by Ellen Devlin
Slipping his hands behind her, Chris unhooked her bra and slid his hand back underneath to finally touch her breasts directly. Her reaction was immediate; the feeling of his fingers playing with her nipples made her gasp loudly. She looked at Chris, wide-eyed, and he kissed her. Harder this time, with more heat and less sweetness, still fondling her, gently tugging. Paige made a sound of sheer desire and grabbed his thigh.
Everything short circuited in Chris’s brain when he felt her fingers on the inside of his thigh, even on top of the fabric. His groan was deep, and he released Paige’s breasts and moved his hands back to her face, cupping her jaw as he tried desperately to find a way to disengage from the kiss while simultaneously continuing to kiss her. He finally held her face a few inches from his own, breathing hard. Her hand was still on his thigh. He was trying to think.
She moved her hand, sliding it up his thigh another inch. “Wait.” She stopped and looked at him. She was flushed and breathing hard, and he almost forgot what he was trying to say. She squeezed his thigh, and he remembered. “Oh God, Paige, you need to stop, because if you don’t, I don’t think I will be able to.” Paige laughed, a low sound that made it even more difficult for him to think, and he looked at her and smiled, asking, “What?”
She sat back, leaving her hand on his thigh, and said, “You are kind of wonderful.” His heart contracted.
“I don’t want to stop,” he said as he kissed her, and she gave his thigh another brief squeeze, causing him to make a sound of desire and frustration. “But this…with you…is amazing. Special. I don’t want to rush anything with you.” With small growl, he added, “Except that, God, I want to rush everything with you.”
She sighed and said, “I know what you mean. And thank you.” She looked at him under her lashes. “It is special, Chris. This, what I feel with you, it’s…exceptional.” He thought his heart might stop.
He stood up and pulled her into him for a hug and then laughed as she twisted away to take off her bra in the way that women could, pulling it through her sleeve. He stopped laughing when he saw that it was black lace, and his eyes got dark with desire again.
He fondled her breasts through her shirt, gently pinching her nipples, until she stopped him. “If you’re going to leave tonight, you need to stop that now.” He groaned and pulled her in for a hug again. She felt every inch of his desire hardened against her, and she had to fight the urge to run her hand up and down the firm ridge it formed in his pants.
“I’m going to be on a road trip for the next five days. I will call you. And when I get back, we can get together again.” He looked down at her. “I’ve known you two days and I already don’t want to be away from you.”
She smiled and said, “Me too.”
He kissed her again, deeply, unable to make himself stop as he moved his hands to stroke the sides of her breasts. She whimpered her desire, and he felt her press and slide herself against his erection. He groaned against her mouth, moved both his hands to her ass, and picked her up.
Paige’s arms were wrapped around his neck; she now wrapped her legs around him too. She broke away from his mouth and moved her face to his neck, placing light kisses there and up under his jawline. He was breathing hard, trying to remember…something. She bit his neck gently, and he shuddered and gripped her more tightly, his erection throbbing.
“Paige…” He was losing his mind. She bit him again, and he sat back down on the couch with her and kissed her as if he would never be able to stop. She straddled him, running her hands through his short hair, and he pulled her shirt over her head, freeing her breasts, pushing back so that he could look at her.
She was perfect. He stared at her with that look of wonder before he leaned over and took a nipple into his mouth. He sucked gently, swirling his tongue around her peak, feeling it get even harder in his mouth. She was gasping.
He brought his hand up to her other breast to gently roll and tug her other nipple while he continued to lick and suck at the first one. Paige moaned and moved in his lap, unable to keep still.
“Oh God, Chris.”
He switched sides, shifting his mouth to her other breast, fondling the first one with his hands.
“Oh,” she whispered. “Oh, yes.” Her hands were still running through his hair, holding his head to her.
He dragged his lips and tongue up her body, kissing her chest and neck before capturing her mouth again. “I don’t want to stop.” His voice was hoarse. “I want to make you come.” She made a sound of desperation and desire that fried his last brain cells. He turned and pushed her down onto the couch and reached for the button on her pants.
Paige’s phone chimed with a text message.
They ignored it.
Chris unbuttoned her pants and pressed kisses into her hips. He started to pull them off her when the phone chimed again.
Paige said, “Crap.” She grabbed the phone and saw Liz’s message:
Liz: ETA 30 minutes.
Chris looked at her, and she held up the phone. He swore and then looked at Paige and said, “I’m pretty sure I can make you feel really amazing in thirty minutes.”
Paige groaned and sat up. “I’m sure you can. And I want you to. And we shouldn’t. Because we were going to stop several important steps ago, and I’m pretty sure it’s my fault that we didn’t.” She looked at him. He was staring at her breasts, and she laughed. He looked up to her face, startled.
“Sorry. Shit, you are so fucking beautiful.” He shook his head. “Sorry again. My language is terrible, and I can’t think.” She started to get dressed. “Oh, I don’t want you to do that.”
“I know.” She finished putting her shirt on. “I don’t want to, either.” She tilted her head and smiled at him. “Thank you, Chris.” She kissed him, and he stood up and offered her a hand.
“I will call you.” He looked at her again and added, “And I’m going to have to try not to think about you during the games, because I might end up in the boards. Or the penalty box.” He smiled at her, and her insides did a flip. “I’m going to miss you, Paige.”
“I’m going to miss you too.” They kissed one more time, and he left, and she sat back on the couch, wondering what the hell she was getting herself into.
Chapter Six
“So, what happened?” Zee punched Chris in the shoulder as they were getting settled on the plane, and sat down across the aisle from him.
“What? I took her home. Beyond that, none of your business,” Chris said with a smile.
“Oh, ho! I knew it. You so owe me.”
Chris shook his head, unable to suppress a grin. “What are you, twelve? Besides, what happened with you? What did you do with Liz after you left?”
“Ha! She’s an awesome wing-woman.” He paused for a second and then added, “And possibly completely insane.” Zee looked around and lowered his voice a bit. “Would you believe she bet me that she could get me laid at the next bar?”
“Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack.” He looked around again for a second and then said, “She walked up to this really cute girl at the bar, talked to her for a few minutes, and then brought her back to the table with us so that I could buy the girl a drink.” He chuckled for a minute and then said, “She even told the girl about the bet but introduced me as the friend of her younger brother.”
Zee sat back in his seat, shaking his head.
Chris waited for more and finally asked, “So? What happened?”
With a slightly cheeky grin, Zee replied, “Well, let’s just say Liz is going to be coming to a lot of games in the near future.”
Chris started laughing. “Good God. I’m starting to wonder what we’ve gotten ourselves into with these women. Well, I guess her success in winning that bet for you would explain why she was home earlier than I expected.”
“Oh, shit, did she interrupt something awkward?” Zee leaned across the aisle. “Were you and Paige getting busy?”
“Twelve. You’re twelve
years old, Zee. I’m not talking about this with you.”
Zee settled back into his seat again, saying, “Oh, yeah. You totally owe me.”
***
“What’s up, Becks?” Micky was surprised to be hearing from Chris again so soon. They were as close as brothers, but their conversations were usually more like once a month rather than every few days.
“She’s it. She’s the one.”
Micky laughed and asked, “She’s the one what? And can I assume that we’re talking about Paige?”
“Yes, Paige. She’s the one. The One, Micky.” Chris settled into the chair in his hotel room.
“Um, okay.” Micky wasn’t sure if Chris was kidding or if he had lost his mind. It was clearly one of the two. “Did you see her again? Or are you basing this off of Friday night’s exceptionally short dinner date and one kiss?”
“I saw her again last night. And I’m serious, asshole.” Chris took a breath and let it out again. “I’m gonna marry her.”
“Oh.” Micky took a different approach. “Does she know this yet?” At an annoyed noise from Chris, he added, “I’m just checking, man! This is all a little weird. More than a little, Becks. This actually trips over into ‘fucked-up weird’ territory. If you’re serious.” He paused briefly. “Are you really serious?”
“God damn it, yes, I’m serious.” Chris calmed himself, realizing that it would be hard for Micky to understand this. “Yeah, I can see how you’d think this was fucked-up weird. And no, she doesn’t know yet. But I know, Micky. I just know.”
Micky started laughing. “All right, then. I’ll jump on board your crazy train with this. When do I get to meet her?”
“Huh.” Chris thought for a minute. “Are you going to be in Minnesota for Christmas this year?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll bring her to meet you then.”
Micky laughed again. “Okay, my brother, if you guys are still together at Christmas, then I will see you in Minnesota. That’s good, because you know my mom is going to want to meet any woman you’re planning on marrying.”
Chris smiled and chuckled. “Definitely. I would never be able to live it down otherwise. And I don’t want to get on the wrong side of your mom.”
Micky’s voice got a little more solemn. “Becks, you know I love you, man. Just be careful, all right? Don’t jump into anything that you can’t jump back out of if you need to. You just met her, you know almost nothing about her, and I don’t want to see you get screwed over. Keep your head in the game too. Don’t fuck up your playing. Got it?”
Chris understood Micky’s cautions. Micky had been in a long-term relationship that had ended very badly, with him catching her cheating. It had been dicey for a while if he was going to let it ruin his career too.
“Got it. I will not be a total idiot about this.” He heard Micky start laughing again. “What?”
“You’re off to a great start not being an idiot. Shit, Becks. Two dates.” Chris heard Micky chuckle to himself.
“I know, but I’m telling you, she’s the real deal. Not just beautiful, but smart and kind…the whole package.”
“Hell, if she makes you happy, you know I’m with you a hundred percent.”
“Thanks, Mick. You’ll meet her at Christmas.”
“I look forward to it.”
“Later, Micky.”
***
Chris called every day while he was on the road, and he and Paige talked for as long as possible, until either it was too late to talk longer or until one of them had another obligation. They talked about everything. And nothing. Considering the awkward start to the relationship, it was amazing that their conversations now seemed rather effortless.
True to his word, Zee had called Liz after the next bad game, starting the conversation with, “Hey, that game sucked. Tell me something funny.” She had laughed and obliged, rather pleased he had followed through on calling her.
Liz was intrigued seeing just how much time Paige and Chris spent talking together. There was already something radically different about this relationship than any other that Paige had been in since Liz had known her. They had been best friends since college, so that covered a lot of territory.
Chris came over to their apartment the first night that the team was back in town. Liz answered the door and greeted him with a hug; when Paige came to the door, he greeted her with a kiss that looked like it could melt asphalt.
Liz was impressed; it was almost awkward to be standing there. She escaped quietly, grabbing her coat, purse, and keys to head out of the apartment for a few hours, calling friends once she was outside to see about meeting someone somewhere for dinner, or coffee, or a movie. Anything that would require not being in the apartment for a while.
By the time Chris released Paige from the kiss, Liz had already left. “I missed you.” He looked so sincere that Paige blushed.
“I missed you too. I’m glad we got to talk while you were away. I feel like I know you better now.”
“Me too.” He smiled at her, already feeling a level of arousal that was threatening to unhinge his brain. “Do you want to go get dinner somewhere?”
“That sounds good.” She turned to call to her roommate. “Hey, Liz, we’re going to dinner.” When she didn’t hear an answer, she looked around and realized the missing purse, coat, and keys. She giggled and said, “Oh, wow. She left. And we missed it.”
“Really?” Chris took his eyes from Paige for the first time since she walked up to him and looked around. “Huh. Either she’s exceptionally stealthy, or we were very distracted.” He turned his gaze toward Paige again. “Well, I know that I was very distracted.” He placed a soft kiss on her lips. “She probably could have performed an ‘I’m leaving’ song and dance routine and I would have missed it.”
Paige laughed and blushed again, swatting him. “She is stealthy when she wants to be.” She looked at him from under her lashes and added, “But I was very distracted too. You are a distracting man, Chris Beckman.”
Chris’s smile was incredibly charming. “So apparently we have the apartment to ourselves. Still want to go out for dinner?” His eyes were picking up some heat as he spoke. “Or maybe we could order in?”
“Ordering in sounds good.” Paige’s voice had gotten a little breathy, and her heart was speeding up. The memory of where they had left off last time was causing a flood of sensations. “Are you hungry now? Or do you want to wait and order food…later?”
Holy shit. “Later. Definitely later.” Chris bent to kiss her again and lifted her effortlessly. He carried her over to the couch, sat down, and had her straddle his lap, continuing the kiss. He was already hard. There was no possibility of hiding that, so he didn’t try and pulled her close to him.
Paige let out a little moan against his lips when she felt the thickness of his arousal pressing against her. Chris ran his hands up under her shirt to play with her nipples, gently tweaking them into hard points through her bra, and then took off her bra and shirt so he could look at her again.
She was flushed, and he took his time to enjoy the view, gently caressing her breasts with his hands before lowering his head to capture one of her nipples in his mouth. He teased her breast, licking and swirling his tongue before gently sucking her nipple to a harder point, then flicking his tongue over it, making her gasp. He moved to her other breast and repeated his attentions, not wanting to be unfair.
She finally pulled his head back up to her mouth and between kisses said, “Take your shirt off. I want to look at you too.” Chris obliged, untucking and unbuttoning his shirt and shrugging it off his shoulders.
Paige stared. “Holy cow.” She looked up at him as she ran her hands over his chest. He was beautifully muscular. Broad shoulders led down to strong arms; well-defined pecs led down to gorgeous abs. And an unexpected tattoo circled his right bicep, bringing a half smile to her face.
“What’s this?” she asked, drawing her fingers along the edges of the tattoo gently. It was
attractive and well done—Celtic knotwork—but almost out of character, based on what Paige knew of him so far.
“That was the result of an ill-thought-out wager in my rookie year with Columbus.” He smiled a bit self-consciously. “I guess I should be thankful that they took me to a really good tattoo artist and not some hack.”
Paige traced the pattern with a fingertip and murmured, “It’s lovely. Quite beautifully done.” She met his eyes again and said, “I like it.”
A small ripple of relief flowed through Chris.
Lingering for a moment more in her tracing of the tattoo, she said quietly, “It’s surprising.” She turned her eyes once again to meet his and brought her hand up to his cheek. “Like a sudden edge where I expected a gentle curve,” she said as she pressed a quick kiss to his lips before returning to her inspection of his muscled frame.
Chris willed himself to stay still while she explored his upper body. Every touch of her hands sent little shocks through him, and when she started tracing the trail of hair that led from his navel down into his pants, he groaned and gently took her hand to pull it away. “You have no idea what you’re doing to me.” His voice was low and rough.
“I have some idea.” Her voice was husky, and he looked in her eyes and saw the same heat reflected back to him. Chris pulled her close so that her breasts pressed against his chest as they kissed. The skin-on-skin contact was electrifying, taut nipples against soft hair.
With another small groan, Chris pulled back from the kiss and nuzzled into her neck. “I want you so badly I can’t think straight. I don’t know how far you want to take this tonight.” He moved his face so that his cheek rested against hers. “I will go as slow as you want, Paige, but if you leave this up to me, I’m going to take you to bed. Right now.”