Scoring the Player

by Samantha Lind

  I take a seat on the couch to wait for Kinley to finish. Moments later, she emerges wearing some shorts and a t-shirt herself. She’s also scrubbed all the makeup from her face and piled her hair into a messy bun on the top of her head. She takes a seat at the end of the couch, her back against the armrest, so she’s facing me. Her feet are tucked up under her, and she’s covered herself with the blanket that was hanging over the back of the couch.

  I shift slightly so I can face her better, moving a few inches closer. I’ll keep my hands to myself for now, but after the amount of time I’ve missed, I know I won’t be able to hold off for much longer.

  The silence is lingering between us, neither of us sure who should say something first. I break the silence after a few more moments.

  “Did you enjoy yourself at the wedding?” I figure starting with small talk might help.

  “I did. I’m so happy for them. They deserved it to be as special and amazing as it was.” She smiles. “Did you enjoy it?”

  “As much as a guy can enjoy a wedding.” I smirk. “The food was great.”

  “That it was,” she laughs, and my heart skips a beat. I’ve needed to hear her laugh for weeks, and hearing it for the first time in way too long does something to me.

  Needing to get us talking about more, I take the plunge.

  “How are you really doing, Kin?” I ask quietly.

  She’s quiet for a few moments, but I can tell she’s thinking. Figuring out what she’s going to tell me.

  “I’m better. I started seeing a counselor, Dr. Emmerson, at the advice of my OB/GYN. She’s helped me work through a lot of the pain and depression that I fell into. The meds they put me on have also helped a great deal, and I hope that I can stop them sometime soon. I took a few weeks off from work, and when I finally was able to go back, that helped, as it got me back into my normal routine. I still have moments where I break down for no apparent reason, and don’t get me started about damn commercials. I still feel the pain and heartache, and guilt. Brian, I don’t know how to even ask for your forgiveness, or how to ask you to trust me to not push you away again when something else happens in the future.”

  “I’m so glad that you got help from the counselor. It sounds like she really helped you process everything.”

  I close the space between us, cupping her face.

  “Baby, like I told you earlier tonight, I love you. I’ve never stopped. And you need to stop apologizing; there’s nothing to forgive. You didn’t do anything wrong, you didn’t cause the miscarriage. I realized I had to be willing to let you go, so that you could heal yourself before we could heal us. It killed me every day to be away from you, to not talk to you or see you, but I knew deep down, if I gave you the space, that you’d come back to me. I don’t know how I knew it, but I just did. I’m here to stay. I won’t let you push me away again, and I mean that, Kin.” I crush my lips to hers, catching her off guard a little. The gasp she makes gives me the perfect opening to plunge my tongue into her mouth, deepening the kiss.

  Within moments, she’s pushed herself up from her position against the armrest into my lap, straddling me as she faces me. We’re chest to chest and soon, we’re both frantically trying to touch each other everywhere we can. Her fingers find their way to the hem of my shirt. She grips it, pulling it up as her hands slide underneath. She presses them flat against my abs, lightly dragging her nails up my skin as she slides her hands higher. I reach behind me and grab my shirt, pulling it off over my head in one move. When I break the kiss to fully remove my shirt, she drops her lips to my chest and kisses her way along my pecs, flicking her tongue around my nipples until they harden.

  She slides off my lap, onto the floor between my legs, as she continues to kiss her way down my stomach, stopping at the waistband of my shorts. There is no hiding the bulge in my shorts, and it doesn’t help anything when she caresses my dick through them. It takes all my control to not thrust my hips up into her hand. Before I can even think of stopping her, she’s pulled my shorts and briefs down over my erection and has lowered her head, sucking me deep into her mouth.

  Fuuuuuuuuuck, her warm wet mouth feels amazing around my cock. I can hardly control my thoughts as she bobs up and down on it. Kinley runs the point of her tongue up the underside, until she reaches the crown, where she swirls it around, sending shivers right up my cock and to the base of my spine. If she doesn’t let up soon, I’m going to really embarrass myself and come way too quickly.

  Before I can pull her off me, she drops back down until I’m hitting the back of her throat, her cheeks hollowing around me as she sucks even harder. I’m on the edge and before I can pull her off, the tingle at the base of my spine spreads down, my balls tighten up, and my orgasm explodes from my body and down her throat.

  “God, Kin. You’re going to kill me doing things like that,” I say, as she pulls off of me and crawls back up my body. “I wasn’t expecting anything like that to happen tonight.”

  “I know, but your kiss just sparked something within me and I wanted to.”

  “Sex isn’t going to fix everything,” I say, kissing her cheek and tucking a stray bit of hair behind her ear.

  “I know.”

  “You letting me back in, and promising not to push me away, is all I need. The rest, we can figure out as we go. Just promise me you’ll talk to me when things get tough. If you need to cry it out, then I want to hold you while you lose your shit. I want to be your strength when you’re feeling weak.”

  “How did I get so lucky to have you in my life?” Kinley asks.

  “I like to think I’m the lucky one,” I tell her.

  “Can you take me to bed? I need to feel you everywhere. I need that connection with you again to feel whole.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “One-hundred percent. I still feel like a piece of me is missing, and I know, without a doubt, that piece is the connection with you. I need you to bring that back to me and make me whole again. Make me feel again, Brian.”

  I slide her off my lap and stand. She grabs my hand and leads me into her room, straight for the bed. I pull her so we’re facing each other, one hand resting on her hip, and the other, I bring up to cup her face.

  “If we do this, there’s no turning back, Kin. You can’t push me away again. It will kill me.”

  Lifting up onto her toes, she brings her hands up to my neck, pulling me down to meet her, and she brushes her lips across mine. “I’m yours,” she whispers before kissing me again.

  I lift her shirt up and over her head, exposing her naked torso to me. I drop my hands to cup her ass, lifting her up, and she wraps her legs around my waist. Her hands slide into my hair, playing with the ends at the nape of my neck. I kneel on the bed, laying her down in the center, then start kissing along her jaw and down the column of her neck, nibbling along her collarbone while I trail my fingertips down the valley between her breasts. Her nipples are already hard nubs, calling to me.

  I drive her crazy, purposely avoiding her nipples with my lips. As I kiss my way to the underside of her breasts, leaving love bite marks in my wake, I take her nipples and roll them between my fingers. I descend further down her body, toward her navel, to where the band of her shorts rests across her lower abdomen.

  I bring my lips back to hers for a quick kiss before finally descending on her breasts again, licking and sucking one, then the other, teasing her nipples lightly with my teeth. The moans falling from Kinley spur me on as I drive her wild.

  I descend back down her torso, leaving her panting heavily, and slip my hand beneath the fabric separating us to find her wet and ready for me. I push her shorts and panties from her body, trailing my lips down as the fabric falls from her body. I don’t give her much warning before I latch onto her clit, biting it lightly before sucking it hard between my lips.

  I continue to drive her crazy with my mouth, as I slip two fingers inside her until I find that one spot inside that drives her insane. As soon as I hit it with a finger
tip, she’s arching off the bed, almost enough to pull completely away from me. I can feel her body start to flutter around my fingers, her clit swelling as I relentlessly swirl it with my tongue, sucking hard on it. It’s only a few more seconds before she’s fully convulsing and letting go as her orgasm wracks through her body. I slow the thrusting of my fingers and release her clit, lapping up her sweet juices, feeling her shudder beneath me. I slowly pull my fingers from her heat, then lightly kiss my way back up her sated body, allowing her to bask in her orgasm.

  I take off my shorts and briefs, removing the condom from my wallet, then grab my hard cock and give it a few slow tugs as I wait for Kinley to come out of the fog of her orgasm. Kinley reaches over and grabs the condom from my hand, opening it and rolling it over and down my dick. She wastes no time, climbing on top of me and sinking down, wrapping me in her tight, wet heat.

  “Fuuuck!” we both moan at the same time.

  “Baby, you’re so tight like this. You’re going to kill me,” I grind out, bringing my hands to her hips to help her ride me.

  I can only take her torturous speed for so long before I wrap my arm around her back and flip us around. I bring her legs up, resting them on my shoulders, as I start to pound into her. Garbled moans of pleasure fall from her lips and I can feel her start to clench around my dick. I slow things down, not wanting this to end, and push her legs from against my chest until she straddles either side of me, so I can lean forward and kiss her. I never stop thrusting, just slow my rhythm down, and rotate my hips a little differently with each thrust to drive her a little crazier.

  With her lips fused to mine, I swallow each hum of pleasure that attempts to escape her throat. I slide my hands down to cup her ass, lifting it slightly so I can thrust harder and deeper inside. It only takes a few thrusts at this new angle for her to fall apart under me. She breaks our kiss as her cry of pleasure rips from her. I lean forward, snagging her bottom lip between my teeth and bite lightly, then soothe the sting with my tongue. I thrust through her release, as I chase my own a few moments later, her clenching pussy milking mine from me as I come, filling the condom. Completely spent, I catch myself on my forearms as I collapse down, not wanting to crush her with my full weight.

  Once I’ve caught my breath, I roll off her and make my way to the bathroom, to dispose of the condom and relieve myself. Kinley’s waiting outside the bathroom when I walk back out, and I snag a quick, chaste kiss as I walk by her and back to the bed. She returns from the bathroom moments later, and crawls into bed, tucking herself in beside me.

  Having her next to me and back in my arms is the best feeling in the world, and I fall asleep feeling complete for the first time since we lost the baby.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Kinley

  Having Brian back in my bed is a little surreal. I really thought I’d pushed him past his limits and hurt our chances of working things out. Thankfully, I was wrong; he was just biding his time until he could be here in person. When he cornered me last night, I was worried he would tell me he hated me and that I was a bitch. But his sweet words of comfort and love made me realize just what a great man he really is. Was it bitchy to push him away like I did? Absolutely. But I needed to do so to heal myself. I needed the time to figure out how to cope and move on. The emotions that flooded me were so overwhelming, I didn’t know how I was going to make it through at times. But, after spending time with my therapist, she helped me climb out of the depression I had fallen into.

  I wake before Brian does, but stay in his embrace. My head rests on his chest, where I listen to the soft beat of his heart. It’s a very soothing sound that lulls me back to sleep for a while longer. When I stir again, Brian’s awake and has tightened his hold on me.

  “What do you want to do today?” he asks, his voice scratchy from sleep.

  “Nothing. I’ve been running like crazy the last few weeks helping Becca, especially the last few days. I’m ready for a day to just veg and not do anything.”

  “That sounds good to me, but how about some food? You need to feed me, woman,” he says, smacking my ass. “I require sustenance if you’re going to require use of my body today.” The laughter is full in his voice.

  I didn’t realize how much I missed this playful banter between the two of us until now. How we can go from serious to playful in seconds, and make mundane tasks fun and enjoyable, just because we’re doing them together. The feeling of calm that I woke up with this morning is something I don’t want to let go of. I have some thinking to do, but as long as Brian still wants me to, I think I need to look into moving to be with him in Indy. I don’t think I can go back to the distance and hardly seeing each other.

  We drag ourselves out of bed, and shower together, which turns into a little shower sex, before we finally get ready and head out to find some food. We end up at a local diner and after filling up on more breakfast foods than two people should ever consume, we decide to walk around downtown. We window shop, all along the little touristy shops that line the streets, and then walk over and through the downtown outdoor market.

  It’s so nice to be doing such normal things together. We had both put the past where it belonged and were not looking back, only forward. There was something to be said about being able to do that, and it was also very freeing. As we walk and talk, filling each other in on little things that had happened during our time apart, I slowly feel the guilt and heartache lift from my body, almost like a physical weight was being removed from my shoulders.

  It’s late afternoon by the time we make it back to my apartment. We stopped at the hotel where Brian had a room, and packed up his stuff and checked him out. There wasn’t any reason for him to keep paying for it when he’d just be staying with me for the time being. He truly had only bought a one-way ticket to Alaska, as he was dead set on not leaving until I’d at least talk to him.

  With the peace that came to me from spilling my guts to him about how I had felt in those days and weeks after the miscarriage, it also made me realize just how much I needed to talk to Becca and tell her what happened. I knew that it would have to wait until she was back from her honeymoon as they’d already left early this morning for Europe. I just hope that I didn’t damage our friendship by keeping something so important from her for so long.

  Brian had really put his entire life on hold to be in Anchorage with me this summer. He didn’t commit to the hockey camps he usually helps with, and didn’t make concrete plans with his mom or sister, as he didn’t know what would happen between the two of us.

  I finally brought up the possibility of me moving down to Indy with him one night, about a week after we’d worked everything out and got back together. He was ecstatic about it and was ready to pack my apartment up that night. I, of course, had to put in my notice at work first and work out the required amount of time per my contract, which was only a few weeks due to my contract being up for renewal. Brian stayed with me those few weeks and we made plans for after to go see his family for a month, before he was due to report for camp in September. I had enough savings to float me by until then, when I could hopefully find a job in Indy at one of the local hospitals.

  When Becca and Scott returned from their honeymoon, we finally had that girls’ day and I spilled my secrets to her. We cried a lot together that day. She couldn’t believe I’d kept all that bottled up inside for so long and tried to deal with it myself. Things all made sense to her, now that she knew all the details, and was a little miffed when she found out her husband knew some of what had happened but was sworn to secrecy by Brian not to tell her anything. It was only a few days later she told me she was pregnant. I was ecstatic for my best friend, but that night, I cried in Brian’s arms as I grieved the loss of our child again.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Kinley

  Brian and I finished packing up my belongings. Since his place is already furnished, I just need to bring my personal items and clothing, so I’ve sold off most of my furniture and eithe
r given away the rest or donated it.

  We leave in the morning to fly down to the Twin Cities to see his family. I’m extremely nervous to meet his mom and sister, knowing how important they are to him. I’ve talked to both of them many times on the phone or over FaceTime when he’s been talking to them, but it’s different to meet in person.

  Since tonight is our last night in town, my parents are having us, along with Becca and Scott and their parents, over for a BBQ going away party. My parents weren’t surprised when I told them I’d decided to move but are sad I won’t be around all the time. However, they both love Brian and are happy that we’re back together.

  The get-together ended up being an amazing time. I was a little worried I would just be sad, but we all had a fantastic time. The food my parents fixed was amazing like always, and after, we just enjoyed easy conversations with everyone. The guys talked a lot about the upcoming season and who was and wasn’t returning. I guess their goalie, Matt Soaps, had decided it was time to hang up his skates and retire. He was the oldest player on the team and was feeling the effects of the two decades he played in the league. They speculated who the team would pick up to fill his spot, as well as what other changes in the lineup would take place before the season started. Both Brian and Scott had contracts that secured the fact they would be in Indy, both having no movement clauses on them. That stability was nice to have. I didn’t have to worry that he’d get a call one day, saying he was being shipped off to a new team and then have to pack everything up and go.

  We finally said goodnight to my parents close to midnight. I was teary-eyed as Brian held me close as he walked me to their guest room. We’re staying here tonight since my apartment is empty of all the furniture. When we left to come over to my parents’ house, we brought with us the last of what was left. I have some boxes that need to be shipped down, but my mom will send them once we make it to Indy. For now, I’m just taking with me what I fit in a couple suitcases and will buy anything else I need once we’re there.