by Steph
Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes. “You’re the only one who seems to bring it out in me.”
His grin got impossibly hotter. “Glad to hear it. Now let’s go eat so I can corrupt you a little more.”
* * * * *
Riley had had a great fucking game.
His line had actually had a better plus-minus than the first line tonight and he’d scored and had an assist.
Now, he had only one goal in mind: Get her in bed.
Before the game, he’d only been able to think about her. During the game, he’d compartmentalized that lust. But now it burned like lava in his veins.
It might have blinded him to the fact that he didn’t realize Aly had something on her mind until they were on their way back to her place.
He hadn’t noticed anything wrong during dinner. They’d talked and laughed and he’d flirted and she’d smiled. And his dick had gotten harder every time she looked at him and shook her head at something he told her.
But he’d noticed a hesitancy about her, like she had something on the tip of her tongue but every time she thought about speaking, she held back.
He’d thought maybe it was just because they didn’t know each other that well and he was hyped from the game.
But now, sitting alone together in the quiet cab, he knew something was up.
He didn’t want to get into it while they were driving, so he’d waited until he’d parked in front of her house.
As he watched, she glanced at her home then looked back at him. “Do you want to come in?”
“Yeah, I do, but… Are you sure you want me to? Is something wrong?”
She tried to hide her grimace but he caught it before she could.
He moved a little closer. “Did something happen at the game?”
“No, no. Nothing happened. I just…” Her nose wrinkled. “I heard about your divorce.”
He blinked. “Oh. It’s not recent. I mean, I’ve been divorced for almost five years. Sorry, I guess I should’ve said something but it never even occurred to me—”
“No, wait.” She held up one hand. “I’m sorry. It doesn’t matter to me that you’re divorced. I just…you never said anything. And I know how stupid that sounds considering we only met Friday.”
Grimacing, he shook his head. “How bad am I gonna sound if I say I barely ever think about being married anymore? It was years ago and I kinda…forget.”
Damn, that sounded really lame or really self-absorbed. Fuck.
“Really, I don’t mean to pry—”
“Whoa, no. You’re not prying. Seriously. What do you want to know? Just ask. I’m an open book.”
Her lips curved. “Okay but why don’t we go inside where it’s not so cold?”
He jumped out of the car and hustled around to take her hand and help her out. Then he put his arm around her shoulders and tucked her into his side. She didn’t stiffen or try to pull away. If she had, he would’ve released her. Instead, her arm went around his waist and she pulled him even closer.
Now he wanted to run for the house and nail her against the front door.
He refrained, but just barely.
“Do you want something to drink?” She took off her coat and hung it on the hook by the door.
“Yeah, I’d love some water.”
She smiled over her shoulder as she headed toward the back of the house. “I’ll be right back.”
Shedding his coat, he sat on the couch, grinning when he had a flashback to last night. He couldn’t wait to repeat but first…
Aly returned with a bottle of water for both of them then sat next to him.
“I really didn’t mean to pry,” she said. “If you don’t want to talk about your marriage, we don’t have to. It just kind of took me off guard.”
“It’s not a big secret.” He shrugged. “It’s just been a while since I was married. Kind of seems like another life, if that makes sense.”
Drawing her legs up underneath her, she propped her arm on the back of the couch and rested her head on her hand. “How long were you married?”
“Two years. The first year was good.” He grimaced. “Mostly. We were high school sweethearts and the plan was to get married after I finished college. But…my second year of college didn’t go so well.” Total understatement. “I partied too much, didn’t study enough. The only thing I had going for me was hockey but I… Well, I flunked out.”
He could still remember the look on his dad’s face when his parents had come to get him at the end of the semester. So damn disappointed.
“I’d planned to enter the draft that following summer, but my parents convinced me to take the year off, move back home and work, then go back to school for my degree and get drafted between junior and senior year.”
“Sounds like you had it all planned out.”
“What’s the saying? Best laid plans?” He shook his head. “The only job I could find was working night shift in the local mill. And I fucking hated it. Then I got picked up by the Great Lakes Hockey league. It’s a full-contact amateur league and it filled that hole.”
That hole had been a gaping wound. He’d never told anyone, not even his parents, just how much not playing hockey had hurt.
“I think Ann figured since I was home, that’s where I was gonna stay.”
“Did you want to go back to college?”
Aly watched him with intent blue eyes. Those eyes mesmerized. He wanted the light to be on tonight when he made love to her so he could see those eyes.
“Yeah, I did. I wanted my degree. Even back then, I knew I couldn’t play hockey all my life. I needed something for after. With a degree in sports management, I figure I can stay involved with the game even after I can’t play anymore.
“I played amateur for a season and got married because I loved her and I figured there wasn’t much difference between marrying her then and waiting a couple of years until I graduated. But Ann didn’t count on me going back to school. We had a huge fight the night before I left to go back. That was pretty much the beginning of the end. I wanted her to come with me. She didn’t want to leave our hometown. And I realized it was never going to work. I don’t think she ever really believed I was going to make hockey my career.”
“I’m sorry. That must’ve sucked.”
It had. It’d sucked big time because it’d been his second failure. “I was divorced by the time I was twenty-one. Wow. Seven years ago. Seems like forever.”
“But you finished college and you’re playing professionally. That’s a great achievement.”
He nodded, her smile making him want to close the distance between them and kiss her. But he didn’t want to push her. If she wanted to talk, he’d talk. He got almost as much satisfaction from that as he did from kissing her. Almost.
“Thanks.”
Yes, it was an achievement but he still hadn’t made the leap he wanted to make. The one to the NHL. And he was starting to realize it might be out of his reach.
“But?” she prompted.
He shook his head, amazed she’d read him so easily.
“But I still haven’t made it to the NHL. A lot of the guys I started out with have been playing up for years. My parents have always been supportive but they’re starting to ask when I’m going to come home and get a real job.”
Her nose wrinkled. “Ouch.”
He huffed out a laugh. “Yeah. They’ve always been my biggest supporters but my dad’s a pragmatist. If I haven’t reached my goal in ten years, it’s time for a new goal.”
“Is twenty-eight old for a player?”
“Not really, no. A lot of guys play until they’re in their late thirties but,” he sighed, “I guess I’m a lot like my dad. I told myself I’d play until I’d made it to the NHL or I turned twenty-eight. At the time, twenty-eight seemed like a lifetime away. Now…”
He shook his head.
“Now you’re twenty-eight and you still enjoy playing.” She tilted her head, blonde hair spilling over h
er shoulder and making him want to run his fingers through it. “So why are you even thinking about giving it up? Goals change all the time. Do your parents expect you to come home?”
“Probably, yeah. We’ve always been close and that’s kind of what I figured I’d do. I’m their only and I think they’re counting on me to be around when they get older.”
She nodded. “My parents are the same. They keep telling me how much I’d love living in Florida and that I should come to visit more often and, oh yeah, Millie across the street, her son just moved down from Milwaukee and he’s wonderful and they want to introduce me to him.”
A surge of jealousy ripped through him and he had a moment to think “What the fuck?” before he got it under control. The feeling was still there but he reined in the urge to tell her to forget it.
This whole caveman act was not his deal but there was something about Aly that made him want to beat his chest and lock her in his cave.
“Do you want to move to Florida?”
She shrugged, her gaze sliding away. “I’ve thought about it. But…I’m settled here. I like my job. I like my house. We moved around a lot when I was a kid and I hated it. Every year or two, we’d end up in some new town where I didn’t know anyone.”
A pit opened Riley’s stomach. There’d been seasons where he’d moved three or four times, sometimes across the country. Sounded like Aly would hate that.
“Guess you’re used to it,” she said. “Moving all the time?”
“Yeah. But I’m realizing there might be a good reason for me to stay in one place.”
“And what would that be?”
Did he imagine the breathlessness in her voice? No, he didn’t think so. Not combined with the look in her eyes.
Sitting here listening to her, he realized how much he’d miss her if he couldn’t see her tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the day after that.
He also knew that if he blurted out exactly what he wanted to say, she would think he was crazy.
If there was one thing he’d learned about Aly, it was that she was nothing if not logical. And declaring his ever-lasting devotion after only three days wouldn’t fit into her neat, logical life. And his life was anything but neat and logical.
So what the fuck should he say?
The truth, asshole. Anything else’ll just get you in trouble.
He smiled, attempting to be both charming and disarming. Hopefully not failing at both.
“Well, you see, I met this woman…”
Her lips curved in a sweet smile, one he was fast becoming addicted to.
“And you’re saying you’d stay for her? Even though you haven’t known her that long?”
“Haven’t you ever had that feeling that you know what you’re doing is right? It’s kind of like when you’ve got a good team. There’s a feeling in the air in the locker room. An excitement you can almost touch.”
Her smile dimmed a little. “And you’d stay just because you think she might be…important to you?”
He leaned forward, getting in her space now because he couldn’t resist her anymore. “I’m saying I might be persuaded to give up everything for the right girl.”
She opened her mouth to speak again but he’d waited too long to kiss her. He sealed his mouth over hers for a deep, intensely sensual taste of her.
Her hands had fallen to his shoulders as if to hold him off, but as soon as his tongue slid against hers, she gripped him and tugged him closer. He came willingly, breathing a sigh of relief that she’d initiated the kiss after he’d laid that bombshell on her.
And now that she had, all bets were off.
But tonight, he was taking his time. Last night had been frantic. Fantastic but over way too fucking fast. And she hadn’t asked him to stay the night.
Tonight, he was hoping for an invitation into her bed.
But first, he was content to just kiss her. Because, holy fucking hell, he loved the way she kissed. Like she couldn’t get enough of him.
He certainly couldn’t get enough of her. And she definitely wasn’t close enough. No way.
Reaching for her hips, he grabbed her and lifted her onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her and crushing her against him. She didn’t seem to mind.
Her arms went around his shoulders, her hands sliding into his hair and fingers raking against his scalp.
Christ, that felt amazing. He really wanted to feel those nails elsewhere on his body. Like, lower. Along his thighs. On the inside of his thighs. On his cock.
Hell, he’d take her hands on his body anywhere he could get them.
He’d take her any way he could get her.
Aly’s heart pounded against her ribs, lungs working overtime as her desire for Riley consumed her.
Yes, she’d felt out of control last night, but she was beginning to believe she’d never be in control when it came to Riley. Right now, that didn’t bother her. Tomorrow morning, it was going to bother the hell out of her.
But it wasn’t tomorrow yet.
It was tonight and tonight was going to be amazing.
Tilting her head to the side so he could deepen the kiss, she let herself sink into him, let him hold her tight against him like he couldn’t bear to release her. Soaking in the heat of his body, she let herself disconnect from reality.
And Riley became her world. She could only see him, only smell him. Only taste him. Every muscle in her body relaxed and she gave herself over to him. She had no idea why or how. It just happened.
Apparently, Riley was so attuned to her, he noticed immediately, took the reins, and ran with it.
Dragging his mouth away from hers, he kissed his way down to her neck as his hands spread across her back and held her close to his chest.
He was so big, she almost felt small against him. But not lost. Riley held her too tightly for her to feel lost.
And his mouth… Oh my god, his tongue traced decadent patterns on her skin that made her shiver, her body moving against his until she’d begun to rub her mound against his erection, which she felt through his dress pants.
“Fuck, sweetheart. Keep that up. I’m loving that.”
His voice fired her libido, her muscles tightening as his hands continued to pet her. Down her back then up again, several times, until her skin felt so sensitized, her clothing was a nuisance.
“I want your clothes off.” She drew her hands down from his shoulders to his shirt, pushing buttons through their holes as fast as her hands would go. “You need to be naked.”
She could feel his mouth curve in a smile against the sensitive skin where her neck met her shoulder.
“I agree. But you need to lose the clothes, too. You have the most amazingly soft skin I’ve ever felt. I want to rub my cock between your thighs then I’m going to flip you over and rub it between your ass cheeks. Do you know how soft you are there? Like silk, baby.”
His hands landed on her ass and scooped her closer, making her shudder.
“And holy fuck, when I get my hands between your legs, it’s like butter. So soft. I can’t wait to put my mouth on you.”
Her breath caught in her throat as he spoke, her brain unable to process the heat coursing through her body.
Her first instinct was to give him whatever he wanted. And since he wanted what she wanted, there was no decision to make.
She gave in.
Turning her face into his neck, she bit him, hard enough to make him flinch. And groan.
His hands clutched at her ass for a second before moving to her front, where he snapped the button on her black jeans and began to work them down her hips.
Her hands had already begun to work at his shirt but their actions kept getting in the way of each other.
Frustration began to make her fingers more frantic until finally she moaned.
And he grabbed her hands, forcing her to look up at him. “Aly. Hon. Wait.”
She raised her eyebrows, barely able to breathe. “You want to wait?”
His smile mad
e her thighs clench. It was playful and wicked and sweet all at the same time.
“No, I really don’t. I want you naked and riding me right now, but I’d also like to do that on a bed. Because first, I’m gonna lay you out naked and put my face between your legs and make you come.”
Her lips parted at the carnality in his tone and her lungs contracted. And, holy hell, she soaked her panties.
“That mouth of yours is dangerous.”
That mouth curved into another one of his wicked grins.
“So I’ve been told. But usually only by people who want to punch it.”
Scrambling to her feet, she held out her hand, which he grabbed as he stood.
“Well, I definitely don’t want to punch it. I have much better uses for it.”
“Lead the way, sweetheart. I’m all yours.”
She continued to stare into his beautiful eyes for a few more seconds and the triumph she felt at his statement took the rest of her breath away.
With a grin of her own, she turned and pulled him along behind her. By the time they reached the stairs to the second floor, they were practically running.
And when he swung her into his arms and took the stairs two at a time, she very nearly lost her ability to function.
No man had ever made her feel like he couldn’t wait to get her in a bed because he wanted to make her feel good.
Riley did.
“Which way?”
“Right then last door on the left.”
“Damn, that’s far away.”
She laughed and he looked down, smiling like making her laugh was his main goal in life.
“Christ, you’re gorgeous when you smile. You’re fucking hot all the damn time but when you smile like that, I forget how to breathe.”
“Riley, that’s…”
She didn’t know what to say to that but he’d reached the door to her room by then. In the next second, she was airborne for a split second before her ass hit the bed and she sprawled on top of her quilt.
A second later, Riley came down on top of her, covering her better than any quilt ever could. The heat of him seared through her clothing and the second his lips pressed against hers, all thoughts of taking this slow blew apart like fireworks exploding.
She had her hands on his shirt, ready to rip it open, when he rose to his knees over her, trapping her with his knees on either side of her thighs.