“Aren’t you the same guy who pissed her off enough to earn himself a slap upside the head and a challenge on the ice that he lost?”
“Yup.” I grinned at him.
“And now you’re her biggest advocate. Young guys and their dicks,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “Do me a favor and don’t let yours get you into trouble until after we’ve earned ourselves a championship cup.”
“I won’t.” My dick was finally pointing me in the direction of the right woman. I had no intention of messing things up with her.
“If you can get the PR team on board—which we both know you’ll be able to do since Jason’s girlfriend will love the idea of helping you impress a woman—and facilities management is okay with the extra work they’d need to do to clear the ice between her training and our practice, then it’s fine by me if she uses it on days we don’t have a home game.”
“Consider it a done deal, starting tomorrow.” I wasn’t going to take no for an answer, not when it was within my power to make Tamara’s stay in Chicago easier on her. It wasn’t just because I wanted back in her pants, either. It bugged me that she had to go hunting for ice when we had an empty sheet of it here that she could use and nobody thought to offer it to her. She was an Olympian, for fuck’s sake. She deserved some goddamn respect as a fellow athlete.
“It’s a good thing you’ve got the skills on the ice to back up that cockiness, Forrester. Or else I wouldn’t put up with your shit.”
I skated away, determined to remind him why I was worth the bother. I turned in one of my best practices in a long time, and still had energy to spare during the power skating session with Tamara. It was one of those days when everything went my way, and I even ended up beating two of our fastest forwards in a couple of the races. I felt on top of the world when I headed upstairs to talk to Cee-Cee.
“Hey, Ryan,” she greeted me when I rapped my knuckles against her open office door.
“You got a minute?” I asked, flashing her a charming grin.
“Sure,” she laughed. “Just remember I’m still new around here. Don’t make me regret it or else I’ll have to sic Jason on you.”
I dropped down onto the chair in front of her desk, chuckling. “He might be your boyfriend, but he’s my line mate. He wouldn’t hurt me.” She rolled her green eyes and smiled confidently. “Okay, he’d hurt me for you. But not too badly when we’re in a race for the playoffs.”
“You’re probably right,” she sighed. “So what can I help you with?”
“Coach hired an Olympic speed skater to run power skating drills for the team.”
“And that means something to me because...?”
“She’s in training for 2018 in PyeongChang, and I’m trying to swing it so she can use our ice to do it.”
“She is?” Cee-Cee squealed, clasping her hands together. “That would be amazing! Is she open to the idea of doing interviews? I could easily line some up, and it’d be both to her benefit and the team’s since good press means more butts in seats.”
“I’m pretty sure I can talk her into some interviews if it means she gets to skate here since the arena is so close to her apartment.”
“Wonderful! I’ll get to work on it as soon as she gives me the green light.”
“Plan on it being soon,” I told her as I stood. “Thanks.”
“Hold it. Not so fast there, buddy.” Her green eyes narrowed. “Anything else you want to tell me about the woman you’re running around doing favors for? Like when you guys met, and if she has anything to do with the way you’ve been avoiding all the puck bunnies who throw themselves at you?”
“As our publicist has drilled into our heads, I’ll have to go with ‘no comment,’” I answered.
“Well played,” she laughed.
Cee-Cee’s excitement about publicizing Tamara’s role with the team added to my good mood. A quick conversation with the Zamboni driver, and I had his agreement to clear the ice after Tamara was done with it each day.
What I didn’t have was any way to reach Tamara to share the good news. I hadn’t asked for her phone number before she left my place that morning. I figured I’d be able to easily find her since I’d see her at the rink, but she hadn’t been there until right before our power skating session and then she’d left again before I had the chance to talk to her about my plan to get her ice time at the arena.
It shouldn’t have been a big deal since her apartment was so close to mine, but she hadn’t answered her door any of the times I’d walked down to knock on it. I’d been home for a few hours already and had basically been walking the hallway hoping to bump into her the entire time. Like a damn stalker.
“Desperate times and all that bullshit,” I muttered to myself as I pulled my door open, for what felt like the thousandth time, and almost collided with her in the hall.
Chapter 8
Tamara
“Oomph!”
Strong arms wrapped around me, and the citrusy smell of Ryan’s cologne filled my nostrils as my nose bumped into his sweater. I’d spent the day reminding myself of all the reasons why it was smart to keep my distance from him—my raging hormones whenever he was close being at the top of that list—after it had only taken one evening and morning with him to convince me that I probably shouldn’t have bailed on him the night we slept together...and that was after he’d been a complete ass at the rink.
Ryan was hell on my willpower, so it figured that I’d bump into him as soon as I came back to my apartment. It barely took any effort on his part to get me to do things completely out of my character. Like the urge I had right then to yank him even closer and kiss the hell out of him.
Taking one last breath of his scent deep into my lungs, I forced myself to take a step backwards instead. He was dressed in dark blue jeans and a forest green cable-knit sweater that brought out the green in his hazel eyes. A lock of his dark hair hung over his forehead, and his mustache and beard looked freshly trimmed.
He looked deliciously perfect, while I was a disheveled mess after my strength training session at the gym since I hadn’t bothered to do anything more than brush my wet hair after I took a quick shower. Damn his sexy ass for catching me like this when he had the upper hand.
“I’m glad I caught you,” he murmured. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“Umm, okay.”
His door was still open, and he tugged me through it into his apartment before I could suggest we go over to my place instead. Not that it mattered where we were; what was important was that we were alone. Again. And there was a bedroom just down the hall.
“What’s up?” I blurted in an effort to shove any thoughts of what we could do on his mattress out of my head.
“Come sit down with me.” He pulled on my hand and led me to his couch, settling us next to each other on the cushions.
I was getting the feeling that he had something serious to discuss with me, and my stomach started to tie into knots. “What’s going on?” An idea popped in my head, and that nervous feeling took a turn to nausea. I yanked my hand out of his hold. “Do you have a girlfriend?”
“No! Shit, Tamara. There’s nothing wrong,” he assured me. “And I sure as fuck don’t have a girlfriend.”
“Oh.”
He wrapped his hand around mine again and smirked at me. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounded like it’d bother you if I did.”
“Maybe.”
His smirk turned into a full-out grin, and his eyes filled with humor.
“Oh, stop,” I sighed. “It doesn’t necessarily mean anything more than I wouldn’t want to come between another woman and her man. And with our history...” My cheeks filled with heat as I realized I’d just brought up the very topic I’d hoped to avoid.
His hand tightened and he shifted closer. “I didn’t have one back then, either.”
“Good.”
“About that night—” he started.
“I don’t do one-night stands,” I i
nterrupted. I wasn’t sure I was ready to hear what he had to say about what happened between us, but I definitely wanted to get that out in the open. “I’d had a shitty day the night I met you and you were...well, you.” I waved my free hand at him. “You’re too sexy for my own damn good, but then I woke up the next morning and had no idea how to handle the whole thing.”
“So you ran,” he murmured.
“Yeah.”
His thumb swept across my palm. “But it wasn’t because of anything I did wrong?”
“No, it wasn’t you. It was just me and my awkwardness.”
“I can’t say that I’ve never done the one-night stand thing before you.” My heart dropped, but it soared again with his next words. “But I can tell you that I haven’t been with anyone else since that night with you.”
“Nobody?” I gasped.
“You’re a tough act to follow, Tamara.”
“Wow,” I breathed. It’d been months since that night. Not for one second had I ever thought to even hope he’d spent all that time alone—like I had.
“See, that right there is why I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind. Only you could pull off that irresistible mixture of adorable and so damn gorgeous at the same time.”
My hand trembled in his hold, and his compliment made me blush. “I’m not the irresistible one in this duo.”
He tilted my chin up with his finger. “I’ve got a solution for that.”
“Oh, yeah?” I murmured.
“Yeah,” he echoed softly, his head bending towards mine. “Stop trying to resist me and go with it. Give this a chance.”
“This?” I whispered against his lips.
“Us, Tamara. Fate gave us a second chance, and I’d like to use it to see where this thing between us goes.”
I needed a little more clarification before I did something I’d regret later. “‘This thing’ as in a possible relationship?”
“Definitely a relationship, baby. Now that I’ve found you again, I’m not going to settle for anything else. I’ve gotta make sure you don’t have reason to run again.”
Running was the last thing on my mind as he claimed my mouth in a passionate kiss. Fisting his hands in my hair, he held my head in place while his tongue tangled with mine. Just like it had so many months before, his kiss set my body aflame. By the time he lifted his head, I could barely catch my breath.
“You have no idea how relieved I am that you said yes.” He rubbed his nose against mine in a gesture that should have been cute but instead had me shivering at how intimate it felt.
“As if I have the willpower to say no to you.”
“Is that another yes?” His hand wrapped around my back and pressed us close together, my pebbled nipples brushing against his chest.
“Yes to what?”
His cheek slid against mine, and he whispered his answer into my ear, “To letting me have you again. It’s been too long since I felt your tight pussy wrapped around my cock. I need you so damn bad.”
My walls clenched at the reminder of our night together, my body screaming for me to agree. So I did. “Yes.”
We tumbled back onto the couch cushions, ripping at each other’s clothes—just like we had in his hotel bed the night we met. His mouth devoured mine, and I dragged his sweater over his head. Then I went after the snap and zipper on his jeans while he stripped me out of my long-sleeved shirt and bra. His hips lifted up to let me drag his jeans and boxers down his legs while he whipped my workout pants and underwear off my body.
With his body levered over mine, I trailed my fingers over his chest and down his abs, wrapping my hand around his cock as his mouth claimed mine again. “Fuck that feels good, baby,” he groaned, his hips rocking and pressing his hard-on deeper into my palm. “Too damn good since it’s been so long.”
He trailed his mouth down my chest to my breasts, nibbling and sucking on one while his hand kneaded the other. I kept working his cock while he switched back and forth between my breasts until I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Please.”
“Not until I make you come with my mouth. I miss the taste of you.” He kissed his way lower. “And I’m not going to last long once I get inside you.”
He slid off the couch, going to his knees on the floor and settling my legs over his shoulders. The muscles in his arms flexed as he cupped my ass and lifted me towards his mouth. With his hazel eyes locked on mine, he lowered his head and swiped his tongue through my wetness.
“Ryan,” I gasped, my fists pushing against the couch cushions while I lifted my hips higher.
He took that move for the encouragement it was and devoured me. Sucking. Licking. Fucking me with his tongue as he built the need within me. And when he slid two fingers inside me, I flew apart. He ate me through my orgasm and then crawled onto the couch with me, wrapping my legs around his waist and positioning his cock at my entrance.
“Fuck,” he bit out. “I don’t have a condom.”
“None?” I gasped.
“I told you,” he growled. “There hasn’t been anyone since you, so I haven’t needed ‘em.”
“I’m on the pill.” His hips jerked forward at my admission.
“Are you saying I can take you bare?” His head dropped against my forehead, his eyes blazing into mine. “Fuck, please let that be what you’re telling me.”
It was way too soon for promises, but he’d called what he wanted a relationship and wanted to forgo condoms and there was only one way that was going to happen. “If I’m going to trust you with my safety, you have to promise me there won’t be anyone else.”
“I swear it, Tamara,” he hissed out, rocking his hips forward and inching inside me. “I have no desire to be with anyone else. You cast some sort of spell on my cock and it only wants you.”
“I guess that makes it mine, huh?” I laughed.
He pushed forward slowly, inch by inch until he was buried to the hilt. “Just so long as you know your pussy is mine, too.”
I nodded jerkily, and he pumped his hips. He thrust in and out of me hard, pinning my hips to the cushions with his hands to hold me in place. It didn’t take long for another orgasm to build in me.
“So close,” I panted.
He swiveled his hips and ground against my clit, sending me over the edge. With my pussy clenching down on his cock, he planted himself deep and exploded inside me. As we both tried to catch our breath, he wrapped me into a tight embrace and rolled onto his back. Lying in his arms and basking in the afterglow of my orgasms, I felt like I could run a marathon even though I was still jet lagged and had a double workout day, with sessions both on and off the ice, plus power skating drills with the team. Sex with Ryan did wonders for my stamina.
Chapter 9
Ryan
Watching my girlfriend on the ice never got old. Hell, neither did calling her my girlfriend. Not even after a month of dating her. I got the same kick out of thinking of her that way as I did saying it aloud to the guys and rubbing in their faces how wrong they’d been about my chances with her.
The morning after we got together again, we’d headed to the rink to set up a short track on the ice so she could use it for her morning training—after she’d sucked me off to show her appreciation for me getting permission for her to use the team’s rink. And then I’d gone down on her to return the favor, which led to us finally fucking in my bed...and almost being late to the arena because I’d been thoroughly enjoying having a girlfriend.
It wasn’t the last time we barely made it to the rink in time because we could barely tear ourselves away from each other. This morning was no different.
“Judging by that shit eating grin on your face, things are still going well for you and Tamara,” Jason murmured as he joined me where I leaned with my elbows on the low wall in front of the bench.
“They sure as hell are,” I admitted, my grin only getting bigger.
“A whole month,” he chuckled. “I never thought I’d see the day where you�
�d be with the same woman for more than a night or two.”
“Look at her out there.” We both turned and watched Tamara move on the ice. She was almost a blur as she skated past us, bending so low her hand brushed the ice as she took a turn around the short track I’d helped her set up a month earlier.
“I still can’t believe they let you mark the ice up.” Jason shook his head.
I glanced down at the dark purple spots in the ice which were already barely visible. “You should have seen the look on the facilities manager’s face when I told him we’d need to drill the ice and pour colored water into it.”
“It probably matched most of ours as we watched you desecrate the ice for a woman.”
“Like you wouldn’t have done the same damn thing if Cee-Cee asked you,” I grumbled as I bumped my elbow against his.
“There’s no denying that I’d do just about anything my woman asked of me,” he agreed. “But you’d only been with her for a night before you started acting as crazy as me. That’s got to be a record of some kind.”
“Ahem,” I coughed.
“Dude. I was right there”—he pointed to the far end of the ice—“when you met her. I saw it with my own damn eyes when you shoved that big foot of yours in your mouth and almost lost any chance in hell of getting in there with her. Are you telling me it was all an act and you guys already knew each other?”
“No, that was real. I was too damn close to fucking it all up with her.” I glanced over my shoulder to make sure nobody was behind us listening in. “It just wasn’t the first time we met.”
“What the hell? When did you meet her? What happened? And why didn’t you ever say anything about her?” he fired off his questions.
“About four months ago, when we were in Anaheim for a game. I met her in a club, one thing led to another, but she disappeared in the morning and I didn’t know how to track her down,” I rattled off before punching him in the shoulder. “And it’s not like you can give me shit for keeping my mouth shut about my mystery woman when you did the same damn thing with Cee-Cee.”
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