by Amanda Cowen
“Why do you hate him so much?” I ask.
He laughs, and then takes a sip of his drink. “He’s unpredictable, arrogant and thorn in my side. And one thing’s for sure, I don’t like the way he looks at you.”
I tilt my head to the side and narrow my eyes at him, unsatisfied with his response. “Come on Theo, there has to be more to it than that.”
“Quinn, Theo! Glad you could make it.” Coach Bartley shakes our hands.
While Coach Barley and Theo engage in a conversation on horseback riding, yachts, and hockey my smile falters, noticing the red headed girl that stepped out of the limo with Peter Kirkland earlier today. She stumbles with hunched shoulders and tries to brace herself against the wall to keep from falling over. She sways incoherently from side to side and won't stop hiccupping. Kirkland is a few feet away, with some of his teammates, including, Viktor, laughing at her.
I excuse myself from Theo and Coach Bartley’s conversation and head into the next room. I’ve seen this before: a stumbling drunk, making her way incoherently though the room, a comical display for those who don’t care about her. But I do care. This kind of drunk brings back painful memories that I wish I could erase. It’s something I am unable to walk away from; I need to help.
“Are you okay?” I drape my arm around her shoulders and guide her onto a couch. “Can I get you some water?”
Her eyes are glazed over and she lets out a sigh. “I don’t feel good.” Her words slur together as she rests her head on my lap.
“I’m going to call you a cab, okay? We should probably get you home,” I say, until I feel a strong hand brace my shoulder.
“Hey, newbie, why don’t you back off and mind your own business?” my eyes meet Kirkland’s. “Sarah’s fine and still good for a round. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure she gets home once I’m done with her.”
“Are you serious? She’s practically passed out.” I glance over his shoulder and look to Viktor for back up, but he takes a sip from his drink and looks away.
“Yeah I know.” He looks back at his teammates and a few of the Bruisers players, laughing. “That’s how I like them.”
“You’re disgusting. She’s drunk. I’m calling her a cab,” I hiss, fishing in my purse for my phone.
Kirkland’s hand wraps around my wrist. “Stop being a cock block and get lost.”
“Let go of her.”
My eyes shift up to see Cash standing at my side, his nostrils flaring.
Kirkland sneers at him before letting go of my wrist. “Or what, Brooks?”
“Or I’ll smash your fucking face in,” he threatens, jaw tight.
Kirkland lets out an amused chuckle. “Fuck off Cash. Save your fists for the ice. It’s the only thing you’re good for anyway.”
Cash clears his throat of anger and balls his thick fingers into fists. I begin to fidget with my hair, feeling my chest tighten as the scene unfolding before my eyes begins to draw attention from others at the party.
“Come on, Kirkland, give me a reason. I dare you to touch her again.”
Kirkland glances over at me then down at his drunken date. “What’s your problem, Cash? You have a crush on newbie or something?” He pauses with a chuckle. “You know what, I don’t blame you…with tits as fine as hers I’m thinking I may have picked the wrong girl tonight.” He takes a step closer and wraps one of my long brown curls around his finger. I instinctually place my palms on his chest and shove him back a fraction. He smirks at me, immune to my distaste for him.
“I’m warning you. Walk away, Kirkland,” Cash replies, anger cutting through his voice.
“Are you kidding, Brooks? What are you trying to prove? That you aren’t some small town Canadian fuck up?” Kirkland laughs, then puts his face inches away from mine. “Listen sweetheart, don’t waste your time with this asshole.”
My heart is beating out of my chest as I feel his cloying whiskey breath against my cheek. The tiniest whiff causes memories of my mother to flood my mind. It makes me sick. I look up at Kirkland, a fire igniting in my belly. This is what it feels like to want to punch someone; to have every angry nerve ending rise and make you do the unthinkable. “Here’s a proposition for you green eyes. How about you suck me off tonight with those gorgeous lips of yours …at least unlike Brooks, I won’t make you blow me in the back of a limousine. Bartley’s washroom will do.”
I gear up my hand to slap him across the face when Kirkland’s body is ripped out of view. Cash pummels him to the floor with a loud thud, knocking over a planter and smashing Kirkland’s head against the wall. Kirkland wrestles beneath him and his fist flies through the air, but Cash dodges the punch, landing a bone-spitting blow on Kirkland’s face. Viktor jumps between them, just as Cash throws another fist into Kirkland’s jaw. I gasp, throwing my hands over my mouth, when Viktor slams Cash against the wall and Kirkland struggles to sit up with bright red blood dripping from his nose and lip, splattered across the hardwood floor.
“Cash! What the hell?” Viktor shouts.
Kirkland is a bloody mess and a few of his teammates help him to his feet. A girl wipes his open wound on his eyebrow covered in blood with a few bar napkins. He winces with every, dab to his broken flesh as he is lead over to an empty chair.
When Cash’s head snaps up, his cold blue eyes meet mine as his chest heaves up and down. He takes a step back, lifts his white tee shirt and wipes his mouth. “You okay?”
I stare into his apologetic eyes for a second then look away. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
With the confirmation of my sanity, Cash stalks over to Sarah who is flopped over on the couch. He helps her to her wobbly feet and then looks back at me through the crowd. “I’ll get her a ride home.”
“Wait!” I shout, pushing through the warm mass of bodies. “I’m coming with you.”
Chapter 9
As Cash flags down a cab, amid the horns and the pedestrians, the only thing I can truly focus on is the beating of my heart. Once a cab pulls up, we slide onto the squishy leather seats with Sarah in the middle, separating the two of us.
“Where you headed?” the cabbie asks, glancing back at us through the rear-view mirror.
“Where do you live, sweetheart?” Cash asks Sarah, his eyes locked on mine.
She lets out a deep breath, slurs a street name and closes her eyes.
“Is there anyone at your place to take care of you?” Cash leans over, his tone patient, his soft blue eyes so unexpectedly concerned it warms my cold heart.
“Yeah, my roommate’s at home” she slurs again, curling up against his side.
Once we pull up to her building, Cash unlocks his door, and looks over at me. His sharp features are shadowed by the dark of the night, but his blue eyes sparkle in my direction. He helps Sarah out of the cab and I ask the cab driver to wait for us. I walk around the back of the cab and over to Cash holding up a wobbly Sarah on the sidewalk. When his eyes meet mine, they flash with curiosity before slowly cooling to gratitude. I slip my arm around her to help stabilize her other side.
“Thanks” he whispers.
In the moonlight, I can see the sharp line of his jaw and the smooth expanse of his neck. His white tee shirt is caught on Sarah’s chunky necklace and it tugs it down far enough that I can see his tattooed chest. My mind involuntarily starts undressing him until his grunt distracts me and his grip on Sarah tightens. She is dead weight as we lug her up the steps of her apartment building.
I reach forward and pull open the door to the lobby.
He gives Sarah a gentle shake. “What’s your apartment number?”
She mumbles out a number and Cash presses the corresponding button. A buzzer rings and a female voice comes through the line. Cash tells her that we have a drunk Sarah waiting in the lobby. Within seconds, a young girl with dark black hair and thick rimmed glasses steps out of the elevator and rushes over to Sarah. She thanks us for getting her home safely and Cash helps guide her in the elevator.
He exhales slowly through
his nose as we step out onto the sidewalk. His expression is unreadable, but it isn’t so dark outside that I can’t see the way his shoulders seem too heavy for his frame. He opens the cab door and looks back at me. I’m unsure what he’s doing at first, then understanding dawns as he nods to the open door.
“Ladies first,” he says.
There is a lightness in my chest as I step forward and slide onto the leather seat. A distinct jump in pulse catches me off guard when I feel Cash slide in beside me.
I have to remind myself to breathe as we drive in silence.
“I’m really sorry for what happened back there, Quinn.” His soft voice murmurs from my right
I turn to face him. “I appreciate what you did, but this isn’t the ice. You can’t go around punching people out.”
I stare into his blue eyes, heated and tense. He leans forward and I watch his chest slowly rising and falling with every breath he takes. God he smells so good.
“I gave Kirkland fair warning,” he says, and drapes his arm along the seat. “I should have clocked him the first time he lay a finger on you.”
“Why do you constantly feel the need to protect me?” I ask him, wishing he would stop wafting his delicious scent my way. “I’m probably the least sexy girl you’ve ever felt the need to protect.”
“Least sexy?” he repeats with a raised brow. “Quinn, you are the sexiest girl. You’ve got brains, ambition, style, elegance and addicting lips.”
I pull back and meet his eyes before he leans back in, opening his mouth to mine. My heart races feeling the swirl of his tongue in my mouth. I sense that I should be wary of my feelings for Cash and the effect he has on me, but when he starts saying things like that my walls start crumbling. His mouth is like a magnet to mine.
“I don’t understand,” I say, slipping my tongue out of his wet lips.
“You inspire me Quinn.” His eyes darken and his gaze meets mine again, running his thumb along my cheek. “With you, it’s different.”
“With me it’s different?” I ask, my voice thick with awkwardness and my pulse heavy in my throat.
“Let me prove it to you.”
He takes my face in his hands, palms warm against my cheeks, and kisses me. His lips tease at mine, teeth gently scraping across. I feel his fingers thread in my hair and he tips my head back, pulling away just long enough to brush his nose along mine and tilt my chin up to him. I suck in a breath as the tip of his tongue pushes inside and he moans into my mouth; diminishing every feeling that tells me losing myself to Cash again is wrong. His hands slide down my ribcage and finds my hips. I respond by running my finger slowly along his scruffy jaw line.
He reaches for my hand and kisses the back of my knuckles, “I’ll ask the cabbie to drop you off at home”
I bite down on my lip, with a devious twinkle in my eye. “Or not….” I let my voice trail off.
A flicker of intensity lights up in his eyes. He grins and leans forward, placing another kiss against my lips, “Are you sure?”
I nod, biting my bottom lip. My heart beats a mile a minute, my arms instinctually wrapping around his neck.
“Where to next? Is it one stop or two?” the cab driver asks.
“One,” we say in unison.
His thumb dragging along my bottom lip as he recites an address.
In an instant, my fingers wrap around his tie and I pull him against my chest. Our lips connect and I open to his mouth, our tongues dancing together. He slams me up against the window our lips locked and his hands running along the inside of my thighs. He grips either side of them in both of his hands, holding me down, and skimming his way down to my ass and then back along the inside of my thighs. I moan when he slides deeper, my hips fighting his hold, needing to arch upwards. I wrap my legs around him, wanting his fingers inside me, feeling him wickedly tease around the edges of my damp panties.
“I can’t stop thinking about all the things I’m dying to do to you.,” he whispers as he grazes my ear with his teeth.
“This is a onetime deal, Brooks,” I moan loosening his belt.
A thrill shot moves through me as his hands travel around my ribs and unclasp my bra. I press my breasts into his palms, urging him on and encouraging this raw animalistic behavior that I’ve never ever experienced before with another man.
He kisses along my neck, his fingers moving quickly to remove my bra. He slides it out through the top of my dress. “I’m keeping this.” And shoves it into the front pocket of his jeans, sucking at my bottom lip.
“The hell you are,” I say, sliding my hands along his chest.
“The hell I am,” he murmurs, as his hand slides up the inside of my dress, gripping my lace panties in his fingers. “And I’m keeping these too.”
A shiver moves through me, as I feel him bind the flimsy material in his fingers, ripping my good for nothing panties clean from my body.
Both our chests are rising and falling, as so many thoughts run like crazy through my mind. There is nothing more in the whole entire world I want more in this moment than to feel him inside me, but I know I am going to hate both of us tomorrow when this is over, yet for some insane reason I can’t bring myself to stop it.
The cab comes to a stop, and Cash pulls out a hundred-dollar bill from his wallet and slams it in the cab drivers hand. He slides out of the cab, and I follow, scurrying along the backseat. When my heels hit the pavement, he turns around and my heart skips a beat. His wavy honey hair stands on edge, from my fingers running through it at least a hundred times. His white tee shirt is wrinkled, and my lipstick is smeared all over his neck and lips, like I’ve marked him. He looks at me with a hint of uncertainty mixed with a sliver of desperation in his eyes, which makes my heart beat a mile a minute.
Cash pulls me through the doorway, down a hall and into the elevator. The second the door closes, our lips are all over each other and it’s obvious that he can feel how frantic I am for him. All I can muster with his scalding kisses pressing against the side of my neck and over the tops of my breasts is a greedy moan, begging for more.
His fingers stroke the back of my neck while his other hand travels down to my hip, igniting a spark with every touch. He opens it on my lower back and presses me into his hard erection, with his lips all over mine. I am drowning in the sensation of him, lost and hopeless in his arms.
When the doors chime open, we step out into an immaculate penthouse surrounded by floor to ceiling windows. He whips off his tee shirt and pulls me to the last room on the right, pushing me inside, before locking the door behind us.
Cash grabs at my ass, gripping it tightly in his fingers, not breaking our kiss for a second. I gasp when he pins me against the wall. My legs tighten around his waist, my hands run up his chest. He slides the straps of my dress over my shoulders, and they fall to the sides, as he kisses along my neck. I unzip his jeans and drop them to the floor.
His groin grazes against my sex and he is so damn hard, my mouth waters. When he kicks off his pants, allowing me to see him in all his naked glory, I lick my lips unable to control my urge to finally have him. From his perfectly toned biceps to his powerful chest to the size of his thick long cock, it all takes what’s left of my breath away. God, he is crazy sexy. And the way my skin burns as his hands move their way up my body, until they are gripping fistfuls of my hair, fills me with the insane need to have him.
He slides his hands down to my waist, picks me up and tosses me onto his bed. The next moment I am on my back, and Cash looms, his mouth curves into a dangerously sexy smile. “This isn’t a game, Mittens. This time you better be ready to finish what you started.”
“If you weren’t such an asshole last time, I would have.” I’m seething.
His eyes snap into mine, wide and thrilled, “God, Mittens, your feistiness drives me fucking wild.”
He leans down and kisses me. His taste, spearmint. His smell, cinnamon. I want his mouth everywhere, sucking, nibbling and licking. Everything feels different with him.
I don’t know who I’ve become. I have never lost myself in a man before. But right now when his rough hands grip my hips I’m gone. I relish in our kisses, my pulsing clit, and his mouth so soft and urgent on my lips. I can feel his heart beating, his hardness, and his fingers teasing my swollen sex. An explosion builds between my legs. I never want him to stop. Cash kisses my neck, my shoulder, and then slowly trails his lips along the side of my body. I inhale a sharp breath, my body trembling in anticipation, my sweet spot throbbing. He slides to the edge of the bed and kneels on the floor between my thighs, spreading me, kissing me through the fabric of my underwear. He nibbles and tugs, sucking and licking impatiently before he slides my last remaining article of clothing down my legs. I gasp when he leans forward, covering my most sensitive skin in a long, slow lick. I push up, leaning back on my hands to watch him.
“I can’t get enough of you.” His palms plant further on my thighs to keep my legs open. His licks deepen, my heart races, his low moans vibrate through me.
I thread my hands in his hair, the familiar sensation of my need for Cash rocking through me. When his tongue swirls around my sensitive skin, I buck uncontrollably beneath him. I’m gasping, hoarse and senseless, offering no words, just sharp sounds. The echo of my orgasm rings around us, as I cry out his name into a whimper. I can feel his smile against my thigh as he gives me one final lick and removes his fingers from inside me. He stumbles to his feet and climbs over me with a wicked grin.
“I need to be inside you,” his voice raspy against my mouth. “Watching you come like that - I can’t take it anymore.”
In a quick blink, he grabs hold of my ankles, grabs his mammoth of a cock, and thrusts it deep inside me. Goosebumps spread all over my skin at how hot he looks riding me. His scent and heat surrounds me, his hands and mouth moving all over me. His demanding thrusts feel better than anything.
His gaze snares mine as his thumb and index finger roll over the hardened peak of one of my nipples. He starts to move slowly inside me and it’s unlike anything else. The electricity pulsating between us with his every thrust is enough to spark his bedroom into flames. I’ve never felt this type of connection with a guy our first time. I’ve never been so, responsive, so greedy so sexually aware of what I want. And what I want is Cash inside me, always. His eyes are on mine as he pulls out and then pushes back in, occasionally leaning forward and brushing my lips with a kiss.