With about five minutes to go, our hotshot rookie, Zander Watts, gets called for a cheap penalty. The refs say he tripped one of Dallas’s forwards. He doesn’t like the call, not that anyone would, and makes that very clear as he’s led to the penalty box. I watch as play continues. The penalty killing team does well for the first twenty or so seconds, actually keeping Dallas from entering the zone. That doesn’t last much longer as they make a beautiful pass up the boards, and one of their best forwards makes a beeline for the goal. The puck on the tape of his stick, he makes quick work of closing the space between him and the net. As the puck flies over Tyler’s shoulder, the guy gets tangled up in Tyler’s pads and knocks him back hard on the ice. The ref immediately blows his whistle and waves off the goal, calling the goaltender interference penalty right away and sending the Dallas player to the box.
I watch as Tyler remains still on the ice and my blood runs cold. No movement isn’t good. The refs notice, signaling to our bench as Josh Burr, our head athletic trainer, hops the bench and is helped out onto the ice by Mark Lee. He drops his knees to the ice and lowers his head to Tyler’s as he rubs his chest through his pads. I see the look on his face when he turns to look at the bench and gives Coach the signal that things aren’t good. His next signal is to the EMTs, who are waiting in one of the tunnels to bring the stretcher out onto the ice.
I shake off the dread of watching my teammate going down hard enough to be knocked unconscious and needing to be taken off the ice on a stretcher. I’ve got to focus as I now have a job to do. I grab my water bottle and spray my face and neck before sliding my helmet over my head and slipping my hands back into my glove and blocker pad. I step out onto the ice, staying at the bench as the medical staff, EMTs, and a few of our players help lift Tyler up onto the stretcher.
When I look over, he’s regained consciousness, which is a good sign. They finish strapping him to the stretcher and as they wheel him off the ice, he raises his hand to wave to the crowd who, moments ago, were silent. They break out into applause for him as we all sigh in relief that he’ll hopefully make a full recovery and be back on the ice soon.
With the ice cleared of all the extra personnel, I skate over to take my position between the pipes, going through a quick warm up, while the refs get ready to drop the puck once again. I’ve got less than five minutes to protect the goal. Hopefully, in that amount of time, the guys can score a goal to keep us from going to overtime.
The first shift, everyone is still a little rattled from watching our teammate go down, but after an icing call, a fire is lit under the guys’ asses and they take possession, skating the puck down and into the zone. They pass the puck around, working on drawing a player out, as the penalty against Zander finally expires, giving us the one-man advantage for thirty seconds.
As soon as he enters the zone, and the puck makes its way to the Dallas goalie’s blocker side, Brian grabs the rebound and snaps a one-timer just over his blocker and lights the lamp. I sigh in relief, knowing we’ve at least got the lead for now. I just can’t let them score on me for the remaining time on the clock.
The game ticks down, and with about a minute left in the game, Dallas pulls their goalie, in hopes to use the extra attacker against us, but fail when Zander Watts poke-checks the puck past the defense and scores an empty net goal with less than five seconds left to go.
Later, with the celebration on the ice over from our win tonight, we all make it back to the locker room, where we all anticipate hearing what condition Tyler is in. It takes a while for the media to clear out and everyone to get through their showers before Coach Martin and Matt Soaps come into the room. Everyone goes silent, waiting for what they have to say.
“Listen up,” Coach Martin calls out to the room. “We’ve got an update on Tyler. He was knocked out when he went down, and has a serious concussion. He’ll be out on the IR for the foreseeable future, possibly even the long-term IR. That means that you”—Coach points in my direction—“Beckett, will be getting the starting job going forward. We’ve already called up Connor Allen. He’ll be joining us after the holiday break for practice, and be on the bench for our next game. While this isn’t how we want a season to go, we’ll move forward and support Tyler in his recovery.”
The room stays silent for a few minutes after Coach leaves as we all digest the information. While I’m excited to be getting the starting spot, I’d never wish an injury on one of my teammates for that to happen, but I’m willing to step up and fill in when I’m called on by my team and coaches.
I’m finally ready to leave, still reeling from tonight’s game—having to take over the game, the win, all of it. Everything from tonight is still filtering through my mind as I walk out of the locker room and down the hall towards the exit.
“Hey, good game out there tonight,” that sweet, angelic voice from my fantasies calls out, nearly stopping me dead in my tracks. I’m almost surprised I even heard her with how focused I am over tonight’s events.
“Thanks,” I tell Julia, coming to a stop outside her dad’s office, where she stands in the doorway.
“Any word on how Tyler is doing?”
“Your dad and Coach updated the team a little bit ago. They said he’s going to be out for a while but should make a full recovery. Just needs time to heal.”
“That’s good, he went down so hard. I was so worried when he didn’t move for the first little bit.”
“You and me both. It was a little hard to focus the first minute or two after I took over, after all of that. It can kinda get under your skin and interfere with your play if you’re not careful.”
“I can only imagine. So, what do you have going on for the next few days while you’re off?” she asks.
“Not much. Catch up on some sleep, maybe catch up on some Netflix shows. I’ll show up at whatever player or coach’s house has an invitation for everyone.”
“You’re welcome to come to my family’s celebration. I know my mom would just freak out—in a good way—if she had one more to cook for.”
“I might just take you up on that offer. Should we run it past your parents first, though?” I ask, not wanting to interrupt her family’s celebration.
“Sure,” she says, grabbing her phone from her pocket. She is typing away on the screen, so I assume she’s sending a text to her parents. A smile breaks out on her face, so I’m going to guess she’s getting a reply she likes.
“What’s so funny?” I ask, interrupting her as her fingers fly over the screen of her iPhone.
“Just my mom freaking out, like I figured she would. She’s now determined to figure out who doesn’t have family to spend the holiday with so that she can host them, as well.”
“Your mom is pretty great,” I tell her.
“Don’t tell her that too many times, it might go to her head.” Julia laughs. “If you’re not doing anything tonight, do you want to come over and watch a movie?” she asks, changing the subject.
“I was just planning on grabbing some food, and then head home to crash, so I guess I could come over for a little while.”
“We can order some takeout once we’re at my place, unless there was someplace specific you wanted to stop?”
“I’m good with ordering. Are you ready to head out?” I ask, looking down at my watch to see what time it is. “Unless it’s getting too late for a movie and food for you tonight? Do you have to work tomorrow?”
“Nope, I’ve got the next few days off. We close down for the week of Christmas every year, to allow everyone the time with their families.”
“Oh, that’s nice.”
“It really is. We’ve been super busy, with everyone trying to get in those last few appointments of the year under this year’s insurance benefits, so I’ve been working some extra hours to accommodate the busier schedule.”
“All right, let’s head out then. I’ll follow you.” I hold my hand out for her to walk in front of me. She does and I watch as her perfect ass passes me. I bite b
ack the groan trying to escape my lips.
“Hey, eyes up here, mister,” she says, catching me red-handed. “You almost ran right into me.” She laughs as we wait for the elevator.
“Can’t a guy enjoy the view?” The words slip past my lips before I can stop them.
“Not when he wants to only be friends.” She tugs on my tie. “If he wanted to be more than friends, then he could look at whatever he wanted,” she says, her voice a little husky and fucking sexy.
My control almost snaps. If the elevator doors didn’t slide open right at that moment, I would have leaned down and covered her perfect lips with my own. The ones I’ve dreamed of for months now, and imagined what they’d taste like, what they’d feel like, against my own.
“So, where do you want to order from?” I ask Julia once we’ve made it to her apartment. She’s in her kitchen, grabbing us both something to drink. I shed my tie in my car and grabbed my shorts and t-shirt from my bag to change into. Sitting around watching a movie in my suit isn’t the most comfortable, so I’m thankful to have a gym bag in my car with a clean change of clothes.
“I’m not super hungry, so you pick, and if anything pops out to me, I’ll add it to your order,” she says, holding up a bottle of beer and a bottle of water for me to choose from. I take the beer. I have a few days off, so one won’t hurt me tonight. I usually don’t drink much during the season, a beer here or there, but now that I’ll be getting a whole lot more ice time, I need to stay on top of my game.
Julia sits down next to me and tucks her feet up next to her, then pulls a throw over her legs. She also changed when we got back and is now wearing the world’s tightest yoga pants known to man and a t-shirt that hugs her ample tits. As much as I love her ass in those pants, I’m a little relieved she’s covered herself up, so I’m not so distracted by the sight of her.
“Any requests on what we watch?”
“I’m good with whatever you choose,” I tell her as I relax back against the couch.
“Have you watched Jack Ryan yet, on Prime?” she asks, flipping through the menu.
“Nope, haven’t started that one yet.”
“Want to? We can binge it together!” she says excitedly.
“Sure, sötnos,” I tell her, looking over and giving her a small smile. “Whatever you want to watch.”
She smiles at me as she hits play on the first episode and we both turn our attention to the show.
About halfway through the first episode, our food arrives, and I dig in. She only ordered an appetizer since it’s late and she’d already had dinner at the game.
With our food eaten, and our trash taken care of, we relax back on the couch for another episode. About twenty minutes into it, Julia’s head ends up on my shoulder and I can hear her lightly snoring. I shift my body and pull her to rest against me. I can’t reach the remote she placed on the end table on her side of the couch, so I settle in and hold her, half-paying attention to the show and half just watching her, wishing this could be more than it is. She feels right in my arms.
“Sötnos, what are you doing to me,” I whisper to her in Swedish. I brush some of her hair from her face, uncovering her closed eyes from the silky strands. She’s so fucking beautiful it almost hurts. What kind of a fucking idiot am I to keep pushing her away when it’s so obvious she wants me? And not because of my job, not because of what I get paid to do said job, but for me.
The episode ends and flips to the menu. I sit there for a few more minutes, just enjoying the feeling of her in my arms. Her calm breathing has me almost ready to follow her into dreamland, but I know I can’t do that here, so I rub my finger along her cheek lightly to try and wake her.
“Sötnos,” I say, just above a whisper. “Julia, wake up, skön. You need to move to your bed, and I need to head home.” Her eyes slowly open and she blinks slowly a few times as she looks up into my eyes. All I see when I look back into the depth of her brown eyes is lust and want for me. She rolls slightly and pushes herself up from my lap, stopping when our faces are mere inches apart.
“What does skön mean?” she asks in a whisper.
“Beautiful,” I tell her, just as quietly.
“You like to call me that.”
“I do, amongst other things,” I confess.
“What else?” she asks, moving slightly, our lips getting closer and closer. My cock is hard in my shorts and the loss of blood pumping to my brain has me blurting out more than I intended to tonight.
“Älskling, which means darling, sötnos, which means sweetheart,” I say as I tuck a chunk of her hair behind her ear and cup her cheek. The pad of my thumb slides across her plump lips as the last thread of control snaps and I cover her lips with my own.
I drink her in. She gasps as our lips collide and I take the opening, plunging my tongue past her lips, tangling it with hers. We explore each other’s mouths as I pull her into my lap and she straddles me. Julia rocks her core against my hard cock, and I can feel the moan that tries to escape her. It fuels my want, my need, as I slip my hands around and cup her ass. It’s the first time I’ve ever touched her like this, and I’m desperate to touch every inch of her that I can.
We break apart and my lips trail over to her jaw, down the column of her neck. I push her hair out of my way and suck against the pulse point pounding against my lips. The rapid movement matches that of my own pulse. As another moan slips out of her lips, I pull back and look up at her.
“Tell me to stop,” I tell her, wanting her to have full control over whatever this is that’s happening between the two of us.
“Never,” she whispers as she drops her lips back to mine. I slip my hand up her t-shirt, taking the hem of it with me as I push it higher. Once I have it to about her armpits, she breaks our kiss and holds her arms up over her head. With her shirt tossed on the floor, I look down and take in her ample tits. They’re still encased in a lacy bra, but the fabric does nothing to hide her hardened nipples from me. I reach behind her and find the clasp, unhooking it with one flick of my fingers. As the fabric falls from her breasts, I capture a nipple with my lips, sucking hard and lapping it with my tongue. I roll the other one between my fingers, then switch.
“Beckett…” She moans my name, spurring me on as she rotates her hips, working herself to a release against my cock.
“That’s it, skön,” I whisper into her ear as she falls apart in my arms, still half clothed. Once she’s found her release, I bring my hands back to her ass, then slide to the edge of the couch so I can stand. I need to move this to her bed so I can worship her the way she deserves. As I stand, her legs wrap around my waist and I feel her feet lock together to keep her in place.
I make my way to her bedroom. I’ve never set foot inside it the few times I’ve been here, but I know exactly where it is, seeing as she doesn’t have that large of an apartment.
I make quick work of walking over to her bed and laying her down in the center. My eyes rake over her body, and I watch as she takes in shaky breaths, her chest heaving up and down. I bend over, placing a hand on either side of her head, effectively caging her beneath me.
“Tell me what you want, sötnos,” I tell her.
“You.”
She reaches up and grabs a handful of my t-shirt, pulling me down until our lips are locked. She tugs my shirt up and we break our kiss long enough for me to reach behind my head and yank it over my head. I toss it onto the floor, not paying any attention to where it goes. My lips land back on hers for a moment, then start mapping their way across her creamy skin. I enjoy the way her body responds to my touch. How she moans and writhes beneath me as I suck and nip, kissing my way from her jaw to her neck and then down to her collarbone. I trace the outline of it from side to side, then kiss my way down between her breasts. I stop to lap at her nipples. Knulla, do I love her tits.
“Still good?” I question, looking up at her before I move past her breasts.
She sucks her lip in between her teeth, biting it lightly and cau
sing a groan to slip from my lips. She nods her head and slides her fingers into my hair. It’s been a long-ass time since I’ve had a woman’s hands tangled into my hair, but fuck, does it feel good. I nip at her breasts before my lips and hands make their way across the remaining parts of her exposed torso, stopping once I reach the waistband of her yoga pants. I slip a fingertip under the elastic, then look into her eyes. “Can I take these off?”
“You better,” she tells me, and a smile breaks out on my face. I push myself up and onto my haunches, then slide my fingers under the elastic and slowly pull them down. My pulse picks up as her pussy comes into view, and I realize she didn’t have any underwear on underneath them this whole time. If I’d have known that, I don’t think we would have even made it until my food arrived earlier without me stripping her bare.
I pull the pants off until her body is completely free of them. I toss them over my shoulder, where they join my shirt from earlier.
“Knulla.” My hands roam up her bare legs until I reach the apex, and I slip a finger through her wet folds, watching as her body reacts to my caresses. “You like that, skön?” I grit out as I start to circle her clit with the pad of my thumb.
“Please!” she cries out.
“Please what?” I ask, wanting to hear from her what she wants.
“I need you, Beck. I need you to fuck me,” she states, clear as day.
I remove my hand from her pussy, earning me a whimper as I do so. “Patience, sötnos,” I say with a chuckle. I stand from the bed and make quick work of dropping my shorts and boxer briefs. Once naked, I stroke my cock a few times. That’s when it hits me I don’t have a condom in here with me. I should have one in my wallet, but that’s out in the living room with my suit.
“Do you have any condoms?” I finally ask before I stalk out of the room in search of one.
“Top drawer.” She points to her nightstand.
The Hardest Shot: Indianapolis Eagles Series Book 7 Page 7