Rookies Say It Better: Book 2 in The Minor League Mayhem Series

by Heather C. Myers

  “I promise I will never let him hurt you ever again,” he said. “You understand, Noah? I promise.”

  “Why?” Noah pulled away from him, standing up, looking away. “Why are you willing to do that for me?”

  “Because,” he said, standing up, “because even though I don’t show it, I care about you. And I don’t want to see you hurt.”

  Noah stared so deeply into his eyes that he wasn’t sure what to make of it. Then, without warning, she filled the distance, stood on her toes, and pulled him in for a kiss.

  14

  Noah

  The last thing Noah expected was to kiss Alec, but there she was, doing just that. For a minute, Noah thought she ruined everything. Sure, the two had kissed before, but kissing in front of a crowd in order to make believe that they were together was much different than kissing at home, alone, where no one was watching. Kissing Alec like this revealed that she did want to kiss Alec whether people were watching or not.

  And she did, she realized. Maybe part of it was the emotions she got swept up in, the exhilaration of what happened with Aaron, how Alec protected her. Maybe being wrapped up in Alec made her feel safe. She didn’t know the answers. She just knew that she wanted this, and she hoped she hadn’t ruined everything with him by indulging herself.

  She pulled away, trying to read his pale green eyes, trying to see how he felt, how he was reacting. When he stood there, staring down at her, not moving at all except to breathe, she shook her head. Yes, she fucked everything up. How could she be so stupid?

  “Sorry,” she said, running her fingers through her hair. “Alec, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean –“

  Before she could respond, he stepped forward and grabbed her face with his hands, crashing his lips onto hers. Noah didn’t even have time to take a breath. She didn’t care. His tongue slid against her bottom lip and she opened up to him. She wanted to feel him, wanted to feel this. Her fingers tangled in his hair and she pulled him down to her, pressing her body against his. One hand dropped from her face and coiled around her body like a viper – strong and tight.

  When breathing was required, both pulled away. Noah ignored her reluctance to do just that. She couldn’t look at Alec. Instead, she looked at his neck, the slope of his collarbone. How was something so innocuous so suddenly masculine? Was she going crazy after her encounter with Aaron, or was it something else?

  “Never,” Alec said, catching her attention. She looked up, startled to see his gaze was locked onto hers, “ever apologize for kissing me. Especially when you kiss me like that.”

  Noah swallowed. Her skin erupted into little goosebumps and she tried to keep herself from revealing the way she was so completely shaken by Alec and the kiss and being in his arms.

  “What if,” she asked in a voice just above a whisper. She swallowed. She wasn’t sure if she should say anything. Then again, she couldn’t stop herself from doing just that. “What if I want to do it again?”

  Alec’s eyes darkened to a forest green, shooting lighting to her pulsating pelvis. “I wouldn’t stop you,” he replied.

  Her eyes widened slightly, though she wasn’t quite sure why she was surprised. Alec had kissed her twice now, in ways she had never been kissed before.

  “What are we doing?” Noah asked, pulling away from his lips for the briefest of moments. She shouldn’t have said anything, shouldn’t have ruined something that was going well, but she had to. She didn’t want to give herself to Alec only to then be heartbroken. She didn’t want to trust someone again only to be used. “You hate me. I hate you.”

  Alec kissed the underside of her jaw. “I do hate you,” he admitted. “But the past week or so of you being here has made me realize there’s a thin line between hate and love, and I’m teetering on that line with you now.”

  Noah scoffed, even through the haze. “Please don’t tell me you’re trying to pull the I love you card in order to get laid,” she said. “I think we’re both grown up enough to realize that love isn’t a prerequisite for sex.”

  “Hmm.”

  Alec continued to kiss her but didn’t say anything else in response. Noah wasn’t exactly sure how to interpret that. On the one hand, part of her wanted to think he was agreeing with her, that life itself was done construct that they shouldn’t lie about. Love was great, but what they were both experiencing wasn’t love, and to pretend it was felt cheap and inauthentic. But a much smaller part of her wanted to believe that this could turn into something great, something filled with love and positivity. But then, she shook herself free from those thoughts. Because life wasn’t something that existed - not really. It was all brain chemistry tricking the mind and making people believe they felt this social construct. Noah would know. It happened with Aaron. She wouldn’t do that again to herself.

  His hands skimmed the hemline of her shirt and brushed against her flesh. Immediately, Noah flinched, her eyes snapping open. Alec pulled his hands back and opened his eyes to look at her.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. “I’m sorry.”

  “No.” Tears bunched in her eyes. “Please don’t apologize. I...” She loosed a breath. “It’s not you. I promise.”

  “Well, we can stop,” he said. “I don’t want you to feel pressure to do something you don’t want to do. I’m not going to get angry or upset. It’s not going to make me think less if you if you want to stop.”

  “But that’s the thing,” she said slowly, daring to meet his eyes. “Alec, I don’t want to stop.”

  Alec’s eyes widened. Noah had no idea why he would be surprised upon hearing that, especially when she practically threw herself at him. But it seemed to be the case.

  “I want you,” she continued. She had no idea where these words were coming from, but the second she said them, she knew they were the truth.

  Alec pulled back and looked at her. His eyes were still hazy with desire but he seemed intent on making sure that what she said was the truth. She nodded, hoping to emphasize her point.

  He placed his hands on her waist and slowly lifted up her shirt. She raised her arms to help him. Her heart slammed against her chest. She was nervous. She had no idea why she was even in the mood. But Alec was safe. More than that, he was someone who desired her as a person. It wasn’t as though Alec liked her before this. He was never trying to make her his trophy, someone he could manipulate and toy with. Someone he could control. Aaron looked at her as someone who probably annoyed the hell out of him. He looked at her like she was his equal. And he desired her because she offered him a challenge. Right now, she wanted to connect to that. She wanted to feel what it felt like to connect with someone on that level because she never had before.

  It wasn’t long before the two of them were both stripped down to their underwear. The movements were slow, filled with tenderness and anticipation. Noah knew it was because Alec didn’t want to push her. She wouldn’t be surprised if Alec was waiting for the other foot to drop, waiting for her to reach out to him and tell him to stop.

  But she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t do that.

  After Alec stepped out of his jeans, he grabbed her hips with his hands. The shock of his hands on her bare skin paralyzed Noah in a way she hadn’t expected. She sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes rolling back as her hands gripped the back of his neck. He pressed his body against hers. She could feel his desire for her, could feel it pressed against her hip bone. Instead of pulling away, instead of being embarrassed or scared, she pressed against him.

  He groaned, a soft sound that filled her ear and made her body thrum. How could someone like her have this much power over Alec Sinclair, hockey extraordinaire. It made no sense.

  When she was with Aaron, Aaron made her feel like sex was his reward. He didn’t care about her pleasure, though his ego liked to think he was an astute lover who knew her body like the back of his hand.

  He didn’t.

  He just cared about himself while she was an afterthought. Granted, she had no id
ea how this would go with Alec, but the fact that he allowed himself to show that she was pleasing him, allowed himself to be vulnerable in front of her, made her realize that this could be different. Hell, it already was. And as exhilarating as that was, it was like she was having sex for the first time. She had no idea what to do.

  “Noah,” Alec breathed, taking a step back. She wasn’t sure why until his eyes traveled up and down her body, taking her in completely. Noah felt her face warm. She wasn’t used to being studied so thoroughly. The only person who did something like that was Aaron, and it was only to point out if something was wrong with her. Not because he was awed by her beauty. “You’re beautiful.”

  “Thanks,” Noah said. For some reason, she didn’t feel shy. Just surprised. She hated to admit it, but she couldn’t help but feel like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop, like he was going to say she was beautiful but her stomach was too soft or the freckles across her chest were too ugly or she had the world’s smallest nose. Except, Alec hadn’t said any of that.

  “If you, uh…” He reached up to cup the back of his neck with his palm, and suddenly looked so much younger that Noah wanted to take him in her arms and hold him. “If you don’t want to do this, I understand.”

  “Alec, I already told you,” she said, catching his eye. “I want you.”

  “I just, once we start, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop. And I want you to know that now before anything happens. You always have that option. To stop. Obviously. But… but stopping now would be less painful than stopping later.”

  Noah smiled at that moment and took a step towards Alec, then another, until she was right in front of him. Rolling onto her toes, she pulled Alec in for a deep kiss. His arms wrapped around her. He led her to the bed. When the back of her knees hit the mattress, he gently eased her down and crawled on top of it.

  “You have protection?” she asked through each kiss.

  “Always,” he said. He pulled off of her to retrieve a condom. In seconds, he ripped open the foil and slid it on before climbing back on top of her and kissing her again and again.

  Alec slid inside of her with ease, filling her up more than Noah expected. She wrapped her arms around him, sinking her nails into his flesh. He hissed and her pelvis twinged. There was something powerful about making Alec Sinclair hiss and groan and anything else.

  Once she relaxed slightly, he began to build up speed. Her eyes closed on their own accord, but she held onto him, pressing against him. She needed him. She needed this release. She needed to feel what pleasure felt like with someone who cared.

  It wasn’t long before her orgasm began to build. Slowly, at first. And then all at once, until she was falling off the precipice before she even realized she had been placed there.

  Alec’s own breathing grew ragged and it wasn’t long before he followed her bliss, clutching her to him tightly. She could barely hold onto herself, let alone him, but the warmth that filled her body, both physically and emotionally, stayed with her for the rest of the night.

  15

  Alec

  “You slept with my best friend?” Lily asked in a low voice, her eyes trailing over to Alec’s bedroom door. Her hands were tightly bunched up against her chest, her jaw locked even as she spoke words. “Are you insane? Do you not think with your brain at all? I don’t understand how you could think that that would be okay? Like, where do you get off –“ She stopped herself. “Oh, I know where you get off.” She wrinkled her nose. “You are so gross.”

  “Oh, but it’s okay for you to sleep with mine?” Alec returned, arching a brow. The last thing he wanted to do was pull himself away from Noah, but a couple of hours after their time together, he had had to pee. He shifted gently, not wanting to wake her, and managed to pull away without doing just that. She must have been tired, probably because of all the stress she had had to endure.

  Lily opened her mouth, thought about it, and then closed it. She cleared her throat and looked away, shifting her weight. They were in the kitchen. Lily happened to be awake – something Alec found odd since Lily was not a night person – and when she saw Alec, she demanded to know where Noah was. Alec, not thinking quickly, came up with some ridiculous answer that even he couldn’t remember currently.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought, Lil.” He smirked.

  She rolled her eyes. “That’s beside the point, Alec,” she said. Her eyes kept going to the door, her mouth twisted into a scowl, though he could tell she was doing her best to keep her voice down. She began to pace, all but stomping across the carpet. Even that she did softly, probably not wanting to disturb their downstairs neighbors.

  “Then, what is the point?” he asked.

  “The point is, you shouldn’t be sleeping with my friends,” she said again. “I don’t have a reputation of loving and leaving women.”

  “Well, neither do I,” he returned, turning so he could face her. “I don’t love anyone, except for myself, so your entire evidentiary claim is false.”

  “Just because you watch Legally Blonde with me does not mean you’re suddenly a legal expert, Alec,” Lily said. “We both know you have a reputation. Noah is in a vulnerable place right now, and you took advantage of that. You slept with her, and she wasn’t ready for that! I can’t believe you.”

  “Hey,” he said. “She kissed me. Without going into too much detail, I gave her plenty of opportunities to back out.”

  “That’s you going into no detail?” Lily wrinkled her face. She caught sight of the door, staring at it intently. There was something on her mind, Alec could tell, but what that was, he couldn’t even guess. That was the problem with Lily. It appeared as though he could read her thoughts, but then she would say something completely random that had nothing to do with his guess. “You aren’t going to hurt her, are you?”

  Alec opened his mouth to refute such a claim, and then paused. He hesitated. “It’s more complicated than that,” he said. He stepped to the sink, noticing Noah’s mug from before. He could still see bits of hot chocolate on the sides of it. Without realizing what he was doing, he turned on the faucet and waited until the water was hot. He grabbed a sponge and began to wash it.

  “I don’t understand,” she said, her voice flat. She made her way across the kitchen until she was next to him, reaching the sink a few seconds later. She tilted her head to the side and waited.

  Alec tried to ignore the expectant look on his sister’s face as he rinsed the soap off of the mug. He had no idea why he was even washing this in the first place. He sure as hell didn’t wash dishes and he had no idea why he was starting now. When he finished, he turned off the faucet and grabbed a towel to dry it.

  “What’s not to understand?” he asked without looking at her. “I mean, you and Jack are together, right? Do you see me complaining about it?”

  “Uh, every day,” she pointed out. “You make your snide little comments all the time. You think Jack likes it?”

  “He’s dating my sister,” Alec pointed out, setting the mug down. “Why the fuck do I care if he likes it or not. He has to realize that this is the treatment he receives for crossing that line.”

  “There’s a line now?”

  “There’s always been a line amongst men, okay?” Alec said, leaning back against the counter. “Men don’t date their sisters. And not, like their sisters. More like… you know. The other sisters.”

  “I’m just going to stop you right there before you confuse yourself and this turns into a sad moment of you trying to explain yourself while digging yourself even further into a hole,” she said, holding up a hand. “What about the rule between brothers and sisters?”

  Alec wrinkled his forehead. “There’s no rule.”

  “Of course, there’s a rule,” she said. “Brothers and sisters have to promise not to sleep with each other’s friends.”

  “Okay, fine. You’re breaking the rule, aren’t you?” Lily’s eyes went wide at Alec’s blunt accusation and turned from him to head to
the living room. “I know you are.” He quickly followed. “You don’t have to say anything. So, why can you do it, but I can’t? How is that fair?”

  “It’s not,” she said, lifting his shoulder into a shrug. “You’re right about that, but unfortunately, that doesn’t change anything.”

  “You know she’s going through something, right?” Lily dropped her voice considerably, and took a step towards Alec. He stood behind the couch. He could feel the droplets of the water that were still there from him washing the mug seep into his shirt, pressing against his skin. “I’m not going to tell you what it is because it isn’t my place to do so, but you do realize that she’s here for a reason. She’s not living here just to live here. This isn’t some sleepover arrangement where me and her are giddy and listening to Spice Girls and consuming cheese whip.”

  Alec scrunched his nose. “Please don’t tell me you actually consume cheese whip, Lily,” he said. “Even you are better than that.”

  “Alec,” she hissed. “I’m being serious.”

  Alec let out a breath and looked away, his eyes trailing over to the door he had emerged from. He knew what Noah was going through. He didn’t want her to continue to go through it. Talking about it just made him angry. He didn’t like know Noah endured something that vile, that terrible. He wanted to go find her ex and smash his face in. Part of him didn’t even care about the damage it would no doubt do to his career. He just wanted the satisfaction of seeing pain flit across his face, of hearing bones crunch underneath his knuckles.

  “Yes,” he said finally, looking back at Lily. “Yes. I know, okay? I know what she’s going through. She told me.”

  Lily blinked once. “She told you?” She crossed her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes. “What do you mean, she told you?”

  “I don’t know how else you want me to say it, other than she told me,” Alec said.