by Aliyah Burke
Why is one woman seated in the stands so damn important to me? Or rather a woman who should be seated there.
Years of being on the ice and instinct had him reacting even before he knew what was going on and stole the puck from the young forward on the opposing side, who’d not kept it as controlled as he would have liked. The roar of the crowd, friend and foe, pounded into him but he ignored it, as well. Victor was to his right and blowing by him was another teammate to give him more support.
Him to Victor to F.P and back to Sergej as they lined up for a goal. Their goalie was experienced; he’d been in the league for a good number of years and wasn’t easily drawn into an awkward situation that could be used to their advantage. Sergej heard his teammates calling out to him, and he sent it toward F.P.
Back and forth, it went, when F.P. got a lucky break and sent it in to the net. “Yes!” Sergej hollered, pumping his fist into the air as he congratulated his teammate. “Good fucking job, man.”
“Thanks.”
Despite being an away game for them, their fans roared in support, chanting F.P. over and over. Out of the corner of his eye, Sergej saw one of their fighters take a swing at F.P. and reacted. Typically, they dropped gloves and tossed some ineffectual punches. This wasn’t one of those times. Pissed about Constantine not being there, his emotional reaction to that in itself, and wanting to protect one of his younger teammates, he threw a real punch. The second the Gambler player hit the ice, Sergej knew he was headed back to the box.
A major, this time, and he swore as it was confirmed.
Still, his teammates didn’t seem upset as he skated to his home for the next five minutes.
“We got this, Markovich. Don’t worry.” Victor slapped him on the shoulder as he went by.
On the ice, five minutes blew by. In there, not so much. It dragged on. With each passing second, Sergej felt the itch between his shoulder blades and tried not to react. He drank some water, using the opportunity to replenish some of the lost fluids in his body.
As before, when the timer hit zero, he burst out of there, rejoining his team. They’d managed to hold them off again, and he homed in on the puck and set out after it, determined to make up for that last penalty.
Streaking up behind the Gambler player who was trying to dig it out from the boards, Sergej slammed into him, smashing him hard into the Plexiglas. Sergej lifted his gaze, and his breath left his body in a rush—staring directly at him was Constantine.
She’d paused in the process of taking off her coat and watched him back. Her lower lip caught in her teeth, she waited. His hands itched to touch her again, but he looked away and skated off. Now wasn’t the time to pine; now was the time to win.
Victor scored the winning goal at the end of the game, and as they swarmed him, Sergej glanced back to where he’d been stealing peeks all night—now that she’d arrived—and found Constantine and Vale cheering along with the other Raptors fans.
In the locker room, he showered and spoke to reporters. He itched to get going, to find Constantine and go from there. Preferably to her hotel room or take her back to his. Dawdling until Victor headed out, he fell into step with him, bag slung over his shoulder.
A few of the lingering fans waylaid him, and Victor carried on by, leaving him alone to deal with the women. He smiled and signed autographs as he watched Victor with Vale and Constantine. His gut tightened when she wrapped her arms around his friend.
“I have to get going; thanks for coming out and supporting the Raptors.” He handed back the program to the young man who’d asked for his signature.
“Just one question,” a reporter asked, tape recorder shoved forward into Sergej’s face.
Biting back his irritation, he arched a brow. The man took it as a sign he could continue.
“When you slammed that player from the other team into the glass, what was going through your mind?”
Same thing that was going now. He tore his gaze from the woman who’d snared him with only one night, one look, one touch, and put it on the reporter. “Mine.”
He strode off. Constantine had her arm around Victor when he approached them, and her eyes widened slightly at his arrival. Vale gave him a wink, and he realized she knew what was going on, or had gone on, between them. Victor was none the wiser. One, he still touched Constantine, and two, he’d not hit Sergej.
“Good game, Sergej,” Vale said. “Penalty sucked, but at least, you won.”
“We’re a good team,” he replied, eyes locked on the woman to cozy against his friend. “Constantine.”
Her lids fluttered slightly. “Hello, Mr. Markovich. Congrats on the win.”
He longed to touch her, allow her curls to fall along his skin once more. How the hell is she calling me Mr. Markovich when I’ve had my cock so far into her it was as if I could feel her heartbeat? Her legs have been clamped around my head as I tongued her pussy. Yet, here she stands as if none of it happened between us.
“We were going to grab something to eat, Sergej. Care to join us?” Victor’s invitation drew his attention from the woman beside him, however briefly.
“I would love to.” He looked directly at her again, holding her gaze.
“Great, we can meet at Alfonso’s. I’ve been told that’s good around here and not one of their local hangouts where we’d spend the entire night dealing with pissed off Gambler fans.”
“I know the place.”
Victor laughed. “I know you do; I recall you leaving with more than one woman from there. I was talking to Vale.”
Vale cleared her throat. “I’ll find it well enough. I’ll meet you there.” Her eyes narrowed on Sergej. “What about Constantine?”
“What about Constantine what?” the smallest of the group demanded. “Stop talking about me like I can’t find my way around a city. I’ll get there.”
“I’ll take her,” Sergej said, eyes still locked on Constantine.
Victor looked at him, one brow lifted. “You’ll take her?”
This was not the jovial friend. This was a protector tone.
“Yes. You are talking about meeting at this place. I have my rental. I can drive her.”
Victor dropped his gaze to Constantine and gripped her chin. “You okay with this?”
Sergej longed to smack Victor’s hand off her, but Constantine didn’t seem to mind his touch. He clenched his fingers into his palm.
“You sent him to pick me up from the airport. He was a stranger, then. I know him now, and besides, we’re just going to a restaurant. It’s not like we’re sneaking off to Vegas to get married.” Her hand gripped Victor’s wrist, unable to circle the full thing. “I’ll be fine. He treated me just fine the first time I was in his hands. He’s capable.”
Victor snapped his gaze to Sergej. “So long as he realizes you’re not a puck bunny.”
“Well aware,” he replied. “We’ll be right behind you.”
His teammate dipped his head and whispered something in her ear. She laughed, and Sergej’s gut clenched with need at the sexy sound.
“Come on.”
With those fans who’d waited behind watching, he gestured for Constantine to join him and placed his hand at the small of her back.
“See you in a few,” Vale called out.
He didn’t give Constantine a chance to turn and talk to her friend again, just got her moving toward where he’d parked his rental. Instead of his car, he’d gotten an SUV and tossed his bag in the backseat then held the door for her.
Positioned where she’d have to brush by him to enter, he gripped her waist, halting her. When those brown eyes of hers met his, he couldn’t think past the here and now. Dipping his head, he kissed her. Relief filled his body as her taste reawakened the cells that had aligned to her.
“I missed you earlier. You weren’t there.”
She grabbed a fistful of his light jacket, dragging him closer still, hooking one leg around the back of his thigh. “I was running late. Then, I had to wait to get throu
gh security and find the seat.” Winding her left arm around his neck, she drew him down for another kiss, one he gladly supplied.
“You’re like a drug.”
“So, stop,” she said, not releasing him at all.
He put his hand between her legs and rubbed the jeans against her pussy. She moaned and bucked her hips. Her fingers tugged his hair, and she trembled.
“I lied; don’t stop. Oh, God, I’m going to come.”
He glanced around the empty area. Given where he’d parked and the size of his vehicle, he had no problem with what he was about to do. “Yes, yes, you are,” he promised.
Hefting her and setting her on the seat, he pushed her so she lay back along the bench seat. Then he tackled her jeans, maneuvering them down enough he could have access to her pussy. “All night, I’ve been thinking about this sweet pussy,” he growled. “And, now, I’m going to have it.”
Yanking the panties to the side, he pressed his mouth there, lapped at the seam and was rewarded with her exquisite taste. She whimpered and sank her hands into his hair.
“Fuck, yes,” she cried out.
Sergej pushed two fingers up inside her as he continued toying with her clit. Circling it, flicking it, drawing on it. Pumping his wrist, he drove her hard and fast to the edge. Her muffled cry reached him seconds before her thick cream did. Swapping out fingers for tongue, he pushed it as far into her as it would go, capturing all he could of her.
As she lay quivering on the seat, he pushed up to his feet and kissed her, shared her taste with her as he held her tight to him. Her hands on his cock froze him.
“We don’t have time.”
“Yes, we do,” she said. “I want you inside me. I want you to fuck me.”
His cock throbbed at her statement.
“Someone could come at any time.”
“I’ll come again if you give me your cock.”
“I meant someone else.”
“Then, you should hurry. We are supposed to go to dinner, and we still have to get the smell of sex off us. May as well give me what I crave.”
She jacked him as she spoke. Hell, he didn’t even remember her loosening his pants. All he knew was now he was in her strong hand. Her thumb swiped the head, smearing the beads over him. When she sucked her thumb, he knew he didn’t have the restraint to resist any longer.
Dragging her to the end of the seat, he lined himself up with her pussy. She moved her panties to the side and licked her lips. Sergej pushed into her with one smooth stroke.
“Yes,” they both drawled.
αβ
Constantine sipped her Coke as she listened to the twins argue. She struggled not to squirm on her chair. Wasn’t easy; she was still tender from the quick fuck Sergej had given her in the parking garage. Vale continually flicked her gaze between the two of them as if searching for something. A secret.
Well, sure, Constantine had one. A big one, but she wasn’t about to give any of that up.
“Let it go, Vale,” Victor said, his tone final. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” He looked at her. “How are you doing, Connie?”
She grinned. “Just fine, Vicki.”
He scowled. “I’ve told you don’t call me that.”
“As have I.”
He held his hand up. “Understood. Constantine.”
“Victor.” He scowled, and she drank some more. “Tell me, doesn’t it bother you?” She glanced quickly to Sergej, who watched her with hot eyes that had her wanting to crawl into his lap and going from there. “All this fanfare where you go?”
“I like it,” Victor admitted.
“It’s all part of the job,” Sergej added. “If you refuse to talk to them, they stalk you and try to find the smallest thing they can. There are some things I won’t discuss with them, but for the most part, you can deal with them, and they aren’t bad.”
“You’re better than I am. I’d not like my personal life, hell, my life, period, in the public eye. What about you, Vale?”
She ate a bread stick. “They don’t like me. I’m too damn brash, nor am I gay. They try to force me into being gay since I’m a woman who plays hockey, and well, there’s not a visible man in my life that they know about. As if I’m the only one who plays. It kills them they can’t say I have anger issues.”
Constantine snorted. “You, not have anger issues? Please.”
“I meant about discussing my sexuality, bitch.”
“Oh, sorry. Should have clarified that.” She winked at her best friend.
“I’m just saying, since I’m a woman who plays what they still consider a man’s sport, I must prefer a woman in my bed. And that would explain my anger. I’m not gay—I definitely want a man in my bed, I don’t fit their stereotype of a female hockey player, and I curse even in interviews. They’re not sure what to do with me.”
“Interesting. Guess it’s a good thing I’m not in your profession.” She cut up her steak. “Although, I can agree with them on something. You don’t look like a hockey player.” And she didn’t. Vale had a body she could have graced on a catwalk with.
“You don’t look like an underwater welder.”
She toasted Vale with the glass. “Point taken.” Including the guys in once more, she asked, “So, what happens now? You won tonight, so that puts you in the semifinals. Who are you going against?”
“The Lightning.”
She held Sergej’s gaze as she ran it through her mind. “Tampa Bay, right?”
His possessive and heated stare did unmentionable things to her body. Her belly clenched with this need she had since realized had gotten out of control since she’d met him. “Yes.”
“And when you win, who will you play?”
“I like the attitude,” he said with a grin. “Confident we’re going to win.”
“Confidence isn’t something lacking at this table. I’m with three hockey players, and I weld underwater, sometimes in places people don’t ever want to be in. I watched you two tonight out there for that last period and a half.”
“I know.”
His phrase gave her pause. While she knew he hadn’t answered her other question, she let that go, wanting to know how he knew that. “What?”
“You were watching me every time I looked up at you.”
“Wait, why were you looking at Constantine?” Victor interrupted them.
“Why not?” Sergej countered. “She’s beautiful.”
His words were enough to make more butterflies erupt in her stomach.
Vale smirked and drank her wine. “You know he’s going to find out. You should just tell Victor, so he’s not trying to figure it out. He’s a hockey player, not a member of Mensa.”
“I’m still smarter than you, sis.”
“To many biscuits to the noggin if you think that’s the case.”
“Vale,” Constantine interrupted the bickering siblings.
“Sergej?” Victor questioned his teammate.
“What do you think I mean by it? Very simple statement. Do you disagree that she is beautiful, Victor?”
“No, that’s not what I mean. I’m thinking you don’t need to be commenting on her beauty. And I don’t want you touching her. I didn’t send you to pick her up to give you a weekend fuck.”
“Trust me, she is not a weekend fuck.”
Lord, she didn’t have enough alcohol within reach to deal with this conversation’s direction. “Can we please change the subject? Don’t get me wrong, I love the protective big brother thing you have going on but not really comfortable with you lot sitting around discussing my love life and whether or not it’s allowed.”
Sergej slid an askew glance at her. “Love life?”
“Fine,” she uttered, exasperated and more than a bit embarrassed. “My fuck life.”
Vale picked up on her mounting frustration and launched into attacking her brother. Which left her and Sergej basically alone.
He was at her right and leaned closer. “Think they would notic
e if we slipped out?”
Gods, the pure temptation in that tone had her half out of the chair before it sank in. “You are dangerous.”
“No more than you are.” He put his knee up to hers. “Come back with me to my hotel.”
She cut her attention to the twins, who currently remained embroiled in their own drama. They loved each other but could fight over anything and everything.
“No,” she answered Sergej.
“Why not?” His knee pressed harder against her, and she trembled at the simple contact.
It doesn’t make sense for my response to him. none of it. We have nothing in common, and yet, all I can think about is being with him. Cripes, I’m turning into one of those ruled by passion and not common sense.
“You’re thinking too hard. Come with me.”
“Nope. I’m leaving early tomorrow. Gonna spend time with my girl.”
“You know it will be better with me.”
She shrugged, and he raised his eyebrows. “I’ve never slept with her, so I’m not able to respond to that.”
His grin was panty-soaking. “Me either, but I’m confident.”
Vale snared her attention, and Constantine let his comment go. After they ate, she hung back while the guys spoke to a few people who’d recognized them. Vale dropped an arm around her shoulder. Her friend was six-two, like her brother.
“You know we’ll catch up later.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You going back with Sergej instead of me.”
“I’m not going with him.”
“You want to, right?”
Sure, she did. “That’s not the point, Vale. I came out to see you and spend time with you. Not be one in a long line of women for a hockey player.”
“The way and the number of times he’s watched you tonight, I don’t think he views you in that light.” She squeezed her arm. “Go, have fun. We can catch up at the other games.”
“Other games?”
“The semifinals. You have to come. We have an extra ticket for you.”
