The Final Move

by Victoria Denault

  Eventually that anger turns to defeat. It’s over. She doesn’t want me. I pushed her too far and it’s done. I can’t be mad at her. I mean, I am angry at her, but I shouldn’t be. She doesn’t have to love me just because I love her. I just…God, I wanted her to so badly.

  And at almost four in the morning the sadness and self-pity hit. What the hell is wrong with me that I can’t get a woman to fall in love with me and stay in love with me? And Callie…I had no idea how much she would mean to me. Yeah, there is no denying she’s gorgeous and I’ve always found her attractive, but I never thought she would be what I wanted in a life partner. She’s bold and assertive and sometimes downright blunt and abrasive. I always wanted a demure, sweet, loving woman. But now…the thought of losing her…it’s killing me. Callie is blunt but that means there’s no mind games and her abrasiveness only comes out when she’s protecting someone. She may not be demure but she’s sweet—watching her with Conner is proof of that. And she’s incredibly loving in her own way—she may not come out and say she loves you, but she takes care of you, which is proof enough. And in bed…she’s so sexual and not at all shy. When I was younger, it was a little intimidating, but now…it’s the hottest thing I have ever experienced in my life. I could honestly see a future with her. If only she wanted one with me.

  My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of a car engine coming down the street. I strain to hear it and fight not to get my hopes up. It’s Brooklyn. There’s traffic all day and all night, but because it’s a little less bustling than Manhattan, it does tend to quiet down at this hour. Still, that doesn’t mean it’s Callie.

  The engine noise gets louder and then slows and idles nearby. It sounds like it’s right outside my house. My heart is jackhammering in my bare chest. I stupidly consider crossing my fingers. I’m a fucking idiot.

  I wait and…Nothing. No footsteps. No front door. Nothing.

  After about five minutes, I hear the front door open. I have to stifle the impulse to yell YES at the top of my lungs. After all, she could have already been with Avery tonight. It’s almost four in the morning. Maybe she’s just coming to get her stuff.

  I hadn’t bothered to close my bedroom door when I got home. There was no need. I was sure she was coming to join me. At least I figured if I did that, it would make me feel more sure and calm my nerves.

  A second later I see her as she walks right past her own bedroom door and right to mine. She leans on the doorframe and her eyes find mine. In the dim light from the lamp beside my bed I can see she may have been crying.

  “Where have you been?”

  “Walking around, trying to find a way to do this without dying of fear.”

  She wasn’t with Avery. She didn’t pick him. She came to me. She’s picking me. Us. She wants us.

  “Callie…” I whisper her name and smile softly as my emotions do a complete one-eighty. “Come here.”

  She obeys my command and walks into the room, stopping at the side of my bed.

  “Get undressed and come to bed,” I whisper to her.

  Again, she does what I tell her. It’s a beautiful sight, watching her peel away her shirt and her jeans and then her bra and finally her underwear. She’s so fucking beautiful and sexy even now when she’s so vulnerable. Especially now.

  I slide over to the other side of the bed and pull the covers back, not at all embarrassed that she can see me naked now too. She crawls in and lies on her side, facing away from me. I inch closer to her until I’m pressed right up against her back; my thighs curve against hers and my groin is flush with her perfect, perky ass.

  After a minute I gently push her hair up on the pillow and kiss the back of her neck. For the first time I notice a neat, tiny black-inked Asian symbol tattooed there. I never saw it before and I wonder when she got it.

  She sighs and I finally feel her body relax. Her left hand moves to rest on top of the one I have draped over her midriff. I only let myself sleep when I’m sure she’s asleep and won’t disappear on me.

  Hours later…I don’t know how many…I wake up again. My arm is still around her middle, fingers dangling below her belly button, skimming the top of the tiny, narrow patch of hair that leads between her legs. I can’t see her face but I think she’s awake too. That hunch is confirmed when she gently pushes her perfect ass back into my growing erection.

  I brush my lips against her neck, over the dark ink, and whisper sleepily, “What does the tattoo mean?”

  “Family,” she whispers back and curls her fingers around my hand at her waist and guides it lower.

  I take the hint and slide my fingers between her legs. She’s wet. I slip a finger into her pussy and she pushes down, tilting her ass back into my cock again. She makes a little circular motion with her hips, causing my palm to rub up against her clit and her ass grind into my erection again. We both let out soft moans.

  “I will never get sick of this,” I find myself confessing.

  I push myself into her and slip a second finger inside her. I move my lips over her skin, trailing kisses across her neck and shoulder. She reaches back, putting a hand on my hip and grinding against me harder than before. I pull my fingers from inside her and grip her toned thigh, pulling it up and spreading her legs. This time when she pushes back against my cock it slips past her ass, toward her core and slides over her opening. Then she reaches down between her legs and grabs it, rubbing it and holding it against her wet opening. I clench and fight the urge to push inside of her. I want to feel more than just a little of her wetness on my tip. I want to be surrounded by it.

  “I want to be inside you so badly, Callie,” I murmur as my tip slips ever so slightly into her again.

  “Condom,” she commands, almost regretfully.

  “Right. Drawer.”

  She reaches out, opens the drawer to the nightstand and digs into the open box, pulling out a foil packet. I take it from her and quickly roll it on. A second later I gently tug on her shoulder, trying to turn her around so she’s facing me, but she resists.

  “I want to see you,” I tell her, but she ignores me and wraps her hand around my now-shielded cock, repositioning it at her entrance.

  I don’t know what her defiance is about, but I’m too overcome with lust to really push this right now. I’ll take her any way I can have her. If she wants it from behind, so be it.

  “Please just fuck me, Devin,” she whispers, her tone dripping with need. How can I deny that? I push forward and my dick slips inside her. I groan as her body slowly makes room for me from this new angle. Once I’m completely inside her I start to move. It’s a bit awkward but that just makes it impossible to go fast, and I’m okay with that.

  I lift up on one elbow, place my other hand on her hip and rhythmically slip in and out of her warm, tight, soaking-wet pussy. The measured pace makes it so I can feel everything—every muscle she tightens, every shift of her pelvis. Everything.

  I think this is the quickest I’m going to come since I was sixteen.

  I move my hand from her hip to her clit and press down on it, rubbing it with my middle finger until she shudders.

  “Yeah, just like that Devin,” she praises and shudders. “Devin…Devin…”

  “I’m going to come, Callie. I can’t stop.” I push into her—deep and hard—and groan as I come.

  I collapse, my body pushing her over onto her stomach and I pump into her on top of her, my body flush with hers, a couple more times riding out my orgasm as hers erupts too. She comes on my hand, the only thing wedged between her and the mattress.

  “The monkey sex better not stop just because we’re…a couple,” she cautions into the pillow.

  “Monkey sex?” I repeat, confused. “Why do you always call sex monkey sex?”

  She giggles. “Not all sex, just Garrison sex. Well, and Luc too. You boys are wild sex machines. Anywhere, any time, any way. It’s epic.”

  “Oh, really?” I gently slide out of her and carefully dispose of the condom in the wasteba
sket next to the bed.

  “Yep. Caplan consensus,” she replies sleepily.

  I touch her shoulder and gently roll her over and into my side. She’s tense for a second but relaxes into me, her head nuzzled just above my shoulder on the pillow and her hand splayed across my bare chest.

  “Well, then, you would have been crazy to walk away from the chance to have unlimited monkey sex,” I joke lightly.

  “Yeah, that’s totally why I relented,” she kids back. “The monkey sex.”

  I kiss the top of her head. “Whatever it takes, Callie. Whatever it takes.”

  We’re silent for a while, both dozing off and almost drifting back to sleep as the morning light starts to filter through the windows.

  “If you hurt me, I swear to God I will kill you with my bare hands,” she warns in a tiny, vulnerable whisper.

  “Fair enough,” I whisper back and hold her tighter.

  I want to tell her it’s impossible to hurt her because I love her too much. But tonight…well, her being here, giving in to a relationship with me—that was victory enough. I don’t want to ruin it by scaring her with the L word. So I keep silent and hold her close and fall back asleep.

  Chapter 48

  Devin

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  Ding-dong!

  I’m so lost in sleep I forget where I am. Who the hell in Brooklyn would be waking us up so early? Oh wait…We flew into Silver Bay last night for a quick Christmas trip. Callie groans beside me, rolls over and puts her pillow over her head. I snuggle deeper under the thick down duvet and closer to her warm naked body.

  Bang! Bang!

  Ding-dong!

  “Fuck!” I groan.

  “Do you own a shotgun?” Callie mutters sleepily from under her pillow. “Because we should invest in one. People like whoever is at our front door need to be shot.”

  I grin at the fact that she just said “our” front door. In the last two weeks she’s been using the words “our place” a lot when referring to the Brooklyn rental and it makes me fucking blissful. It’s even more appealing to hear her say it about my house in Silver Bay. I was worried that because this is a house I used to share with Ashleigh, unlike the Brooklyn place. Callie could feel uncomfortable but she seems to be fine with it. I take it as a huge sign she’s really getting comfortable with the whole relationship. It’s amazing and it makes me feel that way too.

  “Devin! Get up, asshole!”

  I recognize the voice instantly. Callie must too because she groans again and says, “The Winterhawks have a lot of really good players. They wouldn’t even miss Big Bird if we shot him.”

  I grudgingly roll out of bed and look around for something I can put on. I can’t exactly open the front door buck naked with a semi-hard cock. I find my boxer briefs and jeans from the night before and throw them on.

  Callie doesn’t move. I walk down the hall and down the stairs to the front door. When I swing it open, I see Jordan but also Jessie, Cole, Leah, Luc, Rosie and my parents on my front stoop.

  “About time,” Cole barks, but he’s smiling as he pushes past me into my house.

  “Welcome home!” Rosie says and kisses my cheek as she pushes past me, her arms carrying two bags of what looks like takeout from Rosa Linda’s, a local restaurant we like to go to for breakfast.

  “Merry Christmas!” Leah almost sings as she passes by me after Rose, kissing the same cheek.

  Jordan gives me a shove and raises one blond eyebrow suggestively. “Late night?”

  I glance at my dad and mom, who are right behind him, and blush my answer. My mom pretends not to notice and my dad chuckles but says nothing as they both walk into the house.

  Jessie rocks up on her tiptoes and kisses my cheek. “Let me guess. Callie is still in bed?”

  I nod. She laughs. “That girl will sleep for a week straight if you let her.”

  “I don’t let her sleep much, trust me,” I say quietly so only she and Jordan hear.

  Jordan slaps my shoulder. “Attaboy!”

  Jessie just shakes her head and laughs. “I’m going to go wake her up.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Rose pipes up. “She usually doesn’t throw stuff if there’s two of us.”

  The two disappear up the stairs. I pad barefoot into the kitchen where everyone has congregated. Leah is pulling takeout containers of pancakes, fruit salad, breakfast burritos and home fries out of the bags Rose was carrying and my dad is making coffee.

  “I’m so glad you’re all here for the second Christmas in a row! I feel spoiled!” my mom gushes and she cups my face in her hands and kisses my cheek. It’s been four weeks since I last saw my parents in Brooklyn, but my mom always acts like it’s been years. “You look good, Devin. Really good.”

  I smile at her. “I am good. I’m great. I’m…just really content, you know?”

  For a second I think I see her bottom lip quiver but she pulls it into her mouth and nods. “It really shows.”

  “You look like you gained weight,” Jordan observes with a smirk. “You better watch it. A fat hockey player is a bad hockey player.”

  I flip him the finger. “I’m not fat, jackass.”

  “Language!” my dad warns.

  “Callie is just a great cook. But it’s healthy,” I explain and rub my hands over my bare, muscular chest and stomach. “The trainers say I’ve actually improved my muscle mass. So up yours, Big Bird.”

  Cole and Luc chuckle at Jordan’s expense.

  “She really is rubbing off on you. Fantastic,” Jordan replies dryly.

  My mom puts a hand over my arm and I glance at her. She looks worried about something.

  “Ashleigh has brought Conner by the house a few times since she got here for the holidays,” she says carefully, her blue eyes clouded with concern.

  My heart almost stops. “Is he okay? Is something wrong?”

  “Oh, no, honey, he’s great!” she assures me with a smile. “Your dad’s been taking him out on the rink to skate.”

  “He’s going to be faster than all of you lugs,” my dad pipes up with a proud grin as he starts handing out mugs of coffee.

  “Ashleigh and I have been talking,” my mom continues in a lower voice meant only for me. “You know…while Dad and Conner skate.”

  She just stares at me for a long minute like she’s trying to find something in my face—in my expression. I don’t know what she wants, but I’m fairly certain I look guardedly indifferent.

  “She’s having a hard time, son,” my mom finally confesses.

  I stare at her for a long moment.

  “I’m going to go find a shirt to put on,” I say simply and walk out of the room.

  I stand in the hall and try to not get angry with my mom. But I can’t help but be upset and confused. My mother loves Callie. She loves Callie and me together. She told me that point-blank just a few weeks ago when I told her we’d decided to date. A few days alone with Ashleigh and all of a sudden she wants me to what? Take on responsibility for Ashleigh screwing up her own life? That’s not my problem—and my mother shouldn’t think it should be my problem.

  As I start up the stairs, Callie, Jessie and Rose are coming bounding down them. I catch Callie’s eye. She looks slightly sleepy but beautiful and happy. She loves being with her sisters even more than I love being with my brothers. I smile lovingly at her.

  We meet on the landing halfway up, where the stairs change direction. She holds up a pale gray long-sleeved T-shirt. “Looking for this?”

  I wrap an arm around her waist and pull her to me and kiss her. She tastes like toothpaste. “I was actually looking for you. Morning, baby.”

  “Morning, baby,” she repeats back with a beautiful smile as she kisses me again.

  When we pull apart, I see tears in Jessie’s eyes and a big smile spread across her face. She quickly looks away and starts past us on the stairs. Rose follows.

  “Get dressed, Devin, or Callie might jump you in the middle of brunch and ruin it for
all of us,” Rosie kids and reaches back to grab Callie’s arm, pulling her down the rest of the stairs and completely ruining my idea of sneaking back upstairs with her for a quickie.

  I snag the shirt from Callie and pull it over my head, walking back downstairs after the girls. As soon as I hit the landing, the doorbell rings again. I furrow my brow. Everyone is here. I have no idea who it could be. I glance into the kitchen as Callie is hugging my mom and then my dad, and then reach for the door handle and swing it open.

  Ashleigh and Conner are standing there bundled up in their winter coats. As soon as I see Conner, my eyes light up and so do his. He raises his little arms and yells, “Daddy!”

  I pick him up and hug him. His red winter coat is so puffy that it feels like hugging a stuffed animal. He gives me a quick peck on the lips and wiggles in my arms. My heart swells and I squeeze him. Past my shoulder he glimpses everyone in the kitchen. “Unkie Jordy! Unkie Lu! Unkie Cole!”

  His excited little voice gets everyone’s attention and my family starts spilling into the hall. I put my son down and he runs over and Jordan grabs him and throws him in the air before hugging him.

  I glance at Callie as she wanders into the hall with everyone else. Her big brown eyes look apprehensive. I turn back to Ashleigh, who is still standing awkwardly on the front stoop.

  “He knew you were coming home today and I just couldn’t keep him away any longer,” Ashleigh explains with a sheepish grin. “Sorry. I should have called.”

  “It’s fine. I’m glad to have him, obviously. I missed him a ton,” I reply with a small smile.

  She hands me a little suitcase. “This is his stuff for the next couple days. And some gifts from me and my family for him to open on Christmas Day.”

  I nod and take it from her. She hugs Conner and tells him she loves him and to be good for Daddy. He promises he will be and asks if she’ll be there when Santa comes.