Puck Master (Puck Battle Book 6)

by Kristen Echo

  Joe piled her plate high with spaghetti and meatballs. He sat next to her at the table and watched her. “At some point, you’ll tell me about your past. Ask and I’ll tell you anything you want to know about me. I’m an open book. You aren’t. The only stories you tell are about your previous missions and army stuff. Those are interesting, but I want to know why you are closed off.”

  Two bites into the meal her stomach roiled. “I have my reasons. Why do you care? It’s not like we’re friends.”

  He leaned in closer until his lips hovered near her ear. “We could be friends. Would that be so wrong?”

  Meagan and Cameron joined them at the table and both had extra rosy cheeks. Seeing her sister so in love made her smile. She avoided his questions and took another bite.

  Joe leaned back in his seat. “You’re not as tough as you let on,” he commented.

  She rolled her eyes. He was wrong, but he’d have to figure that out on his own. “You’re too soft. You can’t please everyone, Joe.” Her stomach settled, and she moaned as another mouthful slid down her throat. “Did you make this?”

  “Ordered. I aim to please,” he said and shifted his chair closer. “Once we’re alone, I can show you.”

  “The lines just roll out. Your mind is on sex twenty-four-seven. Must take an army of women to keep up with your appetite,” she teased.

  He shrugged off her comment with a lopsided grin. “I think about hockey too.”

  Exactly what she thought. He wasn’t interested in more than good times. There was no worry about attachment or the future. Their time together had a shelf life and would expire soon enough.

  “Speaking of hockey, the playoffs are about to start. Are you guys excited?” Meagan switched the subject, and they spent the next hour discussing the hockey schedule.

  The guys explained what it meant to be the number one team in the league and how that improved their odds. Soon they’d play the wildcard team and have home ice advantage. The first two games would be at home, followed by two on the road. The first team to win four games out of seven advanced. It seemed like a lot of playing with little downtime. Joe would be busy if his team won all three rounds, making it to the championship series. It wasn’t a shoe-in as all the teams were great and had their strengths. Still, both men were confident they’d bring home the Cup.

  His confidence attracted Hailey. Joe loved his sport and his silky voice lured her in. She could have listened to him talk shop all night. As the men continued their hockey strategizing, Hailey and her sister moved to the living room.

  Meagan updated her. She was no longer working for Mr. Northcote and had officially moved into Cameron’s house. She gushed about Cameron’s daughter, April, whose nightmares had reduced in recent days. Hailey wished she could say the same. Either way, it lifted her spirits to see someone in her family living a happy life. Her sister idolized Joe and wanted all the details about what they were doing together. “Spill. No more evasive questions. I want details.”

  “There’s nothing to tell. It’s not serious,” she answered truthfully.

  “Looks like more to me. Let me give you my two cents. Joe is a good man. Remember that he’s the one who saved Connie and I from those men. There’s a special place in my heart for him, but if you think he’s not boyfriend material, then that’s too bad.” Meagan gave a wistful smile.

  No longer wanting to analyze her relationship with Joe Larson, Hailey switched gears. “Speaking of that event, do you remember much about the men who chased you? I wonder if there’s any connection to my case. It’s a long shot, but any details might help.”

  “Gosh, I’ve been trying to forget it ever happened.” Meagan closed her eyes. “Um… the truck was white, I think. There were two men. I’m sorry, it’s been too long.”

  “It’s okay,” she patted her sister’s hand. “If you remember anything let me know.”

  Joe and Cameron approached, and Meagan jumped into her man’s arms. “We should head home. It was hard enough convincing Dora to babysit in the first place,” Cam said, hugging Meagan close.

  “Won’t you consider coming with us?” Her sister asked as they moved towards the door.

  Hailey shook her head. “If I need you, I’ll call.”

  “She’s staying here. Case closed.” Joe hugged Hailey from behind. His head rested on her shoulder. “You two run along and send April’s grandma home.”

  Meagan smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “That woman hates me. But she loves April.” She pulled on her coat and zipped it. “Hailey, you won’t call, but I love you anyway. Be safe.”

  Joe hugged both of their guests and Hailey waved goodbye. She leaned against the wall as he locked the door behind them. Alone at last. Only she wasn’t in the mood to rest.

  She gazed at Joe. “So…”

  “Are you going to fight me now? Do I need to convince you stay?” He stepped towards her and his fingers trailed along her arm.

  There was no fight left in her. All the guilt and fear faded when she looked into his eyes. Living for the moment was all that mattered.

  “I could be persuaded.” Hailey fisted his shirt and dragged him towards his bedroom.

  Once there, his big hands convinced her to stay. His mouth convinced her to get naked, and his cock convinced her to come. As their bodies wrapped around each other in a heap of sweaty limbs, the warmth of his body convinced her to sleep.

  CHAPTER TEN

  D amn that dream. Hailey retched forward in bed. Her heart raced as the pieces of the dream lingered. This time it wasn’t Ryan. It had been Joe’s slack face pressed against the desk surface as she shook his lifeless body.

  She pressed both hands over her heart, trying to calm it and catch her breath.

  “You’re okay,” Joe croaked from beside her. His hand moved in a circular motion over her back, spreading his warmth. “They’re waking you earlier each day.”

  “I’m sorry.” She glanced at the clock and scrunched her eyes shut. Four a.m. “Go back to sleep. You need to rest. It’s game one tonight.”

  The days had blurred as she waited for word from Frank. He had yet to reach out. Hailey had convinced Renee to go home though she wasn’t sure she’d stick there for long. Joe practiced most of the day perfecting his skills on the ice. When he wasn’t at the rink, he napped. At night they were alone. They spent those hours conditioning his body for the games ahead by getting sweaty. Hailey had enjoyed their time together, but Joe seemed determined to pry into her personal life. Her diversion tactics wouldn’t hold out much longer.

  “Nah, I’m up. Do you want to talk about it?” he yawned, and his body stretched next to her. “I’m willing to listen.”

  She faced him and rubbed her hand over his flat stomach. “It’s not something you need in your head today. Your focus needs to be chasing pucks. I’ll shake it off and be good as new in a minute.” The lie fooled no one. Once she woke, she wouldn’t fall back asleep.

  Joe propped his head in his hand, twisting his body towards her. “Don’t worry about my game, baby. Come here and talk to me. I’ve asked you to tell me about your dreams and you keep shutting me down. I won’t stop asking. Are they about your time in the army or your injury?”

  She’d told him about how she’d been hurt. Those moments didn’t haunt her. Saving the kid was something she’d do again in a heartbeat. She had no regrets.

  “No. They’re about my… Joe, I really don’t want to talk about this.” She moved her hand lower, dipping under the sheets.

  He gripped her hand, halting her from reaching her prize. “Sex won’t cure you. Don’t get me wrong, I love keeping up with your insatiable hunger for cock. I never thought I’d meet someone who loved sex as much as me. But…”

  “But what? Are you saying you can’t keep up?” She cocked an eyebrow, and he smiled in response, igniting the fire in her belly. She fought against his hold, but his grip wouldn’t budge an inch.

  “Every time I try to get personal, you distract me by ge
tting physical.”

  Hailey swung her leg over his, climbing on top of him. Her ass wriggled over his cock. It stiffened. She opened her legs wider, rubbing her juices over him. “This is getting personal; wouldn’t you say? Plus, I like getting physical with you. It makes me smile. Don’t you like my smile.” She batted her lashes as she leaned in.

  His gaze turned hot. She pressed her lips to his chest, never taking her eyes off him. Her tongue flicked over his nipple and he groaned.

  “Hailey, stop.” His grip on her hands tightened, but she refused to listen.

  He flipped her onto her back. “You want me inside you, baby?” He slid his length through her folds. “Will this make you feel better?”

  “Yes. Whatever ends with you inside me and us both coming, I’ll take it.” She panted as he pressed his weight onto her.

  Joe leaned over and grabbed a tie from the ground. “Put your hands together,” he said, running the fabric over her lips.

  The softness made her shiver. She held out her hands, and he looped it around her wrists. Tugging her arms high above her head, he tied her to the headboard then settled his hips between her spread legs.

  “Kiss me and make me come,” she said, testing the restraints. They held.

  Their lips joined, but only for a moment. “Tell me what you see when you dream.” He teased her opening with the tip of his cock. Hailey moaned as he rubbed over her clit. He did it again coating the head with her arousal. She kept her mouth closed, letting the connection transport her.

  “Silence won’t get you what you want, Hailey. Do you want me?”

  “Yes,” she hissed as he pressed harder against her center.

  He pushed the first inch inside then halted. “Why do you wake freezing and breathless?”

  “Joe, please. Don’t,” she breathed as he pulled out and rubbed the tip against her clit again. Soft gentle strokes. She needed more.

  “Harder,” she begged.

  “Not until you tell me everything.” He licked along her neck and between her breasts. He cupped one and nuzzled her erect tip with his nose. “I can handle it,” he said, sucking her into his mouth.

  She howled into the quiet of the morning. “You really want this?”

  He tugged her elongated nipple between his teeth, sending a shot of bliss to her core. Rather than speak, he nodded.

  “I see death. I dream about when I found my ex dead from an overdose of pain meds. My dreams are always about the day he killed himself. I reach out to touch him and the cold wakes me. His heat is something I’ll never feel again, and I miss it like crazy. I shiver and can’t breathe because his room was so cold, and I froze. It took me minutes to get my shit together before I tried to save him. He was gone, but I pounded on his chest and pressed my lips to his for close to thirty minutes before help arrived.

  Joe stilled as she spoke. Her breast remained in his mouth and his cock poised at her entrance, but he didn’t move. This was a mistake. Baring her soul wouldn’t make the dreams stop, but she soldiered on because he’d asked for everything.

  “He was my fiancé. Ryan was my anchor and I wouldn’t have survived boot camp without him. But even the strongest fall. He watched my brother die, and he blamed himself for not saving his friends. Ryan took his own share of bullets but survived. He was in-fucking-vincible.” Her tears trickled onto the pillows.

  “Hailey.” Joe’s voice lost the gruff animal roar that called to her inner beast. His tone was too reverent.

  “No. You wanted to know what’s in my head. It’s a dark and cold place; filled with death, violence and horrible shit. There are no puppies, unicorns or rainbows in my dreams. I’m a fucked-up mess. Does that turn you on? Does knowing this make you—”

  His lips covered hers and he sank balls deep inside her. The burn was exactly what she needed. She opened her mouth, licked and sucked his face. It was sloppy and chaotic, but he let her go wild. She closed her eyes, and he fucked her hard. Pounding her into the mattress until her walls tightened and an orgasm burst through. One wasn’t enough. He tilted her hips and placed her legs over his shoulders. He pressed in deeper. Owning her. Thrilling her until the second climax rippled and squeezed through her.

  Joe slowed his pace only long enough for her to catch her breath. He didn’t pull out, but he stopped fucking her. “Hailey, you’re not fucked-up. You’re a survivor. If you saw the nasty shit in my head, you wouldn’t feel so alone.”

  She opened her eyes. “What do you see? Because I’ve killed people. Joe, I don’t deserve happiness. I’ve lost so much; I can’t breathe sometimes. The world is punishing me for my wrong doings.”

  He kissed her tears and pressed his body over her like a blanket. Connecting them. “Everyone deserves to be happy and to be loved. I’ll admit I don’t have the first clue how to love anyone. I had zero role models and I’m too selfish to get it right, but I try my best to make people happy. Do you want me to stop, or shall I keep going?”

  She nodded. “Don’t stop.” Hailey swiveled her hips, coaxing him to move.

  “I told you my sis was older and that my folks were useless. Donna bought me my first pair of skates because our parents shoved every dollar into their veins.” He propped his elbows on either side of her head, so they were nose to nose. He mashed his pelvis against her. “They’re the ones that got her hooked on drugs, and they didn’t care whether we lived or died.”

  “Joe.” His name ghosted from her mouth as he slammed against her G-spot.

  He kissed the side of her mouth and moved his hips faster. “I stayed on the rink from the second they opened until they shut the lights because when I wasn’t there I was chasing away thugs. I got my ass beat more than a few times.” He pushed in and out as he spoke, increasing his tempo with each phrase. “Our place didn’t have locks cause we had nothing to steal. That didn’t stop men from seeking their payment in other ways. Donna took the brunt of it, but I didn’t walk away innocent.”

  “Fucking animals!”

  “Yeah, baby, they were animals. I saw shit and experienced things that aren’t exactly roses. If I could take away your darkness, I’d fill it with bright flowers. I’d… fuck, baby, don’t come yet.”

  Her walls tightened as she neared the edge. “Joe, slow down.”

  “I can’t. You feel too perfect.” He slammed into her until she couldn’t hold back. “Let go, baby. Come with me,” he barked.

  “Yes! I’m right there with you,” she yelled, coming so hard her fingertips tingled.

  He filled her with his release and collapsed on top of her. They both panted for a good long while after and neither of them moved and inch.

  Hailey broke the silence. “You amaze me.” She tugged on the tie and Joe reached over, releasing her wrists. She wrapped her arms around his neck and peppered his face with kisses. “How do you do it?”

  He laughed, though it lacked its usual authority. “I can’t change the past. It made me who I am. Messed up and determined to make a better life for myself. The world is full of serious bullshit, so I focus on fun. I’ll never be in the gutter or vulnerable again.” Joe pulled out and shifted his body beside hers.

  “Now, you know what I dream about. Today, instead of Ryan I saw you. I don’t know what the fuck that means.” She ran her thumb over his plump lower lip. She wouldn’t blame him for wanting to end things. “Does this change anything for you?”

  “Yes. It helps me understand you. Hailey, believe it or not, I care about your happiness.”

  “I believe you.” Hailey kissed his lips, letting their troubled pasts connect them in ways she never would have dreamed possible. Joe surprised her at every turn. Her chest felt lighter. She still thought her therapist was huffing glue but opening to Joe hadn’t been the end of the world. “You should try to get some sleep. I’m going out for a run,” she said, slipping off the bed.

  His eyes had already drifted closed. “You’re coming to the game, right?”

  She leaned over and kissed his forehead. �
�Wouldn’t miss it.”

  “Good, I’m looking forward to my good luck kiss.”

  “You don’t need luck when you have skill,” she said as she backed away from his bed. This man shared his light with the world, spreading it each time he spoke. He’d found his way past the ugliness and it gave her hope she could too.

  Hailey dressed in her running gear, pushed her cellphone into her sports bra and left. Her mind tried to make sense of the scene in Joe’s bed while jogging through a nearby park, but there was no accounting for their kind of crazy. She laughed before adding another loop. Her phone vibrated. She slowed her pace. The number on the display stopped her dead in her tracks.

  “Talk my friend,” she said, pressing the phone to her ear.

  “Come over. Now. We’ll go together to meet my guy,” Frank said.

  She checked her watch. “Can I shower first? Is there a rush?”

  “They run in and out. You wanna catch em? Best to come as soon as you can. I might be able to stall, but I wouldn’t bank on it.”

  The game wasn’t scheduled to start until later. She’d have plenty of time to meet Frank and be back in time to see Joe off. After their intense start to the day, she wanted his arms around her, but that would have to wait. She hoped unloading all her emotional baggage on him wouldn’t make him rethink his desire to spend time with her. She shook that off. He’d said he cared, and he wasn’t alone.

  This was important. Meeting these guys could be the missing piece in the case. He’d understand.

  “On my way.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  F rank had his times all mixed up. She’d rushed over only to wait around. At least she’d swung by the condo first and grabbed her bag. Joe had been in the shower and she hadn’t had the chance to tell him about her lead. She’d scribbled a note for him and left it on the fridge.

  Hours later, she hadn’t heard from Joe or the new gang. The more time spent with Frank the more she suspected something. When she brought up the name Rex, he shrugged his shoulders, playing dumb. It made little sense. She couldn’t place her finger on it, but he knew too much and shared too freely for a drug addict. His stories were outlandish and entertaining, nevertheless.