“Careful,” he warns me of my injuries.
“Shut up,” I scold. “I need you to kiss me.”
Without another word, my man obliges. My hands instantly find purchase on his sculptured back and my nails dig into his strong muscles, telling him I need more.
His hand come down to my singlet and slip it up over my body. After weeks of constantly being covered up, feeling my skin against his again is like absolute magic. Goosebumps take over and before I know it, Tank lifts me up onto the bed and hovers above me.
He loses his jeans and boxers as I slip my own underwear down my legs. His lips come down on mine and he kisses me with every ounce of love he possesses. I open my legs and wrap them around his narrow waist allowing him entry.
He doesn’t skip a beat as he slides into me, nice and slowly, filling me to the brim. He starts to move and I let out a gasp as he makes the sweetest love to me and treats me as though I’m the most precious object he has ever laid eyes on.
We come together with our lips still firmly on one another’s. “I’ve missed you,” I murmur.
He smiles down at me. “Never again am I going that long without being inside you,” he tells me… or maybe it’s more of a warning but either way, I completely agree.
He eventually pulls out of me and we decide it’s best to show our faces to the world. He pulls his jeans back on as I get myself dressed and search the room for his shirt. Once he finds it, he follows me out of my old room and down the hallway. He is just raising his arms to pull his shirt on as my mother comes from the opposite direction.
“Oh my,” she gasps with a hand across her chest as she takes him in and starts to swoon. “You just keep getting bigger and bigger every time I see you.”
Oh geez.
Tank scoffs a laugh but reaches down and pulls her into a tight hug. “It’s good to see you,” he says and she looks at me over his shoulder and winks as she pretends to fan herself.
“Put your fucking shirt on before she has a heart attack,” I hear my father scolding from the end of the hallway.
“Thank you,” I announce. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
We all make our way down the hallway and into the kitchen where dad and Zac are busy fussing over lunch. Well by fussing, it’s more like Zac telling Dad how to do it while he huffs and whines about doing it in the first place.
I take over for my dad as Tank settles in to catch up with my family.
Zac starts dishing out lunch and adds an extra plate. I’m about to ask the moron if he knows how to count when a knock sounds at the door.
“I’ll get it,” I groan as my dad is busy questioning Tank about last night’s game while mum is nowhere to be seen.
I make my way over to the door and open it up to find some girl staring back at me. I narrow my eyes at her as I look her up and down. She must only be around 22 or 23 and my guess is she is here to see my dimwit brother. “Can I help you?” I question as I hold the door close to my body, not allowing her entry.
Her eyes go wide as she takes me in. “Holy shit. You must be Sophie, Zac’s sister,” she says.
“Yes, I’m well aware who I am. Who are you?” I question, enjoying that I’m making her squirm.
“Shit, of course… um, I’m MJ, or Emma Jane or um… I guess you can call me whatever you like,” she stutters, leaving that comment wide open. Though I give her a break and let her continue. I watch as she visibly swallows. “I’m Zac’s girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend, hey?” I say with interest.
“Yeah,” she smiles. “It’s only been a few months. Though, congratulations, he mentioned you were pregnant,” she says as her eyes instantly travel down to where there is no bump before widening in horror. “Holy shit. I’m so fucking nervous, I forgot. I’m so sorry. I tend to ramble when I get nervous.”
“Yes, that part’s clear,” I say, a little unimpressed with the girl.
I sense a mountain of a man come up behind me and watch as MJ’s face rises to meet Tanks. Her eyes bulge out, though this time it’s obvious she is gawking at the pure size of him. “Stop interrogating the girl,” he tells me. “Let her in.”
I roll my eyes but do as he says before opening the door wider. I wave her in and watch as she scurries past me and beelines straight for Zac, who looks up, only noticing her arrival now. He looks at her and notices her freaked out face before looking back at me with narrowed eyes.
I shrug my shoulders. “What?” I question.
He presses his lips together but decides to let it go. I mean, what are big sisters for? I need to weasel out the weak ones.
We all sit at the table and it’s a flurry of chatter.
“So, do you have to go straight back?” my mother asks us.
I look to Tank, guilty that I have no idea what his training schedule is like at the moment. “Nah, we’re good. We can head home in the morning.”
I raise my eyebrow at him in question. “You sure?”
“Yeah, I’ll have to call Coach this afternoon to explain why I missed today’s session but he’ll be fine. The next game not for another week and besides, I think you need a little time at home,” he says as he reaches under the table and laces his fingers through mine.
‘Thank you,’ I mouth to him, so happy that he always seems to know just what I need.
“The dragons have their first game of the season tonight, did you want to go to that?” he asks.
My face brightens up as a huge smile takes over. “Hell yeah, can we go to Micky’s after?” I question, thinking about his famous burgers.
“Anything you want,” he says with emotion heavy in his eyes, almost as if he had missed this easy way of conversing between us but I can’t blame him. I’ve also missed it and I’m so damn happy to have it back.
He squeezes my hand under the table before leaning across and planting a big kiss on my lips.
“Ugh,” Zac whines. “Do you really need to do that at the table?”
I can’t help but smirk at my little brother. “You think that’s bad? You should see what he made me do at the table a few weeks ago.”
“Shit, Sophie,” Dad scolds as Zac’s face scrunches up. “I don’t want to hear this while I’m trying to eat.”
“I’m with Dad,” Zac says.
“Oh, come on. It’s not like you’ve never done it,” I say.
“Actually,” Tank says with a thoughtful look as he studies my brother. “I don’t think he’s that adventurous.”
“Hmm,” I say. “Maybe you’re right.”
“What?” Zac says. “I’m plenty adventurous.”
“Eh,” MJ says with a shrug while Zac looks at her horrified.
“You should take some lessons from Tank,” I grin. “He knows how to show a woman a real good time.”
Tank grins in approval as Dad demands the conversation to come to an end. We get back to lunch and manage to finish our meal without any further talk of Tanks good deeds in the bedroom.
After lunch, Tank disappears to call his Coach while I spend the afternoon with mum, who insists on taking me through her own version of a counselling session just to make sure I’m doing ok but since Tank’s kick up the ass this morning, I seem to be coping much better.
That afternoon we head over to Tank’s family’s home and have an early dinner with them before landing ourselves at the first Denver Dragon’s game of the season.
As we step through the doors, a wave full of memories come rushing back, reminding me of my final year at college. The very year I met Tank and when Dani and I unofficially became their Public Relations team and journalist for the year.
As we head deeper into the ice rink we notice the place is a sea full of Dragon’s colours with stalls upon stalls of merchandise. Tank walks up to a table and grabs a stuffed Dragon wearing hockey skates and holding a hockey stick before grinning at me. “And to think all this shit started with you and Dani.”
I can’t help but laugh. It’s completely true. I’m abou
t to make a sarcastic comment when a certain calendar catches my eye. “Ooooh, get me that,” I say, pointing it out.
Tank follows my eye line and groans when he figures out what I want. “Seriously? You’re going to make me ask this chick for a calendar full of naked dudes?”
“Uhhh… yeah.”
He rolls his eyes but does it anyway, then surprises me when he buys me a large foam finger and a Dragon’s blanket to keep me warm during the game. I reach up on my tippy toes and plant a quick kiss on his lips before we start searching out our seats.
“Do you think we could screw in the locker rooms like we used to? “ I ask as we start climbing the grandstand.
“Might be a bit weird, seeing as though we don’t know any of them,” he comments as though the suggestion had actual merit, though, I guess it did. We have certainly had our way with each other in much weirder places.
“What might be weird?” A deep voice asks from behind us.
We turn around and find a grinning Jaxon leading his wife, Cassie up the stairs. Tank’s face instantly lights up as he comes down a step. “Hey, man,” he smiles. “Sophie wants to screw in the locker rooms.”
“Ah,” Jaxon laughs. “Some things never change.”
I roll my eyes but yeah, he’s right. “Don’t get me started on you,” I warn him.
He holds both his hands up in surrender and starts to make a snide comment when a throat is cleared from lower on the stairs.
“Come on,” Cassie says. “We got to keep moving.”
“Yeah,” Jaxon agrees. “We’ll catch up with you guys after the game?” he questions. “Maybe Micky’s?”
“We’ll be there,” Tank says as he takes my hand and starts leading me back up the grandstand. We find our seats and I get myself comfortable for what should be a great game. I pull my new blanket on and place my foam finger on my lap, ready to slip it on when the time comes. Tank busily texts Miller, making sure he is good and jealous of our surroundings as I judge the pictures in this season’s calendar.
Chapter 15
Tank
Fuck, it’s good to be here.
Well, while the circumstances surrounding how I got here suck, it’s still great to be back in the place which holds so many great memories.
Five years ago, I never would have dreamed that I’d be sitting in this very grandstand, next to my sexy-as-hell wife as Captain of the L.A Storm, cheering on the still undefeated Denver Dragons.
Fucking dream come true right here and at the risk of sounding like a damn pussy, I’m on cloud fucking nine.
The game finishes and I’m not surprised to see they took out the win and I must admit their team is fucking good, maybe even stronger than when Miller and I were there. Though, what did surprise me is when the team came out of the hole with Coach Harris bringing up the rear, he also has Shorty right by his side.
After the game, I grab Sophie and lead her straight down into the locker room, only getting through as it’s the same security that used to work here five years ago.
Sophie grins as we enter the locker room and she does what she does best. She makes herself well known to the team. I roll my eyes as she has the whole team eating out of her hand within seconds.
“Tank,” the old man says fondly.
I turn and find Coach Harris beaming at me as he makes his way across the locker room. He pulls me into a warm hug and my arms instantly fly around him. “Hey, Coach. How are you?”
“Not too bad, kid,” he smiles. “What about you?” he asks as his eyes quickly flick towards Sophie. “I heard you guys have been going through a bit of a rough time.”
“Yeah,” I say. “It’s been pretty shit, to tell the truth, but we’re just coming out the other end.”
“That’s good to hear, son. How’s Sophie though? She’s all healed?” he questions.
“Mostly,” I tell him. “Her ribs are still giving her a hard time but she won’t actually admit it,” I tell him.
He shakes his head in exasperation. “She’s always been damn stubborn,” Coach Harris murmurs.
“Ain’t that the fucking truth,” I reply as an ear shattering squeal is heard from behind me. I turn just in time to see Sophie flying across the locker room and into the arms of Shorty. “What’s this numbskull doing besides you in the coaches box?” I question.
“Haven’t you heard?” he says. “I’m retiring at the end of the season. Shorty is taking over as head Coach.”
“No shit?” I ask, as proud as ever of the little dipshit.
“Mmhmm,” Coach confirms. “I’m too old to be running around after dickheads like you for much longer and Shorty seems like a great fit. The boys all love him too,” Coach says proudly.
Well, of course, the boys all love him, Shorty is just that kind of guy.
I say my goodbyes to Coach Harris and make my way over to Shorty just as Jaxon makes himself known. “You fuckers all hanging around here for the night or are we going out to party?” he questions.
“Fuck yeah,” Shorty grins as Sophie looks at me with a beaming smile.
“Let’s get out of here,” I say, taking my wife by the hand and leading her out the door, right behind Jaxon and Shorty.
----------
The following afternoon, Sophie and I step off the plane. We head around to luggage claim and grab Sophie’s bag before making our way out to the parking lot.
“You know, as much as I love visiting the family, it’s good to be home,” I tell her with a gentle squeeze of her hand.
“I know,” she sighs. “I’ll miss them though, especially Zac. He seems to be holding out now that he is older.”
“Eh,” I shrug. “It’s a guy thing.”
She rolls her eyes just as I finally see my truck coming into view. I lead her towards it but she tugs on my hand. “What are you doing?” I question.
“My car is over there,” she says with a flick of her head.
“So? Mine is over here,” I tell her.
“So?” she repeats in disbelief as she comes to a standstill in the middle of the pathway with her hands on her slim hips and making all the other people have to detour around us. “I’m not leaving my car here.”
“Well, I’m not about to let you out of my sight, especially not at an airport,” I scoff as I reach out for her hand. “I’ll organise for it to be brought home.”
“You can do that?” she questions with wide eyes as she happily takes my hand and allows me to lead her to my truck.
“I don’t know,” I grunt. “But someone will be willing to do it.”
We get to my truck and I help her up into it before jumping in the driver’s seat. “How are you feeling? The plane didn’t mess with your ribs?” I question as we pull out of the carpark.
“A little,” she admits with a small cringe, “but it will be fine. We’ll be home soon and I can lay down.”
“Ok,” I murmur, satisfied with her answer.
“It’s probably time I set up my new phone and devices,” she comments.
“Ya think,” I grunt with sarcasm heavy in my voice. “Do you know how annoying it was waiting at the airport knowing I couldn’t just call you.”
“I know,” she sighs. “I’m sorry but on the bright side, I won’t be taking off on you like that again.”
“You better not be or I’m going to have to chain your ass to the couch,” I tell her.
She grins over at me with mischief in her eyes. “Not the bed?”
“It will be a long chain, after all, I like taking you all over the house.”
She lets out a laugh that is music to my ears. A sound that I will never take for granted again. After not hearing it for so long I’ve made myself a promise to make her laugh as much as I possibly can.
“Babe…” I start, waiting for her to look over at me.
“Yeah?” she questions with creased eyebrows.
“Speaking of things you need to do when you get home…”
“Yes?” she prompts.
&nb
sp; “You need to make things right with Dani. She misses her best friend and I’m sure Mia misses you too,” I tell her. “You know, Dani is going through a hard time as well, her best friend went through something traumatic and she wasn’t able to be there for her the way she needed to be.”
“I know,” she sighs. “It just hard seeing her with Mia and knowing I won’t be having that too. But I’ve been thinking about it a lot actually, I hate that she’s disappointed in me.”
“She’s not disappointed in you, she’s disappointed that she doesn’t get to be with you,” I say reaching across the centre console and taking her hand in mine. She laces her fingers through mine before running her thumb across the coarse skin of my hand. “But as for Mia, think of her as your adoptive daughter. That kid needs her crazy aunty just as much as you need her innocence. Don’t shut her out because it’s hard.”
“I won’t. I promise,” she says. I look over at her and see nothing but the truth in her eyes. “I’m feeling much better thanks to you and I think I’m ready to be my old self again.”
“Babe, no matter what, you will never be your old self again. Neither of us will but I’m glad you’re trying.”
She gives me a tight smile as we pull up to our gate. I thumb in the code and soon enough, I’m out of my truck and helping Sophie down.
We walk to the front door hand in hand and the sudden need to carry her over the threshold, bridal style takes over me. After all, I just got my wife back in our home which to me is definitely a cause to celebrate.
I scoop her up into my arms and she lets out a surprised squeal, yet her squeal isn’t voiced for long before my lips are crushing down on hers. “I’m so fucking happy you’re home,” I murmur against her lips.
Her hand comes up and she runs her nails through my stubbled jawline. “Me too,” she whispers with love in her eyes.
I adjust her so I’m taking her weight in one hand as I reach for the door handle but what I find has me frozen on the spot.
“What is it?” Sophie asks alarmed.
“Shhh,” I whisper as I gently set her on her feet. I push her behind me as I take in the cracked door. “Stay here,” I warn her as I pull my phone from my pocket and hand it back to her. “Call the police.”
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