His body was more than beautiful. She drank in the sight of it…male perfection, with wide muscled shoulders and chest narrowing down to lean hips. His abdomen was ridged and firm, and his legs were strong and dusted with dark hair. Even his arms were gorgeous…carved muscles, lean tendons, and traced with veins.
Her lips parted, her breath went shallow. “Wow,” she whispered, completely forgetting that she was lying naked in front of him.
The corners of his eyes crinkled up. “I could say the same.” His gaze moved over her.
Now her skin heated. She dragged her tongue across her bottom lip. “Thank you.”
“Hang on.” He moved over to the bedside table, opened a drawer, and pulled out something. When he tossed it onto the bed beside her, he once more asked with quiet gravity, “Okay?”
She eyed the condom, turned her gaze back to him, almost weeping with relief. “Yes. More than okay. And thank you.”
She pushed her heels into the mattress to propel herself higher on the bed as he came back down beside her, stretching out on his side. He sealed his mouth over hers, once again slipping an arm beneath her while his other hand caressed her…her breasts, her stomach, then between her legs, this time on bare skin. She jerked as though jolted with a surge of electricity.
As they kissed, his fingers stroked her, so gently, then probed deeper. “Wet,” he murmured. “Love how wet you are.”
“I’m dying for you.” She curled her fingers around his neck and brought his mouth back to hers for a long kiss as he slicked his fingers through her wet flesh. He pushed a long finger inside, and she clenched around it, gasping against his mouth. He thrust in and out a few times, making her ache for more, for deeper penetration…and then he curled his finger against the front wall of her vagina and struck super sensitive nerves. She gasped and tightened, lifting her hips. “Oh Jesus.”
“Good?”
“Yes. God yes.”
His thumb found her clit, and she jolted again, giving another wordless cry. That tight sensation spiraled higher. This need…this urgent, desperate need for more…it was so powerful it was making her lose her mind. She panted.
“Inside me,” she gasped. “Please.” She gripped his shoulder, trying to pull him toward her.
“Yeah.” He shoved down his briefs and kicked them off. He reached for the condom he’d tossed onto the bed, ripped it open, and efficiently rolled it on. She sank her teeth into her bottom lip, watching strong hands and wrists on his—oh dear God, so beautiful—cock. More hotness.
Her body pulsed with unfulfilled desire; his earlier strokes to her pussy had brought her so close to orgasm. She just needed him inside her…needed a little more stimulation to her clit…and she’d be there.
In a dream, she watched him move over her, now fully naked, gloved up, the lamplight highlighting all the planes and curves of his body. He set his hands on her inner thighs and pushed them wide, revealing her to him. She whimpered.
Again he studied her with such concentration, his eyes glowing with hunger. He made her feel so…worthy. Admirable. It was heady. Intoxicating.
“Pretty.” He bent his head and dragged his tongue over her sensitive flesh. “So pretty. So pink…and wet…” He licked again. Pleasure danced over every nerve ending, lighting up her body, tightening her insides.
She tipped her head back, hands going to her breasts. He plunged his fingers inside her and once again stroked that sensitive spot. Her body clenched and quivered. He lapped with his tongue, finding her clit. Her hips rolled upward, her entire body trembling.
“Please, please, I need you inside me.” She reached for him.
“Yeah. Wanna be inside you, baby.” He moved closer, on his knees, fisting his cock and stroking it. Finding her entrance, he paused, watching her. “Still okay?”
“Yes, God, yes, I’m begging you…fuck me, Nick.”
“Oh hell yeah.” And he penetrated her.
Fire burned from her entrance, heat flashing through her body from her core to her extremities…fingers, toes, lips. Burning rapture.
He pushed his fists into the mattress on either side of her and kissed her again, absorbing her cries as his thick flesh pierced her. His mouth moved on hers with hypnotic pressure, lips and tongue sliding. Her hands roamed over his shoulders, his arms, his neck, down to his sides. He was so big…so strong.
He set his forehead against hers as they moved together, their breath mingling, their sighs merging. He found her mouth again, and the kiss went on and on as he slowly began to move, in and out.
He lowered himself to his elbows, his body resting against hers, hot and heavy. His cock slid slickly into sensitive flesh. “You feel so good.”
His stubble rasped against her cheek, her jaw. She smiled, rubbing her hands up and down his ribs.
“So hot. So tight. Christ.”
He moved faster, plunging deeper, again and again. She was floating, beyond conscious thought, excitement curling low inside her in a hot coil. She hooked her wrists around his arms, their tongues licking together, then pulled her legs up, rubbing her heels over his tight ass. He lowered himself farther, his hands sliding into her hair, his weight pressing her into the mattress. Mindless, she tilted her pelvis up into him, seeking pressure where she needed it.
Their needy noises filled the air. He stroked her upper arm, gripped one breast, kissing her deeply. Oh God…so close…exquisite sensation exploded deep inside her, sparks shimmering in her vision and through her veins. She couldn’t stop the stream of soft cries that fell from her lips as he steadily and rapidly drove into her.
He growled, and his body tightened against her, going taut and still, his thick cock pulsing inside her. She squeezed her muscles, and he let out another low groan, burying his face in the side of her neck. She held on to his shoulders as their bodies trembled and throbbed together.
After what seemed like an hour or maybe a minute, he lifted his head. Their hands went to each other’s face as their mouths met and clung. “Jesus,” he murmured. “I think I really did go blind again.”
She smiled and gave his mouth another soft smooch. “Me too.”
Chapter 17
They both drifted drowsily for a while. Nick’s body felt so sated and relaxed, he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to move again. He’d happily stay in this bed with Jodie for the rest of his life. Too bad life didn’t work that way.
He stroked her hair, her face, her back in lazy movements, enjoying her soft skin and the feel of her curves pressed against him. When a little more consciousness returned, he asked, “Still doing okay?”
She nodded, rubbing herself against him. “Better than okay. But thank you for checking in. That’s…” She stopped. “That’s very thoughtful.”
Huh. He was just glad she was good, because if she was having regrets or was disappointed, he didn’t know exactly what he’d do. “Good.” He caressed her hip. “So, uh, how much time do we have?”
She lifted her head with a playful smile. “All night. Remember?”
“Yeah, but how many hours?”
“They’re bringing Zyana home at ten.”
“Excellent. We might even have time for a little sleep.”
She giggled. “Wow. You’re pretty confident about your stamina.”
“Hell yeah. I’m a hockey player.” He smiled.
“Right. Believe me, I’m impressed so far.”
“My hockey skills definitely transfer from the ice to the bedroom.”
Her smile widened. “Oh yeah?”
“Sure. I have great hands.”
“Mmm. I agree.”
“I’m good at finding the opening and getting it in.”
She collapsed against his chest in laughter. “Oh my God.”
He grinned. “Is it not true?”
“Yes. It’s true.”
<
br /> “And…I have a big stick.”
Her body shook harder. “Also true. Ah.” She lifted a hand to wipe moisture from one eye. “I thought you had a big stick when I first met you.”
“You did?”
“Yeah…up your ass. You were kind of a jerk.”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “Also true.”
“I can’t believe I’m in bed with you and you just made me come so hard I saw stars and now I’m in tears of laughter.” She shook her head, her hair sliding over his hand. “Not what I expected.”
“Well, another thing I can do is…score more than once a night.” He rolled her to her back and moved over her.
“That is a good thing.” Her eyes drifted closed as he kissed her and settled between her thighs.
* * *
—
Much later, after he’d, yes, scored again, Jodie’d announced she was hungry. He might have great stamina, but she needed sustenance for all this energetic sex. Fantastic sex. She’d smiled happily as they’d gone down to the kitchen for a late-night snack, which they’d taken back to bed. They’d now finished the hummus and pita chips and pretzels, and were under the covers snuggled together.
“Tell me more about your brother. About your childhood.”
He didn’t answer right away, and for a few seconds she wasn’t sure if he was going to. She felt so close to him in this moment, tangled together in his bed, bare skin to bare skin. They’d shared their bodies, and it felt right to her to share more. To share everything. Maybe he didn’t feel the same…
“I told you we grew up in a rough neighborhood.”
She nodded against his chest.
“Different apartments, all crappy. When I was about seven, we moved to a place that wasn’t that far from a hockey rink. Every Saturday, my dad would take us to the rink. We had to walk ’cause we didn’t have a car, and sometimes it was snowing and freezing cold, but I just wanted to get to the rink and play hockey. Aleks was only five, and he wanted to come too. We wore old equipment that was too big for us, but we didn’t care. We’d stay there all day, playing a league game, then hours of pickup and even pickup hockey in our track shoes out on the concrete area beyond the ice. My dad never had the money to pay for the league, but he’d sweet-talk them into letting us play, promising them he’d get them the money. He never did.”
“But they let you keep playing.”
“Yeah. Because we were good. Better than the other kids. Especially Aleks. I just worked hard, because I knew if I didn’t, they probably wouldn’t let us come back.”
“I think your talent probably had something to do with it too,” she said dryly.
“Maybe.” He paused. “One day, one of our teammate’s mothers started giving us rides to the rink. She saw how good we were. They let me move in with them during hockey season so I could play in a better league. They bought me new equipment and skates, and it was fucking awesome…but I felt guilty because Aleks wasn’t there. And I knew he felt left behind, which made me feel guilty. So I sent him all the stuff I grew out of. Then a coach from a local junior hockey franchise noticed me, and that changed my world again. He’d coached kids who made it to the NHL and he thought I had potential. We entered this tournament and if we won, I’d win new skates. So I played my goddamn heart out. That was when I realized hockey could be a new life for me, and for my family. Maybe I could help my mom and dad, and of course, Aleks. But when I left to go to college, I felt sick that I was leaving him behind for the opportunity, when he was the better player. It should have been him going.”
“But he was too young…wasn’t he?”
“Yeah. Still.” He let out another long exhalation. “It turned out to be hard for him too. We’d both dreamed of playing hockey in the NHL, together. We’d trained together, fought together, and he was left behind…again. I missed him too, but he got really down. Didn’t enjoy going to the rink the way he had when I was there. At one point, he quit playing hockey. He wasn’t doing anything, just hanging out with some bad kids and getting in trouble. One day, I came home and we got in a big fight. I told him he was throwing away his hockey talent. It was ugly, but after that, he went back to playing hockey. And he got drafted two years after me. It was our dream come true…both of us playing in the NHL together. Except, for Aleks it was turning into a nightmare because of the problems he was having. But…”
“But what?”
“I never got to help my parents the way I wanted to. They were killed in a drive-by shooting only a few months after Aleks got drafted.”
“That’s awful.” He’d mentioned that they’d died, but not how.
“It wasn’t exactly a surprise, in that neighborhood. I was so close to getting a contract with the Aces at that point, it was…well, it felt pretty cruel.”
“Yeah. That is cruel.”
“I felt like I let them down by not getting them out of that neighborhood fast enough.”
“You couldn’t have done that.” She stroked his shoulder. “It was just shitty timing, Nick.”
“I guess. But then I let down Aleks even worse.”
“You can’t take responsibility for what happened.” She’d told him that before, when he’d first told her about Aleks.
“Sure I can.” She felt his smile, and his hand stroked through her hair. “No, I know that. And I get it. I’ve learned a lot about mental illness, and I know depression is a biochemical thing. But the concussions were almost certainly a factor. After he died, I wanted something positive to come out of what happened with Aleks so I started volunteering with CMHA. There’s been research done that shows post-concussion syndrome often leads to mental health problems like depression and anxiety. And it did for Aleks. He’d had a lot of concussions, but that last one was so hard for him. Depression can be the result of a combination of different factors, biological and physiological ones, like concussions. Now I’m older, I realize my mom probably had depression too, and that was why she could never hold down a job. We just knew she was sick a lot. So not only did Aleks likely inherit some kind of genetic predisposition to it, the hits to the head probably didn’t help either.”
Her heart ached for what he and his family had been through. For the waste of a young, promising life because of a cruel disease. But she also felt a nudge of worry at his comments about head injuries because of the sport Aleks played.
Which Nick also played.
Was he risking his own health and life to play hockey?
Oh damn. They’d had sex this one night…well, okay, there’d been those other times too…and she was starting to care for him. She had to be careful. She wasn’t about to get all emotional and start asking him questions about where this was going or how he felt. Too soon. Way too soon. In fact, she wasn’t sure if Nick was the type of guy who’d ever be up for that kind of discussion. He’d been clear that he wasn’t looking for any kind of relationship. Except sexual.
“You asleep?” He tucked some hair behind her ear with gentle fingers.
She realized she’d been quiet for several moments. “No.”
“I don’t know anything about your family.”
She gave a short sigh. “That’s because I don’t have any.”
“Nobody?”
“Well, Zyana. But growing up—no. I never knew my dad. And my mom died when I was twelve. I got shipped from one foster home to another. Never really landed in one place for long. The people were all nice, but there was always some reason I couldn’t stay.”
“That sucks.”
“It was hard,” she admitted. “I even had to change schools and never got the chance to make a lot of friends. But that meant I studied a lot, so I ended up getting into a good college. And that changed my life.”
“You never knew your dad?”
“Right.”
“I guess that’s why you weren’t
afraid to bring up a daughter on your own.”
“I did think about that. I’m still not sure if it’s completely fair to her, but I knew I had lots of love to give her.”
“That’s why you want a family of your own.”
“Yeah.” She sighed again. “It’s nice having someone who loves me. And someone I can love too.”
Now it was his turn to fall silent.
* * *
—
Nick woke when the bedroom brightened with morning sun.
It was unfamiliar to have a warm, soft woman in his bed. Unfamiliar but nice.
They’d never even discussed whether she’d stay all night. They’d worn themselves out with sex and fallen asleep in each other’s arms and that was it. He’d never been that comfortable with someone…so much on the same wavelength that it had been understood what would happen. It was weird…but also nice. None of the awkwardness of wanting to get rid of someone, but not wanting to be rude. None of the hesitancy to invite her to stay in case she really wanted to bolt.
He studied Jodie as she slept, her face half buried in the pillow. Her hair lay on her smooth shoulders, one slender arm bent up under the pillow. He noted the tiny mole on her upper back and the faint mark on her nose from where her glasses sat.
It’s nice having someone who loves me. And someone I can love too.
She just wanted to share all that love inside her…and be loved. His heart jumped up into the back of his throat and lodged there as he watched her sleep. She was amazing. Her long eyelashes fluttered, and her eyes slowly opened. She blinked, then focused on him.
Busted staring at her while she slept. Was that creepy?
She smiled. “Hey.”
He cleared his too-tight throat. “Hey.” Now he could touch her. He stroked her shoulder and back, enjoying warm, soft skin.
“What time is it?”
“Not sure.” He rolled away from her and peered at the clock. “Ten after eight.”
“Mmmm.” She flipped onto her back and stretched, lifting her arms above her head. “So nice to sleep in.”
Big Stick: An Aces Hockey Novel Page 17
