“I won’t.” She kissed me to seal the deal, so to speak. I left shortly after with yet another hard-on and a chest full of hope for the future.
Chapter 24
Karen
I’d been enjoying my time with Cage immensely. Add to that the fact that I put jeans on for the first time today, and I was on cloud nine. Then I got a phone call.
“Karen? Thank God you answered.”
“Zoe? What’s wrong?” I immediately panicked at the sound of her voice. It was sharp and urgent.
“He didn’t show! His agent texted me saying he’d be a bit late, but he didn’t show and now no one is answering my calls. We have another three hours here, but what am I going to do?”
I had no idea what she was talking about. “Who didn’t show? Give me details, Zoe.”
“Shit. Okay hold on.” I could hear her taking a deep breath and mumbling to someone in the background.
“Jacques.”
“Andre Jacques? The Scorpions backup goalie?”
“Yes. And today is goalie training. Jody’s here, but Vlad has an appointment with Crystal. So….”
“So?”
“Dammit, Karen, I’m calling in the chick card.”
Obviously I knew where this was going. “The chick card?”
“Look, I love you, but I don’t have time to screw around here. I need Cage, and I need him now. Can you make it happen or not?”
“Why didn’t you just call him?”
I swear I could hear her roll her eyes over the phone. “Come on. He friggin adores you. If you asked him to walk over hot coals, he’d throw off his shoes. I need him here five minutes ago. Okay? Please?”
I happened to know that Cage was sitting at home, having just finished a run, waiting for me to hop on over there. “We’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“I love you. Did I mention that?” I heard her yelling for them to get into formation to do their pre-skate exercises with Jody before I hung up. I immediately dialed Cage.
“Hey, Karen. Anything wrong? I thought you’d be here by now.”
“I need a favor.”
“Of course. Anything you want.”
“Good. Be ready when I get there with your gear.”
“My gear? Where are we going?”
“Just be ready.”
When I got there, he was standing in the kitchen, his bag at his feet. “What’s going on?” We didn’t have time for chatter. I grabbed his stick and almost made my way out the door before he gripped my arm hard.
“Whoa. I love ya, babe, but no one grabs my lucky stick.”
“Oh, come on, Cage. We need to go.” I tried leaving again with his stick in hand, but his grip tightened. “But—”
“No ifs, ands or buts, Karen. That is my lucky stick and if you keep messing with it, I’m putting you in the penalty box. There are only two people who touch this stick, and as hot as you are, you’re not one of them.”
“Oh my God. You’re serious!” I let go of his stick and kissed him. Really, it was too cute. They were crazy. Goalies were really crazy. “But for the record, I don’t think I’d mind if you put me in the sin bin.” He gave me his sexy wink all the time, so I returned the favor. It worked. He broke out in a smile, but smacked my bottom as we went through the door.
“You’re cute enough, but really, don’t touch it again.” I had to respect his dedication at least, and I would not make the mistake of touching his lucky stick again—at least not that one.
***
It was pandemonium when we got to the rink. Zoe’s kids were all over the place. Boys were on one side and girls were on the other. I could see Jody and a few other adults intermixed with the kids. Some on skates, some standing behind the glass. Cage immediately went into the locker room to suit up.
“Oh, thank God!” Zoe hugged the life out of me before remembering I was still a tad sore. “Sorry. Where is he?” She looked frantically left and right. “Oh, God. He’s here, right? Right?”
“Zoe! Relax. He’s in the locker room putting on his gear. He’ll be out in a second. What are we doing, anyway?”
She looked me up and down. “Well, you’re going to have a seat in the penalty box over there, and the rest of us are going to teach these kids how to play hockey. We’ll have to take turns with the ice. Most of them know how to skate, but the ones who don’t obviously can’t play hockey yet.”
“How about I take the ones who don’t skate very well out into the lobby there and play games with them? I could have them play Red Rover or Duck, Duck, Goose for the little ones.” I was always playing games like that with the kids I worked with. It was a great way to socialize them while letting them have some fun at the same time.
“You’re a lifesaver. Thanks.”
Zoe blew her whistle and split the kids up into groups of skaters and non-skaters. As I was taking my group out into the lobby, I saw Cage come out of the locker room in all his goalie glory.
He looked like a fantasy walking out there in his skates, pads and jersey. He carried his stick and glove in one hand, his blocker in the other. His helmet was on, but pushed way up the way goalies always did. Damn, he was hot!
“Stop drooling and go play with the kids.” Zoe smacked my butt to get me moving again. What was it with everyone smacking my butt?
“Uh, huh.”
The kids and I weren’t playing for very long before I started seeing wistful glances into the rink. I caught myself looking in fairly often as well. I clapped my hands to get their attention. “Okay. Let’s take a vote. Who would rather go sit and watch the other kids play hockey?” It was unanimous. Inside we went.
Zoe skated over to our group and talked through the camera man’s hole in the glass. “What are you doing in here? Everything okay? You’re not too tired, are you? God, I never thought about that. I was too busy freaking out.”
“I’m fine! Do you ever operate at anything other than full tilt, Zoe?”
She laughed at herself, shaking her head. “No. Sorry. I tend to be a bit high strung all the time. It’s just in my nature. You’re feeling okay though, right? Cage’ll have my head if he hears otherwise.”
“I’m fine. The kids just wanted to watch the hockey action in here instead of playing games out there. I figure it’s their time away from the orphanage, so if they want to watch, why not? Is that okay?”
“Absolutely. I’ll call an end to this session in about ten minutes. Candy will help them get their skates on. Can you just lead them around to the other side over there? All their skates are over there with their names on them. We sized them all up earlier.” Zoe pointed to the other side of the rink where there was a bench set up, still behind the glass.
“Sure thing.”
Zoe called a halt to the play on the ice, giving the Zamboni a chance to resurface it. Cage was chatting with Jody, believe it or not, and I took the opportunity to study the ice.
Ice kind of reminded me of Cage. If you simply glanced at it, it was perfect—smooth, slick—unmarred and beautiful. But if you really looked closely and studied it, you could see that it was actually made up of layers upon layers, and there were thousands of tiny cracks under that smooth surface the world saw. If not nurtured and cared for though, ice could shatter. It could just blow apart. The similarities between Cage and that glossy sheet of ice were not lost to me.
Still absorbed with my thoughts, I didn’t hear Cage walk up behind me. Even in all of his gear. “Hey.”
Did I mention how hot he looked in his gear? His helmet was sitting on the bench, his glove and blocker on top of the net, but other than that he was still suited up. “Hey yourself. Are you having a good time?”
“Surprisingly, yes. These kids are pretty cool. After they got over their initial hero worship—that’s for me, of course.”
“Of course.”
He shrugged matter-of-factly. “I can’t help who I am. The kids dig me.”
Never let it be said that Cage was too humble. “You really don’t
know the meaning of the word humble, do you, babe?”
His left eyebrow raised just a hair. “Babe?”
I smiled tentatively. “Yeah. I thought I’d try it out.”
He rewarded me with a larger smile of his own. “I like it. A lot.” Quick as can be, he leaned in and kissed me and then he was off to talk with the little ones who were up next on the ice.
As I watched him across the way, he took off his pads so that he could get closer to the little ones and help the kids skate. It was hard to imagine that when I first met him, all I saw was a badass hockey player. A player, player, you know? He couldn’t be farther from that now if he tried. Even Jody seemed to be giving him the benefit of the doubt for now. It was a wholly satisfying day.
Chapter 25
Cage
Things were going so well with Karen, I was almost afraid to have Jaden and Ethan here. And she was feeling better every day, which meant I was getting closer and closer to having sex again. I can’t say it didn’t weigh heavily on my mind. As in every other minute. I meant what I said to her, I’d wait as long as I had to, but that didn’t mean I liked it.
Friday night, Karen and I watched the last game in the Cup finals at her place. Chicago took it—again. Someone, hopefully the Scorpions, needed to beat them down soon. They’d won three cups in the past five years. It was time for another team to rise and conquer.
The best part of the night came after the game anyway.
“Want to go sit outside?”
“Sure.” I grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch while Karen poured a glass of wine for herself and grabbed me a beer. We always ended our nights like that. It was nice having a routine with her. I felt like it was a special time just for us.
When I sat down on the double swing, she immediately snuggled up next to me. I looked down into her pretty face and she kissed me. I always loved kissing Karen, but when she kissed me first, it was even better.
One of her hands was in my hair and the other was rubbing my chest. She pushed herself closer to me and deepened the kiss. My head was swimming as her scent washed over me. The feel of her soft body in my arms was almost my undoing. I tried hard to remember that she wasn’t ready for anything more, but when I squeezed her hip, she moaned—not in pain, but in pleasure.
My hand slid over the curve of her breast. I could feel her heart pounding in an erratic rhythm. It was hypnotizing. Her reaction was swift and almost violent. Her hand made a fist in my hair as she pulled herself even closer, arching up, pushing her breast more fully into my hand.
I shifted to lift her onto my lap and she cried out. This time it was not in pleasure. “Oh shit. I’m sorry, Karen.”
“I’m okay. Just give me a sec.” She settled herself on my lap, but couldn’t find a comfortable position.
“No. We should stop.” I wouldn’t hurt her for anything. But she wasn’t done with me.
She gingerly got up from the swing and settled herself back down by straddling me. It was heaven and hell at the same time. I could feel the heat of her through her pants as she rested so close to my own indisputable arousal.
“That’s better.” She bent slightly toward me, and her lips were back on mine. Her hands were all over me now. It was all I could do to keep myself still. I fastened my hands on her hips and kept them there. If only she would have kept hers from wandering. She was slowly killing me.
Her lips were now on my neck. She bit me and I jumped, pushing my cock against her, searching for some form of relief. “Karen, we have to stop.”
“Not yet.” Her hand traced the lines of my pecs as she continued her wandering. When she cupped me through my jeans, I’d had it. I was only a simple man.
“Karen.” I hardly recognized my voice. I didn’t sound strong and cocky. I sounded rough and like I was a prisoner of my own body. “Please.” I had no idea what I was even asking for.
She continued to rub me until I was sure I would explode right there in my pants. I grabbed her hand and pressed it down onto me to stop her rubbing motion. “You have to stop. I’m seconds away from embarrassing myself. I don’t want our first time to be like this.”
Her eyes were glazed over, her pupils dilated. She was as far gone as I was. I don’t think she even fully realized what she was doing to me. “Oh, okay. Yeah.” But instead of stopping, she latched onto my lips again, sucking them hard. I was seconds away. Seconds.
I grabbed both her hands in mine and held them wide until just our lips were touching. Fighting each other almost. Gently, I pulled away and eased her back off of me a bit. She came back to herself in miniscule increments of time. We were both breathing like we’d just crossed the finish line of the longest marathon in the history of the world.
“Holy cow. Oh, Cage. I had no idea.”
Yeah, me neither. I could hardly stand to look at her lips. They were so rosy and swollen from our kissing. I licked my lips and watched as she started to lean toward me again. “Oh, no. You back off.” I slipped my hands up under her arms and lifted her off of me, placing her on her feet. My hands brushed her breasts in the process and she gasped at the contact.
“You know, we could still satisfy each other. I can do a lot more now.”
“Jesus, Karen. Help me out here. I’m trying to wait so that our first time together is incredible.” We were both standing now with a good foot between us. I gestured back to the swing. “Like that, only with a better finish.”
There was a flash of anger in her eyes at my refusal. “I’ll bet you never said no to any of your puck bunnies.”
Her comment shouldn’t have made me so happy, but it did. She was jealous. “You’re right. I didn’t, and do you know why?”
“Because I don’t have all of my parts anymore? It does turn you off, doesn’t it?” Her arms were crossed now, daring me to disagree with her.
“You can’t mean that. You just had me literally seconds away from coming in my own fucking pants. So, no—that’s not why.” I took a breath to calm myself before I continued. I needed her to understand what she meant to me. “It’s because none of them mattered to me. I didn’t care if I gave them the best night of their lives. I never gave myself over to them. When we make love, I want it to be perfect. I want you to know that you have all of me.”
Her eyes filled at my words. “God, I’m sorry. I know better. I do.” She shook her head as a small smile appeared on her face to erase the harsh lines of her previous frown. “You said ‘make love’. You are such a softy, you know that?”
With my devilish grin firmly in place, I informed her, “Oh, believe me, I’ll be fucking you, too. We’ll be doing it all.”
I watched her as she shivered at my words. It was going to be well worth the wait. I just hoped I could hold myself in check the next time she threw herself at me. Because let’s face it, she would.
***
“This truck is awesome, Dalton. Aren’t you glad your Beemer got torn to pieces now?”
Jaden and Ethan talked a mile a minute. I’d forgotten that part. They hadn’t shut their yaps since I met them at baggage claim.
“Not particularly, no. The process of it getting torn to pieces almost cost my fiancée her life.” Fiancée. I liked the sound of that. When I’d told my mom about Karen and me, she screamed in excitement. She couldn’t wait to meet her in person.
“Well, yeah, sure. I just mean it was nice to be able to buy a new car. I didn’t mean anything bad.”
I reached over and ruffled his hair. “I know you didn’t, Sport. Karen’s still sore from the accident. I guess I’m a little sensitive about it.”
His voice got a sing-songy quality as he teased me. “That’s because you loooooooooove her.”
“Yup. I do.”
Ethan spoke up next to Jaden. “You know you’re crushing the hope of millions of chicks, right? Not to mention us guys who looked up to you as the chick magnet.”
“Well, when you get older, you’ll understand. I had fun being the, as you say, chick magnet, bu
t I want something a little more meaningful now.” I wanted to be a better role model for those boys. More of a father figure who could teach them right from wrong, but what did I know about what a father would sound like?
“Are you going to get all boring now?”
I was truly offended. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? Just because I was with a bunch of different girls I was fun? Now I’m boring?” Okay, maybe not exactly what a father should say.
“I knew it! You always said the papers exaggerated. You did have a different chick in your bed every night, didn’t you?” Jaden and Ethan high-fived each other like they’d just discovered a state secret.
“No, I did not. I never loved anyone like I do Karen, but I wasn’t with a different girl every night.” It wasn’t a complete lie. I wasn’t with a different girl every night. Just most nights, but they didn’t need to know that.
Ethan snorted. “Yeah, okay Dalton.”
Where was the respect a man of my caliber deserved? That was the thing, though. And truthfully, it was refreshing. They didn’t see me as a hockey star. They just saw me as Dalton. Jaden’s sometimes overbearing brother and father figure.
“Whatever. Just make sure you show Karen the respect she deserves. And no talk about me with other women, got it?” Neither one answered me until I slapped them both upside the head.
“Got it. Got it, geez.”
***
“You guys having fun?” Karen addressed the two boys while we walked along the gorilla enclosures at the San Diego Zoo.
Jaden’s eyes lit up in pleasure. “Yeah, this is awesome!”
Ethan’s response was a bit more subdued. “Yeah, it’s cool.” They were at that age where they weren’t sure if they were supposed to enjoy the things they did or look down their noses at everything so they appeared too cool for school. Ethan was better at it than Jaden. Jaden had always worn his heart on his sleeve. I worried about that, but Ethan would never let anyone pick on Jaden—and he was definitely the tougher of the two.
Cage's Misconduct (NHL Scorpions #3) Page 22
