“Is that a hint?”
“I didn’t think it was subtle enough to be considered a hint.”
Before she could say anything else, he did a lightning-quick check there were no children close enough to be scandalized and then kissed her, deepening the kiss immediately, as if he could sink inside her. Her small hands clung to his shirt and fleetingly he wondered if his hunger for her would ever ebb. Practically, he was aware that if they stayed together for years, and right now that was a huge question mark obviously, the passion would wane. It always did, but from what his friends and teammates said, the love changed into something steadier and less volatile. Mikael could live with that.
He moved his mouth down her jawline, keeping one ear on approaching walkers. Her head fell back and he attacked her neck. Before he got too carried away, though, he remembered that without sunglasses or a baseball hat, he would probably be recognized. Considering he’d just signed in Buffalo and had been interviewed by several media outlets during the course of the tournament, a lot of people probably were aware of what he looked like.
Moving away, he pushed a hand through his hair. “We should go somewhere more private. I am afraid someone will know me, and clinging to a woman’s neck like a vampire is not the first impression I want the fans to have.”
Terri giggled. “Uh, yeah, probably not.” Standing, she offered her hand. “Walk back?”
The Riverwalk stretched for a couple of miles and, since they were in no hurry, they meandered back to the car, pointing out this or that to each other. The parking lot was only a few hundred feet away when a man stopped him.
“Are you Mikael Maata?”
Not one to deny his own identity like some players did, he answered, “Yes, I am.”
“Awesome to have you here. We’re all really excited for a great year for the Storm.”
“I hope I can help the team.” They spouted the same platitudes everywhere they went. When it came down to it, what else could they really say?
“Hearts are gonna break wide open all over Buffalo, though, if you’ve got a pretty girl on your arm already.”
Mikael had no idea how to respond to that. Next to him, Terri obviously tried to keep a straight face and it amazed him how successfully she accomplished it. For his part, his face felt hot, which meant he was blushing. Great.
“Um, well, thank you for the nice welcome.”
The man took another look at Terri. “Wait a minute. You’re that girl goalie from Team USA, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Wow, what a pair. Buffalo’s own power couple.”
Barely restraining a groan, Mikael instead offered his hand. “Sorry to run, but we need to get going. Even in the offseason we train hard and early morning comes far too soon.”
“Oh, I can imagine. Good luck this year.”
Having already said thank you, Mikael simply nodded and smiled. When they got into the car, Terri angled toward him, arms crossed.
“So now I’m a girl on your arm?” He searched her face for clues of how she’d taken the episode with the fan, and Terri didn’t seem particularly distressed, just amused.
“What is it they call those women here? Ahh,” he searched his memory bank. “Yes. Arm candy.”
“Since you could’ve gone way worse with that, I’ll accept being called arm candy.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s still pretty early, but if you’re tired I can drop you off so you can get a good night of sleep.”
“Or you could come in and make sure my bed is nice and warm when I do go to sleep.”
“Again? You think about sex a lot.”
He snickered. Though Mikael definitely wanted to spend more time with Terri, he knew it would be increasingly difficult to not want all of her. “If I remember this afternoon, you were the one that pushed me onto the bed.”
“Well, if you want to look at it that way...”
There’d been something nagging at him for a few days as he and Terri had gotten closer and Mikael decided to address it now.
“I think we need to talk.”
They were still in the parking lot for the Riverwalk, and Terri grimaced. “This sounds serious.”
“It’s not, don’t worry. We said we’d take things slow, but we aren’t really doing that. I want to protect us both, so if we go further I’ll need to go to a store. I didn’t exactly pack for this trip with sex on my mind.” Could you have spit that out any more awkwardly? Nope.
“You mean you need to get condoms.”
“Yeah, those.” If his face got any hotter he’d be able to fry an egg for breakfast tomorrow.
“We can stop on the way back if you’d like. I’m also on the pill, but I know what you mean about being protected.”
“I do not want you to think I have any diseases or anything. I don’t. We get tested often because they can really mess up your immune system. But it’s always better to be safe.”
“Oh. Yeah. I don’t either. You know, have anything. But I agree.” She blew out a breath. “Wow, for two adults we are not good at talking about this stuff.”
He decided to go for the joke to hopefully lighten the mood a little. “Maybe as we do it more we’ll get better at it.”
She laughed. “You mean get better at sex or better at talking about it?”
“Why not both?”
Terri shook her head as she started the car. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Chapter Five
Over the next couple of weeks, Mikael managed to not jump Terri every chance they got. The two of them were alone together a fair amount, since Mikael was just getting to know his teammates, and they’d had a lot of time to talk. Terri had a few close friends, but he’d learned it had been difficult for her to maintain many relationships being away at college and playing internationally.
Terri did practice with him and the guys. Many of them had watched her in the Olympics and during the charity tournament and had no problem including her. Secretly Mikael thought it pretty funny Terri made a lot of saves the other non-professional goaltender, a guy from Michigan State, could. Jordan was there too and seemed happy to work with Terri one-on-one, which thrilled her.
Brendan, the starting goaltender, didn’t spend his off-seasons in Buffalo, but came a few times and joined the practice. Mikael could pretty much guarantee he wouldn’t see Terri for the rest of the day if Brendan had agreed to work with her, which he often did. Just the fact all the guys were so nice to Terri, when they could’ve been snarky and sexist, made Mikael like them.
Of course, it became public knowledge, at least amongst their little group, that he and Terri were dating. Fine with him. The less competition, the better. Not that Mikael thought he’d lose Terri if another guy came around, but he’d rather not have conflict with these men he would be playing with for potentially the next several years.
One day, as they were practicing, Mikael noticed a larger crowd than normal. There were always a few fans who showed up to get autographs and stuff, even though to his mind it seemed like the things the players were doing on the ice would be boring as hell to watch, but this was different.
He skated over to Rob. “Why are so many people here?”
Rob glanced up at the stands. “Dunno. I don’t recognize them.” Pivoting to face some of the other guys, he asked in a low voice, “Anybody know who the suits are?”
Since play had stopped, Jordan and Terri both slowly made their way over. Jordan, not surprisingly, spoke first. “What’s going on?”
“Trying to figure out who those guys are. Awfully dressed up to watch a shinny game in the middle of the summer.”
No one knew who they were, so the game started up again. When they finished, Mikael gave Terri his usual tap with the stick on her pads. “See you in a little while.”
“Sounds good.”
Mikael got trapped talking to Jordan, who never shut up, according to the teammates who snuck out the door, smirking at Mikael’s dilemma of trying to end the conversation politely
. When he finally made it out to the lobby he noticed the men had now surrounded Terri. She looked like a deer caught in headlights. He stood behind them a little ways, not wanting to interfere, but ready to give support or even protection if necessary. One of the men gave Terri a business card, and she shook all their hands, nodding with what Mikael now knew was a nervous smile playing over her lips.
A few of them nodded to Mikael as they left, and he went over to Terri, dropping his equipment bag next to hers and leaning on the wall. “You okay?”
She still stared after the group, who were now dispersing and heading toward the parking lot. “Yeah.” So far Terri hadn’t looked at him; her mind appearing to be miles away.
“Good news? Bad news? Tell me, baby.” It was the first time he’d ever used an endearment like that and he hoped it might snap her out of the blank staring.
“What?” She turned toward him and then shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’m just...blown away.”
“About?”
“Those guys are proposing to start a women’s hockey league. Not quite like yours, and they’re only thinking six teams in the beginning, but one would be based in Buffalo. They want to keep the teams close so travel would be less expensive. They mentioned Hamilton, Toronto, London, Detroit—I think—I don’t even remember for sure. Anyway, those guys would be the owners.”
“Wow, that is very cool, though. Isn’t it?”
“Totally cool! But would it succeed? Would people laugh at us? I know there’s a women’s professional basketball league, but most of these things fold within a couple of years. Would anyone bother to go?”
“Who cares? Play for the people who do attend, and if the league does have to shut down, do something else. You might want to by then.”
“Yeah, since I’m all of twenty-three now. Better think about retirement soon.” She glanced in the direction of the parking lot again. “They said they’d only contacted a dozen players at this point, on the whole, but are planning to speak with lots of others from all over the world. I would imagine the league would need at least a hundred and forty women to have full rosters for all six teams, right? If there were twenty-three on a team?”
“That doesn’t seem hard. There are many talented female players.”
“No, not on the surface. The main problem is they can’t pay a lot. It would be enough that I wouldn’t have to get a second job outside of playing, but not a whole bunch more. I was kind of hoping to be able to play and actually make enough to pay my college loans off.”
He brought her into the circle of his arms, murmuring into her hair, “But it would be a chance to do the thing you love for a little while more at least.”
“Oh, I know. I guess I’m just overwhelmed.”
“I would be too, if it were me. Come on, let’s go get some lunch and you can tell me the rest of what they said.”
Mikael had his car now and they agreed to leave Terri’s car in the lot for now. The rink where the guys practiced was in a suburb of Buffalo, and the two of them had discovered a couple of places with healthy food. He headed for one of them, knowing Terri probably wouldn’t care one way or the other.
After they were seated and had ordered, Mikael said, “So tell me everything they said.”
Terri relayed the entire story, and when she finished she said, “They’d like to shoot to start the league this year, but they’re not sure that’s doable. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s not, but you never know.”
“That is true. Don’t worry about it. Not your problem. It’s theirs. Wait and see what they say next.” He indicated her wrap. “Now eat.”
*****
Terri had received invitations within the past few weeks to a couple of other try-outs with different minor-league teams. Mikael missed her far more than he’d thought he would, or should, when she went to the Storm’s rookie camp. They worked the prospects pretty hard and Terri crashed every night shortly after getting home.
It sucked they were still in the same town and yet he couldn’t see her. Then he felt like a baby for not being able to handle an absence of a few days. Once the season started for him, there might be much longer stretches of time when he’d be on a road trip. And what if she played somewhere other than Buffalo? He’d hardly ever see her. Mikael didn’t even want to think about that.
Finally they were able to get together the day after camp ended. She looked exhausted, but exhilarated. “I think I’ve got a shot at this job in Elmira if nothing else. Maybe I can take it if the women’s league isn’t ready to go, play for them for a year, and then switch. What do you think?”
“Sounds like a good plan to me.”
She chuckled. “You know, it’s funny. A month ago I thought my professional career was over. I played in that tournament because I wanted to help the kids, otherwise I hadn’t been on the ice much since the Olympics. And now I’ve got a couple of offers, none firmed up yet, but there at least. I’m practicing with you guys, which is awesome, by the way, and definitely making a huge difference in my play.” Terri sat on the couch next to him. “And I met you.”
“No doubt the highlight of your year. Olympic gold? Whatever.” He waved his hand in the air dismissively. Then Mikael took hold of her face and dropped a kiss on her lips. “I’m so proud of you, and I want you to know something else.”
“What?”
“I am falling in love with you, so selfishly I’m hoping you will be able to stay here, but as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter where you are or where I am. We can make this work.” He needed to believe that. In a short time Terri had worked her way into the deepest recesses of his heart and Mikael had no intention of letting her go.
Terri snuggled into him. “So when you agreed to play in that tournament, I bet you never thought you’d actually be scorin’ on the Fourth of July, huh?” She elbowed him in the ribs, grinning.
“We had sex then?” Terri gasped in mock outrage and pinched him. “Ow. No, I didn’t, but I should send Karen flowers. She’s the assistant to the GM and the one who asked me to participate.”
“As long as she’s not young and pretty.”
“No. I’ve already got one of those. Why would I go looking for another?”
“Oh, you’re good.” Tilting her head up, she said, “Now kiss me like you mean that.”
“Anytime.”
The End
Dear reader,
I hope you enjoyed this novel. As writers, we often wonder about the impact our stories have on readers. One of the only concrete manifestations of this is reviews, and if you liked this book I’d very much appreciate you taking the time to leave a review—even a few sentences!—on Amazon, Goodreads, etc. When readers ask me what they can do to help, I always say: recommend my books to your friends and leave reviews.
Like many writers, I have a driving need to tell stories of people’s lives. I have to write. Amongst other things, it gives me a freedom I find nowhere else, and I’m humbled when readers take their time and spend their money to be (hopefully) entertained or touched by something I’ve written. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Sincerely,
Cassandra Carr
About the Author
Cassandra Carr is a romance writer whose work has been praised by many prominent publishing industry media outlets such as Publisher's Weekly and Romantic Times. Her books have won several "Best Of" awards. Her novella Unexpected Top was nominated in the E-book Erotic Romance category of RT's 2013 Reviewers' Choice Awards. When not writing she enjoys watching hockey and hanging out online.
She thinks the best part of being a writer is how she writes about love and sex while most others struggle with daily commutes, micro-managing bosses and cranky co-workers. Her inspiration comes from everywhere, but she'd particularly like to thank the Buffalo Sabres, the hockey team near and dear to her heart.
To learn more about Cassandra, check out her website at http://www.booksbycassandracarr.com, like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Aut
horCassandraCarr, or follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Cassandra_Carr.
Praise for Cassandra Carr
~Caught~
Named Best BDSM Book 2011 by LoveRomancesCafe
"5 hearts! I loved seeing the relationship from Jack's perspective and experiencing his doubts about himself. Very refreshing in the BDSM genre. The sex is steamy hot and their connection intense."
~ The Romance Studio
"The sex scenes in this book were not only true to form for the BDSM lifestyle, but they were hot enough to keep me wanting to read more and more. Not only did the storyline draw you in, but the mix of the BDSM lifestyle would overheat anyone!"
~ JustEroticRomanceReviews
~Master Class (related book to Caught)~
Night Owl Reviews Top Pick; Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews True Gem; Jeep Diva Revved Up Read; Romance Novel News Recommended Read
“The writing was fresh and fun and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. ... It was a story that was perfectly written and perfectly told.”
~Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews
"Master Class is emotional without being overly angsty and touching without an excess of external drama. It’s one of the best new contemporary BDSM romances I’ve read this year."
~ Seductive Musings
~Impact (Buckin’ Bull Riders, Book 1)~
Night Owl Reviews Top Pick; BDSM Book Reviews Book of the Month for May 2012; Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews Crème de la Crème Pick
"This novel gives you a hot bull rider with a sexy controlling Dom side. If you've never read BDSM spiced story before then this book won't scare you. Best one I've read so far!"
~ For the Love of Reading
~Collision (Buckin’ Bull Riders, Book 2)~
Scorching Book Reviews Top Pick
“I was hooked into this story from the beginning and didn't want to put it down.... This book engaged my emotions throughout as I wanted to laugh, cry, and even got mad at the characters. ”
Red Hot and BOOM! A Sizzling Hot Collection of Stories from the Red Hot Authors Page 45
