The Winter Games Box Set

by Rebecca Sharp

  “Let me put it like this,” I said with a sigh. “I’m not giving up on you or this no matter how hard you try to push me away. So, you want to be mad at me for telling that asshole to go fuck himself, fine. You want to cancel dinner because you’re afraid, fine. But I’m. Not. Giving. Up. So, Jac, in the words of probably the only person whose ass you can’t kick, ‘Fear is the path to the dark side.’”

  Lips parted, her eyes shot to mine. No one argued with Yoda.

  I grinned. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  If she wanted to cancel dinner, she was going to have to do it knowing that the Force was on my side.

  Kyle spun as I slammed through the door to the locker room, his surprise to see me plain as day on his face.

  Understandable.

  It was the men’s locker room.

  I’d been an idiot and I wasn’t going to let myself get away with it. Sure, I’d heard those same news stories more times than it was healthy to count. But it wasn’t the story that made me feel weak; I would’ve given up a long time ago if that were the case. It made me feel weak to think he could believe it, no matter what he’d said to that guy.

  So, like always, I lashed out because it was easier to push him away than let him stay close where I would be able to see the confusion at best or the disgust at worst over what the media liked to employ to perk up their ratings.

  But, of course, I saw neither. I spoke and registered the truth after. He looked at me and wanted to know if I was okay, not if it was true. The way he’d told that asshole off wasn’t just to clear the space for his own questions, he protected me because even without the truth, he knew what they said about me was a lie.

  In that moment, I was both the princess and the villain in this fairytale but regardless, I wasn’t about to let Prince Charming walk away.

  During the few minutes it took for me to follow him back to the men’s locker room, Kyle had managed to get his shirt off, his muscles swollen and glistening from his workout. My eyes darted to his hands that were at the waist of his shorts, about to lose those too so he could get in the shower that was running.

  “Jac, what are you doing?” he demanded as I turned and locked the door.

  He probably thought I’d come to beat him up.

  “How dare you use Yoda against me?” I accused, stepping over the bench in between us to plant myself in front of him and trying to keep up my irritated expression.

  I swallowed over the lump in my throat as his arms crossed over his very close, very lickable chest. “Are you saying he’s wrong?”

  And just like that, the steely facade I held fell like a curtain as I shook my head gently from side to side.

  “No,” I replied as my stare burrowed through his chest. “I’m saying… I was.”

  I met his gaze, my eyes conveying the truth I wasn’t sure he was believing. His eyebrows rose and I think I effectively manage to make him speechless without having to choke—or harm him—in any way.

  “Thank you,” I murmured. “For doing that.”

  Warm fingers tipped my chin up to see the lopsided grin that made my insides turn to mush. “Don’t have to thank me for taking care of you, Cinderella. As the prince, it’s my only wish and my whole fucking job.”

  I grinned as his lips dropped down to mine, his fingers sliding back to cup the back of my head and letting him deepen the kiss.

  By the time he pulled back, we were both panting.

  “So, I take it we’re still on for dinner then?” he asked cheekily.

  I bit down on his lip, holding it so my tongue could flick over it. “Mmhmm.”

  The subtle sigh of his chest against mine made my heart thud. I worked hard for a lot of things in my life. It didn’t feel real that I now had something that I’d actively been working against. It didn’t feel real, but it sure as hell felt right.

  Grinning, I sat down on the bench that was behind me, putting my face eye-level with the large weight straining against his shorts.

  “What are you doing?” His hand on my head tipped my face up.

  I took a long look at the thick length jutting out against his shorts before returning my gaze to his. “Using the Force.”

  “Oh?” he asked with a strangled voice. “And how’s that?”

  I trailed my tongue along my lips, letting them rise farther into a smirk. “I’m using my mind… to make things rise.”

  His cock jerked against the fabric as my hand squeezed over his erection, a long groan tearing from his chest. “You’re such a fucking nerd.”

  “No longer a princess?” I asked with a playful pout as I pushed my fingers below the waist of his shorts, pulling them over his cock and letting them fall to the floor.

  “That too,” he rasped, his muscular chest rising and falling more rapidly with anticipation. “The most perfect goddamn nerdy princess.”

  I looked up at him from beneath my eyelids as I licked over his swollen tip.

  “Fuck…” The word came out on a hiss, a deflated drumroll as I closed my lips over his thick head and sucked him into my mouth.

  This was how I liked to make him weak. The groans, the way his hands gripped my head as I stretched my mouth over his length… Now I knew how he felt the other night. Making him lose his mind with pleasure was more of a rush than winning. It was a different kind of winning.

  My tongue played along the firm ridges of his cock, licking and stroking as my lips slid with steady pressure from base to tip and then sucked hard back down, filling my mouth with his pulsing flesh.

  I heard my name roll over the ragged groans that tore from his chest and it spurred me on.

  His hands were steady on my head even though I could feel and taste how much better it felt the deeper I let him in. His thrusts were tense and controlled; he was being gentle when I didn’t want gentle. I wanted to make him lose his mind the way I was afraid he was quickly making me lose my heart.

  One hand on his thigh, the other slid up to cup his balls as I relaxed my muscles and let the tip of his cock hit the back of my throat over and over.

  He cursed as his hips began to pump in rhythm with my mouth. Drool leaked down onto my chin and I heard the wet sucking noises that I was making but I didn’t care. Feeling the way his dick thickened in my mouth was worth it. Then, it was my turn to let out a choked groan as his hands stopped playing nice. They held my head firm as he jammed against my throat.

  It more than hurt. Like pushing through the pain of training, of injury, of exhaustion to win, it felt intoxicating.

  I felt hot warmth seeping through my underwear and leggings. His legs were between mine so I could close them to try to ease the ache that burned in my pussy.

  “Fuck, Jac,” he rasped as his balls tightened, his hips thrusting relentlessly into me. “Your mouth is going to fucking kill me…”

  With him buried against the back of my mouth, I swallowed hard and a shout erupted from his chest just as I felt the long, thick spurts of his release shooting down my throat. I moaned as I gulped down all of him until his cock finally stopped pulsing against my tongue. He let my head go but I didn’t move; he tasted better than winning any gold.

  When I finally looked up, his hands were clasped on either side of his head and he was staring down at me like he had no idea what the hell just happened.

  “Holy shit, Jac…” His voice sounded like he’d been screaming a lung out for the past three days straight.

  Licking my lips and wiping my chin, I stood back up watching his gaze roam over my face.

  His hand reached up to cup my cheek, his thumb brushing over my mouth. “Your lips are so swollen from sucking my cock, Cinderella. I wonder if your pussy matches.”

  I shivered all the way down to my core. I was going to need a quick shower myself if Danny wanted me in the pool today.

  “Too bad you have to work,” I said with a quirked smile even though my lower parts argued it was his problem, not mine. “And too bad Prince Charming isn’t the kind of guy who likes to
be late.”

  He growled at me, the animal in his eyes ready to eat Prince Charming if it meant getting into my pants.

  I put a hand over his hammering heart and added, “Plus, I should get back before Danny comes in here and has a heart attack.”

  It was only my need to get back to training that finally calmed him. Thankfully. He’d already jeopardized his job enough for one morning.

  His lips crushed mine—hard and fast, but enough to leave a burn.

  “Don’t know how I’m going to make it until tomorrow.”

  “It’s going to be rough,” I hummed coyly as I reached behind me for the door, hungry anticipation brimming on my face. Resting back against the cool metal, my smile grew before I even got out my parting words. “I guess all I can say is May the Force be with you, Jedi Masters.”

  His half-laugh, half-groan, strangled “Nerd” was the last things I heard as I let myself out of the locker room.

  JEDI MASTERS.

  I still cracked a smile and laughed every time I thought about it. Pretty sure Danny thought I was going crazy, but was okay with it because I was absolutely killing my runs in practice.

  By now, my training was down to a science. I knew where I had room to wiggle—like diet and sleep—if the situation warranted, but I also knew how to be strict when I needed to be. When it came right down to it, skill was less than half of what you needed to succeed; determination… perseverance… they were the true keys to success.

  Maybe that was why I began to let Kyle through the cracks—because he didn’t give up.

  “What have you done?”

  I turned as Danny came up behind me, waddling in his single piece snow suit, his skis tucked under his arm.

  “What do you mean?” I looked down at myself, thinking there was something wrong with me.

  “Before every other competition, Jaclyn, you fight the mountain for your win,” he said, pointing at me and the snowy structure behind him before continuing in his thickly-accented English. “Past two days, you work with the mountain and it makes you better.”

  I unhooked my boots and reached down for my skis so I wouldn’t have to look at him as I shrugged and murmured, “Not sure. Maybe it’s the air out here.”

  Whatever he mumbled in Italian translated to, ‘You’re full of shit, Jaclyn.’ At least, that was what it sounded like to me.

  “See you tomorrow.” I stepped toward him and gave him a hug before he wandered off, probably in search of some pizza.

  We’d barely slipped in one last run before the lifts closed which meant we trailed in at the end of the mad dash to unstrap, unbuckle, and unwind.

  When I looked up from brushing the snow off my skis, I saw a familiar face leaving the Ski Patrol building.

  Biting my grinning lip, I set my skis down and picked up a good handful of snow and packed it between my palms into the perfect snowball, if I did say so myself. Squinting, I bit down on my lip as I assessed my moving target.

  And then I launched it, holding my breath until it made contact with a thwack.

  I squealed—oh god, who was I?—cupping my hands over my mouth to hold my laughter as Kyle whipped around, wondering just who the hell had thrown a snowball directly at his very nice ass.

  Recognizing that it was me, he veered off course and headed right for me, scooping up some snow on the way.

  I picked up one of my skis and swung it at the snowball that came flying in my direction, knocking it out of the park—or back into a million tiny pieces.

  “And here I thought I was the one running late,” he stated as he walked right up to me and hooked an arm around my waist, pulling me in for a hard kiss. “That was for my snowball you just crushed.”

  “Just be glad it was the snow one and not your real ones,” I replied tartly, stepping back from his arms.

  It felt too good, too easy with him when I let him in. I didn’t care what Yoda said about fear and the dark side right now, I needed to go slow.

  “Hey! What are you—” I exclaimed as he reached down for my skis and poles. “I—”

  “I know you can,” he cut me off with a hard stare. “Let’s not go through this again, at least until I’ve gotten some food in me.”

  “Sorry,” I murmured with a weak smile.

  Showing strength all the time was a hard habit to break. But it was getting easier, especially the way he kept looking at me while we walked toward the main building of the resort.

  “My bag’s in the locker room,” I said when we walked inside, the place already bustling with the dinner crowd. I held out my hands for my skis and he just stared at them. “It’s the women’s locker room, Charming. You can’t carry them in there for me.”

  Acknowledging my point with an adorable grumble, he handed over my equipment and said that he’d meet me back here as soon as we’d both changed out of our snow gear.

  “What’s that look for?” I asked as Kyle eyed me while I ordered my meal.

  As he shrugged, his fitted tee clung to his shoulders like I wished I was right now. Every time I gave him an inch, my body… my emotions took a mile. I agreed to dinner because I wanted him, I wanted to get to know him.

  And I wanted more of the way he made me feel, like there was no one and nothing but me.

  Not, Jac the Ice Princess or Jac the Queen of the Slopes… just Jac, with my non-existent juice bar and questionably over-the-top Star Wars obsession.

  “Just thought you’d go for the veggie burger,” he stated.

  The black bean and quinoa burger had looked really good, but I was so in the mood for a cheeseburger and when I saw that they had one with Vermont cheddar and barbeque sauce, I couldn’t stop myself.

  “I worked up an appetite.” I shrugged, taking in the gastropub atmosphere.

  Vintage-looking gas lamps dimly lit the walls around the edges of the restaurant. The centerpiece of the restaurant was an old stone fireplace on the far wall that crackled and spit as the fire in it burned. The dark wood of the tables dissolved into the shadows, making the plain white plates stand out like individual spotlights for the culinary masterpieces that they held.

  He put his hands up. “Hey, I’m not judging. I work PT, remember? There is no way in hell you can survive on kale and smoothies with the kind of training you put yourself through.”

  I reached for my water, swallowing down the memories of all the times when Evan glared at me for ordering more than a salad when we were out.

  The better I got, the more my career took off, the more he criticized. The more he told me that my body began to not look like a woman, that I shouldn’t be eating so much, that I shouldn’t be working so hard.

  “Did you always want to be a physical therapist?” I wondered.

  “No.” He shook his head with a light scoff. “I don’t think I knew what that was until I went to college. When I was really young, I wanted to grow up to be Michael Jackson.”

  I laughed, realizing that was where his love of music and singing came from.

  I found I wanted to know. I never wanted to know these things before about anyone else. Details. Pasts. Futures. They all fell into the ‘more’ category.

  “I was always good at sports. Went to college on a soccer scholarship. Tore my ACL sophomore year, thought my life had ended.” He paused to chuckle at his younger self. “Worked with a physical therapist who wouldn’t let me call it quits and by the time junior year rolled around, I was better than I’d ever been.”

  “So that’s when you knew…” I mused.

  We both looked to the waiter as our appetizer salads came out.

  “No, actually,” he said between mouthfuls. “I mean, I thought about maybe doing sports medicine at that point, which would’ve required I become PT anyway, but it was my internship that made up my mind.

  “The therapist who helped me offered to let me come and observe at the clinic he worked at in Denver. So, I went for two weeks and while I was there, I ran into a woman who used to go to my church. She was an olde
r woman, and she’d been in a wheelchair for as long as I could remember. Turns out she had major issues with her hips that kept her confined, but she’d finally gone and had a double hip replacement. Still, they told her that she might be wheelchair bound because she had been for so many years.”

  My fingers curled into the napkin on my lap, forgetting all about my salad.

  “Again, my therapist refused to let her quit. From day one, he told her that she would be walking.” His eyes looked up from the table and held mine. “And the day that she did… that’s when I knew sports wasn’t where I needed to be. I mean, the look in her eyes, you’d think he saved her life. And maybe he did.”

  “That’s… amazing.” I cringed inside at how lame my response sounded. In my defense, I was fighting tears and really, what the hell did you say to that?

  “How about you? Were you born with skis already attached to your legs or is that just another rumor?” he teased, bringing a smile and some levity to the moment that he knew I needed.

  “Pretty much,” I said wryly, pausing for a moment when our meals were served.

  Deciding I needed some calories to fortify myself for a conversation that I’d avoided having for half a decade, I took a huge bite out of my burger, moaning as the savory sweetness overwhelmed me.

  “Holy shit,” I said with my mouth still full. “This burger is out of this world.”

  He nodded in agreement as he finished his first bite and then added, “Perhaps it’s from a galaxy far, far away.” I didn’t even need the wink before my hand shot up to cover my mouth as I laughed.

  I finished my bite before asking, “Has anyone told you it’s rude to make a girl laugh while she’s eating?”

  “No.” He grinned. “A Star Wars reference is never rude.”

  I took another bite because I couldn’t disagree.

  “I started skiing when I was three. I don’t think I knew how to even walk properly before my parents strapped me to two pieces of wood and sent me flying down the mountain,” I returned to his question.

  Before Kyle, I would have used this opportunity to turn the conversation somewhere else… anywhere else but me. But now…