Playing Defense (A Dallas Demons Hockey Romance)

by Aven Ellis

  On this hot night, residents are enjoying not only the view but the water, too. I spy some people relaxing on floats in the pool while others swim. The poolside bar is packed, and a lot of the chaise lounges are occupied.

  JP smiles at me. “I know you said you were happy to keep talking, but I wanted to show you this view. I can multi-task. We can enjoy the pool and talk at the same time.”

  I smile. JP and I talked long after our dinner was eaten, and I didn’t want to break the magical spell by coming up here to swim, but JP insisted.

  I’m so glad he did.

  Because now I get to share this gorgeous tropical oasis with JP.

  Perfect.

  “Mr. Rochat?”

  A pool attendant approaches us.

  “Yes,” JP answers.

  “Hi, I’m John, and I’ll be your attendant this evening,” he says. “Your cabana is set up if you’d like to see it.”

  “You rented a cabana for us?” I ask.

  JP grins at me, and I swear, every time he does, I concede more of my self-control over to him.

  “It’s a first date. I’m trying to impress you.” Then he takes my hand in his. “Is it working?”

  Electricity shoots through me the second his strong hand is wrapped around mine.

  Is it working? Does he even need to ask that?

  “Yes,” I say. “It is.”

  We follow John to one of the poolside cabanas. Pop music fills the hot and steamy air, and I can’t wait to get into the water.

  “Here we are,” John says, leading us inside.

  I pause when we reach the cabana. There are big chaise lounges, piles of white fluffy towels, and an exotic fruit platter set up on a table with an assortment of drinks, from exotic iced teas to coconut water.

  “The menu is here,” John says, showing it to JP, “if you’d like to order anything else.”

  “Thank you, John,” JP says.

  “You’re welcome, Mr. Rochat. I’ll be back to check on you.”

  He leaves, and I turn to JP.

  “This is the coolest thing ever,” I say excitedly. I head over to the lavish fruit tray that is filled with the bounty of summer. I see pineapple, strawberries, mango, kiwi, star fruit, papaya, and oh! My absolute favorite: dragon fruit.

  “Look at this fruit! There’s even dragon fruit! I love dragon fruit!”

  “I know,” JP says simply.

  I glance up at him.

  “You had a post about how much you love dragon fruit,” JP says. “So, I needed to make that happen for you tonight.”

  I’m at a loss for words.

  He did all of this for me.

  This isn’t a standard first date approach. JP has researched and planned out every detail of this evening to make me happy.

  Emotions, ones I’ve never felt before, take over. JP is the most thoughtful man I’ve ever met, and the fact that he’s here, taking care of the smallest details to bring me joy, putting so much thought and effort into our date—

  He’s unlike any man I’ve ever dated.

  I already knew he was, but tonight confirms this for me.

  “You’re amazing,” I say. “Thank you for all of this. For making me feel special.”

  He moves closer to me. “This doesn’t scare you, does it?”

  “No, I know you aren’t a stalker,” I say.

  JP grins. “No, not like that. I think you know I’m not a stalker. It doesn’t bother you that I’m doing these things for you, does it?”

  “What? No, of course not. Why on earth would I feel that way?”

  JP is quiet for a moment. “I don’t want to overwhelm you.”

  I swallow hard as I see the concern reflected in his beautiful eyes. JP wants to shower me with these special treats, but his past is making him doubt himself.

  Before I know what I’m doing, I reach for him. I draw him closer to me and put my hands on his broad chest.

  Oh, it’s hard and feels powerful beneath the soft fabric of his T-shirt, and I shiver in response.

  Within seconds, JP’s arms are wrapped around me, just as they were last night when he hugged me.

  Once again, it feels all kinds of right.

  “If this is your idea of overwhelming me, you can overwhelm me all night long,” I reassure him. “Because this girl, the one in your arms right now, appreciates it. And you.”

  “I’m glad you see it that way,” JP says, reaching up and brushing his fingertips through my hair and tucking it behind my ear.

  “I do,” I say.

  “Nous allons aller à la piscine,” JP says.

  I go into melt mode as the French words escape his lips.

  “What?”

  “Let’s go swimming,” JP says.

  I am more than ready to see JP without his shirt on, so I quickly agree.

  “Do you need me to step out so you can change?” JP asks.

  “I have my swimsuit on under here, so you’re fine,” I say.

  I step back from him and unzip my romper, tugging it down off my shoulders and stepping out of it before him. I feel his eyes roaming over me, and heat sweeps across my cheeks as I stand upright in nothing but my L*Space pebble-colored bra top, with the cinch top and sexy cross back, and matching tab-side Brazilian bottom.

  JP doesn’t speak as he stares at me. Finally, he breaks the silence.

  “You . . . I don’t have words,” he says.

  “You do have the words, Jean-Pierre. In four languages, as a matter of fact.”

  A sexy smile lights up his face. “Du seihst umwerfend aus.”

  Ohhhhhhhh, I love when he speaks different languages to me.

  “I don’t speak German,” I say.

  “Then you’ll have to work that translation out of me,” he says suggestively.

  Then, as if to punctuate his point, he tugs off his T-shirt and tosses it onto a chaise lounge.

  Oh. My. God.

  I swallow hard as I take him in.

  His body is even more amazing in person than it is in his Instagram pictures.

  I drink in every bit of the chiseled hockey player standing before me. His arms are powerful, and I can see those sexy veins running up his strong forearms and biceps. His shoulders are defined, as are his pecs. There are no tattoos on his skin, but I’m glad because his tanned, untouched skin is perfection. I let my eyes roam freely, from his cut abdominals to that sexy V-shape and slight trail of dark hair leading to the waistband of his swimming trunks.

  I bite my lip as I continue my delicious visual journey down to his huge skater thighs and muscular calves before lifting my gaze back to his face.

  I wish I knew another language to tell him he’s beyond hot.

  “I believe you know English, Catwoman,” JP teases, his eyes sparkling mischievously at me. “If you care to share your thoughts.”

  Embarrassment fills me, as he obviously enjoyed watching me drool all over his sexy body.

  “Perhaps you can find a way to get my thoughts out of me later,” I flirt.

  Oh, this sexual chemistry between us is intense.

  “Perhaps,” he says slowly, picking up two huge towels off the end of the chaise. “Shall we get in the water?”

  I draw a breath of air. Hot sultry night. City view. Infinity pool. Incredibly gorgeous Swiss man, soaking wet.

  “Yes,” I say quickly.

  We head out to the pool, and I can’t wait to get in.

  JP drops the towels on a vacant chaise and takes my hand. He leads me down the steps into the pool, and the warm water laps around my legs.

  “I can’t get used to how warm this water is,” JP says. “It’s, like, thirty-two Celsius. In Switzerland, the water is tw
enty at this time of year.”

  I laugh. “Fahrenheit translation?”

  “Oh, sorry. It’s sixty-eight degrees.”

  We get to where we are waist deep, but JP’s hand is still wrapped around mine.

  “Sixty-eight?” I ask. “I could never swim in water that cold!”

  “What? It’s refreshing.”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “Affirmative, no.”

  JP draws me to him, his hands encircling my waist, and my pulse quickens the second I feel his hands on my bare skin.

  “What if I was with you?”

  “I might have to reevaluate my current stance.”

  Then I move out of his embrace and dive underwater, feeling the warm water surrounding me.

  I pop up, throwing my head back to keep my hair out of my face, and JP is staring at me.

  “What?” I ask. “I thought you wanted to go swimming.”

  “You got your hair wet.”

  I laugh. “Um, yes, it’s part of that whole swimming thing.”

  “No, a lot of girls say they’ll go swimming but that means standing by the deck with a drink.”

  I pretend to sigh in exasperation. “JP, we need to close the black book of girls of your past and burn it, because I’m not like them. I love the water. I don’t stand in it. I embrace it.”

  With that said, I take off underwater, racing toward the edge of the infinity pool.

  In an instant, I feel JP beside me, swimming fast and then passing me. I try to catch him, but he beats me to the wall in triumph.

  “Dammit,” I say. “I hate losing, even if it’s to you.”

  We take a moment to catch our breath. We are now at the infinity edge, gazing out at the city twinkling before us. I prop my elbows on the deck, and JP leans next to me, his hair wet and beads of water dripping off his chest.

  He’s so beautiful.

  “You’re a mermaid, aren’t you?” JP asks, staring at me and interrupting my thoughts.

  “I am,” I say. “I love the water. I might have a shirt in my tote bag that says ‘Mermaid Hair Don’t Care.’”

  JP grins. “I like your shirts.”

  “It’s one of my things.”

  Silence falls between us as the water laps around us.

  “Reese?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You’re right. You aren’t like the other girls in my black book.”

  Oh!

  JP reaches for me and draws me to him, and now I’m wrapped up in his muscular body, his wet skin against mine.

  “Do you know why I brought you here?”

  “Something to do with testing my feline vision?”

  A sexy smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. “Yes.”

  “So how are you testing it?”

  “I could ask you how far you can see up here,” JP says slowly.

  I smile up at him. “You could.”

  “But the real reason I asked you here,” JP says, turning serious, “is that I wanted to share this amazing view with only one person. And that’s you.”

  He slides his hands up to my face. I can’t breathe. I see his sweetness and sincerity as he peers into my eyes, and no man has ever touched my heart in the way JP is doing now.

  JP lowers his head, and I close my eyes, preparing for him to kiss me.

  His forehead brushes against mine. “Swim back with me to the other end of the pool, my mermaid,” he says huskily.

  My heart is racing as he dives under the water. I follow suit, and when I emerge from the water, I find JP waiting for me on the pool steps.

  He extends his hand to me, and I take it. Every part of me is alive in a way I’ve never known.

  JP leads me out of the water, and his pace is quicker than before. He grabs the towels, but instead of using them, he leads me back to the cabana.

  He drops the curtain so we have privacy. Then he grabs a towel and drapes it around my back, pulling me into his body. Heat sears through me. JP gently takes the towel and begins to dry my face, delicately moving the towel across my skin.

  Oh, my. He’s gentle and caring in his touch, and I feel utterly cherished by his attentiveness.

  JP takes the towel and moves it over my shoulders, continuing to dry my skin before draping it there.

  Physical need surges through me as I stare into his eyes. Urgent, desperate, uncontrollable need, to have JP kiss me.

  JP’s hands once again slide up to my face. “A first kiss,” he says, “should always be in private. This belongs to us.”

  And then JP lowers his mouth to mine.

  Chapter 14

  The second JP’s warm lips touch mine all my senses are ignited. He eases my mouth open, his tongue slowly exploring me, teasing me, tasting me, and sending white-hot heat through every inch of me.

  JP kisses me oh-so-slowly in the sexiest kiss I’ve ever known. He winds his hands through my hair, his tongue continuing to match mine. He briefly removes it to suck on my lower lip, and I gasp in pleasure from his unexpected move. Then he opens my mouth again, taking more from me this time.

  I’m on fire. His kisses are long and lingering and completely undoing me. He begins to tease me, his tongue taking and pulling back, making me crave more of him. I slide my hands up to his wet hair as my tongue matches his. Everything about this moment is sensual. I move my hands down his wet shoulders to his forearms, those massive forearms that are the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, and allow my hands to explore them as we continue to kiss.

  I’m hyper aware of so many things: from the beads of water clinging to his body, to the taste of his lips, to the sheer bliss from the way he’s discovering me with his mouth. I’m melting from the way his hands have moved from my hair down my back, holding me as he continues to discover me, his large hands encasing me as he does.

  I don’t want him to stop.

  “Reese,” he whispers against my lips. “I don’t want to stop this.”

  I tighten my grip on his sexy arms and murmur against his full lips, “Then don’t.”

  JP responds by kissing me harder. I kiss him back passionately, letting myself go, letting myself take the lead in the kiss, something I’ve never done before.

  I never wanted to.

  Until now.

  I take from him, kissing him and then breaking the kiss to trace his lips with my tongue, torturing him slowly. A gasp escapes his lips, and then I part his mouth, moving my tongue against his.

  JP leads me back to the chaise, his mouth moving hard and fast against mine as he lays me backward on it. His body is on top of mine, his arms tightening around me, as we continue to kiss. Our tongues are in sync. Our bodies are wet and wrapped together.

  JP slides one hand down my arm, to the curve of my waist, his fingertips now tracing along the strings of my bikini bottom. The sensation of his fingertips sweeping gently across my hips causes a moan of pleasure to escape my mouth. His body is rock hard against mine, and desire is coiling inside of me, growing more intense by the second as he hooks one finger underneath the bikini strap.

  If this kiss is upending me, I think, I can’t imagine what sex would be like.

  As if JP had that exact same thought, he abruptly breaks the kiss. He pushes himself up to look at me. His eyes are wide and startled. He’s trying to catch his breath, as am I.

  I didn’t expect our kiss to turn so heated, so intense, so quickly. It’s like he was made to kiss me, and me alone.

  “Reese,” he says softly, brushing my hair behind my ear, “I’m so sorry. Usually, I don’t kiss like that on the first date.”

  “I don’t either,” I say, gazing up at him. “I’ve never kissed a man like that on a first date. But this. You. Kissing you. I-I can’t
explain it. I didn’t want you to stop. It was the best first kiss ever. Ever. Sexy and amazing. You know how to kiss, and I mean really kiss. You’re the best kisser I’ve ever had. You made me want to kiss you that way back and I did an—”

  I realize I have said way too much and abruptly stop.

  “I’m rambling,” I say, flustered.

  A smile lights up the most handsome face I’ve ever seen.

  “You took the words out of my head,” JP says, brushing his fingertips sweetly against my cheekbone. “I intended to kiss you, that was never in doubt, but I didn’t kno—”

  He stops speaking.

  “What?” I whisper, cupping his face in my hand.

  His gaze never wavers from mine. “I didn’t know it would be the best kiss of my life.”

  Ooh!

  “But I wasn’t restrained like I wanted to be,” JP says, continuing to stroke my hair with his hand. “I’m sorry about that.”

  “Don’t be. That was amazing.”

  “I know, but tonight I should have been more in control.”

  My heart is swoony from his sweetness.

  “JP, I need you to listen to me because this is important.”

  JP stares down at me. “Okay.”

  “I’m good with your first kiss,” I reassure him. “More than good. It was perfect, and for the record, I kissed you back the same way.”

  “Have I told you I kind of like you?” JP whispers.

  Then he lowers his head and sweetly brushes his lips against my forehead.

  Mmm.

  He pushes himself back up to a sitting position, and I follow suit. JP reaches for a towel and gently drapes it around me, and I feel butterflies from the way he takes care of me.

  “So, you were feeling me, huh?” he asks.