Playing Hurt_An Aces Hockey Novel

by Kelly Jamieson

  “Bah. I’m not in love with him. I’m not sure I ever was.” Jordyn reached for the cocktail sitting on the small table between our chairs and took a sip. Her smooth skin glistened with the sunscreen I’d just applied.

  “Okay, good. You dated for a while though.”

  “We did. He was just using me though.”

  “Shut up.”

  “No lie. He wanted to go out all the time and make sure there were lots of fans and paparazzi taking pictures of us. I was all flattered that he was interested in me, and we had fun together at first, but then I realized he didn’t really give a shit about me. It was just all PR for him.”

  “Fucker.”

  She smiled. “I figured it out when he always wanted to go out. Every date had to be a big production. He never wanted to just stay home and you know…watch Netflix and chill.”

  I scowled.

  Her lips twitched. “Or even watch a hockey game.”

  “Obviously he’s a douche-waffle.”

  A laugh sprang from her lips. “And he has a good voice, but he doesn’t…love music. Not the way I do. It’s more business for him. I’ve been criticized for not being business-focused enough, but at least I have a manager and a team I trust. All Jasper thought about was making money.”

  “Huh.”

  “What about you?” She rolled over on her beach lounger and propped herself on her elbows on the thick cushion. “Have you ever had a serious relationship?”

  My gaze dropped to her tits, nearly spilling out of the tiny red bikini top in that position. I dragged my eyes away reluctantly. “Sort of.”

  “Sort of?”

  “I had a girlfriend back when I played for the Spitfires. In Windsor, Ontario,” I added. “I got drafted when I was eighteen, and she thought I should turn pro. I went to training camp, but I knew I wouldn’t make the team and it would be better for me to play another year in the Major Junior leagues, so I went back to the Spitfires. She dumped me.”

  She gaped at me. “She dumped you because of that?”

  “Yeah.” I touched a finger to her nose. “Sucked at the time, but obviously she didn’t really love me.”

  “She couldn’t stick around for a year? Wait, what am I saying. If she just wanted you to be a pro hockey player, you’re right…she didn’t really love you.”

  “So it worked out for the best.”

  “I agree.” She gave a firm nod.

  * * *

  —

  It would be unrealistic to expect that a man and a woman would go away together and spend twenty-four hours a day with each other and everything would be all smooth and perfect.

  “How could you have lost it again?” I asked.

  Jordyn grimaced. “I don’t know! I swear it has to be in the room somewhere. I don’t know what I did with it.”

  She’d lost her room key for the third time.

  Meanwhile, I was making the bed.

  “Why are you making the bed?” she asked irritably, still trashing the place hunting for her key card. “There are maids who come every day to do that.”

  “I’m not making it. I’m just tidying up.”

  I’d also hung up the towels she’d left in a heap on the bathroom floor.

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “An unmade bed bothers me.”

  She planted her hands on her hips and glared at me. “How can that bother you? We’re on our way out. And anyway, making the bed is a waste of time. You’re just going to mess it up again in a few hours.”

  I glared back at her. Damn, she was hot when she was irritated. Our eyes met, and then we both burst out laughing.

  “Or maybe we’ll just mess it up again right now.” I rounded the bed, grabbed her, and tossed her onto it. She let out a squeal that made my balls tighten and I climbed on to straddle her and get her out of the bikini she’d just put on. “You’re hot when you’re annoyed.”

  Her smile reached inside me all the way to my aching balls. My dick was rigid and engorged, desperate to be inside that sweet, tight pussy. I studied her with hot eyes, her perfect, lithe body, her flawless tits that filled my hands so deliciously tipped with tight pink nipples, the tiny dark gold landing strip on her mound. I gripped her hands and pushed them into the pillows beside her head, my knees spread wide, her ass pressed against my inner thighs. Our eyes met and held, and our light mood shifted into something intense and crackling.

  She rocked her pelvis and my dick slid through her pussy, already so wet, and I fucking loved that. For a moment, I just fucked her like that, sliding my dick back and forth, soft whimpers escaping her pretty mouth, watching my shaft grow slick from her cream. Then I gripped it and rubbed the head over her soft pussy lips before setting it at her entrance.

  “Chase…condom…”

  “I’ll pull out.”

  She bit her lip. “That’s not…smart.”

  “Are you on birth control?”

  “Yes.”

  “I have a clean bill of health, baby, I swear.”

  “O-okay. Me too.”

  I pushed inside her.

  This…goddamn. The feeling of her around my cock, so hot and wet and tight…so bare…made me lose my mind. Pleasure licked over every nerve ending in my body like flames, igniting my senses, setting my brain on fire. “Jordyn.” I groaned her name. “Damn, baby, you make me crazy.”

  She only whimpered in reply, reaching for my thighs to grip them, tilting her pelvis up. I grasped her waist, so tiny in my hands, holding her so I could fuck her harder. She curled her hands around my wrists, gasping, our bodies slapping together, the bed shaking. Then she let go of my wrist and shoved her hand into her pussy.

  “Yeah.” I watched, my vision going hazy with my impending orgasm, pressure building at the base of my spine, fast and dark. “Want another one of those gorgeous orgasms, baby. Do it.”

  “Yes…” She circled her fingers over her clit while I hammered into her, harder, faster. “Oooooh…yesssss.”

  She squeezed me as she came, rippling around me, her cries like music, a flush sweeping from her chest up into her face. She wasn’t quiet about her orgasms, and I loved it. My balls tightened, my skin tingled everywhere, and I pulled out just in time to come all over her lower belly in scalding, nearly painful surges. Waves of unbelievable pleasure crashed over me. I was making terrible noises, harsh grunts and growls, my heart pounding, my head flung back.

  When I’d finished, when I could breathe, I gazed down at her, my jizz all over her, so fucking beautiful, marking her, and a rush of possessiveness swept through me. I shifted over, down to the bed to stretch out beside her, a hand between her breasts, and nuzzled the side of her neck with my nose, brushing my lips there too. She cupped my face, and I felt her slow smile.

  I lifted my hand to her face, brushing the backs of my fingers over her cheek as I kissed her neck, and she wrapped her hands around my arm. Slowly, she turned her face to mine so our mouths connected.

  I never wanted this to end.

  * * *

  —

  “Oh, here it is,” Jordyn called from the bathroom later that night as we were getting ready for dinner.

  I walked over to the open door. She stood in front of the vanity, wearing nothing but a tiny pair of pink panties. My dick took note of her perfect bare breasts times two—real life and the reflection in the mirror.

  She’d gone topless on the beach today. I hadn’t had to try hard to convince her. I knew she thought it was naughty and dangerous and she wanted so bad to show off those pretty tits to the sun. She wasn’t the only woman on the beach topless, but she was the only one who gave me wood. Luckily my board shorts were loose enough to hide it and a couple of quick dips in the ocean helped too. It had been hard to keep my hands off her though.

  She held up her room key.r />
  “Where was it?”

  “In my makeup bag.”

  “Didn’t you look there?”

  “No. Why would I look there? Why would I put my key in my makeup bag?”

  “But you did put your key in your makeup bag,” I pointed out reasonably. “Also you said you looked everywhere.”

  She pursed her lips, then lifted her chin, turned back to the mirror, and started brushing dark eye shadow all around her eyes, giving her that sultry rock-chick look that made me hot. “Whatever,” she said. “I found it.”

  I grinned and moved up behind her to kiss her bare shoulder, then slid my hands around to cup her tits. “You’re so goddamn sexy.”

  Her lips twitched. “Even when I lose my room key?”

  “Even then. Don’t worry, baby. I’ll look after you.” I sucked briefly on the side of her neck.

  Her eyelids lowered and she inhaled. “Don’t…you know we can’t miss this dinner.”

  I breathed in that fresh and floral scent, which I now knew the name of thanks to snooping in her toiletry bag. “I know.”

  It was our last night in Aruba. I’d arranged a private dinner on the beach.

  We’d seen couples dining in the cabanas other nights, and Jordyn had exclaimed about how romantic it was. I knew I had to do it.

  Jordyn finished her makeup and slid into another sexy sundress. Oh my fuck. She was killing me. This dress had a long flowy skirt but it had multiple slits so her legs peeked through as she moved. The top was tiny, a crisscross halter style, and her back was completely bare. She slid her feet into flip-flops instead of the high-heeled sandals she wore when we were eating in the resort.

  “Ready!”

  We made our way down to the beach, past swaying palm trees and across the powdery white sand. The turquoise water had faded to a silvery blue as the sun set, lapping gently at the shore in the calm evening air. Tiki torches planted in the sand lit the way to our cabana, where the white curtains were tied back so we could see the sun set over the Caribbean.

  Even I had to admit it was pretty dope.

  We sat at the small table for two, chairs arranged to face the water. A candle flickered on the table, and more sat in lanterns in the four corners of the cabana creating a glowing ambience. I glanced at Jordyn to see how she felt about the candles, but she seemed okay with it.

  Our waiter served us champagne to start, which was awesome because Jordyn had confessed to me that bubbly made her frisky. But then again, she’d been frisky pretty much since we got here, so I didn’t know if we needed the champagne for that. Wouldn’t hurt though.

  “Are the bubbles okay on your throat?”

  “It’s fine.” She sighed. “This is amazing. Thank you so much for this, Chase. This was just what I needed.”

  “Yeah. Me too,” I admitted.

  “It’s been wonderful to just relax and not worry about anything.”

  “It has.” Getting away from everything and not thinking about the problems we faced for a few days had made me feel a whole lot better about things. “I have the best date ideas.”

  She laughed and leaned forward, her champagne flute in hand. “You really do. We haven’t seen much of Aruba though.”

  “True.” I grinned. “I told you we weren’t going to leave the room for four days.”

  Actually, we had left the room, because the pool and the beach were awesome, but I was also grateful for room service because there had definitely been times I didn’t want to let her out of bed. Although we did have sex on the balcony one afternoon, arranging the wicker furniture into a bed.

  “We’ll just have to come back to explore the rest of the island.”

  “That would be fantastic.”

  Were we making future plans? That made my gut shift a little. We’d been enjoying each other so much, but we hadn’t talked about anything long term. I didn’t really want to think about that. So I lifted my champagne glass and clinked it against hers. “Thanks for an epic date.”

  Her smile heated my insides as she lifted her glass to her mouth.

  We ate sashimi and mini crab cakes to start, sharing with each other, then chateaubriand for two. The waiter was discreet but attentive, refilling our glasses and removing dishes. The sun set over the Caribbean in a blaze of orange, gold, and purple, and we talked about the things we’d done, the people we’d met and chatted with at the bar and the pool. The older couple from England who’d saved up for a year to come here to celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary, to whom Jordyn had anonymously sent a bottle of champagne after we’d chatted with them. The couple from Italy who barely spoke English who she’d helped when the wife was having chest pains. Jordyn had pulled me in to help interpret with my rusty Italian, and then she’d looked at me like I was the hero when she’d been the one who had stepped up to help.

  Nobody had recognized us, and we’d just been Jordyn and Chase from Chicago.

  “I don’t want to leave.” Jordyn smiled wistfully. “This is paradise.”

  “It really is.” I didn’t want to leave either. I was dreading playing again Sunday night. And that said a lot, because normally I looked forward to every game. It had been fantastic to just forget all our problems and worries for a few days, worries about Jordyn’s voice, worries about my wrist. Now we had to go back to reality.

  And what did that mean for us?

  Jordyn still had months of recovery ahead of her, so she wasn’t leaving Chicago, like, tomorrow. But she was leaving. I…well, I still didn’t know what was wrong with me. Shit.

  Yeah, our time in paradise was coming to an end.

  * * *

  —

  My wrist felt great. The five-day break had been good for it. I was relieved and actually looking forward to playing.

  I felt fine on the ice too, invigorated from the time off (and possibly from Jordyn), my legs strong, my wind good. I felt even better when I scored a goal on a sick breakaway. I pumped a fist into the air as I slammed into the boards behind the net, immediately swarmed by my teammates.

  Relief flooded through me that I still had it. I could do this. It was going to be okay.

  Until it wasn’t. About the middle of the third period, I took a hit into the boards, not even that hard, but my wrist was caught between my body and the dasher and shit…pain streaked up my arm. I tried to shake it off, finishing my shift, but as I sat on the bench breathing hard, I knew I was fucked.

  * * *

  —

  “What did the MRI show?”

  “Nothing.” I held my phone to my ear as I moved around my condo, putting away the food I’d just bought. I left out a dish of salmon with lemon and dill I was going to heat up for my dinner.

  “Oh.” Jordyn’s voice sounded surprised. “Really?”

  “Yeah.”

  “How can that be?”

  “I don’t know. They thought it might be a ligament tear that didn’t show up on the X-ray, but I guess it’s just something really minor. Anyway, I had another shot.”

  “Is that…steroids?”

  “Yeah. Sort of.”

  “But it’s safe?”

  “Oh yeah.” I didn’t tell her about some of the risks the doctor had told me. I could tell she was worried enough as it was.

  “You’ll still be playing.”

  “Hell yeah. It’s not that bad.” I interpreted her silence as disagreement. “They didn’t tell me I couldn’t play.”

  “Well, maybe you should tell them you can’t play.”

  “It doesn’t work like that.”

  “Maybe it should.”

  I pressed my lips together. I knew what she was saying, but hockey players couldn’t be trusted to make decisions about our ability to play hurt, because we’d play through anything.

  “I’m just worried about you, Chase
.” Her voice was softer now.

  “I know, but don’t worry. Hockey players are tough. There’ve been guys that kept playing with broken legs.”

  “Jesus.”

  I laughed. “It’s not that bad. Just tweaks a bit when I move it certain ways.” I was trying to make her feel better, but I wasn’t being completely honest. The game last night had been frustrating, even though I’d scored another goal. Thank fuck.

  “When do you leave on your road trip?”

  “In the morning.”

  “I miss you.”

  After spending nearly five full days together, it did feel weird being away from her. After dropping her off at her place and coming home, my condo felt so empty. Things were too quiet. Too neat and tidy. I liked having her around, dancing to her ever present music, messing things up.

  Ugh. This was getting too intense. If I felt like this after a few days, how was I going to feel when she went back to L.A.?

  “Miss you too,” I said. “But I’ll see you when I get back. How was your day?”

  “Eh. I’ve been trying to write since we got back, but it’s so hard when I can’t sing.” She sighed gustily.

  “Aw. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I probably wrote some crap, but I did something at least.”

  “I’ll come see you on Friday when we’re back from Detroit. We’ll do something fun.”

  “I hope you mean in bed.”

  “Ha. That too. Like when you read a fortune cookie. ‘A dream you have will come true…in bed.’ ”

  She laughed too and that made me happy. “ ‘The greatest risk is not taking one…in bed.’ ”

  “That sounds promising. ‘Good things take time…in bed.’ ”

  “Mmm.”

  “ ‘Your world will be rocked…in bed.’ ”