by Avery Flynn
“And you’re thinking why not me?”
Zim shrugged. “I’m wondering what the heck I’ve been doing with my life, other than hockey.”
“Well, I think you’ve done something wonderful today.” Suji smiled softly.
“Thanks for that. But…do you know what I mean?”
“You want more.”
“Which sounds selfish as fuck, pardon my language, but really. Who am I to want more of anything? I make an obscene amount of money doing something that I love. Sure, the hours suck, the travel is a bitch, and I rarely get to spend time at home, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
“I know what you mean,” Suji agreed. “I love my work, love the kids, love the crazy hours, even. I wouldn’t give it up for anything or anyone.”
“And you shouldn’t.”
“Neither should you,” Suji insisted.
Zim laughed. “It’s almost as if we share a brain.”
Her smile was luminous as she stared down at the plate. “I guess we’re bound to fall in love.”
Suji’s words were so matter-of-fact that Zim almost missed them. He thanked the stars he’d already swallowed his bite of tiramisu, or he definitely would have choked on it.
“Is that so?” He watched her drag her own tiny, silver spoon through the frothy cream.
Suji nodded, her eyes focused on the rapidly dwindling dessert between them.
“I think it is.” There was a relaxed drawl to her speech, no doubt the result of the wine. “Can’t you tell?”
He could. Of course, he could, though how he didn’t know. It wasn’t as if he’d ever been in this situation before, when the woman sitting across from him felt like she’d always been there. Felt, somehow, like home.
It was too soon to even think such things. Wasn’t it? Not that he’d know.
“I’m not going to argue.”
Her laugh was a husky, moan-inducing thing. “That would be a first.”
Zim didn’t know Sujarta Meriwether, not yet. Not really. Certainly not the way he wanted to, but he could tell. Suji was…something. If pressed against the boards, he still couldn’t explain the how or the why, he just accepted the truth of it.
Even a blind man knows when the sun is shining.
A gorgeous, teasing grin spread across her kissable mouth and - BAM! Yeah, she was right. Of course, she was right, how could it go any other way?
“So how do we run this play?” Zim nudged her hand out of the way to claim his next bite.
Suji exhaled a soft sigh and capitulated, bringing her spoon up to a pink tongue that shorted out the circuits in Zim’s brain when she licked at the curved surface.
“Well, normally, we would date a while, then maybe move in together, and then...” She flicked her eyes up to his.
“And then?”
Suji held his gaze for a long breath. In. Out. A smile curved her luscious lips, and then she went back to toying with their dessert.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” she said. “We haven’t even had a proper first kiss, now that we actually know each other.” Again, her gaze met his.
Suji Meriwether was a stunner of a woman. Cute as a button. Sexy as fuck. But this side of her, the side she showed him now – this playful, teasing, confident woman – he was instantly hooked.
At that moment, he pictured her at forty-five, standing beside him as they saw their first child off to college. At that moment, he saw them celebrating her sixtieth birthday with family and friends. At that moment, he had to act. He just had to.
Slowly, he put down his spoon, picked up his napkin, wiped his mouth, and then stood. Suji’s gaze remained in his the entire time. He extended his hand, and she took it, dropping her utensil to the table as she rose. Zim guided her out of the dining room and onto the deck of the ship.
The late-summer breeze lifted the twists of chestnut hair that brushed her collar and Zim gathered them in one hand, using his other to gently circle her waist.
She gasped. A small, soft sound that did crazy things to his libido.
“Say yes,” he demanded in as calm a voice as he could manage, which wasn’t very.
Suji reached up, slid her hands into his hair and yanked his head down to hers.
Zim only had a second to breathe before she sealed her lips over his and his heart took off on a breakaway. He tightened his grip, pulling her closer. She tasted sweet, like cake and coffee and cream. He swept his tongue along hers, and she shivered.
When they came up for air, Suji took a long, slow breath. She slid her hands down his neck to his shoulders, gripping them tight before she opened her eyes and met his.
“Yes,” she breathed. “Whatever it is, it’s a yes.”
13
Suji hadn’t expected their next stop to be a skating rink.
When she’d issued that breathy yes, after the best kiss she’d had in, well, ever, she thought they’d find the closest flat surface and quench the hunger that had been growing in her belly since she first laid eyes on him at the pub.
But, no. They were in an indoor ice rink with a handful of sweaty teenagers, Mr. Motz, his two bodyguards, and The Cup. Can’t forget The Cup.
Worse yet, she wasn’t exactly dressed for the frigid, ice-side temps.
“Cold?” Zim shucked his jacket and slipped it over her shoulders, planting a kiss on her temple. The smile he gave her was more intimate than it should have been, considering they’d only known one another for approximately forty-eight hours.
And she’d been ready to hop into bed with him. Twice.
What on earth had she been thinking?
Only now, with his warmth and his scent surrounding her, Suji found it damned hard to put up a fight. It was going to happen between them. No longer a question of if, but when.
When indeed.
“Keep your head up, eyes on the opponent,” Zim yelled to one of the gangly kids on the ice.
“What opponent?” The kid yelled back.
“Use your imagination.”
The kid, Beck, skated over to where they stood.
Suji realized he was older than she’d first thought. His babyface and wide-eyed adoration of Zim had stripped a few years of his age. Instead of sixteen or seventeen, he had to be closer to twenty.
“Time my sprints,” the six-foot-gazillion-inches of gangly limbs and protective padding demanded.
Zim nodded. “Sure.”
“And if I come in under ten seconds, you’ll let me see it?”
“It’s a deal, now hustle.”
“Does he play too?” Suji asked, watching the younger man glide effortlessly across the ice. “Professionally, I mean.”
Zim nodded. “He’s in a minor league, but he has a chance at a farm team. I’ve been working with him this summer.”
“How do you know each other? Or do all hockey players know one another.”
Zim laughed, the rich timbre of his voice hitting Suji in all the best places. “We don’t all know each other, though I know quite a few. Beck’s family owns the house down the street from me. He house-sits for me while I’m out of town, or used to.” He scratched his chin. “Suppose I’ll need to sort out a new solution, once he gets picked up.”
Beck skated off and somehow managed to look graceful doing it. He stopped at a blue line painted under the ice and turned back to Zim.
“Count down from three.”
Zim set the stopwatch in his hand to zero. “In three…two…one… Go!”
The kid had a gift. He moved in a blur down the ice and back so fast that Suji felt a breeze from it.
“Wow.”
“Right?” Zim’s voice dripped with pride. “Nine-point-eight-nine.”
“Shall I do the honors?” Mr. Motz gestured toward the black case that held hockey’s most coveted trophy. He hadn’t even finished unlocking it before Beck skated over, stripping off his helmet and gloves on the way.
“You ready to get as close to The Cup as you ever will?” Zim teased the boy, but Suji could tel
l how proud he was and wondered just how close the two were. There was a big-brother-little-brother vibe to their interaction.
She had no trouble seeing Zim as a mentor to the young player.
“Yeah,” Beck retorted, still panting and trying not to smile. “And I promise I won’t touch it.”
“Hey, it’s up to you,” Zim replied.
Beck squinted. “But it’s bad luck, right?”
“To some people, yeah, but there’s no written rule.”
Beck seemed to ponder that.
Jeff and Tony laid the case flat on one of the benches while Mr. Motz donned a pair of white gloves.
Suji peered over his shoulder. “Do you always wear those when you touch it?”
Motz nodded. “Yep, sure do.”
“But you don’t make anyone else wear gloves when they do.”
“In more formal occasions, no one would touch it. It would be nice and shiny for photos,” he said, as if it were something he said often. “I’m responsible for polishing The Cup after others have touched it, etcetera. It’s easy to discretely get rid of a smudge when I’m wearing these.” He held up his hands.
“Ah, gotcha.”
Suji stepped out of the way as Beck clamored over the half wall and tentatively approached. Motz stood The Cup upright and stepped back to give the kid space.
Up close, Beck was huge. On skates, it was hard to tell how tall he was, but, with them, he easily matched Zim’s height, though not his bulk.
She felt a hand close on her waist and found herself leaning into the touch. A warm breath ghosted over her ear.
“Hey, you.”
Suji smiled but kept her eyes on Beck and Motz. “Hey.”
Zim pulled her into the curve of his body, something that felt far more right than it should.
“Thanks for letting me make this pit stop.”
“Are we going somewhere after this?”
Zim buried his nose in her hair and inhaled, sending goose bumps racing across her skin.
“I confess, I’m a bit out of my depths here,” he muttered into the skin of her nape.
Suji found it hard to concentrate on anything at that moment. She just wanted more of him, wanted to be closer.
“Are you not a ladies man, Mr. Zimin?”
He chuckled. “Not in the least.”
Suji turned her head to look at him. “Why is that?”
His gaze was locked onto her mouth, and Suji tortured him by licking her lips. Zim’s full-throated groan was satisfying.
She decided to put him out of his misery, leaned up, and gently brushed her mouth over his.
Zim’s tongue swept lightly across her bottom lip, and Suji felt the pull of it in her core. Her knees started to buckle, but she caught herself. Not before Zim noticed, though. When she met his eyes again, the raw hunger in them startled her.
“I have to leave for training in a few days.”
She nodded. “I figured as much.”
“I could take you home after this if that’s what you want.”
Despite his words, his arms came up around hers, and he pulled her into an embrace, her back to his front. Despite his words, Suji could feel the hard length of him pressing against her ass. Despite his words, this was going to happen.
“That’s not what I want,” she whispered into their bubble of intimacy.
Zim brought his head down to meet her eyes. “No?”
Suji shook her head, her gaze in his. “No.”
“That’s good, Nurse Meriwether,” he said, his sinful mouth curving into a sly smile. “That’s very good.”
14
Zim couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted someone this fucking much. It had snuck up on him, somehow, this gnawing hunger that made his hands shake.
He’d met a pretty girl at a bar. Then met her again in an entirely different setting.
She’d impressed him with her passion for her work, had placed an unearned trust in him that he’d do right by her patients and the hospital. All very well and good.
But no one should look as sexy as she did in multi-colored scrubs, and she’d shown up to tonight’s function looking good enough to eat. Zim was suddenly starving.
Still, he played it cool.
Until they walked through his front door.
The first to go was his jacket, which Suji let slide from her shoulders when he leaned in for the first of many kisses. Her tongue met his eagerly, the kiss turning frantic in milliseconds.
Zim drank from her mouth, slid his hands down over the soft fabric that covered her ass and cupped her through it.
She gasped into his mouth. “Jesus.”
Zim broke the kiss. “Suji, I need to know what you want, because…”
She didn’t let him finish that sentence. Her hands slid into his hair, the fingers pulling almost to the point of pain. One leg hooked over his hip as she lifted her mouth to his.
Zim took the hint, lifting her into his arms.
Suji’s legs went around his waist, the heat of her core tantalizingly close to his burgeoning erection.
His cock pulsed, leaking already and pushing painfully against the zipper of his fly. Zim stumbled toward the stairs. He needed to get her upstairs to bed. He needed a wide, flat surface to do all the things he wanted to do to her.
They made it up three steps, kissing and clawing, before he lost his footing and fell back onto the steps, Suji atop him. The impact broke the kiss.
“Oh my God, are you okay?” She panted above him, hair disheveled, lips swollen and stripped of the lipstick she’d worn.
God, she was gorgeous.
“I’m fine,” he managed to croak. “Come here.”
Suji lowered her head as she centered herself across his lap. The feel of her pressed up against him drove him out of his goddamned mind, especially when she started to move against him.
“Oh, fuck.”
“Yes, please.”
The hard, wooden step digging into his back didn’t matter. The fact that he was about to ruin a perfectly good suit didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but the woman in his arms, and Zim shifted underneath her to give her what she wanted.
Suji moaned when the length of his cock hit just the right spot between her legs. Her breath caught, and Zim thought he might stop breathing altogether.
“I can’t…I can’t wait…”
“Don’t,” he commanded, thrusting against her. Despite the warning pulses of his own impending orgasm, Zim didn’t relent. He grabbed her ass with both hands to aid her as she rocked.
And rocked.
And rocked.
“Oh, Jesus,” came her breathy exclamation before she shuddered violently in his arms. “Zim…fuck.”
“Yeah, yes, yes.”
A sweet, mouthwatering scent filled his nostrils and Zim surged to his feet, careful to keep her in his arms. Through sheer willpower, he managed to make it to the master bedroom where he promptly dumped her onto the mattress.
Suji was boneless, spread out before him like a buffet. She stared up at him with half-lidded eyes and a satisfied grin.
Zim ran his hands down her sides to her legs, where he cupped her thighs and pulled them apart. They opened easily.
“I need to taste you.”
“Yes,” she replied.
Zim hooked his thumbs over the thin, elastic sides of her panties and drew them down, pushing the bottom of the dress up after he’d discarded them.
The sight of her, bare and perfect before him, shorted out his brain and sent even more blood rushing to his already painful erection. He lowered his head to her slick, quivering flesh and inhaled.
“You smell like heaven,” he whispered, popping the button on his pants and lowering the zipper for a little relief.
Suji squirmed. Just a little twist of her hips.
Zim attacked her like a starving man.
“Oh, God!” Her voice was music to his ears.
Her hands grabbed onto his hair as he licked and sucked,
nibbled and devoured her. She tasted like tart cherries and salted caramel and he was going to lose it. Come in his pants like a teenaged boy.
“I’m going to…you’re going to make me…”
“Yes,” he growled against her slick skin. “Do it. Come again for me, Suji. Fucking…just…”
“Wait…wait…” She jerked away, leaving him stunned.
“What’s wrong?” Zim looked up to find her pulling the dress over her head.
“Tell me you have something because I need you inside me.” She tossed the dress to the floor.
It took a moment for Zim’s brain to come back online. “I, uh…yeah…”
He dove for the nightstand and wrenched open the drawer. The unopened box of condoms brought a sigh of relief from the beautiful, naked woman behind him as he toed off his shoes.
She plucked the box out of his hand, tossed it on the bed, and then went to work on the buttons of his shirt. She was being careful. Too careful.
Zim grabbed the two halves of the shirt and pulled. Buttons flew everywhere, and Suji giggled, her hands already pushing his trousers down. He had an overwhelming fear that she would touch him, stroke his throbbing, aching, dribbling cock, and all of this would be over in a flash.
He grabbed her face and crushed his mouth down over hers. The effect was immediate and she gripped his wrists, opening her mouth to his invasion while he stepped out of his pants and kicked them away. Zim lifted Suji by the waist and deposited her back on the bed before stripping off his boxer-briefs.
The way her eyes went wide as she took in the sight of him filled Zim with pure, male pride.
“Wow,” she breathed, grinning.
Full breasts, full hips, a trim waist, and a softly curved belly, Sujarta Meriwether was all woman. Spread out beneath him like a goddess, he wanted to worship her.
“I could say the same,” he said, climbing over her.
“Yeah?”
The uncertainty in her voice brought him up short. Zim paused to look into her eyes.
“Tell me you know how gorgeous you are.” He straddled her hips and reached for the box of condoms.
Suji shrugged one shoulder. “I know I have…a certain appeal.”
Zim chuckled. “A certain appeal?”
