by Piper Rayne
“I’m coming.” I use the last of my energy to try and pry her off my dick.
She shakes her head, not stopping and I explode in her mouth. Her eyes meet mine and she swallows—holy fuck, she swallows!—licks her lips, pulls back and smiles. I think she just put my dick out of commission for a while, but I crave the taste of her.
She happily obliges when I reach for her wrist and pull her up so she’s straddling me once more, but this time I flip her onto her back and she yelps.
“Let me repay you the favor.”
The smile that overtakes her face tells me this is another area in our lives where Mia and I are on the same page.
Chapter Seventeen
We’re on our second full day at the cabin and the signal on the television is finally working. Mia is snuggled into my side sleeping, her hand on my stomach, her breathing tickling my neck.
I’m watching a military movie hoping to wash off the three previous hours she forced me to watch Thirteen Reasons Why.
The good guys end up in a gunfight with the bad guys and the surround sound is so fucking awesome in this place I literally feel like I’m in the middle of the town they’re destroying.
The noise must be disruptive to Mia because her eyes flutter open and she slides up my body enough that the blanket drops to her waist, exposing her naked tits. Just like that, I’m a boy scout because my dick is tenting the blanket. I’m fairly sure my dick is about to fall off, but unless something changes, we’re screwed because I only have two condoms left, which if I do the math, only gives us until dinner and then we’re shit outta luck. Maybe Pinterest can tell us how to MacGyver our own condoms.
Without warning a body jumps up over the back of the couch beside me, and onto the coffee table.
I’m busy processing what’s happening until I notice Dax staring at Mia, his jaw practically to the floor.
“Fuck!” I scramble to move and cover Mia.
She wakes up in the process, her eyes blinking and closing and blinking open again. Somewhere on her journey to consciousness, she realizes what just happened. We’re outed and Dax might have seen her breasts. Her eyes narrow on me like this is my fucking fault.
“You fucker. Brandon’s really going to want to kick your ass now.” Dax points at Mia and I cringe knowing whatever is coming out of that mouth next will not be good. “Great tits, Mia. Perfect ten,” he says, all ten of his fingers spread out in the air.
Chapter Eighteen
“I take it the airport is open?” I say between gritted teeth, trying to adjust the blanket, but with only one Dax either sees my dick or all of Mia.
“Yep. You better hurry and get dressed. They’re all on their way up here. Lucky for you, Beckett and I hitched a ride first.”
I stand, my two hands covering my dick. “Let’s go.” I look at Mia and nod in the direction of the bedrooms.
She says nothing, instead laughing at me trying to cover myself. I grab the magazine off the coffee table and use one hand to cover my junk and hold the magazine over my ass.
“If you only need one hand to cover your cock, man...” Dax’s face cringes and I look around to find Beckett, but he’s nowhere.
“Please, you probably only need a Post-it note.” Mia’s come back brings a smile to my face. She’s sticking up for me.
“More like a whole pack sweetheart.” Dax winks at her.
She rolls her eyes, wrapping her blanket all the way around her and heading out of the room.
Dax jumps up off the table, his gaze set on the kitchen, no doubt to rummage through whatever we have. “Hey,” he says right when I’m about to follow Mia.
“What?” I glance down at myself to remind him once again, I’m standing here naked holding my dick in my hand.
“What’s the deal? Are you two a...couple?”
“Can we talk about his later? Maybe when I don’t have to worry about a bunch of people coming in here seeing me naked?”
He grabs a bag of chips, turns around opening the top. “That driver lady told me we only had vegetables or some shit. She’s a ball crusher, huh?”
“I’ll be back.” I start walking toward my room.
“You do that pretty boy. Oh, and Rogue?”
I huff a breath, turning around. “Yeah?”
“Nice ass.” He winks.
I roll my eyes, circling back to my room.
“I didn’t want you to think I only noticed Mia’s spectacular physique.” Dax’s laugh slowly drifts away as he makes his way through the house to check out the place.
“Shit.” I walk into my room, shutting and locking the door.
My eyes case the room, and until now I hadn’t realized what we’d done.
I pick up the lamp that’s sitting on its side, thankfully not broken. Bundling all the sheets and the comforter, I roll them into a pile on my bed then grab all the clothes up off the floor, and shove them in a drawer.
All anyone will think now is that I’m a slob.
I sit on the edge of the bed and I can’t help the thought that creeps in. What will it be like between Mia and me now that other people are around? Then the reality of Dax’s words hit me. We may not be friends anymore, but Brandon is going to want to kick my ass.
* * *
Two hours later and I’ve yet to see Mia come out of her room. The guys are getting ready to hit the slopes with the hopes that it’s not too crowded yet since the storm only ended earlier in the day.
I knock on her door and the faint sound of feet shuffling on the floor sounds through. My lips are already turning up when the doorknob twists, but when the door springs open, it’s not Mia.
It’s Demi—the auburn-haired skier with so many freckles you could play connect the dots, pursing her lips. If she were an emoji, her eyes would have question marks in them.
“Mia here?”
“Sorry, we intruded on you guys.” She opens the door wider, inviting me to step through.
“We need to practice anyway,” I mumble, heading into the room, finding Skylar on the bed, her attention fixed on me over top of the Powder Magazine she’s reading. Mia’s Gasoline endorsement ad is on the back where she has an orange mustache.
“Grady Kale.” Skylar’s voice insinuates she hasn’t seen me a long time, but I get her tone.
“Skylar,” I deadpan. “Where’s Mia?”
Her snow boots are out, her pants and jacket strewn across the bed. Of course she’s going out, too.
“In the bathroom. Getting all your cooties off her.” Demi waggles her perfect reddish-brown eyebrows at me.
“What are your intentions with her?” Skylar tosses the magazine in front of her crossed legs and piles her long dark hair on top of her head in a messy bun.
“Intentions?”
“Yeah. Like is this just a little action on the side for you?” Demi steps up close, her face serious.
I’m getting the feeling I inadvertently stepped into the lion’s den with two very protective mamas.
I shake my head. “That’s between Mia and myself.”
Skylar stands, cornering me on the opposite side. “We don’t want our friend to get hurt.” Her finger runs down the zipper of my coat like she’s flirting with me.
I pick up her hand and drop it to her side. “I’ll be back.” I step away from them and the bathroom door opens. Mia’s in her yoga pants and a long sleeve shirt that fits like a second skin on her body.
My dick twitches and I thank the Lord I’m in snow pants. These two beside me might have cut it off if they noticed.
“Hey.” I glance warily at her friends. “We’re heading out.” I head nod in the direction of the slopes.
She smiles and begins braiding her hair. Damn. She looks pretty either way, but I love it loose and wild.
“What do you say, girls?” Mia asks.
They step up shoulder to shoulder with me. “We were having a conversation with Grady.” Demi raises her eyebrows like she’s still waiting for me to answer her question.
> “ROGUE!” Beckett’s voice roars through the three-story cabin.
“Oh, Beckett’s going to save your ass, is he?” Skylar says.
I hear him coming down the hall, humming one of the shitty nineties songs he loves so much.
“In here, Beck,” Skylar says next to me. “If only you were more like him.”
I shoot her an annoyed look, rolling my eyes. What’s that supposed to mean? More like Beckett? What, afraid to seal the deal and go for what I want? Why the hell Skylar and Beckett haven’t gotten together yet I have no idea. They’re attached at the fucking hip. Even in the offseason, they get together for birthdays and shit. Friends my ass.
“There you are.” Beckett’s bright, blue eyes take in the room, spotting Skylar immediately. His smile grows. “Hey. When did you get in?”
Skylar leaves my side, her arms already extended when they meet halfway, hugging one another. “We got in an hour or so after you.”
“We’re heading out to the hills, wanna join?” Beckett asks her and she looks over to Demi.
“Is jackass going to be there?” Demi’s face droops.
Each of us laugh because her and Dax have a sordid past from the last Winter Classics and Demi can’t seem to let what happened between them go.
“Demi,” Mia shakes her head. “Grady and Beckett are going. Since when does Dax not follow them like a lost puppy?”
“Hey now.” Dax stands in the doorway, obviously eavesdropping. His gaze zooms in on Demi, raking over her body. “Demi.” He nods and winks at her.
She wraps her arms around herself. “Dax.” Her tone suggesting she just said hello to Satan himself.
“Why are we all in here? Let’s go!” Dax’s voice booms and he claps his gloved hands in front of himself.
Mia walks past me and the scent of honey—which I now realize is her lotion—wafts around me, putting my body on alert.
“We were just asking Grady what his intentions are.” Skylar crosses her arms over her chest, jutting out her hip.
Beckett’s two dimples emerge as he laughs, leaning his arm on her shoulder, waiting for an answer from me.
“Let my boy be.” Dax busts past Beckett, knocking his shoulder. “He pleads the fifth.”
Demi’s eyes shoot little daggers into the back of Dax’s head. “Most people are like the company they keep.”
My eyebrows crinkle. “I’m not like Dax.”
Mia’s behind me now so I can’t see her expression or what she’s thinking about this whole interrogation I’m suffering through.
“Really?” Demi doesn’t appear to be sold on my upstanding character.
“Beckett isn’t like Dax either,” Skylar chimes in and as suspected, this little mobster role-playing scene was Demi’s idea.
“Thanks.” Beckett winks at Skylar and her attention flies to his lips.
It’s like two blind mice with those two.
“It wasn’t my fault that you...” Dax is ready to hammer it down on Demi but we need to keep this cordial. We have two more nights to be together as a group and I’m not about to spend it refereeing Demi and Dax when I could be fucking Mia.
“Yeah guys, we’re still figuring this out, so cool it, okay?” Mia comes to my side with just her snow pants on, her tits so tightly tucked into her shirt, her nipples can’t be missed.
I smile down at her and swing my arm around her shoulders. “I’m just going to say this and then it’s end of the conversation, okay?”
Dax’s eyes are fixed on Demi and Beckett is smiling toward me, the two other girls’ heads are tilted, waiting for me to reassure them they won’t be having a devastated, heartbroken friend in a few weeks’ time.
Dipping Mia, she yelps, but I swallow it down as I kiss her hard, fierce, and hopefully answer every last question of whether she’s just a good-time girl to me. Her hands fist my jacket, keeping me pulled to her and if all the assholes weren’t in the room, I’d suggest hitting her before hitting the slopes.
Instead, I prop her back up, leaving her breathless with rosy red lips and cheeks. That lazy pleasure-filled smile covers her face. I hope that smile never leaves her face when it comes to me.
“There. Now let’s go,” I say like it’s settled.
The other four mill around the room, all mumbling about public affection and they would have taken my word, but after they file out and Mia pulls her jacket on, I cage her to the wall by her bedroom door.
“Tonight, I want you in my bed.” I bend down and kiss her neck.
“Maybe I want you in mine.” There’s a lightness in her tone, which I love because I haven’t heard her use it with me in years.
“I don’t care whose bed we’re in, as long as we’re in it together.”
She grabs my jacket, pulling me close. “Me either.”
I kiss her and grab her hand, leading her to the great room, but she stops me.
“What?” I turn around to see what the hold up is.
She bites her lip. “Um...”
“You having doubts?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “It’s just, Brandon called.”
It’s something I know I have to address, I was just hoping for more time before I had to. “And?”
“He’ll be there when we get to Korea. One of the TV stations asked him to be a guest announcer for the Classics.”
I try to keep my face neutral as if I’m not concerned what he might think of me and his sister.
“Did you tell him about us?”
She focuses her gaze on something over my shoulder. “Not yet. I didn’t know...”
I step into her, gripping her hand tightly in mine. I give her a light peck on the lips, hoping to ease her anxiety. “I’ll take care of it.”
She grins, seemingly feeling better about it, but my own stomach feels like I ate a bomb and it’s ticking, ticking waiting for Brandon to cut the wrong wire.
Chapter Nineteen
The airplane turbulence rumbles the queasiness in my stomach further. This flight to Korea feels like it’s never going to end.
Mia is fast asleep, her head lying on the pillow by the window, earbuds in her ears, an American flag blanket pulled up to her chin.
The seatbelt sign dings and I pick up my whiskey on the rocks, folding up the tray table. The entire plane is dark except for the glow of cell phones sprinkled throughout the rows of travelers. Dax is sprawled out over three seats in the middle. Beckett looks over, raising his water to my drink as he studies video footage of his competition in the upcoming competition. Always the preparer. Skylar’s head rests on his shoulder as she points to the iPad screen and murmurs something to him.
The chilled glass rests in the palm of my hand and my gaze once again lingers on Mia. I pull my phone from my sweatshirt, wondering how I explain what’s happened between us to Brandon. Although, when we were younger the jokes never bothered him about Mia’s crush on me. Like maybe he thought it’d be cool if I dated her. Our families were so close back then.
I felt Mia’s tension rise when we boarded the plane and came that much closer to facing her brother. Which means what Brandon thought four years ago, may not be what he thinks now.
She moans softly and nestles into the pillow more, her tongue licking her lips. I rack my brain for a reason. To tell Brandon exactly how this all came about. How Mia and I went from hating to...I don’t know what. Surrendering? What I do know is that I’ve been enjoying the hell out of her warm body next to mine at night. We’ve been training every day, but our energy’s never too drained to get in another workout in the bedroom.
The plane dips again, a little more abrupt this time and Mia’s eyes flutter. I admire her, the deep breath she inhales when she first wakes up, the way her eyes look around like she slept so deeply she may have forgotten where she was. Then her gaze lands on me and the corners of her lips tip up and as quick as a snap of a finger, I feel like I’m already standing on the center podium, leaning down to claim my gold medal.
“Hey.” H
er voice is soft and lulling. She sits up, a slight tilt of her head, pulling the earbuds out of her ears. “What’s wrong?” Her gaze fixates on my drink for a second but returns back to my eyes.
“Nothing, just admiring how beautiful you are.”
Her smile widens and my heart swells. And yeah, I know what a lame ass that makes me sound like, but there’s no other way to describe this feeling.
“Hmm. You sound guilty or something.”
I chuckle and then look around, quietly leaning forward and placing a kiss on her lips.
She welcomes my advance and then licks the seam of my lips. My hand slides around the back of her neck, pulling her toward me and I pour all my admiration for her into the slow rhythm of our tongues sliding against one another.
“Mmm,” she coos as I close the kiss. “I love waking up to you.”
I wrap my arm around her and she lifts up the seat separator, curling her legs up into her and letting her head fall to my shoulder.
“Sleep,” I whisper.
She peers up at me, her fingers wisping along my five o’clock shadow. I see it, her acknowledgment of what it means that I’m awake on a plane at one in the morning with a whiskey in my hand. Like everything else in our past, we push it to the back burner because we know, like a timer on a bomb, its counting down on our happy bubble the closer we get to the Winter Classics. It won’t just be us—my parents will be there, her parents, the press, and most of all, her brother—all to remind us how insane we are to think there can be something lasting between us.
Her breathing evens out almost immediately, her hand stuffed into the pocket of my sweatshirt. The seatbelt light goes off a few minutes later and the flight attendant comes by and I hand her my whiskey. Wrapping my arm around her shoulders, I let her honey scent intoxicate me because I’m going to enjoy our happy bubble while we still have it.
* * *