No way.
Raising a brow, I look up to Cammy, who’s beet-red, covering as much of her face as she can.
Wonder Woman seeking Man Of Steel. Apply within.
Rubbing at the smile that’s not going anywhere, I shake my head. “The arrow pointing down is a nice touch. Really clarifies things.”
Groaning, she tries to roll over and hide even more, but I catch her hips and pull her back.
“Cammy, babe, you’re not going to believe this.”
She peeks through the vee of her fingers as I undo my fly and drop my pants.
Her hands move from her eyes to that sexy mouth as she gapes at my man of steel, straining against the Superman boxer briefs he’s ready to bust through.
“Shut the front door.”
“I know, right?”
I want a picture so bad. But no way am I going to ask my single-mom best friend to let me take a picture of her three quarters of the way naked. I’d never share that shit, but—
“Get me the phone,” she pleads, her brows going high. “Julia’s going to die.”
“You’re going to call her? Now?” About this?
“No! But… we’ve got to take a picture. Not your face, of course.”
“Wait, you’re worried about my face?”
Her eyes track down and get a little hazy. “Okay, so maybe we should do something about that first.” She bites her lip, and for as many times as I’ve seen Cammy do it, it’s never looked like this on her. So completely sexy. So sexual. “But then, a picture. Pretty please?”
I think this is probably the worst line of thought I’ve ever engaged in. Because right now, all I can think about is how okay Cammy is with the idea of having her picture taken in her underwear. And how many exciting, dirty, and depraved possibilities that could lead to.
For the right guy. Not just a friend. Not me.
“I think we’re gonna have to talk about that later, sometime when at least a little of the blood in my body is moving toward my brain.”
She nods, her legs shifting together, that poor bottom lip still getting worked over.
“What do you think, Sunshine? You still want to do this?”
That hazy sensual look in her eyes turns to worry. “You don’t?”
“Jesus, woman, you’re looking right at it.” I run my hand over my hard-on, giving the guy a settling squeeze, hoping he’ll be patient. But that look in Cammy’s eyes as I do it has anything but a calming effect.
She’s turned on. And the way her eyes flare when I touch myself says she didn’t mind that at all.
In fact, she’s still watching, looking sort of mesmerized as I slide my hand up and down my shaft another time or two.
Her breath shallows, and her nipples are so hard, my mouth is watering to get a taste of them. To find out if she’s as sensitive there as she is beneath her dirty little panties.
Fuck, those panties. I can’t take it anymore, I need to taste her.
I need to hear her come apart with my mouth buried between her legs. I—
She starts pulling at me, wiggling beneath me.
“Rux… mouth up here… more kissing.”
Chapter 8
Rux
I climb back over her, wanting to kiss her again, not just because she doesn’t get kissed enough, but because it feels so damn good. Kissing has never been like this. And all I can think is, it’s the friendship balancing the freedom. Like somehow the trust and soul-deep affection I have for this woman, combined with the freedom and fun of what we’re doing this one time… it’s like it’s acting as an accelerant making everything between us burn hotter.
That, and I love giving Cammy what she wants. Granted, it’s normally not a kiss or a few hours rolling around in bed, but there is nothing as satisfying as watching the smile spread across her face when I surprise her with something she didn’t expect.
So I sink into the kiss again, reveling in the feel of her hands in my hair, the bare skin of her legs sliding up mine.
And somehow we find ourselves back in that desperate place, devouring each other like we can’t stop. We’re rocking together, grinding like teenagers. Both in our underwear, close enough to naked that every roll and press and tease has my head ready to blow off.
I want her. I want her hard and fast, and slow and gentle. I want her on her knees while I take her from behind, I want her looking up into my eyes, I want my face buried between her legs and my name echoing off the walls. I want her a thousand more ways than those.
And while I doubt very much that it’s even half as bad as I want her, Cammy wants me too.
I can feel it in the clench of her fists in my hair, the squeeze of her thighs, the way her breath breaks when we move together. And if that isn’t telling enough, those curvy little legs are sliding higher up my sides, and she’s nudging at my shorts.
“Take these off… Need you.”
“Fuck yes.”
I pull her up with me, and we’re both pushing at the clothes remaining between us. I get her bra, while she frees the man of steel. Her panties are next and—Christ—I can’t wait.
Reaching between our bodies, I groan, finding her slick and ready. Silky soft and desperate for my touch.
There’s a moment when my control seems perilously close to gone, where having her pussy so wet for me has me ready to blow like some unschooled virgin. But no way. Not after I told her what a big hot hockey stud I was.
I don’t lose my cool.
I don’t lose control.
I do not struggle to abide by the golden rule… She comes first.
But with Cammy…
I press a finger inside her, stroking, exploring her body to discover all its most sensitive secrets.
“Rux.”
Like that one right there. That sweet spot that has her breath breaking against my lips, and her inner walls clenching tight around me.
So hot. I need more, more of my name on her lips, more of that surprised startled gasp, more of what happens when I stroke and press and play right there–
“Oh my… Right there… Just like… Rux!”
Holy hell, she’s going to be the end of me.
And when she’s done coming against my hand, looking up at me with those wide eyes that make me feel like I’ve done something so much more than what I have, I can’t take it.
“Baby, I’ve got to get inside you.”
“Yes, now, please.”
“Where are your condoms?”
And that’s when everything comes to a screeching halt and the man of steel dies a sad little death.
There’s such despair in her eyes it would almost be funny, if it weren’t so painfully tragic.
“Condoms? You don’t have one?”
My brow presses against hers as we lay naked together. “Baby, I was out with you. Why would I need condoms?”
Our eyes hold for a beat and then we fall back on the bed together laughing until we can’t breathe. Damn, I love this woman.
After a moment, she turns her head, those pretty blues meeting mine. “Maybe this is a good thing. That we stopped, you know?”
I don’t want to agree, but— “Yeah, maybe.” We crossed some lines tonight. Lines I’d never even considered crossing with Cammy but hadn’t given a second’s thought to skating past tonight. And I should probably give that some thought right there. But for now, I just want to make sure wherever we’ve stopped, it’s on solid ground. “I mean, what kind of friend would I be if I ruined you for all other dudes? And if you got even a taste of what I can do with this guy… damn.”
Her brows pop up and her mouth opens in a little gape. “You didn’t just say that.”
Oh yeah, I did. “You’d never be the same. Hell, the bar’s set so high from my kiss alone, I’m betting it’s out of reach for most guys already.”
I’m expecting her to give me shit. Cut my ego down and walk all over it. But instead she just smiles at me. “You might be right.”
I’m not. One o
f these days she’s going to meet some asshole I’m going to hate and she’s going to love, and the kiss he gives her is going to wipe mine from her memory completely.
My hand finds hers, and I brush my thumb over the top. I figure this is one of those things I won’t be doing either, but for the next minute or two, maybe it’s okay.
Cammy
Watching Rux get dressed is almost as hot as watching him get undressed. Which means I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t be watching him at all. Whatever insanity we were swept up in has passed, and with the “friends” train back on track, it’s time to stop checking the poor guy out.
But those Superman boxer-briefs are awesome. All the better with his shirt on but still hanging open. And when he steps into his suit pants and pulls them up over those crazy powerful thighs… up so the open fly is sort of cradling what is a seriously significant package before he tucks everything back behind the zipper—
“Cammy, if you’re going to watch me get dressed,” he says, not actually looking at me, “you got to stop biting your lip while you do. It’s fucking hot and blowing holes in the ‘just friends’ firewall I’m trying to reconstruct.”
Heat rushing into my cheeks, I jerk straight from where I was leaning against my bedroom door, ogling my friend like a piece of meat.
Bad, Cammy!
“Sorry,” I squeak out, trying to look away. Failing. I do keep my teeth locked together though, so no lip-biting. But there’s an unfamiliar piece of me that’s preening over the idea of a man like Rux being affected by anything I do. I need to shake it off, but considering we’re less than an hour out from fooling around, I’m going to cut myself some slack.
He’s fastening the buttons of his shirt, those big hands and thick fingers making quick work of the task and making me wonder how I’d never recognized the hot potential of such a simple act before.
“No biting,” he says, snapping his fingers and pointing to where I’m totally biting my lip again.
My hand flies to my mouth and my eyes bug.
Rux huffs out a low chuckle, shaking his head as he walks over to me. “Yeah, it’s gonna take a minute for me too.” He shoves his hands deep into his pockets and smiles down at where I’m standing there all speak-no-evil. The corner his mouth kicks up and he drops a quick kiss at my temple. “But we’ll be fine.”
I nod and he flashes a wink before cutting past me toward the living room.
After a breath, I follow. I hang back, watching from across the room, hating that for the first time since we met, I don’t know what to say to him and the silence feels strained.
We walk to the door and Rux stops, runs a hand through that overlong hair that felt so good between my fingers, and turns to me. The look in his eyes is one I don’t really know what to make of and am not entirely sure I even want to try.
“Cammy—” he starts at the same time I say, “Thank you.” We both shake our heads, then putting my hand on Rux’s chest, I start again. “Thank you for tonight,” I say, feeling more shy than I ever have with this man. When I look up into his eyes, it’s pure affection, pure Rux staring back at me. “I had a really good time.”
He pulls me in for one of his signature one-armed hugs, tucking me into his side and burrowing his face into the top of my head. “I think you mean really, really good.”
This guy.
Chapter 9
Rux
I’ve got two coffees in my hands as I push backward in through the lobby door of Greg’s building.
I texted him before the sun was up about needing to talk and he agreed. But man, I don’t want to do this. Hell, it’s not like I’ve never screwed up before. I have. Too many times to count, and while I’ve always felt shitty when I do wrong, I’ve never had anything eat at my gut the way this is.
Greg is one of my best friends. We go back. There’s a trust and understanding between us, and somehow, last night, I violated it completely. And something tells me explaining the whole slippery-slope thing isn’t going to cut it when we’re talking about his little-sister-in-law.
Generally speaking, I’m a solid proponent of most things bro-code, but what happened between Cammy and me isn’t anyone’s business but ours. I want to leave it at that. End of story. Thing is, Greg and I have been butting into the girls’ business forever. It’s like our thing. We’re protective guys. And for me to be with Cammy the way I was—or almost was—and not own up to it? Uncool.
Which means there’s a good chance he’s going to lose his shit.
I’m shifting from foot to foot, and I’ve got the sense the security guy has his finger hovering over speed dial for the cops, because I look so damned suspect standing here waiting.
The elevator doors open, and Greg comes out wearing the coat he got the same day I got mine. Custom jobs to accommodate a wingspan that’s not exactly standard.
“Ready for our day-date, girlfriend?” he asks with a gleam in his eye and a smile I’m guessing is about three and half minutes from being wiped off his face for good. At least as far as I’m concerned.
“Yeah, man,” I say handing off his coffee as we head out onto the streets. I should have gotten him a cookie or something. Maybe a brownie or cake pop. Fuck.
Greg looks down the block and mutters a curse. “Jesus, that guy.”
I follow his glare and sure as shit, that reporter Waters is staked out down the block. “Dude drives a Smart car?”
Everyone knows what a hard-on the guy has for our captain. Loves him. It’s not mutual. Couple years back Waters made some unflattering comments about Julia, probably thinking they wouldn’t get back to her husband. They did. And Waters has been on his shit list since, not that he knows it.
The driver’s side door nearly gets taken off when he opens it into traffic. Waters ducks, putting his hands up in embarrassed surrender. Then rolls into this series of animated hand signals with some seriously meaningful looks toward us.
“What’s he saying?”
Greg heaves a breath and gives him a sharp shake of his head. “Fuck if I know. Whatever it is, the answer is no.”
The reporter’s eyes bug, a sheepish smile on his face as he climbs back into his micro car. “He’s not going to follow us?”
The conversation I’m about to have is the kind of private better suited to a conversation behind doors, but there’s a solid chance when Greg hears what I did, shoulder injury or no shoulder injury, he’s gonna throw down. I would. And if that’s how it goes, I owe it to him and Julia to make sure it doesn’t happen inside their place.
“Nah. We already saw him, so he won’t try any of that accidentally-running-into-us shit. A few weeks back there would have been a group of ’em parked outside looking for a bite on my status. But with no news, they’ve moved on. Most of them anyway.”
We shoot the shit for a couple of blocks, before cutting across to the lakefront. One of the nice things about being a hockey player is that even in temps below freezing, we’re acclimated enough to the cold that walking the paths in this weather is no big deal. In fact, it’s kind of a treat, since most anybody else out here is gonna be bundled up, just trying to knock out their run or make their steps, and not paying much attention to the two guys out for a stroll ahead of them.
I turn to my buddy. “Hold up a minute. I’ve been meaning to tell you something, and I want to do it here.”
His brows go up, pulling the corner of his mouth along for the ride.
“You about to pop the question, big man? Because I like you a lot, but as a friend. My dick belongs to Julia, fucker.”
Funny guy. I rub my jaw. That’s about as good of an intro as I’m going to get.
“So speaking of friends and dicks,” I start, then hearing what I just said, mutter a few choice words before trying again. “Dude, I messed up… Only I don’t really feel like I did. I mean I feel bad about one part, but not the rest. Although maybe I should feel bad about the rest too. It just seemed so right and simple and straightforward at the time. And honestly
you were the last thing I was thinking about, which maybe makes me an asshole, but then, if I was thinking about you at the time, maybe that would make me something else… I don’t know.” Shaking my head, I take a painful breath. “Fuck it, man, just lay me out. I’m ready for it. Don’t worry about the teeth, but maybe stay away from the nose. I’ve seen you swing that sledgehammer before, and I don’t think the team needs a broken nose slowing me down when we’re up against the Lightning tonight. I’m serious, bring it. I deserve it.”
Greg takes a sip of his coffee. “This about Cammy?”
For fuck’s sake. “Yes, it’s about Cammy. I just told you. Who else would it be about?”
And why is he giving me that jolly fucking smile when I’ve just confessed to getting up to some seriously dirty shit with his little-sister-in-law?
He starts walking again, waving for me to follow.
“For one, you didn’t tell me jack shit. You started rambling about dicks and assholes. I was thinking maybe it was just another Saturday until the whole laying you out business. For two, why the hell would I lay you out? Cammy’s a grown woman and you’re the most stand-up guy I know. We’ve already been buddies and teammates, there’s no one else I’d rather call… brother-in-law.”
I’m nodding, doing my damnedest to let his words sink in before I reply, but that last thing…
All forward motion ceases as a weird pressure builds in my chest, stopping my heart and making my lungs constrict as I sputter.
“Dude,” I barely choke out. “You’ve got the wrong idea, man. This is what I was trying to tell you. It’s not like that. We’re friends. Just friends. I guess I mean not just just friends but mostly just friends who have this thing that we’re doing, but in a friendly kind of way.” Enough that I’d want way better than me for her. “Dammit, man, why are you laughing? I’m standing still. You can just hit me. Just don’t fuck up your shoulder any worse.”
DIRTY REBOUND: A Slayers Hockey Novel Page 6