Take The Shot (Philadelphia Bulldogs #1)

by Danica Flynn

  I felt even more confused when he texted me asking me to come to the game this morning. I liked coming to the games, but I felt weird coming to them and sitting in the section with the other WAGs. Being friends with TJ and Noah meant that I had met a few of them before, but I felt like I didn’t belong. After tonight, he would be on the road for a week, so I didn’t know when we would get to talk about what had happened. If it had actually happened, my brain was still not computing.

  I cheered with the rest of the crowd when TJ checked Daniels hard into the boards. Revenge was sweet, and TJ was Noah’s bud so he was always the hot-headed scrapper on the ice that was going to stand up for his teammate. I had to admit I loved their bromance. The team somehow pulled the win out of their ass, and everyone was in high spirits. The team was headed straight to the airport for a three game stretch starting in Detroit, but Brianna and Mia had invited me out with them to grab a drink. I still didn’t feel like it was quite my place, so I declined and went home instead.

  I laid on my couch playing video games and generally not wanting to go to bed when I got a text from Noah.

  NOAH: I feel bad I had to go right to the airport.

  ME: I understand.

  NOAH: Can we talk when I get back?

  I sighed. I had a feeling that was coming, and I wasn’t sure what direction it would go.

  NOAH: In a good way…I think I’m making this worse.

  ME: Okay…

  NOAH: I’m sorry.

  ME: For what?

  NOAH: Are you mad about last night?

  ME: oh, honey…no…def not mad.

  NOAH: oh! Ooohhhh!!!

  ME: I’ll see you when you get back, okay? Good luck tomorrow.

  NOAH: Will you watch?

  ME: Always!

  NOAH: Hey! Send me your book so I can read something on the plane.

  ME: FIIIINNNE!

  I set my phone down, but internally I was screaming. I pulled my laptop over to the couch and emailed him the first draft. I honestly didn’t think he was really going to read it. It was just a simple teen love story, why would he be into that?

  My phone buzzed again on the coffee table, but when I looked at it, it was TJ, not Noah.

  TJ: Woman, give me details!

  I had to laugh at that. TJ was such a nosy fucker. He might be a smidge worse than my brothers.

  ME: NOPE!

  TJ: You both suck.

  TJ: ooh…or was that what happened?

  ME: You’re a perv, no.

  TJ: TELL ME!!

  ME: Mind ya business.

  I set my phone down and leaned back onto my couch with a sigh. My phone continued to buzz, but I ignored it. My head was swimming with thoughts of Noah. He wanted to talk when he got back, but I had no idea what that meant. Talk about what? Was he interested in me? Or was he trying to just get laid? I honestly would have been up for either.

  I had an itch I really needed to scratch and I was willing to have the Canadian giant that lived next door to me scratch it, if he was interested. Based on the way he had looked at me and how he had kissed me, I was sure he would be up for it if I offered.

  Chapter Six

  NOAH

  Finally making a move on Dinah before a road trip was decidedly a super dumb idea, because now I just had all these pent up emotions about it. I wanted her to feel the same way, but most of all I wanted to kiss her until it hurt. It was affecting my playing, I was distracted and mopey and all my teammates kept ragging on me about it. The only thing that got me through were the text messages we had sent back and forth to each other.

  So when I was sitting in an UBER with TJ finally on my way back home, I was surprised to get another text from her.

  DINAH: I need a man’s opinion.

  DINAH: That means you.

  ME: LOL. Okay??

  She sent me a picture of herself. She looked nice in the photo, she was wearing a professional looking red pencil skirt, and an animal print blouse with a black cardigan over it.

  DINAH: I need this to say PROFESSIONAL. And not “hey grab my ass.”

  ME: Looking H-O-T!

  DINAH: Fuuuuckkk. I have a meeting with a client, and I need to make sure he gets that it’s NOT a date.

  My blood boiled at that thought. Dinah had told me that sometimes she meets with clients that seemed to not understand that she was a professional and they flirt aggressively and try to buy her drinks. I told her she should tell her boss and not work with these clients, but she just shrugged and said it didn’t matter. It made me want to track down all the assholes who ever grabbed her ass and punch them in the face.

  TJ leaned over my shoulder and saw my screen. He nudged me with his elbow. I swatted his hand away. “Tell her she’s looking good,” he teased.

  ME: TJ says you look good.

  DINAH: FUCK!

  DINAH: Thanks!

  I put my phone away and saw TJ was smirking at me. “What?” I asked.

  “So when are you going to finally ask her out?”

  I shrugged. “I told her I wanted to talk when we got back.”

  TJ groaned. “When girls hear you ‘want to talk’ they think that means you want to break up!”

  I threw up my hands in defeat. “We’re not even dating!”

  He put his head in his hands. “Dude, you’re hopeless.”

  I leaned back on the headrest. “Do you think the age difference is weird?”

  “Why because D’s thirty? Why should that matter?” he asked with a shrug of his shoulders.

  It hadn’t really bothered me at all, but I had a feeling that it bothered her. She thought her life would have been different, but she ended up widowed and losing her baby before she turned thirty. Why would she want to hook up with a dumb hockey player like me for?

  TJ nudged me. “It’s not going to bother her either. She likes you.”

  I bit my nail. “You really think so?”

  He rolled his eyes at me. “Yes! Or at least you two need to bone one out soon or you’re going to explode!”

  I stared at him with wide eyes.

  He tipped back his head and laughed. “Seriously, you don’t notice how she’s always eye fucking you?”

  “What?” I asked incredulously.

  No way.

  There was no way that was even true. I knew I caught myself staring at her and wondering what it would be like to slip her clothes off. I wondered what it would be like with her underneath me, or on top of me, or even what it would be like to take her from behind. I was a guy after all, but there was no way in hell that Dinah thought any of these things about me. Girls didn’t undress guys with their eyes.

  “She does!” he insisted. “You’re both too oblivious to notice it.”

  I didn’t say anything else for the rest of the drive back to our condo. I still didn’t believe TJ, but I was tired after the road stretch and it would be nice to be back in my own bed. I planted my body onto my bed in exhaustion. We didn’t play another game until Thursday, two days from now, so it was nice to have a break. These road trips could be a huge bitch, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I loved that I got to play hockey for a living. It was truly a dream come true.

  TJ knocked on my door. “Hey, Hallsy and Riley want to go out and get drinks, you in?”

  I didn’t want to move from my bed. “Nah, you go on ahead.”

  TJ eyed me carefully. “Uh huh.”

  “What’s that face for?” I asked and threw a pillow at his head.

  He smirked. “Use protection!” he yelled after me.

  I rolled my eyes at him and settled back down onto my bed. I looked at my phone, but didn’t see any more texts from Dinah. We still needed to talk, even though that wasn’t exactly what I had in mind at the moment.

  ME: Hey…I’m finally home.

  DINAH: Come over! I just got back from a work thing.

  I was really tired, but I was not tired enough that I didn’t want to see her. Seeing her was all I could think of all week. I
pulled myself off of my bed, grabbed my wallet and keys and walked next door. I leaned over the doorframe trying to look all cool when I knocked.

  She opened the door with a smile on her face and pulled me down to her height into a hug. “Noah! How’s your head?”

  I let her pull me into her condo and smiled at her. “I’m fine.”

  She bit her lip. My eyes scanned her, and she was still in the outfit from earlier, I guess she decided not to change. The skirt was really short, and I wanted to see it pooled around her ankles. Even more so when she walked into the kitchen and rummaged around in the fridge for a beer. I cocked my head to the side as I checked out her ass. I had to calm myself down, sex could come later, right now I wanted to tell her how I felt.

  I straightened up when she turned around, but I was pretty sure she caught me staring. I took the beer she handed to me, but I didn’t really want to drink it. She leaned up against the kitchen counter and looked up at me. I tucked my hair behind my ear nervously, I wasn’t sure where I was even supposed to start.

  “So,” she began. “What did you want to talk about?”

  I gulped. “Um…that wasn’t just a fluke.”

  “What?”

  “When I kissed you.”

  “Oh.”

  I cocked my head at her. “You said it was okay.”

  She nodded. “Noah, I kind of thought I dreamed it.”

  “What?” I asked confused.

  She took a step towards me and pulled me by the collar of my shirt down to her height. Her breath was hot on my lips and my breath hitched in my throat. Damn, she knew how to work me. On their own, my hands settled onto her waist and my mouth hovered over her lips.

  “Is this okay?” I whispered.

  She pulled my lips to hers and I smiled against her mouth. My hands gripped her waist and I lifted her up onto her kitchen counter. I felt my cock pushing against the zipper of my jeans when she wrapped her legs around my waist and pulled me closer. She made a little noise in the back of her throat, of both surprise and contentment, so I pressed on kissing her, sliding my tongue across her lips. She opened to me and her tongue flicked back at mine. I dug my hand into the flesh of her hips pressing her further into the countertop.

  There was no way this was actually happening. I must have been asleep in my bed dreaming. I should have pulled away, and just did what I came here to do, but I was definitely thinking with the wrong head tonight.

  She moaned when I pulled my mouth away from her lips and kissed down her throat. I traveled down to her collarbone where she giggled at the ticklish feeling and then I slowly trailed my kisses up to her ear. She shed her black cardigan and I pushed back the sleeve of her top to move my lips down to her bare shoulder. She pulled me back up to her lips and continued to kiss me, licking into my mouth urgently. I clenched her thighs wrapped around me with my hands, and pressed myself into her center.

  “Oh!” she exclaimed when she felt my hardness on her thigh. “Shit! I thought you wanted to talk?”

  I sighed and tried to untangle myself from her, but she clenched her heels wrapped around the small of my back as if daring me to walk away. “D, we should talk,” I said urgently, my breath coming out in pants.

  She grinned up at me, and leaned forward to press a kiss gently on the hollow of my throat. “We could always do that later. I am fine with…whatever this is,” she whispered huskily.

  Oh, fuck…

  “I—I didn’t come over here to jump you, I do really want to talk to you about how I—”

  She cut me off by snaking her hands around the back of my neck and slanting her mouth onto mine again. I moaned into her mouth when her nails grazed my scalp ever so gently. She pulled away just as suddenly as she pulled me down to her. Her green eyes were ablaze with a fiery passion and I knew there was no way we were getting through this night by talking about our feelings. Her movements were fierce and hungry and her eyes flashed like she wanted to gobble me up, and I was going to let her.

  “Noah, take me to bed,” she ordered with a sexy growl.

  I’m not sure if she did that on purpose, but the sound of the demand on her lips went straight to my dick. A woman who told you what they wanted was sexy as hell. I took a breath and looked her in the eyes, searching to make sure she really wanted to do this.

  “Are you sure?” I asked, hesitantly.

  “What do I have to say to you? Take me to bed and show me what you’re made of!”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice.”

  I grinned at her, pulled her off the counter and carried her to her bedroom. Her hands clutched my shoulders and she kept her legs wrapped tightly around my middle. Once my legs crossed the threshold of her bedroom, she untangled herself from around my waist and planted her feet firmly on the floor. I sighed in relief when I heard the zipper of her skirt and I watched nervously as she pulled her shirt over her head.

  My mouth watered at the sight of her in just her bra and panties, her small form ready for me to slip those off too. She crossed over to me and smiled at me seductively before she pushed me down onto her bed. How could a woman this tiny bring me to my knees like this?

  “I think you have too many clothes on,” she insisted in a low growl and climbed on top of me, straddling my hips and grinning down at me.

  God, that growl, it was really turning me on. My hands reached up and traveled up her back. I kissed her, but I pulled away. “Are you sure?” I asked for the second time that night.

  She rolled onto her back and pulled me on top of her. Urgently her hands went up my shirt to grip my back and she pulled my t-shirt over my head. “Stop asking for permission. Yes.”

  I paused. “This isn’t exactly how I wanted tonight to go.”

  “Noah, shut up and fuck me.”

  She kissed me before I could protest, her hands furiously undoing my jeans and pushing the materials down my muscular thighs. I kicked them off hurriedly along with my boxers. I wanted this so bad, I was throbbing for her. I was a gentle guy in bed, mostly due to my size and not wanting to intentionally hurt a woman when I slept with them. Some women said I was a bit submissive, and I would admit I did like a woman who took charge in the bedroom. Dinah probably thought because I was a hockey player, I was like the rest of those alpha-male types hanging around the dressing room, but I was never that guy. I liked to please a woman, but I definitely liked a woman who took what she wanted.

  “Dinah,” I breathed. “Is this what you want?”

  “Hell yes,” she answered and shoved my hand into the waistband of her panties.

  Fuck yes, Dinah did like to take charge. That was sexy as hell to me. She thrusted her hips up and I let my fingers do the talking. I had no idea that the first time we took each other to bed it would be with her itching to shed ourselves of all our clothes and me being the one with trepidation.

  “I’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” she admitted through a moan. I removed my fingers and she whined. I undid her bra and slid her panties off.

  “Yeah? Me too,” I panted.

  I stopped asking questions then, and dipped my head between her thighs to please her with my mouth. I wasn’t really good at this, at least that’s what other girls had told me, but the way Dinah moaned my name made me realize maybe I just wasn’t with the right people. Maybe I just hadn’t found the right woman.

  I felt her hands grip my hair and push me into her more, guiding my head to where she wanted my tongue to move. My tongue rolled around her, her moans acting as encouragement to keep going. I breathed in her scent and licked laboriously all up and down her slit, stopping to pay attention to the sweet nub of her clit.

  She gripped my hair harder in her hands. “Oh…Noah…fuck!”

  I lifted up my head to stop and saw her head was lying back on the pillow and her eyes were glassy. It was sexy as hell. “What? Did you want me to stop?” I asked with a wicked grin.

  Her eyes snapped down to my level. “Hell no!”

  “Tell me what
you want.”

  “You. Right now, inside me.”

  I put two fingers inside her and she bucked against them as I dipped my head to kiss one breast then the other. I wanted her to come on my hand or on my mouth, but I hadn’t decided on which yet. I just wanted to please her. It was sexy as fuck the way she was moaning my name. I never thought I would hear her moaning my name outside of my dreams.

  “Fuck…” she trailed off in ecstasy when I returned back to her folds to lick and suck at her again. Her moans got heavier and I held her thighs down with my free hand feeling them start to shake as she came on my face. I gave her a few soft final licks before lifting my head up from between her thighs.

  I wiped the back of my mouth and climbed out of the bed looking for my jeans. I didn’t even know if I had a condom in my wallet, if I did, it might have been a little old. Fuck. I heard her fiddle around on her bedside table. “C’mere. I have one,” she told me.

  I climbed back on top of her, rolled the condom on and looked into her eyes before I pressed on. “Is this okay?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she moaned. “Please.”

  “No,” I stared down at her serious now. “Dinah, I’m serious, are you absolutely sure you want to do this? With me?”

  The look on her face kind of crushed me, because she looked so hurt at the question. “Why wouldn’t I want to do this?” she asked.

  I reached one hand down and cupped her jaw. “I just want to make sure you won’t regret this.”

  She lifted her face up and kissed me tenderly. Her hands snaked around to thread through my flow, and then she gripped the back of my neck tightly. Her eyes were alight with passion. “Kennedy, you better get fucking inside me right this instance,” she demanded.