Redemption Duet (Aces High MC - Cedar Falls Book 0)

by Christine Michelle

  “Um, okay,” I murmured dazedly. He leaned in then and captured my lips with his. I did not even think to stop him and so when cheers went up close to us it caught us both by surprise. It would seem that we had been featured on the kiss cam since we were both decked out in Penguins gear – my idea – to support Kent. “Oh my Gosh!” My face started turning red with a blush so bright the camera was bound to notice, because that kiss had been hot, and probably not meant for PG audiences. Smoke chuckled beside me as he tossed an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to him. I hid my face in his neck and almost wished I could stay there, because he smelled so good. The leather smell from his jacket clung to him along with a fresh, almost minty scent that drove me wild.

  I glanced up from his neck after a minute to find him smiling down at me with such a soft look on his face that I was struck stupid for a moment. “Thank you,” I whispered, so close my breath probably tickled his chin as I did.

  “Honey,” he said and stopped there. His hand came up to cup my jaw then he kissed me lightly before sitting back and refocusing on the game. I turned my focus too, just in time to see his brother was watching us from his place on the bench. I hadn’t even realized his shift was up until then. I smiled, not certain Kent could see it, but it didn’t matter. I wasn’t sure what any of this meant for me right now, so I certainly didn’t need him trying to figure us out either.

  Once the game was over – the Penguins won over the Predators 3-2 - Smoke took me to the tunnel where the guys would come out to see family, fans, and whoever else had access. There were plenty of women scantily dressed in not much more than a fitted hockey jersey adorned with whichever player’s name they were fishing for. I didn’t think many of them would be too picky if they nabbed someone else though. A few had asked Smoke if he played. After the first two he used me as a human shield while he stood against the wall and pulled me in front of him. He wrapped his arms around my waist to keep me there, and I wasn’t really about to complain, because it felt nice to relax back into his solid frame while we waited.

  “Yo, Jared!” I heard called out at the same time I felt the arms around me lock down a little tighter. I glanced over to see a freshly showered Kent come bounding toward us in a bit of a rush.

  “Kent,” Smoke stated sharply as tension filled his body. “Everything good?”

  “Nah man. I know you came all this way to hang out, but I have a situation I need to handle. Can we do this another time?” He asked his brother as he swirled a finger to indicate the three of us.

  “You need me for anything?” Smoke asked him. Kent shook his head and looked a little grim.

  “Got my own woman troubles at the moment. I need to see to her before she sees her way out of my life for good,” he explained quietly so the vultures standing nearby wouldn’t hear him. Good call on his part too, because they were definitely leaning in attempting to glean some juicy tidbits.

  Kent glanced at me then. “I promise, we’ll get together soon so we can meet in a more official way,” he offered his hand though and I took it quickly giving him a quick smile.

  “I hope everything goes okay for you tonight,” I told him. He grinned then.

  “Me too, sweetheart!” With that he clapped his brother on the shoulder and then took off for the locker room once more.

  “I guess that means we are on our own now?” I asked.

  “Yeah, honey, seems so.” He reached out to take my hand, but his arm was pulled back by one of the vultures.

  “How do you know Kent?” The woman asked.

  Smoke glared down at the hold the woman had on his bicep and then back up at her. She put on something that was supposed to be a sexy grin, I’m sure, and then she batted her fake eyelashes his way. She definitely didn’t have enough going on upstairs, because she did not clue in to the fact that Smoke was not happy about being touched by her. I stood there, cocked my head in her direction, and waited.

  “You’re his brother aren’t you?” She cooed, finally. “I’m Mandy, a good friend of his. I’d be happy to show you around the town and take care of you while you’re visiting since Kent’s busy with things. Just so you know,” she leaned in conspiratorially. “It’s not anything more than friendship with Kent and me. I’ve never taken him for a ride, but I’d definitely be up for it with you.” I just stood there watching this go down, and waiting for Smoke to blow his top.

  He grabbed her hand that was still stupidly attached to his bicep – honestly I couldn’t blame her for wanting to hold on to it as long as possible – and he removed it quickly, efficiently, and with zero care as to how it felt to her to be snatched away from heaven. I had to stifle a giggle at her fish out of water reaction with her mouth gaping and closing in repetition.

  “I don’t know you. I don’t care to know you. I know you watched me standing here with my woman before he ever came out, so you knew damn well I was already here with someone. No man worth his salt would take a second glance at trash that behaves the way you do especially when he already has heaven on his arm.

  “Knowing my brother, that means you aren’t even close to being in a league where you could be his associate, let alone a friend, let alone anything else.” Some of the other people waiting in the hallway with us – the ones who appeared to be family and real friends – started laughing heartily at what Smoke told Mandy. I was guessing this was normal behavior for her and they were enjoying seeing her being put in her place. One woman had her cell out, and I would bet money she was shooting video.

  Smoke turned to me and took my hand then. “Sorry, honey,” he apologized.

  “No need for you to apologize for the behavior of skanks who don’t know their place,” I informed him.

  The woman stood there, red-faced and fuming. I turned with Smoke – who was apparently my man tonight – and we left her there. I found myself hoping that the woman who had been holding her cell up was going to send that video around to everyone who needed to see it.

  “I think you just made the night of all the normal people that were standing there waiting,” I informed Smoke.

  “Normal people?” He asked.

  “Yeah, you know the ones who weren’t puck bunnies.”

  “Jesus,” he laughed out loud. “You even know what their whores are called.”

  “Doesn’t everyone?”

  “No, honey. Everyone does not know what they’re called.”

  “Oh, I guess they don’t read then,” I suggested. He just shook his head and laughed at me again.

  We ended up going straight back to our hotel, The Omni William Penn, to check out the speakeasy lounge. We each enjoyed a couple drinks, the atmosphere, and then headed up to our room. The anticipation of getting there had us both suffering some seriously pent up frustrations. It was a little strange for me, because I kept waiting for my old life to step in and tell me that I wasn’t ready. It never happened though. I didn’t feel like I wasn’t ready to move on. I didn’t feel as though I was doing anything wrong, or moving too fast. Everything just felt right. Because it all felt right I refused to second-guess my growing feelings for Smoke. I refused to put a stop to his mouth when it found mine, traced down my jawline, and suckled at my neck before he lifted the jersey I’d worn to the game over my head and trailed more kisses down my body while divesting me of my pink satin bra.

  All the while my hands were not idle. I helped remove Smoke’s jersey too and ran my fingers up his abs, through the trail of hair that started below the waistband of his jeans and moved up to his naval, then further in a thin, light line until it spread out over his chest in a sexy sprinkling of hair that made it apparent he was all man while not completely overtaking the beauty that was his sculpted body underneath. ‘Sheer perfection,’ I thought as I trailed my nails lightly over his nipples that had perked up in the cool air of the hotel room.

  As my bra fell away my attention on Smoke’s body was challenged when he dipped and bent in order for his mouth to seek out my nipple and give it a quick
tug with his teeth before licking the sting away. He then sucked it to pert attention again before releasing it with an audible popping noise as he shifted to the other nipple, laving it with the same attention from tongue, teeth, and mouth.

  The rest of our clothes quickly followed those removed before. His, mine, ours. All of it tossed to the hotel room floor and before I knew it Smoke had me lifted up with my legs wrapped around his waist, and he was carrying me to the bed. Along the way he managed to slip himself inside me. Never in my life had I been carried while connected to a man. Never. Holy, holy Jesus! There was nothing quite like it in this world. The insanely intense feeling in combination with the strength Smoke exuded while holding me aloft and managing to pump me up and down his shaft as we moved was so arousing I had already reached my first climax by the time he got us to the bed, and it hadn’t been that far away.

  “So fuckin’ wet, honey,” he told me as if I didn’t know I was dripping wet thanks to his feats of greatness whenever he got me naked. Granted, this was only the second night we’d gotten naked together in the eight days since I first met him, but damn if he wasn’t going for the gold in the sexual Olympics every single time.

  The hold he had on my ass as we walked changed, and suddenly his hands were moving up the length of my back as I started tipping backwards. It was an unsettling feeling, but I went with it as I was secured as both of his arms slid around to secure my backside while his body curled around mine in the front. Magically, seamlessly, before I knew what had happened in my foggy-brain sexed-up state I had been placed so gently onto the bed that the transition couldn’t have been real. What was real was the fact that the man hovering over me was slowly pumping in and out of my clenching sex. My eyes lifted slightly from their hazed, barely seeing anything state, and finally took notice of the pair of mismatched hazel orbs that were watching me so intently as he moved.

  The glide of our bodies coming together sent zinging little electric shocks through all my sensitive places especially as Smoke got closer and his chest hair started tormenting my nipples with each plunge he took into me. The man was giving me a full body seeing-to as he moved and I managed to reach around and grab hold of his taut ass to hang on for the ride. Such a firm, fine ass it was too. The minute my nails dug in he started moving faster, thrusting harder, and suckling at my neck again. “Honey,” he called into my neck, the whispered word sending a puff of air to tickle the skin there. “You feel so fuckin’ good, Poppy.”

  I ran my fingers up his back trailing my nails along the way as I did while I whispered back. “So do you, Smoke.” He pulled out, flipped me over, tilted my hips up at just the right angle and slammed back into me. “Oh God!” I breathed out as the new position added a different sensation to the mix. Smoke was not a small man in any way, and he was hitting a place so deep inside me it sent thrills of electrical pulses that both stung and elated me at once.

  “So fuckin’ sweet and sexy,” he rasped out each word between thrusts inside me before he wrapped an arm around me and his fingers found that sweet little bundle of nerves that he began to manipulate. That was probably overkill as I was already about to tip over the edge into beautiful, oblivion, but I also wasn’t about to argue with anything this man made me feel. Everything he did to me was heavenly.

  “Smoke,” I huffed out between labored breaths as he used his other hand to pull me back into his body harder with each thrust. “Oh God, Smoke, don’t stop, please… don’t… stop…” I murmured before my head tipped down toward the pillow. I couldn’t quite reach it after the hand at my left hip moved to grasp a tight hold of my hair and tug.

  “Stay with me honey, I want to see the minute I take you there.” The slapping of his thighs against my own, the smell of sex on the air, and the tug at my nape from him controlling my position with the grasp he had on my hair combined with the throbbing, heavy pounding his body was giving mine as he swirled those strong fingers around my clit one more time sent me sliding right over the edge.

  “Smoke,” I called out, loudly as my toes curled, my muscles clenched, and sweet, sweet nirvana enveloped me. “Sm-oooo-ke,” I managed to pant out with each thrust he was still thrusting into me as my insides clenched and released around his cock.

  “That’s it baby, milk that cock,” he grunted as he slammed into me hard and deep one more time before his chest came down on my backside as he released inside me. “Fuck, Poppy,” he hissed out again before rolling us, still connected, to our sides on the bed where I curled right into his body as if it were something I’d been doing my entire life. It felt right. So damn right I didn’t ever want to lose the feeling that startled me a little bit and caused me to stiffen in his arms.

  Smoke kissed the top of my head, squeezed tighter with the arm he had wrapped around me and whispered in my ear. “I’m not going anywhere, honey. Right here with you,” he finished with another kiss, this time just beneath my ear. Holy, holy Jesus. The man could read my mind!

  We were stopped at a rest area on our way home the next day when Smoke got a call from his brother. Kent went about thanking Smoke, which only caused a puzzled look to appear on Smoke’s face until he burst out laughing as his brother clarified why he was being thanked. “You’re welcome, Brother. Shit, you should have just told me about it then. I would have taken care of the problem, and we could have met your girl while I introduced you to Poppy properly.” There was a momentary pause and then Smoke was speaking again. “Nah, it’s not like that. Yeah, she is. Yeah, next time. No excuses. Later.”

  I didn’t know if I had the right to ask questions about the conversation he’d had with his brother, but as it turned out I didn’t need to. Smoke grinned at me and then laughed before recounting what his brother had just told him.

  “The bitch from last night was trying to cause problems for my brother and his girl.” He shook his head then. “Didn’t even know the little fucker was seeing someone. He’s managed to keep it quiet, which is a fuckin’ miracle in itself considering who he is. Anyway, the bitch who got up in my shit last night had strongly insinuated she’d been fucking Kent. She did this in earshot of his girl. Kent’s never touched the bitch. He’s steered clear of puck bunnies since he got his first taste of their brand of trouble in college. Had one claim he knocked her up back then.”

  “She wasn’t really pregnant?” I asked.

  “Oh, she was, just turned out to be Kent’s teammate’s kid. Kent dodged that bullet, because the poor guy whose number was up ended up flunking out of school the next semester. He wasn’t good enough yet to go up for the draft so the bunny screwed them both out of their hockey dreams. Thank fuck that wasn’t the road Kent ended up on.”

  “So what happened with the woman from last night?” I asked.

  He grinned. “One of the player’s wives shot video of what went down last night. It made the rounds through the wives and girlfriends by this morning. Dumb cunt told me she hadn’t had my brother yet, but wouldn’t mind taking me for a ride. Every word came out clear on video. I guess that clinched things for Kent’s girl that he was the one telling the truth.” Smoke’s features distorted a moment in an almost angry look. “Sucks that she didn’t have enough faith in him to believe him outright, but apparently they’re still somewhat new, so he doesn’t blame her for that.”

  “Well, I’m glad it worked out for him then. I’m also happy to hear that the video made it happen. Kind of made someone propositioning you right in front of me worth it.”

  “Honey,” Smoke spoke softly into my ear as he pulled me into an embrace. “I really am sorry that happened. I promise you, if any bitch tries to disrespect you, me, or what we have together; I will take care of it immediately. That is not something I will ever tolerate.”

  I nodded my head against his chest and couldn’t help thinking back to memories I’d apparently blocked out for some time. Memories of attending club functions where whores draped themselves over my man and it took him far too long to get them off, or he played it off as a jok
e later. Not once, that I could remember, had he nipped the problem in the bud for my benefit. I squeezed my arms around Smoke’s waist a little tighter, because even though he couldn’t possibly know what that proclamation meant to me, he deserved extra appreciation for initiating that response without me having to ask for it.

  Chapter 9

  Smoke had to go back to work the day after we got back from the hockey game. He was on for 24 hours and then he’d be off for the next 48. I found I liked the sounds of that since it meant we could possibly have a full day, at least, to spend together if he didn’t have obligations with the club during that time. In the meantime, I had Bubba to keep me company, and he seemed a bit clingier after having to deal with my brother during my absence.

  “Poppy, I’m telling you the dog doesn’t like me,” My brother tried to convince me.

  “Did he tell you that?” I asked on a laugh.

  “He didn’t have to, smartass. It’s in his eyes. He kept watching me, like he was waiting for me to fuck up so he could eat me.”

  I glanced down at Bubba, and I swear I could see a grin on his doggy face. Yup, Bubba was my new favorite person. Yeah, I know… dogs aren’t people. Whatever. Some of them are better than most of the people I know so I think it counts. “You have a screw loose. Maybe he was just waiting on you to give him belly rubs,” I suggested, and as I did my dog laid down and rolled over immediately. He obviously knew exactly what belly rubs were.

  “That’s just nuts. I swear he’s not a fuckin’ dog. He’s a shape shifter, hellhound, demon, or something. No dog knows that much.” I laughed again as I leaned in and rubbed Bubba’s tummy. “You got plans tomorrow?” My brother asked with a knowing grin.

  “Nope,” I informed him to which his eyebrows shot up damn near to his hairline.

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously, why?”

  “Um, the club’s is having a barbecue. I figured you’d be coming with Smoke so I didn’t say anything.”