’re cute. And it’s clear they adore you.”
“Same back. They’re a lot of fun.”
“You like kids.” It was a statement, not a question. She knew he coached a local inner-city league, as she’d seen the sign-up announcements in the bar window and in the local newspaper.
“Sure, they’re a lot of fun. How about you?”
“I don’t know many, but they can be cute.”
“You never had your own?”
Audra stiffened, looked away. Shook her head. This wasn’t what she’d come up here for. No soul-searching conversations. They should be naked by now, shouldn’t they?
Scott seemed to sense that he’d hit some invisible tripwire and turned her to him by her shoulders, gathering her in close.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. None of my business.”
“It’s okay. I…it’s nothing I really want to talk about.”
He nuzzled the side of her ear, creating little sparks against her skin that lightened the mood.
“What do you want to talk about?”
She looked up at him. “Maybe I don’t want to talk.”
Audra wasn’t sure if she saw a flash of disappointment in his eyes, it went by so quickly. The next thing she knew, his mouth was on hers, hot and hard, wiping out any thoughts about it.
Yes, this was what she wanted.
Her arms snaked around his neck, fingers diving into his thick hair. The kiss was deep and carnal, getting hotter, when she pulled back a little.
“Do you have a shower I could use?”
It felt awkward, but he smiled. “Of course. How about we share?”
Heat coiled down between her thighs as she thought about being in a shower with a completely naked Scott Beckett. This was the kind of sharing she wanted.
“Sharing is good.”
He took her hand and led her down a short hallway through his bedroom—which hosted a massive king bed—and into a large en suite that took her breath away.
“Oh, Scott, this is gorgeous.”
“I had to have the entire unit remodeled when I moved in—the old apartment was completely outdated, bad electric, virtually no plumbing. The designer I hired really did a great job. I have to give her the credit.”
Audra wondered if the designer had built the open-area shower with Scott in mind. He was a big man, and he needed space. A Jacuzzi tub was in the opposing corner and the shower was enclosed by a tiled half-wall, but no doors. It took up almost a quarter of the room, and you could walk right in. There was a long teak bench that went down one side and at least three showerheads that she counted on first glance.
“I may never be able to go back to my little studio bathroom again.” She eyed dual rain showerheads with lust.
“You’re welcome to come up here and share whenever you want.”
He pulled his shirt over his head, and she started to lift her sweater, but he stopped her.
“Let me.”
She was glad for his interruption. Audra wanted this, but suddenly she’d felt more self-conscious, here in his home. It wasn’t fast and frenzied like what had happened in the bar. This was more…intimate. Personal.
His lips covered hers again, nibbling and kissing her. He paused for a moment and pulled her sweater up over her head, tossing it somewhere to the side. His hands slid up over her rib cage and covered her breasts, kneading slightly, before slipping around to undo her bra.
When it was gone, he pulled her in, crushing her breasts against his chest as he kissed her some more. Audra barely noticed when her skirt fell to the floor. She absolutely noticed when his fingers moved down to cup her ass, pressing her into his erection.
“Let’s get wet,” he said hoarsely, standing back to look at her.
“Already am.”
He grinned, and Audra was too pleased with herself to be shocked at her own boldness, her self-consciousness evaporating.
After shucking the rest of their clothes, he walked into the shower and turned various knobs until the water was perfect. He turned another that dimmed the lights in the whole room.
Audra enjoyed watching him more than she could say. He was a powerful man, all lean muscle and hard lines, even more massive as he stood there completely undressed. Water ran down over him, making him even more delicious. Like a statue of male perfection standing in the rain.
He held out a hand. She smiled, happy to join him.
As Audra stepped into the shower, Scott caught his breath. He’d had her not more than an hour before, and he already wanted more. Her body wasn’t sculpted or hard, but perfectly curvy and soft. His fingers flexed, wanting to cradle the curves of her breast, his cock twitching.
He wanted this moment to last. Their first time completely naked together. Her eyes drifted down, past his erection, taking in the crosshatch of marks on his leg, especially around his left knee and upper thigh. He looked down the same as she did.
“From my surgeries.”
She looked at the scars and then up at him. “May I?”
Scott nodded, though he was somewhat apprehensive. He never knew how someone was going to react until they saw the damage up close. Some girls got off on the whole scarred thing, others were repelled. Some thought it made him vulnerable, or tough. To others who wanted to be with a former super-jock, it was a sign of weakness. A reminder that he was simply a man who could be hurt. Badly.
Audra only seemed curious. The water washed over her as she lowered to her knees, getting a closer look at the marks on his leg. They were angry if faded now, but had been incredibly painful at one point. He’d been offered plastic surgery, but he wasn’t that vain. His erection softened a little, thinking about it, remembering those dark days in his life. And wondering what Audra would think.
She ran her hand along one long, jagged white line that reached from the back of his thigh and around the front of his knee. A gentle touch.
She looked up, met his eyes as he watched her.
“What did they do?”
“They tried to fix it the first time, at my insistence. Didn’t work. Everything in there now is titanium. The bone was too severely crushed to heal right.”
“Must be fun getting through the airport.”
He laughed, appreciating her humor as opposed to syrupy sympathy. She continued drifting her fingers over his skin, trailing both hands up over his strong thigh, as if reading him with her hands. She didn’t seem turned on or repelled. His scars were simply a fact and after recording it, she moved on to investigate other mysteries like the back of his calf and the underside of his buttock. Her touch relaxed him, and the blood began flowing again to all the right places.
Audra broke her focus and reached for some soap. Turning it in her hands, she washed him with her touch instead of the sponges or washcloths, making Scott clench his jaw at the sensual pleasure.
This was a first. Normally women wanted him to take control. They wanted him to notice everything about them, focus on them, but Audra seemed content to explore with her soapy, mischievous hands. Scott was happy to let her do anything she pleased.
Her fingers cupped his backside, dancing lightly along the crevice of his ass, making him groa
n before she sought his dick and treated him to several soapy, sliding strokes.
“Audra.” His voice was choked, and he jerked back a bit as warm water sprayed over his erection. She’d taken the hand shower from the side and was rinsing him off. She continued to use that spray in some wicked new ways as she washed and rinsed his lower body. Then, without missing a beat, she took him deep into her mouth.
“Oh…God…”
Scott braced a hand on the wall, wrapping the other gently in Audra’s hair as she ran her hands back over his legs, his ass, all the while taking him deeper and showing him how a mature woman made love to a man. She took her time. Her patience and the enjoyment she took in the act made it more of an art. She wasn’t showing off or only trying to make him come. She was trying to drive him insane and doing a damned good job of it. Scott felt like his cock was the center of her universe, and that was an incredible turn-on.
She nibbled and sucked, changing her pace and depth, sometimes taking her mouth from him completely in order to travel down to his balls, nip the inside of his thigh or rub his shaft on her cheek or along her lips before sucking him inside again. It was mesmerizing to watch, though she was clearly doing this for her own pleasure as much as his.
His vision went blurry as she took him deeper, lolling her tongue around him in some magical way that sent sparks flying through his brain.
“I’m going to come,” he warned her roughly, nudging the back of her throat, wanting to push deeper.
She pulled away, looking up at him. Her hair was soaked against her skin, making her eyes seem huge and dark. Her lips were red from kissing and rubbing on him.
Damn. Just looking at her made him want to erupt. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to take a shower for a long time without this image in his mind and that was fine with him.
“Good. Me too.”
She trailed a hand down her body, slipping it down between her legs as she returned to his cock, whimpering and moaning as she got herself off while continuing to suck him.
It was one of the hottest things Scott had ever experienced. He was lost in the unstoppable explosion of pleasure that followed, filling her eager mouth, his grunts and moans joining hers. He’d tightened his fingers in her hair on reflex, but she didn’t seem to mind. He loosened them as she drew her mouth down the length of his softening dick one more time—still that long, leisurely touch—before standing up next to him.
Scott had nothing to say, no words left in his brain. He pulled her in close under the hot water, holding her there a few minutes. Then he grabbed some shampoo and urged her to turn around, letting her rest back against him, massaging her scalp as he washed. She sighed, leaning into him, happy to let him do whatever he wanted.
He wanted to do so much.
When her hair was done, he took a liquid soap and explored her shape as thoroughly as she had him. By the time he finished, she’d stepped out of the shower already and was grabbing a towel from the warmer and handing one to him.
It was a shame to see her cover herself up as she wrapped herself in the king-size towel, but it was going to be a joy to uncover every curve again as soon as he could.
She didn’t argue as he led her to the bed, falling down into the mattress with a sleepy sigh. Scott ditched his towel and grabbed a quilt from the foot of the bed, dragging it over them.
“Should I set an alarm?”
She yawned and pushed up on one elbow. The sexiest woman he’d ever seen, he was sure.
“I don’t want to sleep. There’s time for sleep later. I doubt we’ll be plowed out until later in the day.”
Her words thrilled and bothered him simultaneously. There was no way one night was going to be enough.
“I don’t know that I can go again this soon, much as I’d like to,” he said with a chuckle. “But we can…talk.”
“Sure.”
He decided to keep the tone light, or risk scaring her away altogether. “Twenty Questions? Animal, vegetable, mineral?”
She smiled, sinking to the pillow and looking at him with luminous eyes. “Hockey. Tell me about it.”
He fell back to the pillows, unsure what to say. “You’re not much for sports, I take it?”
“No, not really.”
“Have you ever been to a game?”
“Nope.”
“Watched one on TV?”
She shook her head negative.
“It’s hard to explain the rush. The power, the speed, the camaraderie…and the competition. It becomes your whole life. From eight years old, it was the only thing I thought about. Getting on the ice. Even in summer. When a lot of kids were at the beach or the park, I found the nearest ice rink available and would spend every day there. I didn’t care about anything else. I don’t even know how I made my grades through high school and college, except that I had to keep them up to play.”
“And?”
“And then it was gone. One freak accident. Six months in and out of hospitals, most of which I barely remember, except for being angry and wishing that I’d broken my neck instead.”
That had her pushing up on her arm again, those bewitching brown eyes concerned.
“You don’t mean that.”
“No, not now. But I thought about it then, a lot. It was a bad time. Really bad. I had almost everything I’d dreamed of, worked for—how many people can say that? I lost it all. Bad enough going through it, but for months it was analyzed, replayed, dissected…what would I do now? The formerly great Scott Beckett was done. I wasted over a year after that mired in self-pity, drinking too much, doing things I’m not proud of—including any female ready and willing. Sorry if that’s more than you wanted to know.”
His voice trailed off wearily. He didn’t think about it much anymore. It was in the past, and he had a present and a future to focus on.
The present was particularly nice.
“It’s not. I did something like that after my divorce, as well. It’s understandable. How’d you get into the bar business?”
“Started helping a friend at his. We were messing around with craft brews, and we more or less sucked at it, but it gave me the idea to open up my own place. There aren’t a lot of bars with hockey themes.”
Audra traced lazy circles on his chest with her fingers. “You said you had almost everything you wanted—what didn’t you have?”
He smiled at her. “An Olympic win. I would have loved to be part of an Olympic team.”
“That would have been cool, you’re right. You’ve come out the other side with shining colors, though, I’d say.”
“Thanks. You didn’t see me in the worst of it. Unless you caught up with the tabloids. But things got better, and you’re right—things are good now. How about you? How did you get into the antique biz?”
She shrugged and lay down, breaking eye contact. Putting distance between them.
“It was all I ever wanted to do. My parents had a shop, but they had to close it and went back to teaching to make a better living and put me and my brother through college. I was a history major in college, and I had a business years ago, but it didn’t work out. After a few years of working some flea markets and making a reputation and developing more contacts that way, I decided it was time to open another store. That’s when I saw the rental ad in the paper for this place. It seemed too good to be true, this location and the huge floor space. It’s been heaven, really.”
“What happened to your other store?”
She was quiet for a moment and then fell back to the pillows, looking at the ceiling.
“It just didn’t work out.”
He had a feeling there was a lot more to it, but didn’t want to push.
“And now here you are, running your own place again. And making a success of it.”
“Mostly. It would be nice to be able to do more than pay the rent, but I’m happy to be able to do that. And the last quarter was very good, with Christmas sales up. The location has made all the difference.”
&nbs
p; “I have a small collection of sports memorabilia that I’ve accrued over time. Would you like to see it?”
She sat up. “I’d love to.”
“I thought sports wasn’t your thing?”
“Not particularly, but anything old or antique is.”
He grinned, swinging his legs back over the side of the mattress and grabbing a pair of boxers from a nearby chair.
“Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
She lay back on his pillows, looking so good he wasn’t sure he wanted to leave, even for a second.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she promised.
Scott bit back what he wanted to say—that he certainly hoped she wasn’t—not for quite some time, anyhow.
Chapter Four
Audra felt like the sexiest woman alive here in Scott’s bed. His sheets had to be a bazillion thread count of something exotic, like Egyptian cotton or bamboo… Not silk, but they felt like it on her skin. No cheesy satin, but just exceptional quality, natural fabric.
This whole night had been a fantasy so far. She looked at the clock on the bed stand, noting it was not quite two a.m. Plenty of time left to live out several more erotic scenarios with Scott Beckett before she returned to her normal life.
This experience had made her realize how much she missed sex. The fullness of a man inside her body. Maybe she should do this more often, or when she had an itch. Find some nice, willing man to scratch it for her.
She tried to picture it, going out with friends or to a bar at the end of the day, and meeting a handsome man. He’d buy her a drink, and they’d flirt for a while, maybe dance. Get to know each other, but only in the most basic sense. Maybe go back to her place or his hotel…maybe he was in town temporarily? On business? Or maybe they’d have sex in the coatroom or in her car, something really dirty that she never would have imagined herself doing before.
She closed her eyes, picturing it, how she might pull him by his tie or slip her finger in his shirt to tug him along, a secret smile on her face. She might let him think they were going somewhere, but she’d take the keys, straddle him in the car and have her way with him, riding him until they were both spent.
