Captain My Captain (NHL Scorpions #0.5)

by Nikki Worrell

  “Yes. Please, don’t stop.”

  He lowered his lips to hers once more and kissed her until she was clawing at his back. When she started moaning, he entered her with one quick thrust. She again stiffened against him, but it didn’t take more than a minute of his caressing and kissing to have her hips arching against him in need.

  “That wasn’t so bad. And now it’s—good. Oh God. It’s really good.”

  Using the last of his condoms, he was able to please her—and himself—twice more before the dawn broke. It was a great night, but he couldn’t say he didn’t have any regrets. His first one-night stand and he knew without a doubt that kind of life wasn’t for him. Rare for a man so young? Yeah, he guessed it was, but he missed having a steady girlfriend to talk to, comfort, be comforted by, and yes, have sex with on a regular basis.

  After making her breakfast and kissing her one last time, they parted ways. He watched her drive off in her car feeling like something was somehow missing. It was an unwelcome and hollow feeling, but one he’d have to get used to he supposed.

  ***

  Later that day, Keith made himself go food shopping, a chore he hated. Strolling down the cereal aisle, he came across a most pleasant surprise. The delivery girl was there.

  “Hey. You’re Kelly, right?”

  The sight that met him when she turned to fully face him, made his knees weak. Her short, blonde hair was curled charmingly around her face, with long bangs that swept across her forehead before being tucked behind her ear. Even after a night of some pretty fabulous sex, her full, lightly glossed lips immediately sent erotic thoughts to his brain as he pictured them on him. She looked like she was all sugar and spice, but he already knew she wasn’t to be trifled with.

  “Yeah. Hey, Lambert. You do your own shopping? I figured you rich guys had people to do that for you.” He could tell she was yanking his chain by the way her lips twitched.

  “Thought I’d see how the other half lives, you know?” He leaned over and looked in her basket. “Frozen dinners, eggs, cereal, and fat free yogurt? That’s it? Where’s the steak and potatoes?”

  “I’m trying out for the ice girls this year. Have you seen the outfits they make them wear? No steak and potatoes for me. Not until I make the team, anyway. I’m plump enough.” She slapped herself on the butt, as if to prove her point.

  “Are you kidding? You’re perfect. Don’t change into one of those girls who don’t eat.” He teasingly snuck a peek at her bottom, but his voice was thick when he said again, “Perfect.”

  Kelly’s blush covered just about her entire face. Keith couldn’t help himself as he brushed his thumb along her bottom lip. When he realized he was about two seconds away from mauling her in a grocery store, he backed up with an unsteady step. “Sorry. I forgot about the no hitting on you thing.”

  “No, you didn’t. But I have to say, you’re pretty good at it. Well, it was good seeing you again. I have to get going.” She patted his chest as she walked past him down the aisle. He turned around just in time to see her checking out his ass, and he let her know he caught her.

  “I knew it. You want me.” He was gifted with her lovely laughter again as she turned the corner and slipped away from his sight.

  Chapter 5

  Training camp was crazy as usual. Keith was slowly getting to know the guys and how they played. To his frustration, he still couldn’t score on Vlad.

  “Come on, Bejsiuk. Give me a fucking inch somewhere!”

  Vlad ignored him, looking totally in the zone. Keith sent another hard wrist shot his way, going for the five-hole. It bounced away neatly as it hit Vlad’s pads, and sailed safely off to the right of the net.

  “Ha! Denied again O’Capitan!” Ace’s mouth never stopped, not even on the sidelines. Never.

  Vlad came out of the net and gave Ace his spot. Before he went off to the side, he skated over to Keith. “Skate around the net, fast, and then come back to about six feet in front of him. Shoot the puck over his right shoulder. He’ll miss it. Guaranteed. And the kid won’t listen to me.”

  Keith did as Vlad said and scored on Ace easily.

  “See?”

  “Sure do.”

  “You got lucky. Try it again.” Ace settled into his net and hunched down a bit, ready for Keith’s onslaught.

  A carbon copy of the first goal, the second went in just as easily. “You’re turning too much when the puck’s behind you, and you can’t get back into position fast enough. You don’t need to turn your whole body like that.”

  “Save your breath. I tell him that all the time. So does the coach.”

  “Bite me, Impaler. I’ll get it.”

  Keith took two more shots the same way at Ace. One went in, one he caught in his glove. It was definitely something he needed to work on.

  After the team was done with practice for the day, the girls took the ice to battle for a spot on the ice girls team. Talk about something hot enough to melt the ice. Scantily clad, beautiful girls doing drills that included a limbo—yes, please lean back so your shirt rides up—and bending over their shovels to scoop up the snow—cleavage galore!

  Keith was standing on the balcony of the second floor looking down onto the rink. He was chatting with the general manager of the Scorpions while the candidates ran through the various drills. One of the first girls fell when her toe pick dug into the ice upon leaving the box, but she picked herself right back up with a smile.

  “So, what do you think of the guys?” Henry, the GM, asked him.

  “I’m still getting to know them, but they’re obviously a talented bunch. I think we’ll work well together.”

  “Good. That’s what I want to hear. Let me know if you come across any problems.” Henry took his leave and left Keith on the balcony, essentially alone. Two other coaches were up there with him, but they were having a heated discussion about goalie training exercises.

  Keith’s eyes drifted down to land on a particularly cute potential ice girl. Man, he had it bad. He even felt guilty about having sex with Pip. How stupid was that? He wasn’t dating Kelly—yet. He was still looking at her when Ace walked out.

  “Ah, my favorite day of training camp. Hot girls in skimpy clothes.” He pointed to a busty girl with long flowing chestnut locks. “Jesus, would you look at that one? Yeah, that’s it, honey. Bend down low. A little lower—BAM! Christ, would you look at that ass. Man, I’d like to plow myself into that. Damn!”

  Keith looked at him, shaking his head in disgust. “Are you for real? What the hell’s the matter with you?”

  “Huh? What are you gay or something?” Ace didn’t even spare him a glance. He was too busy making hand gestures, pretending he was grabbing the girl’s ass.

  “No, I’m not gay, but I’m also not fifteen.”

  “Oh, come on. Pick one out. Not my girl though. I’ll be banging her in a couple of hours.”

  “You’re pretty sure of yourself, Hawthorn.” Keith almost wished he had Ace’s confidence. Not his arrogance though. He could keep that.

  “No reason not to be. I have a mirror. I know how hot I am. All I have to do is crook my finger and they’re half-naked before they reach me. It’s almost too easy. So which one do you want?”

  “None of them. I was just talking to Henry out here.” And then looking at Kelly.

  Ace followed Keith’s gaze. “The fat chick with no hair?”

  “Fat? There’s not a fat girl down there. And if you’re referring to the curvy girl with the short, blonde hair, I think she’s cute. No, actually, I think she’s smoking hot.” Keith was beginning to like Ace less and less. Vlad warned him that would happen if he spent too much time with him.

  “I think her name’s Kelly. I’ve seen her around at practices and skating in the rink. She hangs out with some of the girls I’ve dated. I wouldn’t waste my time though, she doesn’t put out.”

  “Okay. I get it. All you think about is sex. Next subject.”

  “Just trying to help you out, man. Bl
ue balls ain’t fun for anybody.” With that parting remark, Ace left him alone on the balcony once more where he continued to watch Kelly skate a bit longer before leaving himself.

  ***

  The Saturday before their first preseason game arrived, which meant Keith was off to the beach party. He picked up Brandon Marcoux on the way, along with a cooler full of Molson.

  “Hey, Keith. Where’s Vlad? I figured he’d be with you.”

  “Nah. He’s picking up Manny.” Manny Parsons was the Scorpions’ enforcer. At six foot two and two hundred-ten pounds, he was a good protector to have on your team.

  When they pulled into the small parking lot, Keith wished he was driving something smaller than his crew cab pickup, but with some finagling, he managed to squeeze into a corner spot. “Looks pretty packed already.”

  “It’s San Diego. We’re at the beach. It’s always packed.”

  Keith caught a flash of a hot pink top and curly, blonde hair out of the corner of his eye as he was pulling the cooler off of the tailgate. Taking a better look, he confirmed that it was Kelly. He came very close to dropping the cooler on his foot. “Hey, Kelly. How are you?”

  “Hey, Keith. I’m great. How are you?” Kelly stopped next to him and gave him a sunny smile. He thought he actually heard some brain cells pop. She looked incredible.

  I’m great too. We had sex last night. Yeah, yeah it was all in my head, but… “Fine. I’m fine. How are you? Scratch that. Already asked and answered. I guess people are just used to saying that when someone asks them how they are, you know? I mean I know I asked you first, but I guess I forgot for a second, you know? It’s good to see you again, though. I mean I’ve seen you since the last time, but you know, I mean to talk to you again, you know?” Seen you since the last time? What the fuck is wrong with me? And could I fucking say “you know?” about ten more times?

  Kelly looked at him, cocking her head at his strange attitude. “Uh-huh. Um, you okay?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Of course. I just meant… Forget it. How were skating tryouts? You looked good out there.”

  “You were watching me? I’m not sure if I should be flattered or creeped out.”

  “Honey, we all watch the ice girls.” Brandon decided Keith had floundered enough and chimed in to throw the poor guy a lifeline. “Brandon Marcoux. Nice to meet you.”

  She shook his proffered hand, and the three of them started walking toward the beach.

  “So you all watch us. Really? Well, I guess that’s to be expected. I mean we are wearing those skimpy outfits and all. It’s not like we don’t watch you guys getting all sweaty and hot on the ice.” She gave an exaggerated flip of her nonexistent hair, gaining a hearty chuckle from both of them, and Keith began to relax.

  “Good to know. Maybe next practice, I’ll practice without a shirt on—give you girls something to really look at.” Brandon was an easy flirt.

  “Can’t say I’d say no to that. Oh, there’s Zoe. I’ll catch you guys later.”

  Keith found his tongue just in time to say, “Bye.”

  “Man, you’re smooth, Keith, you know? Real smooth, you know? Like her, do you? I think you do, you know?”

  “Fuck off, Marcoux.”

  Brandon playfully slugged him in the arm and took the cooler from him, setting it down beneath the big white tent, out of the sun. He opened the lid and fished out a couple of beers. “Want one?”

  “Nah. Not yet, thanks. I’m going to walk around, maybe stick my feet in the water.”

  “That loosely translates into you’re going to go stalk Kelly?”

  Keith couldn’t deny it. “Something like that.”

  ***

  Kelly walked over to join the group of girls who’d made the cut to become ice girls, but veered off before she reached them to greet Zoe first. “Hi, Zoe.”

  “Hi. Kelly, right?”

  “You got it.” Kelly had only met Zoe briefly when she’d bumped into her while she was in the office handing in her paperwork to the human resources manager.

  “Are you excited for tomorrow? First game as an ice girl.”

  “Actually, I’m a bucket of nerves! It’s silly to feel that way, I guess. I’m a great skater, and we’ve all been practicing with the shovels and making sure we’re in the right formation to clear the ice quickly. It’s just that we haven’t done it in front of twenty-thousand people before.”

  After taking a swallow of bottled water, Zoe said, “You girls will be fine. Try to block the crowd out. See the ice and only the ice. Concentrate on your goal and forget all the rest. I’ll bet after the first period is over, you’ll all feel like pros.”

  “I hope so. I…” Her thoughts shut down as she watched Keith take his shirt off and dive into the ocean. He really was a joy to look at.

  “Ah, so it’s Keith, is it?”

  “Huh? Is what Keith?” Kelly tore her eyes away from him and returned her attention to Zoe, but she could feel herself blushing.

  “Um hmm. You have the hots for him, don’t you? You can’t fool me. I study people for a living. I saw your eyes wander to him before at the rink. He’s a good pick. From what I know of him, he’s a genuinely nice guy. He doesn’t sleep around either. At least he’s never been talked about. He was in a steady relationship before he came out here.”

  “What happened to the girl?” Kelly hadn’t seen Keith with anyone, and he only ordered for one when he’d ordered his takeout.

  “That’s Keith’s story to tell. Why don’t you go talk to him?”

  “I think I’ll just go talk to the girls for a while. It was nice talking to you, Zoe. See you later.”

  Kelly walked toward the group of girls gathered around the volleyball net, but she stopped just short of reaching them to pay attention to Keith in the water again.

  The sun was reflecting off the ocean so brightly, it was hard to see him clearly, so she walked a little closer. He turned away from her, and each time he came up out of a wave, she watched, mesmerized as the water cascaded down over his muscular back. Walking closer still, she could see a tattoo on his left shoulder of an intricate Celtic knot. Out of nowhere, a picture formed in her head of her licking it. Down, girl.

  Before her mind could run away with any more wayward thoughts, she turned around and finally made her way over to the other ice girls.

  “Girl, you’ve got a fan.” Tansy pointed behind her, and Kelly turned around to see Keith looking her way.

  “You put out for him already, Kel?” All the girls knew that Holly was the nasty one. Every group had one. Someone who wasn’t happy unless they were putting someone else down.

  To Kelly’s credit, she ignored the barb and spoke to Tansy. “Nah, I don’t think so. We’ve just spoken a couple of times. He does have a killer ass though.”

  “Well, looks like you’re going to speak again. He’s coming right for you.” Tansy turned and shooed the girls away, leaving Kelly there alone.

  “You want to go play some volleyball with me?” Keith pointed to the net, thankful he’d finally gotten his wits back. “It looks like they’re getting a game together. Let’s go see if we can get in on it.”

  “Sure. Why not?” Kelly let him lead her over by the hand. Half-naked bodies were already lining up on both sides of the court. It was a girl’s dream.

  “You have room for two more?” Keith directed his question to Ace, who seemed to have taken charge of setting up the teams.

  “Sure. You two play over here, and we’ll put another chick on the other side to even things up.”

  Kelly squeezed Keith’s arm. “He is such an asshole. And this is only the second time I’ve been around him. Want to know about the first time?”

  “I can only imagine. What did he do?”

  “A group of us girls went to the pub after tryouts for dinner. The guys hang out there a lot. Anyway, he comes over to our table and says to me, ‘You know, if I were you, I’d have sex with me.’ And then he held out his hand, like I was going to leave with him. And w
hen I didn’t get up, he simply turned to Holly and lifted his eyebrow. Guess what happened then?”

  “I’m gonna say she got up and went with him.”

  “Yup. The funny thing is that Holly sees everything as a contest. She brags about sleeping with him to me every chance she gets. Doesn’t she see how counterproductive that is? I didn’t want him in the first place.”

  The volleyball came flying through the air, landing on Kelly’s toe, causing her to jump. “What the hell?” She bent down and picked it up, looking for the culprit. Of course it was Ace.

  “Sorry, doll. You ready to play now? You can serve first. We’ll let you girls have two tries.” Ace walked over and slapped her ass before taking his spot on the other side of the net.

  “You’re going down, Hawthorn.”

  Ace was all too happy with her comment—she should have known better. “It’ll be my pleasure, sweetheart. Anytime. You just say the word.”

  “You pig! That’s not what I meant. Oh, forget it.” His laughter only pissed her off more, and the ball hit the net on her first serve. Shit. Her second serve was much better, flying over in a nice arc, and the volleying began.

  The end of the game was getting close. Ace’s team only needed one more point to win. When the ball came over to their side, Keith and Kelly both called for it and wound up colliding, falling to the ground. Keith crashed down on top of her, and they were lying nose to nose.

  “Oops. Sorry about that.” But he didn’t get up.

  “Um, are you going to let me up?”

  “Do I have to? I kind of like it here.” Yes! That was kind of smooth.

  “Yes, you do. If I don’t get this sand off of me, I’m going to freak out. Here’s a little secret about me. I hate being dirty. And I can’t stand getting sand on me. I’m not a very good beach person.” She pushed on his chest and he let her up. Grabbing her hands, he hauled them both to their feet.

  “Come on then, princess. Let’s go wash off.”

  They ignored the impatient shouts to hurry so they could finish the game, and made their way to the ocean. The water was more refreshing than she could recall it ever being. The feeling of the cool waves washing over her hot body was pure bliss, with the added benefit of getting clean again.