I kept stroking my fingers into her deeply with one hand as I shoved my jersey higher with the other. “And you’re all mine. That’s why I wish you could walk around with my name all over you, each and every day. So any guy who sees you will know that you’re taken.”
I bent down and nibbled on her neck, sucking her skin into my mouth hard enough that it would leave a mark. Again. Right in the same place I had last weekend. “But since you can’t walk around wearing my jersey all the time, and I’m guessing you don’t want to get a tattoo of my name right about here”—I trailed my fingers over her collarbone—“I guess I’ll just have to make do with a tiny hickey on your neck and fucking you until you walk bow-legged.”
She gasped as her hand flew to where I’d left my mark. In an attempt to distract, and because I couldn’t resist the temptation, I worked my way down her chest. I paid close attention to her perfect tits; licking and sucking my way around the creamy mounds and their hard, pink peaks until she moaned and shivered beneath me. Then I made my way lower, dropping my head to bury my nose against her, inhaling the scent of her arousal. Spreading her pussy lips wide, I licked up the center and groaned. I swore she tasted better each time I got my mouth on her.
“I could spend hours eating you,” I moaned.
Her hips bucked up sharply. My tongue danced along her slit, and she cried out. The sound of her pleasure spurred me on, and I started licking and sucking harder. Plunging my tongue into her wet pussy. Driving it inside over and over again while I pinched her clit, making her scream as her orgasm ripped through her. I kept licking her until her shudders stopped, and my cock felt like it was ready to burst.
Rising up on my knees, I nudged her wet heat and realized my cock was bare. “Shit! Stay right there. I need to grab a condom.”
“Hurry,” she urged.
I crawled to the edge of the mattress and yanked the drawer on the bedside table open. I’d grabbed another new box after our sex marathon weekend, and I had to tear it open to get one out. Gripping the base of my cock, I rolled the condom down my shaft and moved back between her legs. I spread them wide and lined my cock up with her pussy. Then I thrust in deep and rode her. Hard and rough, her pussy clenching me as her wetness dripped down her thighs.
I was like a man possessed as I fucked her, wanting to roar in triumph when I felt her orgasm rise again. Mine quickly followed. My climax was so intense, I thought I might drown beneath the blinding waves of pleasure. With each pulse of my cock, one thought rocketed through my brain.
Mine.
Cecily was mine, and I’d do whatever it took to keep her. Even wait to tell her what I knew to be true—I loved her.
14
Cee-Cee
I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders when I told Sloane that the Cavaliers weren’t looking for an outside PR company the day after Jason shared the news with me. My relief was purely because I was tired of her pestering me about asking for Andrew’s help, but it turned out to be damn lucky timing for me as well. Jason asked me to go to their Friday and Sunday night home games. The tickets he gave me were for the same seat as where I sat the week before, so I was at center ice on the glass again.
Someone on the team’s videography team must have caught on to my connection to Jason because the camera they were using for the Jumbotron display zeroed in on me when he bumped his glove against the glass at the end of warm-ups. I didn’t notice until I’d splayed my hand against the glass, right where his was, and leaned forward to blow him a kiss. Alec skated over, laughing, and I figured it was because he was teasing us. When he pointed up at the screen, I found a picture of Jason and me with a huge, red heart drawn around us. They’d frozen the image at the exact moment I’d puckered up my lips. And then the same photo showed up on the team’s social media and in the paper the next morning.
In the blink of an eye, I’d gone from being thrilled that Stan was keeping his job and getting an assistant to ready to strangle him. I preferred to remain behind the scenes when it came to public relations—not to be the center of the story. Stan blew that out of the water when he decided to try to draw in more female fans by playing up the romantic side of hockey. How the hell my relationship with Jason equated to the supposed “romantic side of hockey” was beyond me, but it didn’t matter if I agreed with it or not. He’d already put the word out there... which meant Sloane had heard it because she rarely missed anything gossip-worthy.
“Maybe I should call in sick,” I called out to Jason as I peered at the mirror in his bathroom while I put the finishing touches up on my makeup Monday morning. We hadn’t slept apart since he’d returned from his last away games, splitting our time between his suite and my apartment. We’d just kind of fallen into it, without either of us making a big deal about the arrangement.
“If you do, will you let me play doctor?” he asked, leaning in the doorway.
Our gazes met in the mirror, and I began to seriously contemplate what I hadn’t really meant a moment before. He’d rolled out of bed and put on his black boxer briefs, but nothing else. All his lean muscles were on display, and my eyes ate them up. His broad shoulders, six-pack abs, and those strong thighs that had been built up from years and years of skating drills. I’d touched and licked almost every inch of his body—much of it just last night—but it didn’t stop me from wanting to do it all over again. If anything, it made it harder for me to not call in to work because I knew exactly how amazing he felt and tasted.
“Yes.” His eyes heated up, and he took a step towards me before I held my hand up to stop him. “But it’s something that’s going to have to be added to the list because I can’t call in sick today. Not if I want to keep my job. I have too much going on this week to skip work, and Sloane is going to know I’m faking it because I’m trying to avoid her.”
“Maybe getting fired would be a good thing,” he suggested. I turned towards him, shooting him a dirty look as I crossed my arms and tapped my foot. “C’mon now, no exploding until you hear me out, firecracker.”
I did a circular motion with my hand, letting him know he could continue his explanation. I was curious to see how he was going to try to spin it.
“You wouldn’t need to worry about avoiding your boss anymore.”
Hmm, he had a point there.
“Although I’m not sure why you need to dodge her today since you don’t have to worry about her pushing you to talk to Andrew about the team.”
“She’s going to have lots of questions about you and me. Questions that are going to be awkward because she’s my boss, and she can be inappropriate at times. Plus, she’s going to be pissy about the whole thing because I didn’t say anything about who you were when you sent me the roses.”
His chest expanded, and he moved close enough to back me up against the sink. “You’ve been keeping me a secret?”
“Not like that,” I sighed, trying to find the right words to explain it without pissing him off... more than he already was.
He placed his hands on the counter, caging me in. “How is it then?”
“I didn’t want her to push me to use you the same way she was trying to get me to ask Andrew for help.” Lifting a hand, I cupped his cheek and rose up on my toes until my lips were only inches from his. “I couldn’t bear for you to think I was trying to use you to further my career. Not even for a minute.”
His eyes scanned my face, meeting mine briefly before they dropped to my mouth. Whatever he saw there must have satisfied him because one of his hands slid up my back and into my hair, tipping my head back. Then he kissed me. It was a staking-his-claim, make-me-forget-everything kiss that tore straight through me.
“If you keep that up, I really am going to call in sick,” I panted when he lifted his head.
“You say that as if you think it’s going to make me stop,” he murmured against my lips. “When all it does is make me want to rip this sexy-as-fuck outfit off of you and take you right here in the bathroom. Especially when you’re
so damn sweet I can barely stand it.”
“I’m not sweet,” I disagreed. “I’m sassy.”
“You can be. It’s part of why firecracker is such a fitting nickname for you.” His hand slid out of my hair and wrapped around the back of my neck as he leaned his forehead against mine. “But I fucking love it when you show me your soft side, too. The part of you that you save for the people who’re important to you.”
“You’re important to me, too,” I whispered around the knot in my throat. He’d worked his way into my heart in such a short amount of time. Important wasn’t the right word for how I felt about him. It had five too many letters, and the four-letter L word almost popped out of my mouth, making my knees shaky with shock.
Holy shit, I’d gone and fallen in love with Jason.
“I already knew that, baby. And if I hadn’t, I would now since you tied yourself up in knots to keep the fact that I play for the Cavs from your boss because you thought it might give me the wrong idea about why you’re with me.” He kissed my nose. “It’s sweet—and I hate to be the one to tell you, but it’s also the polar opposite of sassy.”
“I—”Don’t do it, don’t do it, I chanted in my head. It was one thing to be sweet and show him my soft side, it was an entirely different one to tell him I loved him after less than a month. Even if it didn’t have him running for the door and asking the hotel to change his suite so he could give me the slip the way I wanted to avoid Sloane, I still had to walk out the door in less than five minutes. “I’ll have to work up some sass on my way to work, then. I’m going to need it.”
“Save some of it for me later,” he whispered against my lips. “I like that side of you, too.”
“Will do,” I promised, giving him a quick kiss before I shifted around him and escaped. I was practically biting my tongue at that point. My heart was pounding like I’d raced a marathon, and it felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. I wasn’t sure how long I was going to be able to stop myself from telling him I loved him now that I’d realized it myself. For the moment, I seized work as my excuse to escape and raced out the door.
Twenty minutes later, I regretted it and wished I’d gone ahead and called in sick instead.
“She’s in rare form today,” Lucy whispered to me as I walked into the Pied Piper offices. “And she’s already asked if you were here about a dozen times, even though it isn’t even eight o’clock yet. Did we lose a big client or something?”
“Shit,” I mumbled.
Lucy darted a glance over her shoulder and leaned closer to me. “Is that a good shit or a shit’s-about-to-hit-the-fan shit?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh.”
“Yeah, oh.”
“Hurry up and tell me the good part before the fan starts spinning.” She got up and scurried around her desk to grab my hands. “Pretty please.”
“Red roses guy is amazing.”
“And the bad?”
“He plays for the Cavaliers.”
Her nose scrunched up as her eyes lit with understanding. “Which you didn’t mention to Sloane because—well, because she’s Sloane. How’d she find out?”
I told her about me blowing a kiss to Jason during warm-ups and the Jumbotron, explaining how it’d ended up on social media over the weekend.
“Yup, that would do it. Sometimes I wonder if she ever sleeps, she’s so plugged in to everything going on around her. I swear she’s got a million words on Google alert, including each of her employees’ names.”
“Lucy!” Sloane yelled, loudly enough that her voice rang out clearly through her closed office door. “Let me know the minute Cee-Cee gets here!”
Lucy made big eyes at me, and offered a sympathetic smile.
“It’s okay,” I reassured her. “I’ll go in.”
“Good luck,” she whispered as I walked past her.
“Thanks, I’m sure I’ll need it.” I straightened my spine, blew out a deep breath, and rapped my knuckles against Sloane’s office door. Twisting the knob, I pushed it wide enough to peek my head through the opening. “Hey, I just walked in.”
“Cee-Cee!” she cried out, waving me further inside with a big smile on her face. It seriously weirded me out because it was the last thing I’d expected to see. “Get in here. I need you.”
“Sure.” I walked into her office and closed the door behind me. “What do you need?”
“Come, sit down,” she instructed.
I dropped onto one of the chairs across from her desk. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, more than okay. It’s excellent.” She clapped her hands together in excitement. “I got a call last night from the CEO of Cameron Hospitality. She has an unexpected trip to Chicago today and wants to meet with us.”
“Cameron Hospitality?” I echoed. It wasn’t ringing any bells for me.
“They own hotels in most of the major cities in the United States, as well as in several other countries. The Dalton is one of their properties. Are you familiar with it?”
If by familiar, she meant I’d just left one of their suites to come in to work this morning, then... “Yes.”
“Have you ever stayed there before?” She dug through a bunch of papers on her desk. “I haven’t had the chance, and I feel woefully unprepared for the meeting. I’ve been researching them like crazy, but I’m wondering if we should get there early so I can get a better feel for the place.”
“Yeah, umm. My boyfriend actually lives there.”
Her head popped up and she aimed a shocked expression my way. “The guy you’re dating lives at the Dalton? Damn girl, don’t let him get away from you. I thought about getting a room there last night, but the thousand dollar price tag for a last-minute booking scared me off since I’m not one-hundred percent sure why they want to meet with us. For all I know, she just wants help with one small event, and it wouldn’t have been worth the expense.”
A thousand dollars? I gulped, and for the first time I thought to wonder how much Jason was spending to live in a suite there. If it was too soon for me to tell him how I felt, then it was absolutely too early for me to ask him to move in with me—even if it meant he’d save a shit ton of money each month.
“Yeah, I didn’t know how expensive the hotel was, but maybe the team is picking up part of the tab or something.”
“Oh! That’s right! I saw something online this weekend about you and a Cavaliers player.”
She was still smiling, but I felt the need to ask anyway. “So you’re not pissed that I didn’t tell you I was dating someone on the team?”
“Nah,” she laughed. “I might have been irritated for maybe a second or two, but I get it. It’s new, and I’m sure you wanted to keep it private. Although the cat’s out of the bag now, and there’s no putting it back in.”
“Thank you for being so understanding.” I knew better than to say what I was thinking—that I’d expected her to pitch a major fit over it.
“I can afford to be gracious since you must have made quite the impression with someone over there to get us this meeting at the Dalton.”
I reared backwards in my seat, stunned. “Pardon me?”
“Didn’t I mention that part? She asked specifically for you.”
“No, you didn’t say anything about that.” And I couldn’t figure out how in the world anyone who owned the Dalton would know my name, let alone know that I worked for Pied Piper.
Sloane glanced at the slim Rolex watch on her wrist and jumped out of her seat. “We don’t have time to worry about it because we’ve got to run. We’re supposed to be there by eight thirty, and it will take us at least fifteen minutes to get there if we walk.”
“Twenty,” I corrected her without thinking about it.
“Still quick enough that it’s not worth the bother of a taxi.”
“True,” I agreed, following her out the door.
“And you can tell me all about the hotel on the way.”
We got there right before our
meeting time and were ushered into a conference room where a tall, blonde woman was waiting. She was pacing back and forth when we entered the room, and swiftly turned when she heard us.
“It’s nice to meet you. Thank you for making time in your schedule to fit me in while I’m in town.” She greeted Sloan first, shaking her hand before turning to face me. Bright blue eyes scanned me from head to toe, and her polite smile turned blinding. “And you must be Cecily.”
There was something so familiar about the woman, but I couldn’t place where I’d met her before. “Please, call me Cee-Cee. Nobody but my parents and grandparents ever use Cecily.”
“Oh! I’m sorry. I just assumed you preferred Cecily since that’s what Jason calls you.”
“Jason?” I echoed dumbly.
“Yes, Jason Campbell. My son.”
“Holy shit,” I breathed. Out loud. Fuck.
“The hockey player boyfriend is a Campbell? How did I miss that?” she muttered to herself.
“I—You—What—” I stuttered.
The woman—Jason’s mom for fuck’s sake—helped me into a chair. Then she turned to Sloane. “Could you give us some privacy for a moment?”
The look on Sloane’s face made it obvious leaving the room was the last thing she wanted to do, but there was no gracious way to avoid it. When we were alone, Jason’s mom sat down next to me and reached for my hand. “Please don’t be too angry with Jason for keeping his connection to Cameron Hospitality a secret from you. When his dad and I saw him after his game in Arizona, he mentioned that he hadn’t told you yet. It worried him, how you’d react.”
“But why?” I asked. “I don’t understand what the big deal is.” It hurt, knowing he’d kept a part of his life separate from me. That he’d had the perfect opportunity to explain it to me when he’d told me he lived in the hotel. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was a sign that his feelings weren’t as strong for me as mine were for him. That it meant he wasn’t ready for the same things I was out of our relationship.
Checked Into Love (Bachelorette Party Book 2) Page 13