Love and Other Games

by Ana Blaze, Melinda Dozier, Aria Kane, Kara Leigh Miller

  His gaze dropped to her breasts. He really wasn’t big on subtlety.

  She giggled as she found her balance and rested her hands on his chest. Oh yeah. This could work. She slid her palms up to his shoulders, her nipples grazing his hard chest as she leaned down to kiss him again. “Where are your condoms?”

  Erik’s eyes darkened and he nodded before patting around the nightstand and grabbing a brown paper lunch bag. Amy took it from him, opened it and gasped. It was full. There had to be fifty condoms. Probably more. Amy had never even come close to winning one of those guess the number gumdrops in the jar contests. “Holy—this is a lot of—”

  His eyes widened. “They were giving them out. I didn’t … I never expected to use them all—or any maybe. I—”

  She stopped him with a hard kiss. “I get it.”

  His right eyebrow arched. “You’re not angry.”

  “Because you have condoms? No.” She looked into the bag again. “Are they all the same? Some of the packages are different colors. Is there a better color and a worse color? Should I be worried about size?” He was pretty big.

  “Please, Amy.”

  She grinned. “What?”

  “Pick one.” His voice was strained.

  She grabbed one in a red, white and blue wrapper like she remembered from the other night, dropped the bag onto the floor and held it up. “How do you feel about this one?” Funny that the colors were patriotic for them both.

  “Good.” He snatched it from her fingertips, tore open the foil with his teeth and grasped the base of his erection as he slid it on.

  Amy pouted. “I was going to do that.”

  “You were going to kill me.” He caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger and pulled her face close to his. “Ride me. Now.” He exhaled and his voice got rough. “Hard.”

  She swayed. Fuck. Arousal flared hot and wet between her thighs. “Yes.”

  He gripped her hips tight, nearly hard enough to bruise, guiding her into place. Exhaling slowly, Amy lowered herself inch by inch until their bodies met. Perfect. Dear god, that’s perfect.

  His head fell back, eyes squeezed shut, mouth open but silent. He was lovely, fiercely sexy with all his muscles tensed.

  She bent to place a feather-soft kiss on his throat and his arm wrapped around her back crushing her against him. “Love your breasts … on me.”

  It was bliss being pressed so snugly from head to toe, his erection buried deep within her body, but it made following his oh-so-temping directive difficult. Amy gave his shoulder a quick nip and squirmed out of his hold.

  Erik’s groan sent shivers along her spin as she lifted herself up. She sank back down and his eyes shot open. His gaze flicked up to meet hers for the briefest of moments then slipped lower, settling on the place their bodies joined. “Again,” he said, watching.

  Trembling under the heat of his gaze, from the need in his eyes. Amy complied. Up. Slow. Down. Slower.

  His jaw clenched. He swallowed. “Again.” His fingertips dug into the skin on her hips, but he didn’t try to control her movements with his hands. He didn’t need to. Amy didn’t even consider rejecting his request.

  Up slowly. Down even slower.

  He still watched. His eyes hungry even as she gave him exactly what he asked for. “Again.”

  Amy pinched his nipple lightly and bent to nibble on the other. Like a switch flipped, Erik rolled them both—pressing her back to the mattress and thrusting as deeply as he could. His hands, his mouth were everywhere. Touching. Squeezing. Licking. A ramble of groans and Norwegian passed over his lips as his movements quickened.

  Amy’s back arched, her body fighting to meet him halfway. In seconds she was panting, grasping at his back as need grew and filled her belly. “More.” It barely sounded like her voice, but she’d said it. She wanted everything he could give, every ounce of his passion, every drop of pleasure he could coax from her body. She wanted a hundred nights to try a hundred positions. If this night was what she got, then she was going to make the best of it. She threaded her fingers into his hair and tugged his face toward hers. “I want more.”

  He blinked twice and still looked dazed as he nodded. His large, strong hands slid under her back and down to cup her ass. Lifting her hips from the bed, he remained buried to the hilt even as he rose to kneel between her thighs.

  A few jerks of his hips had her coming loose. But he wasn’t near done. He filled her again and again, plunging deep as she writhed and cried out, release tearing through her. Her hands dropped to her sides, too weak to clutch at him, and still he took her.

  “Damn. I—oh my—god.”

  “Your best?” His expression was fierce, beyond determined.

  She exhaled a shaky breath. Could he be serious? Was there really any doubt? Amy raised her hand toward him. He had to lower his head so she could stroke his cheek. “Yes.”

  “Yes.” He grinned and turned to kiss her palm before placing it over his heart. “I told you, my lykkeamulett.”

  “What does that—”

  He surged forward, matching his thrusts to the racing of his heartbeat, climbing hard and fast, narrow hips rocketing, until he finally hit the peak. He growled. He actually growled.

  Erik collapsed beside her, panting. “Put—put your head here.” He tapped his chest.

  Cuddling closer, Amy buried her face into the crook of his neck and kissed his throat, tasting the salt of the sweat that made his skin glisten. “I think you’re amazing,” she whispered.

  Erik cupped the back of her head and whispered back. “You … are amazing. My beautiful girl.”

  Could she be his? She could fall for him. Amy didn’t doubt that; she was already halfway there. But could she actually keep him?

  Chapter Eleven

  Amy looked like an angel, still sleeping, her cheek pillowed by his body. It was the same brightness of spirit that had pulled him to her in the first place. Erik ran his hand over her hair and sighed. He’d have to wake her soon, they both had busy schedules for the day, but he could enjoy this for another moment. He pressed his lips to the top of her head and she stirred. The hand that had been resting on his chest slid lower and his cock stirred. Insatiable beast. He bit back a chuckle. There were serious things to discuss this morning. Tricky things.

  He’d spoken to Jon, and they were in agreement. It was time to bring in a business manager. Amy didn’t have a ton of practical experience, but Jon said she’d attended an impressive school and Erik was certain she could do anything she set her mind to. Would she even consider it though, that was the question. Would she consider moving away from her family to give him a shot? To give them a shot? Could Amy ever take a leap like that?

  Would she even want to?

  “God morgen,” he whispered, her hair tickling his nose.

  She giggled and stretched her sexy body against his. “Better.”

  “What?”

  “I’m just glad you didn’t disappear this morning.” She propped herself up on her elbows and smiled at him.

  “I am too, lykkeamulett.”

  Her forehead wrinkled. “Like-a? You’ve called me that before. What does that mean?”

  He exhaled. Here it goes. She was going to think he was as nuts as his grandfather. “It’s like … lucky charm.”

  She looked confused but she giggled. “You call me lucky charm? That’s—why?”

  He shrugged. “It’s what you are. To me. You’re my lykkeamulett. I’m going to win a gold medal in two days. I am. I know it”

  “Cocky, aren’t you? I still don’t see what that has to do with me.”

  “You bring me luck. Before you it was gone.” He rubbed her cheek. “I had to have you. With you I can win.”

  “Had to … ” Her eyes widened and she sat up, tugging the thin white sheet up to cover her lovely breasts. Here it was. She thought he was a superstitious fool, just like he’d always thought his grandfather was. He knew it sounded crazy but something had drawn them together
that night. “That’s why you came looking for me? Because you thought—that’s why you slept with me?” She paled. “Oh my god. You really—I don’t—”

  “It’s not that way. I was—I’m skiing like before my fall, because of you. It has to be you. You were meant for me.”

  Amy climbed out of bed and gathered her clothes. “Because you deserve to win? Because you’re more special than everyone else?” She was near tears. He was not handling this well, but he wasn’t sure what he’d said wrong.

  Erik stood and walked toward her. “Amy, no. You don’t understand.”

  Amy held her hand up, palm out. “Don’t,” she said in a quiet voice. “Don’t touch me. You’ve gotten what you wanted, right? You don’t need to touch me anymore.”

  “I like touching you.” Faen. He more than liked touching her. He craved her.

  For some reason, that only made her more upset. She turned away, dressing in quick, jerky motions.

  He moved closer, lifted his hands over her shoulders, but didn’t touch. “Please. Come sit with me. I need to make you understand.”

  “No. I get it. People do worse things to win. Drugging. Bribing.” She grabbed her coat, stepped into her boots and looked up at him.

  The hurt on her face hit him like a knife in the stomach. He’d worried that she’d laugh, but never that she’d cry. “Yes. But—”

  “Well, I hope you do win. You definitely put in the work.” Amy walked out, leaving him standing there, naked and bewildered.

  Erik cursed and seriously considered chasing after her, clothes or no. What the hell had just happened? He hadn’t exactly expected her to believe it herself. He hoped maybe, but he knew how it sounded. Still, he’d thought she might be flattered. At worst, he’d expected a little mocking. She’d look at him the way everyone looked at his grandfather when he started talking about the gnomes in the garden or the brownies that helped keep house. She’d roll her eyes and he’d feel foolish.

  But this? How could she have misunderstood him so badly?

  Chapter Twelve

  “Oh, he has got to be kidding.” Amy was fuming.

  Robin sighed and dropped onto the couch beside her. “I assume the he in question is the Viking.”

  Amy thrust the envelope in her hands toward her friend. “It’s a ticket. Ski jumping tomorrow.”

  “Oh the nerve of that man.” Robin shrugged. “Sorry. I can’t work up a good mad until you tell me what he did. ‘Cause this … ” She held up the envelope. “This is just him asking you to come see him compete … at the Olympics. Which is pretty much awesome.”

  “She hasn’t told you either?” Lexi settled gracefully on the coffee table in front of them, her back as straight as the most well-trained ballerina. “Okay. Spill. You’ve had two days of moping. What happened? Things were going so well.”

  Amy really didn’t want to share her foolishness. “Yeah, I thought so too.”

  “But then,” Robin prompted.

  “But then I found out that he only slept with me because he thought it was lucky.”

  “Huh?”

  “He kept calling me something in Norwegian. I thought it was something … I don’t know, sexy. So I asked him what it meant and he told me. Lucky charm. He told me I was his lucky charm.”

  “Aww.” Lexi placed a hand over her heart. Her brow furrowed like she was looking at a puppy wearing a sombrero. “That’s adorable.”

  “No. He slept with me because he thought it would better his chances of medaling. That’s … it’s gross.”

  Lexi’s eyes narrowed. “He said that? That he only slept with you to get a medal?”

  “He said he had to have me. That I would make him win.”

  Lexi sighed. “Robin?”

  “Yeah. That doesn’t sound bad to me.”

  “But—”

  Robin didn’t wait. “When did he decide you were a lucky charm? Why did he pick you?”

  “I don’t know. At the party I guess.”

  “Or he saw you at the party and thought you were hot?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Yes it does.” Robin shook her head. “How can you not see this? It’s all in his head. The man likes you. He liked you so much that first night that the next morning he went to qualifications and forgot that he isn’t a gold medal contender anymore.”

  Lexi nodded. “See. He was just happy. You made him happy so he says you’re his lucky charm. It’s romantic … in a dumb jock kind of way.”

  “He’s a not a dumb—” She saw Lexi’s triumphant grin and stopped. “He wouldn’t have come looking for me if he didn’t think sleeping with me gave him luck.”

  “And again I ask if he said that.”

  “No. Not exactly, but—”

  Robin held up her finger. “He put his number in your phone, Amy. Before he went to qualifications, before he started skiing better, he added himself to your phone. He already wanted to see you again.”

  He had. He’d actually added it as “CALL ERIK!” all caps and an exclamation point. But still …

  “And this.” Robin held up the ticket. “This is hard to get, and it has nothing to do with sex. So he thinks you’re a lucky charm. So what? I dated a hockey player who had a pair of lucky boxers. He wore them for every game. There was no elastic left in the waistband, and there was a hole big enough to put your hand through, and he kept wearing them. It’s just part of the game. Athletes are superstitious. You know that.”

  Lexi wrinkled her nose at Robin’s old underwear anecdote. “Eww.”

  “You think I’m overreacting.”

  Robin nodded. “Big time.”

  “Seriously, overreacting.”

  “Half the Olympic Village is out searching for that damn torch every night. This is just his way of explaining.”

  “Oh.” She was reeling. She wanted to believe them, but things that seemed too good to be true usually were. Still, he didn’t need to send her a ticket. They were right; if he’d only been after sex, than it would make no sense to bother. Of course he could think her presence was lucky somehow, but that didn’t really feel dirty. That felt—sweet. Shit. Was he really just being sweet? A wave of nausea hit her hard. She’d blown it. She’d had the hottest, sweetest man ever, and she had totally overreacted and blown it.

  “Call him. Tell him you’ll be there.” Robin placed the ticket on Amy’s lap.

  “I don’t know, I—” She picked it up and the flutters of hope in her stomach died. She gave Lexi a sad smile. “I can’t. I’d miss your program.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Amy ignored Robin and Lexi’s advice and didn’t tell Erik she was attending his event. If nothing else, he deserved an in-person conversation. She huddled with the crowd and watched with increasing terror as athlete after athlete flew down the hill. It had taken a year for her to stop wincing each time Lexi included a triple-toe loop in her program. This. This was … insane. It looked dangerous on television, but in person the sheer vastness—the height of the drop—was shocking. He could die. He nearly had once before. Amy had found the video. She shouldn’t have watched.

  There’d been two falls already. Neither were as bad as Erik’s had been, but each one had ratcheted her nerves up. Maybe she should have called him and apologized. If Robin was right, if it was all in his head, then telling him might make a difference.

  But she’d wavered. Right up until the moment she’d shown her ticket at the entrance, Amy had debated this decision. She was missing Lexi’s short program. It was the first competition she’d missed in years, maybe ever, and it was the Olympics. She wouldn’t have even considered missing it, but her sister had insisted. She’d even threatened to take away Amy’s ticket to the skating arena, though nobody really thought she’d follow through. Lexi Peirce was a romantic. It was a surprise, a softness that Amy had never really associated with her sister.

  In the end she’d had to admit that she wanted to be here, to see Erik, more than she wanted to be anywhere else.
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br />   She stopped breathing when they announced his name. Even her Viking looked small at the top of the large hill. He does this all the time. He’s a champion. It didn’t matter. She gripped the fence in front of her, made a wish, and watched.

  He soared. It was beautiful—terrifying—but beautiful. Erik landed smoothly and Amy laughed, her knees weak with relief, as the crowd cheered. It was good. Not the best yet, but close. Very close. Erik Andresen was definitely in the running. All around her people were talking about his fall four years ago and his remarkable comeback. The crowd was with him. His was a good story and everybody liked rooting for an underdog. They didn’t even know him, but they loved him.

  He was in fourth place after the first jump, behind the leader by a fraction of a meter. The top five were all remarkably close. He had one jump left. The two scores would be combined and then they’d know.

  It hit her then: Erik could do this. He could totally walk away with the gold. A cheer bubbled up, and Amy screamed his name. He couldn’t hear her, of course, but she yelled all the same.

  A woman standing behind her tapped Amy’s shoulder and handed her a small Norwegian flag. “Andresen,” she said smiling and pointing at the flag.

  Amy nodded. “Andresen.” She laughed and, when the impulse hit, she gave the woman a quick hug. “Andresen!” She waved the flag over her head. It was too soon to talk about love. She knew that, but she could put aside reason. For this moment, she could just give in and feel and, if she could bring him luck, she would. She waved the flag and tried with all her heart to be a lucky charm.

  ***

  Bronze.

  Amy watched the medal ceremony with a knot in her stomach. He’d come so close. She tried to imagine how he must be feeling and couldn’t get past the lump in her throat.

  It wasn’t easy getting close afterward. If Tommy hadn’t spotted her and helped her through the crowd, she wouldn’t have found him. But she did.

  Erik starred at her for a moment before speaking. “You came.” He brushed a hand over his messy hair.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t lucky. I tried. I swear I tried.” Her breath hitched.