by Kat Mizera
He nodded. “Nice. Your turn.”
“Use the word foreskin in a sentence.”
He stared at her, his mind racing. “I do not…have…foreskin…on my dick.”
They dissolved into laughter and she nodded. “Good. Next.”
“Give me the Finnish word for dildo.”
She froze, grimacing. “Um…hie-something.”
“Hie-something is not dildo.”
“Give me a minute.” She tapped her foot impatiently. “Hiero…” She hung her head. “Shit. I can’t remember.”
“Hieromasauva.” He grinned. “What are you taking off?”
She unwrapped her scarf and tossed it at him. “Use the words butt plug in a sentence.”
He smiled. “I want to put a butt plug in your ass.”
“I’m going to have to make these harder.”
“Anal sex,” he said without missing a beat.
She took a drink of wine. “Anaali—sex.”
“Close, but no. You have one more chance.”
“It’s Anaali-sex!” she protested.
“Anaaliseksi,” he corrected. “You were incorrect. Take something off.”
She pulled off her jacket, giving him a dirty look. “I call foul. But if you want to play hardball, here’s one: Use the word prophylactic in a sentence.”
“What?” He had no idea what that meant. It sounded familiar but he couldn’t place it. Fuck. Not that he was worried about stripping, but it was the principle of the game.
“Prophylactic,” she repeated, smiling sweetly.
He grunted and tossed her hat on the table. “Explain?”
“It means something intended to prevent disease. Like condoms are prophylactics.”
“I knew this!” He shook his head. “Now…how do you say blow job?”
“It starts with an S,” she whispered, biting her lip.
“Yes.” He just smiled and waited.
“Shit.” She pulled off her sweats, revealing cute pink shorts beneath.
“Suihinotto.” He gave her the word.
“Undulate.”
What the fuck did that mean? He gave her a dirty look. “I think you cheat.”
“Okay, I’ll give you a hint… It has to do with when I’m on top.”
He blinked. This wasn’t a word he knew, and it didn’t sound like any sexual position he’d ever heard of, so he pulled his T-shirt off.
“Ohhh… I like this game,” she said in a breathy voice.
“I will like better when you are topless also.” He narrowed his eyes. “How do you say fuck?”
“Vittu.”
“I have to ask harder words.” Their eyes locked and she licked her lips.
“I guess you do.”
By the time they were down to nothing but his boxers and her panties, neither of them was concentrating anymore. They were laughing, though, and despite his teasing, Miikka was impressed at how much Finnish she’d learned. He’d given her flash cards with dirty and sexy words on them, but she’d also learned a few things on her own and remembered many of the things he’d said in conversation.
When she finally lost again, her response was “Paska!” And they were cracking up as she got to her feet and shimmied out of her panties.
God, he loved looking at her naked.
Without hesitation, he got up and yanked off his boxers as well. “I say it was a tie.”
“I hope you have a condom,” she whispered as she pushed him back onto the couch and straddled him.
“Always.” He kissed her lightly. “You learned a lot of Finnish in a short time. I think you’re amazing.”
“I think you are too.” She bit her lip. “And now I’m going to undulate in your lap.”
Charli woke up early to get ready for school, but left Miikka asleep. They’d had a long night and he probably needed his rest. It was hard leaving while he was still in her bed, though. She usually looked forward to work, but not today. All she wanted to do was stay in bed with the sexy hockey hunk who was rapidly becoming an integral part of her life.
She showered, got dressed and put on some makeup, tiptoeing out and towards the stairs.
“I’m awake,” Miikka called out softly.
“Sorry, I wanted you to sleep.” She turned to him guiltily.
“Is okay. I wake up as soon as you get up.”
“Do you have practice today?”
“Yes. And meetings. Coach is pissed.”
“I’m sorry.” She sat on the edge of the bed. “We didn’t get a chance to talk much last night.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He reached for her hand. “You finish work at three?”
“Yes. What are your plans?”
“I don’t know what Coach has planned for us, but I have to be at practice at eleven and then who knows what she’ll want. Meetings? Watching film? Another practice? I don’t know.”
“Okay, well, let me know if you’ll be free for dinner and I’ll cook.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I cook for myself anyway, so it’s not extra work.”
“Okay. Also, I forgot to tell you. Tomorrow my sister arrives from Finland.”
“What? I didn’t know she was coming.”
“She called the other day, but I forgot with everything happening. I have a car picking her up at the airport at six o’clock because I’ll already be at the arena.”
Charli frowned. “Do you want me to go get her? I don’t mind, and that way, if she’s tired after traveling for a full day, I can take her to your house, but if she’s not, she can come to the game with me.”
“You’ve never even been inside my house,” he said after a moment. “I’m sorry for this, hani. It’s just that we have privacy here. At my house, Logan is always home.” Honey.
“I know. It’s okay. It’s definitely easier to be here where we’re alone.”
“You don’t mind picking her up? You’re sure?”
“Not at all. It’ll give me a chance to spend a little time with her. Just text me her flight details and maybe a picture of her, okay? But I have to go.”
“I’ll see you tonight,” he said, reaching up to kiss her.
She put a hand on the side of his face, smiling into his sleepy eyes. “See you tonight.”
Practice was a bitch. Coach Saunders worked them hard, running through the types of drills Miikka hadn’t done in years. He was in great shape, but even he was wiped out by the end. And then they watched videos, taking apart the last two losses practically minute by minute. They hadn’t even been allowed to leave for lunch, and they ate the food that had been brought in, while having their asses handed to them.
Cell phones weren’t allowed during team meetings, so Miikka took a bathroom break to text Tara and let her know that Charli was picking her up. He didn’t know how long these meetings would go and there was an eleven-hour time difference, so she was probably already in bed, but she’d check when she got up in a few hours and headed to the airport.
He took a few minutes to clear his head since these types of meetings tended to get mind-numbing after a while. His thoughts drifted to last night’s sex marathon and Charli. She was so damn responsive, he thought about her constantly. He’d had a totally different plan for last night, one that included a sexy flash card game, a bottle of wine and then a lot of romantic lovemaking.
Instead, they’d wound up screwing in different places all over the living room and made quite a mess. Since she had to work today and would be making dinner, he’d tried to clean up a little for her. He did nothing at all at his own home since he and Logan had a cleaning service that came in once a week when they traveled and twice when they were home. They had a meal delivery service, landscapers and pickup laundry service. Essentially, all he had to think about was hockey, and he was a little embarrassed when he saw how much Charli did every day. She worked, cooked, cleaned, ran errands, and was even doing renovations herself.
It had been years since he’d done anything for h
imself. Even in the juniors, his sole focus had been hockey. His billet family had taken care of the essentials of life, like cooking, cleaning and laundry, and he’d just forged ahead with his career. A decade later, he was beginning to realize just how much he’d missed out on. Not that he had regrets about hockey, but the hyper-focus had been detrimental. He knew lots of other guys that had managed a much better balance.
Charli reminded him that there was more to life than hockey and he was quickly falling for her. It hadn’t been very long, but she was everything he’d always dreamed of in the woman he spent his life with. Sweet and sexy, a good cook, down-to-earth, and accepting of his life as a professional athlete, something that had been a huge bone of contention between him and Jaana. Charli obviously loved kids since she taught kindergarten, and her patience told him she would be a great mom someday, which was also important to him. Though he wasn’t in a hurry to do it just yet, he was looking forward to being a dad.
He was close to his parents and wanted a family of his own in the future. He’d thought he would have that with Jaana but she’d just walked away after so many years together, and while he wasn’t heartbroken, it had thrown him for a loop.
“Busted.” Ryder came out of the conference room and caught Miikka lounging against the wall.
Miikka smiled. “Took a piss, needed a break to focus for a few minutes.”
“I hear ya.” Ryder leaned against the wall next to him. “This is a rough team to play for, isn’t it?” He seemed thoughtful, not angry or defensive.
“Sometimes.” Miikka had his hands in his pockets. “The guys are great, the owner is a good guy, but everyone hates to come here. Most of the guys hate living here. We can’t keep coaches. Every year is like the first year again.”
Ryder nodded. “I didn’t have a choice in coming here; they drafted me so here I am.”
“Give it a chance,” Miikka said. “The men on this team, I’m proud to call them friends.”
“Yeah, but this is my career,” Ryder said quietly. “I don’t foresee us winning many championships.”
“You don’t know,” Miikka said thoughtfully. “But you can learn a lot from Coach Saunders. She’s a great coach. I love to work with her.”
“Yeah?” Ryder glanced up. “She seems pretty distracted with her kid and stuff.”
“It’s a new baby, so yes, a little bit. But I played for her last season and even pregnant, she coached almost until she gave birth. Give her a chance. You’ll see.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” He clapped Miikka on the shoulder. “Well, I actually do have to take a piss. I’ll see you in there.”
Miikka went back into the conference room and sat down. Hopefully, this would be over soon and he could go home to Charli.
Home.
When had Charli become home for him?
17
Charli got to the airport a little early and paced nervously as she waited for Tara to come through customs. Charli was wearing the new jersey Miikka had brought her yesterday, with his name on the back, and she hoped it would help tip Tara off. She’d seen a picture of her—she looked a lot like Miikka but obviously more feminine and with a lot more hair. Her hair was long in the picture, and not as red as his, though it was hard to tell in a photograph.
It was easy to spot the beautiful woman with streaks of white blond in her red hair the moment she came around the corner. She was wearing a Blizzard jersey as well, and Charli approached her with a smile.
“Tara?”
“You must be Charli! Hi!” Tara gave her a big hug and grinned. “Thanks for picking me up.”
“Of course. No problem at all.”
“I have two big bags. I hope that’s okay.”
“I have Miikka’s truck, because he was afraid of that.” Charli pulled out her phone and texted him, letting him know Tara had arrived.
“I can’t wait to get to the game,” Tara said.
“Your English is almost perfect,” Charli said as they walked towards baggage claim. “I don’t know why, but I thought you’d have a heavier accent.”
“We all learn English from a young age in Finland, and I studied English at university so I’m pretty fluent. Miikka, of course, never studied anything but hockey.”
“He’s gotten a lot better,” Charli told him. “You can have conversations with him now. He still struggles with a lot of words, but he’s getting there, and his pronunciation has improved a lot.”
“He said you’re a schoolteacher.”
“Yes, I teach kindergarten.” They talked as they waited for her luggage and then hauled it out to the truck.
“Tonight is a big game,” Tara said with a grimace. “If they lose, they’re officially eliminated from the playoffs, so the season is basically over for them.”
“I know. I hate that for him.” Charli started the truck and pulled onto the street. “I’ve never dated an athlete before, so I’m not sure how to behave when things happen with the team.”
“Sex is usually the best distraction,” Tara said with a smile. “Trust me. They don’t want you to feel sorry for them, they’re not usually interested in talking about their feelings, and sex is the answer to everything. By the time you’ve done that a few times, they’re over the worst of it.”
“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience.”
Tara shrugged. “My brother is a professional hockey player and I’ve met a lot of his friends over the years. Most of them didn’t interest me, but one or two did.”
“Didn’t work out, I guess?”
“No.” She shook her head and then stifled a yawn. “Goodness, I’m tired. But once we get to the arena, I’ll perk up. I don’t get to see Miikka play very often.”
“We’ll probably get there in time for warm-ups, so you can go down to ice level and say hello.”
“Oh, thank you. That’s nice. I’m so glad to be back here and to meet you.”
“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you too. Let’s go.”
They got to the arena and went straight down to the level by the tunnel where the players came in and out. Miikka didn’t notice them right away, but Donovan did, and he waved to them before skating over to Miikka and nudging him. Miikka turned and a big smile lit his face. He skated over to them and moved behind the bench to the rails that ran along the tunnel. He reached up to grab Tara’s hand.
“You’re here.” He spoke in English and she responded in kind.
“Of course. I’m so excited to see you play.”
Brother and sister were obviously close, their affection obvious in their brief interaction, but he turned to Charli a second later and blew her a kiss.
“See you later, hani.” Honey.
“Bye.” They watched him skate back to the ice to finish warming up and made their way back up to the concourse.
“Come on,” Charli told her. “Let’s go say hi to the other girls. You must know them?”
“Hailey and Whitney are friends. I’ve met a few of the others but don’t know them that well.”
“Well, I’ll introduce you.”
Hailey and Whitney greeted Tara like an old friend and she was immediately swept up in chatter and gossip. Charli fell into conversation with them too. It was natural now, and she realized she would miss them once the season was over. The scary thing was that the season would be over tonight if they lost, and once it was, she didn’t know what Miikka’s plans were either. He’d told her he usually went home to Finland in the off-season and they hadn’t yet talked about summer plans.
“Are you teaching summer school this year?” Hailey asked her. Charli had mentioned that she did that sometimes.
“Probably.” Charli nodded.
“Summer school?” Tara arched a brow. “Have you talked to Miikka about this? I think he’s expecting to take you on vacation this summer.”
“We really haven’t talked about anything beyond hockey season,” she admitted. “I haven’t brought it up because the team trying to get
into the playoffs has been stressful and we’re still so new.”
“Well, I just got here, so win or lose tonight, we’re not going anywhere for at least a couple of weeks because I don’t want to go back yet.”
“What about your job?” Whitney asked her. “Weren’t you about to start a new one when you left last time?”
Tara sighed. “It didn’t go so well. I quit last week.” She told them about her mean boss and the frustration of being blamed for everything. “Sometimes, it’s better to just walk away.”
“What did you study in college?” Charli asked her.
“English,” she said with a smile. “And no, Miikka wouldn’t let me teach him. He said it was too stressful.”
They all chuckled.
“Well, to be fair,” Charli said, “he does have a fairly high-pressure job, so I get that he wants to relax in the summer.”
“But obviously he’s reached his tipping point,” Hailey said. “Since he hired you.”
“Either that or he just wanted an excuse to get to know her,” Tara supplied with a grin. “He could have hired an English teacher at any time. Instead, he changes a pretty girl’s tire and when he finds out she’s a teacher, he decides it’s time.”
Charli froze and then cocked her head. “You think that’s why he asked me to tutor him?”
“Why not? It’s easier than asking out someone who’s shy,” Hailey said. “And let’s face it—you were pretty shy when we first met you. So I’m sure he was a little intimidated by that. As his tutor, he could get to know you with no pressure.”
“I never thought of that.”
“And things are getting serious, right?” Whitney asked. “It sounds like you two are together all the time.”
Charli frowned. “It hasn’t been that long, so I don’t know about serious, but yes, we’re spending a lot of time together.”
“Don’t you want it to get serious?” Tara asked.
“I…” Charli hesitated. She did want to be with Miikka, but she hadn’t thought in terms of getting serious with anyone since college. She’d given up on the idea of spending the rest of her life with someone and now that there was a great guy in her life, she didn’t dare plan that far ahead. “I’ve been burned enough times not to set myself up like that, so to be honest, I’m taking it one day at a time with zero expectations. If he wants to keep it casual, that’s fine with me.”