“I hear you there,” I tease.
“Just wait. You’re still in the honeymoon stage with Julia. Eventually, she’ll see past the rose-colored love glasses and get annoyed with you. You’ll do something and it will piss her off, and you’ll be left standing there, wondering what the hell just happened. I’m here to tell you, man, women are hard creatures to understand. We love them, but they can be a finicky bunch.”
“Oh, I’m well-versed in women. I’ve got two older sisters. Trust me when I say I’ve lived through it all.”
“I suppose you have,” he says, chuckling with me. “Just be careful pissing off Julia. I’d hate for her dad to get mad at you.”
“Oh, trust me, I’ve already thought all too much about that. It’s the reason it took me so long to give in to her advances. I didn’t want to fuck my chances up of staying on the team. I dodged her for months. Kept her firmly in the goddamn friend zone until I just couldn’t do it anymore. Thankfully, Matt was cool with it.”
“Good luck then. I hope y’all find what Reese and I found in each other. The love and support of a good woman is like nothing else,” he tells me as he slips his earbuds in, then leans back as we take off.
I slip into the quiet apartment about four and a half hours later. One perk of flying on a chartered flight is we don’t have to wait for anything. The team takes care of transporting all of our gear bags, so all I have is my carryon suitcase to grab and go. We all park at the airport, so as soon as I was off the plane, it was straight to my car and home to my girl.
I took my suit jacket off when I reached my car, so I hang that over the back of the couch as I make my way deeper into our apartment. I shut off the lamp Julia left on for me when she went to bed. I caught a few hours nap on the flight, so I’m ready to slide into bed next to my girl and fulfill my promise to her. With no commitments for the next two days, I plan to keep her sated and next to me for as many of those hours as possible.
I stop in the bathroom, removing the remaining pieces of my suit, dropping the items that can be washed in the hamper and adding my trousers to the pile of things that need to go to the dry cleaners. I walk to the side of the bed, drop my boxers, and stroke my already hard cock. I look down at Julia, who’s peacefully sleeping, my pillow in her arms as she cradles it against her chest.
I place a knee on the mattress and lean forward and slide my pillow from her grasp. I pull back the sheets to find her gloriously naked, just as she promised she’d be. I stroke my cock a few times at the sight of her, sprawled out naked in front of me. She’s so breathtakingly beautiful. I was such an idiot for denying my feelings for her all those months.
I slide down on the bed, facing her, and bring my lips to her warm skin. I feather light kisses across her breasts, taking each nipple into my mouth as I slowly wake her up. She rolls to her back and I take advantage of the movement, sliding further down her body. She said my tongue on her clit would be a good way to wake her up, so I do just that.
I position myself between her legs, sliding each one over my shoulders, and drag my fingers through her wet folds. A moan falls from her lips as she stirs once again. I lick up her slit, parting her folds as I latch on to her clit, and slide two fingers inside her pussy.
“Beckett!” she cries as I find her g-spot and suck hard on her clit, causing her back to arch off the bed.
“Yes, sötnos,” I breathe out against her pussy.
“D-don’t stop.” She moans as she slides her fingers into my hair, gripping my head and pushing it back against her folds.
I take her clit between my lips again, giving it a hard suck before flicking it with the tip of my tongue. I fuck her hard with my fingers, not letting up until I feel her body crest over the edge and her orgasm take over. Her legs clamp around my head, holding me right where she needs me, as she pulses against my tongue and around my fingers. Then her muscles relax and her legs fall to the side, landing on the bed as they slide off my shoulders. I slip my fingers from her, licking her orgasm from them before I kiss my way up her torso until we’re face to face. I lay next to her as she comes down from her release.
“Good morning,” I tell her once her eyes are open.
She leans in and kisses me. “The best morning.”
“I promised good things would happen when I got home,” I say against her lips.
“That you did,” she agrees as she slides a leg over my hip and climbs on top of me. She reaches down and grabs my cock, rubbing it between her folds, before she gets into position and impales herself on it.
“Fuck, sötnos.” I moan as she lifts up and sinks down again on my cock. I grab her hips and help her ride me, lifting my hips and meeting her thrust for thrust.
“Yes!” she cries as I find her clit with my fingertips. “Beck…” She moans my name. “Please don’t stop.”
“Never,” I promise her on a grunt. I slam my hips up, smacking my balls against her ass as she thrusts down.
With one quick movement, I flip us over, moving to the edge of the bed where I slide off and stand at the edge. I sink back into her, this new angle making it feel as if I’m deeper and she’s tighter somehow. Her feet find my shoulders and I grip her thighs as I start to pound into her. I can feel the sweat as it drips down my back. I find her clit once more and circle it as I feel her walls start to contract around my cock.
“That’s it, sötnos. Milk my cock, come all over it,” I grunt.
My thrusts are hard and demanding, and she takes each one with a pant of her own. I ride out my own orgasm as her pussy clamps my cock hard, like a vice grip. Exhausted and sated, I collapse forward, pinning her to the mattress as her legs lock around my waist and pull me even closer. My cock twitches inside her as our bodies relax and enjoy the feeling of being joined again. Once I catch my breath, I lift my face from her shoulder, kissing the sweaty skin of her neck, then jaw, as I make my way to her lips.
“Jag älskar dig,” I whisper against her lips before molding them to mine.
“Jag älskar dig,” she replies once we’ve broken apart. She giggles a moment later. “Welcome home.”
“Best way to come home,” I tell her, dropping a chaste kiss to her lips as I slide out of her. I reach for a washcloth waiting on the nightstand, handing her one to use as I wipe my cock off with a second one.
“I need a shower and a nap, care to join me?” I ask, tossing the washcloth into the laundry basket in the corner.
“I think I’m going to go back to sleep. I’ll shower later.” She heads into the bathroom to finish cleaning up. I follow her and reach in to turn the water on. While it’s warming up, I use the time to brush my teeth. “I’ll be waiting for you,” she sweetly tells me as I climb into the shower.
It doesn’t take me long to wash off. The exhaustion is setting in. Between it being the end of the season, all the travel we’ve done recently, the short nap on my flight, and the energy I just exerted fucking my girl, I am dead on my feet. I quickly dry off, then walk into our room, grabbing a pair of boxer briefs from my dresser drawer. I pull them on and close the distance to our bed. My girl is exactly where she said she’d be. Curled up on her side of the bed, already sound asleep again. I slide in next to her, spooning my body around hers. As soon as I’ve got myself tucked in around her, sleep claims me.
Chapter Sixteen
Julia
“Let me hold that baby!” I tell Reese once she makes her way down to the seats in the family suite. I don’t usually sit up here, preferring to sit closer to the ice, but with it being the playoffs, tickets were at a premium, and since I can be up here, I was willing to give up the seats down lower. It was for a good cause, as we donated them to a charity that auctioned them off, with all the money going to the local women’s shelter.
“Gladly,” Reese says, handing Nicole over. “She’s been teething this week and has been miserable. I think the stimulation of being here is the only thing keeping her from screaming. If she hasn’t been asleep, she’s been screaming lately,
and my nerves are shot because of it.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” I bounce Nicole on my lap. “Who’s a happy girl?” I ask the baby, clapping her hands together. She blows some spit bubbles as she smiles big at me, giggling as I tickle her belly each time our hands come close to it.
“You appear to be the baby whisperer,” Reese tells me. “I’ll be calling you when she’s up screaming at two in the morning.”
“I’d gladly come play with this chunk-a-munk,” I sing-song as I play with her some more. “What do you think of that, Nicole? You and me, let Momma get some sleep while we party all night?”
I stand up with her in my hands, taking her up to the glass, and point down to the ice, where the guys are warming up before the game. “Do you see your daddy down there?” I ask her, knowing she has no idea what the hell I’m asking her. She attempts to clap her hands, then hits them against the glass, laughing the entire time. “That’s right, baby girl. That’s your daddy and my man down there. We’ve got some good guys to cheer for down there,” I continue, as I hold her on my hip.
“Well isn’t this the cutest sight I’ve ever seen,” my mom says, coming over to stand next to Nicole and me.
“She is a cutie!” I say, moving some wispy hairs out of Nicole’s eyes.
“I can’t wait for you to make me a grandma.” My mom sighs wistfully.
“Not so fast, Mom.” I laugh. “I’d like to have a few more years before you start hounding me for grandkids, and I’d also kinda like to have a husband first, too.”
“I’m sure a husband is on your horizon with how serious your relationship with Beckett has gotten in the last few months. It’s only a matter of time before he proposes.”
“Do you know something I don’t?” I turn and ask her.
With the way she’s talking, does that mean Beckett has asked my parents’ permission to propose to me? Are we really ready for that step in our relationship? I know we’ve exchanged “I love you’s” with each other, but does that mean that we’re ready for proposals and wedding bells? Hell, I’ve only met his family through FaceTime. I’d think he’d want me to meet them in person before he pops the question.
“No, but you should have seen the look of shock on your face. Believe me, sweetie, I’d never spoil that kind of surprise if he had asked, or when that time comes, and he does ask for permission. That excitement is something every girl should get to experience.”
“I mean, I love him, and I know he loves me, but I think we’re good just dating for now. It hasn’t even been a full year yet,” I ramble on, stuck on the idea now that Beckett might be thinking about proposing.
“I know of no such plans, but can’t a mother hope that her daughter has found what I’ve had all these years with your dad?” she asks lovingly.
My rigidness melts at her words. I’ve always dreamed I’d meet a man as kind and loving as my dad, and I have to agree with my mom that I probably found the best possible person to fill those shoes. I just never dreamed it would be with a hockey player of my own, who happens to play the same damn position my dad did.
“Thanks, Mom,” I tell her as she wraps her arm around me and Nicole, who’s still happy as can be in my arms. She’s chewing on her fingers as she babbles on, drooling all over the two of us.
“Now, let me hold that baby. I need my grandma fix,” she says, taking Nicole from my arms. She’s kind of taken all the wives of the players under her wings, and has been the stand-in grandma to all the kids that have been born in the last few years. I love seeing the kids and how big they’ve gotten. Before I left for college, I’d watch Scott and Becca’s son, and now he’s old enough to be in school! It’s crazy how quickly time has passed.
What’s also crazy is how many kids have been added over the past few years, and this season alone. Talk about a baby boom around here, between Laura and Mark having a baby after the finals win, then Reese and Austin starting their family in late summer, followed by Madison and Richard welcoming their twins in late February, a few weeks before her due date. Becca and Kinley are both due here any day now if I remember correctly, so like I said, we’ve got babies everywhere in this group. I think I’m fine with wanting to wait a couple more years before I join the motherhood ranks.
Two months later
“Are you ready?” I call out to Beckett from the living room. “Mom should be here any minute to pick us up.”
“I’m coming. Calm down, sötnos,” he calls out as he walks down the hall, rolling a suitcase behind him. The day has finally arrived for us to fly to Sweden together.
Unfortunately, the guys lost in the second round of the playoffs this year. It was a hard-fought battle, one they pushed to all seven games, but in the end, it just wasn’t meant to be. Beckett played like a rock star throughout the postseason and secured the starting position for next season after it was determined Tyler wasn’t able to return due to his symptoms lingering.
He’s been left on the long-term Injured Reserve, and I believe his contract might end up being bought out so the team can release him. It’s an unfortunate thing to happen, but it’s part of the game. The business side of things can be tough to deal with sometimes.
“I’m too excited to calm down,” I tell him, bouncing on my toes, and he laughs at my antics.
“You do realize we’ve got hours upon hours before we’ll even be there, right?” he asks, leaning down to place a kiss against my forehead.
“Yes,” I huff.
“Don’t worry, sötnos, you’ll be meeting my parents, sisters, and extended family before you know it. I predict, by the night after next, you’ll be sitting outside on the deck with my sisters, drinking wine and telling stories about me. They’re going to love you; hell, they already do.”
“I know! I’m so excited. They’ve promised to show me all your embarrassing baby pictures!” I tell him, rubbing my hands on his chest.
“I’m sure they have.” He laughs. “I’m either going to regret taking you home with me or it’s going to be the best thing ever.” He groans just as there’s a knock at the door. I step from his embrace and open the door. My parents are standing on the other side, smiles firmly in place.
“You kids ready?” my mom asks, clearly excited for us.
“Yes! Let’s get going!” I say, reaching for my suitcase handle. I miraculously packed for my two-and-a-half-week vacation in just one suitcase, plus a carryon.
“All right, let’s get this girl to the airport before she drives me crazy and wears a hole in the floor, pacing around,” Beckett tells my parents.
“Get used to it. She’s always been like this when she’s excited about something,” my dad warns him.
We get loaded up into my parents’ SUV and make our way to the airport. They offered to take us so we didn’t have to Uber it or leave a car at the airport for that long. Thankfully, when I fly back, I get in at a decent time, so Mom can pick me up then, as well.
“Have an amazing time! You better text me tons of pictures!” Mom tells me as she wraps me in a hug at the drop-off curb.
“I will!” I tell her as we pull apart.
“Have a safe flight. Let us know when you make it,” my dad says, pulling me into a hug.
I kiss his cheek before we break apart. “Will do, Daddy.”
“Love you both!” Mom calls out before she gets back into the SUV.
“Love you, too, see you in a few weeks!” I tell them as Beckett and I start walking toward the doors. We get our bags checked and make our way to the security checkpoint. We have a short flight to Chicago, then a long ass flight straight into Stockholm. I’ve never flown on a flight that long, so this will be an experience, for sure.
“I might have a surprise for you,” Beckett tells me as we’re waiting in line for security.
“What’s that?” I ask, leaning in to press a quick kiss to his lips.
“I might have upgraded our seats on the flight to Stockholm.”
“Really?” I ask excitedly.
> “Yes, instead of business class like you originally booked, I upgraded us to first class. So, now we’re in the pod-style seats. We’ll be able to lie down completely and sleep while flying. Have power and internet if you want. More food and beverage service than you could ever want.”
“You’re too good to me,” I tell him, kissing him again. We have to break apart all too soon to move forward to the TSA checkpoint. We each hand over our passports and boarding passes for the agent to check before we’re ushered through.
“It was for my benefit just as much as it was for yours. By having the ability to potentially get a good night’s sleep, we’ll arrive hopefully rested and not have as many issues with jet lag. I have so much I want to show you that I’d hate for us to lose a day or more as we try to adjust to the time difference.”
“That is a good point,” I agree, as we collect our items from the x-ray machine, stopping off to the side to get everything back in our bags and situated the way we want it before heading to our gate. I step in to one of the shops and pick up some last-minute snacks and magazines. I already downloaded a few new books to have ready for the flights, plus a couple audiobooks. I also have some movies ready to go on my iPad, in case I get really bored and need something to watch.
We’ve been on our flight from Chicago for Stockholm for going on seven hours, leaving just about an hour and a half to go and I’m starting to get antsy. I’ve been cooped up on this plane for too long. I’m ready to get on the ground and meet everyone! Having the upgraded seats has definitely come in handy, as I was able to sleep for a good chunk of time, so hopefully I can hit the ground running once we arrive.
“How are you holding up?” Beckett asks, pulling his earbuds out and pausing whatever he’s listening to.
“Just ready to be there.”
“Soon, sötnos, soon. We’re on the home stretch,” he reassures me.
The Hardest Shot: Indianapolis Eagles Series Book 7 Page 14