They continued to kiss and her hands played along his spine before one came to rest right above his ass and the other on his shoulder. His groin tightened, wanting in on the party. He was sure Terri could feel it, but she made no comment or effort to move away.
His hands moved down, skimming inside the hem of her tank top to touch the warm, bare skin of her back, and she moaned. Mikael about lost it right then, but managed to hang on. At this point they were making out like teenagers and Mikael knew he should stop, but found it nearly impossible to pull away from her enticing mouth. A sound erupted around them.
Terri broke the kiss and pivoted away from him. “Either the fireworks are starting or somebody accidentally set off a canon on one of the old ships.” She sounded out of breath, and Mikael struggled to regain his own sense of equilibrium.
At the moment, he struggled with a losing fight to get his wayward body back under control. All he could think about was flattening himself to her from behind and nestling his erection between her muscular ass cheeks. The fireworks were beautiful, no doubt about that, but Mikael couldn’t summon up much interest in them. Gently, he moved Terri’s hair aside and began to nibble her neck. She moaned and leaned her head on his shoulder.
He’d always treated women with respect. So even though the idea of slipping his fingers inside the waistband of her capri pants to take her to heaven while the fireworks continued made him hard, he’d suffer through it. Maybe if they knew each other better and were alone, but not now. So, trying to conceal a frustrated sigh, Mikael forced himself to watch the display in front of him.
When the fireworks finished, he took a step back and she scooted away from the railing. “This is an incredible place to watch an event like that from.”
“I am glad you liked it.”
“I should probably, um, get to bed. If we have two games tomorrow it might be a long day.”
Mikael nodded. “I will walk you to your car.”
Once they’d left the hotel and found her car in the nearby lot, Terri unlocked the driver’s side door and then leaned against it. “Thank you for a great day. Don’t forget—I’ll bring you a shake tomorrow.”
“I won’t. And thank you again. I had a great day too.” After taking a quick look around, Mikael plunged his hands into Terri’s hair and kissed her again. This time they both let out moans, and Mikael knew the longer he kissed her, the more difficult it would be to stop, so he let her go and moved back a few steps.
With one final, smoldering glance at him, Terri got into her car. “See you tomorrow.”
Chapter Three
Mikael woke the next morning to the sound of his phone signaling a text had come in. He’d given Terri his number last night and a little hit of excitement stole through him when he saw her name.
Game at 9am. Better get to the arena. We’re on the main rink. I’ve got your shake.
He looked at the clock. Already seven-thirty. Why hadn’t anyone woken him? Then he looked at his phone. Oops. Missed text from Karen at six-thirty and one from Terri at seven.
Hotels weren’t the easiest places to sleep and it surprised Mikael he’d been so out of it he’d missed two chimes on his phone. Rushing to get out of bed and dress, Mikael hoped his teammates wouldn’t be angry with him. After quickly grabbing a few things, like his room key and phone, he left the room and, at a brisk jog, went to the locker room.
As soon as he sat down to begin dressing, he said, “I apologize for being late. I slept through my phone saying I had messages. I never do that.” Why his face was flaming hot, Mikael couldn’t say, but he felt as if he’d let the team down not being here when everybody else was.
“No biggie. I’m guessing you could get on the ice cold and with one hand tied behind your back and still play better than all of us,” Paul said. “All we’ve done is have a short meeting anyway. None of us have gone onto the ice yet, so really, your timing is perfect.”
“Anything I need to know?”
Now Paul snorted. “Try not to make the rest of us look bad?” He grinned, tapped Mikael’s shoulder, and walked by him.
Mikael got his gear on quickly and went to the bench. A shake was sitting there with a piece of hockey tape wrapped around the container. His name. His shake. He drank these things most every day; why did the thought Terri had made it for him cause such a rush of happiness?
Rob D’Amico stopped in front of the bench, pulling off his glove. “Mikael, good to meet you. Thanks for doing this. It means a lot to the kids.”
“It is no problem.” Mikael smiled back at the man, who he judged to be about his age. “I am here, I obviously have time, and I like kids.” Then he frowned. “I don’t understand why schools cannot provide for the students here. Some things are so different from Finland and make no sense to me.”
“Some do have enough money,” Rob said with a shrug. “But where Alaina, my girlfriend, works is inner-city and most of those districts are poor.”
He’d been in the US for a while now, but Mikael still couldn’t understand why all the schools weren’t treated the same. “The government should give equal money to everyone. Anyway, I am always happy to do anything for a teammate or the team itself.”
Rob laughed. “You might regret saying that. See ya later.”
Mikael had picked up his shake and begun guzzling it down during his conversation with Rob, and he looked down in surprise to see it was already half-gone.
Terri lumbered over, jerking her head toward the container in his hand. “How is it?”
“Really, really good. I need to find a flavor I like better than the one I’m using now.”
“I’ll text you the information about this one.”
“That would be nice, thank you.” He lowered his voice. “Did you sleep well?”
Terri blushed. “Out like a light. You?”
“The same.” Then, leaning closer to Terri and keeping his voice low, he said, “I’m surprised I got any sleep. All I could think about were your kisses.”
Through her mask, the corners of Terri’s mouth kicked up. “I, um, I better go get some more practice in.”
“I will see you later.”
He got out on the ice and did a few laps to warm up his legs, lazily pushing a puck around the rink. They stayed out for a while and then went back to the locker room area to relax before the game. Terri had come in with them, laughing and joking with a couple of the other guys and a flare of possessiveness reared its head.
You’ve kissed her a few times. She is not yours.
One side of his brain was logical; the other didn’t care how many times he’d kissed her, Terri was his. He doubted she would appreciate him saying that, though, so he kept his mouth shut, using the time to re-tape his sticks. The activity always calmed him down and helped to center him before a game.
Then once the game started Mikael slipped into his zone, where he seemed to have tunnel vision. He didn’t notice any crowd noise or any little discomforts, he just played the game.
His teammate hit him with a pass a few feet in front of him and Mikael flew down the left side of the ice, sizing up the goaltender. The defenseman tried to block him out, to keep him to the outside, but Mikael’s strength and skill were no match for the man. He drove to the net, then dropped a pass to a man about six feet behind him, sending the puck through his own legs, and the guy one-timed it into the net. They all celebrated and the man said, “Incredible pass, dude! Playing with you is so cool!” This guy was one of the youngest on the team and Mikael judged him to still be in high school. The kid had skills, though.
Mikael smiled. On his way back to the bench, he detoured over to Terri, who was standing about ten feet away, drinking from her water bottle.
“Nice goal.”
“I didn’t score it. I just set it up.”
“With a wicked pass most of us only dream about actually making. Yeah, I noticed, Gretzky.”
Now he laughed. “I am no Wayne Gretzky.”
“To these guys
you are.” With that, she turned and began to waddle back to their net in the way only goalies could get away with and not be laughed at by their teammates.
Even with a hard-fought effort, though, his team lost 3-2. During the handshake at the end, Rob gave him a quick one-armed hug. “See you at the gym. Seb said he was gonna call you.”
“Yes, and I would be very happy to work out with you guys. Good luck in the final game.”
“Thanks again, man.”
Mikael skated off the ice with the rest of his team, disappointed for the men he’d played with and wishing he had done more. But apparently his teammates didn’t see it that way as they chattered happily despite just having lost. They relived various moments of the game and drew him into the conversation as he took his equipment off.
“Dude, that pass,” Paul said. “I’ve never seen anything like that from so close. No-look, through the legs drop pass. Incredible. I don’t even know what to say. I was sitting on the bench with my mouth wide open.”
“Yeah, catchin’ flies,” another teammate retorted.
He didn’t really understand what they were talking about, so he merely shrugged. “I’m a good passer. It’s one of the reasons the Storm signed me.”
“Well, all I can say,” another man began, “is as soon as the Storm Store has your jersey I’m going out to get one for me and my little boy. Already he idolizes you.”
Mikael blushed. “Thank you. You’ve all been very kind.”
“Kind?” Paul chuckled. “You agreeing to play with us would definitely be considered kind. Us playing with you seems like a dream. Truly.” He held out his hand and Mikael shook it.
“I had fun.”
After that, he showered and dressed. He’d thrown on a pair of shorts with the t-shirt he’d slept in so he could get out of the hotel room quickly this morning and needed to put on something nicer, but planned to stalk Terri before he went back to his room. Hopefully he’d be able to catch her and they could walk back there together and then go do something. Maybe he could see more of the area than the arena and waterfront, nice as they were. The only other scenery he’d been exposed to had been the airport, a highway, a hotel a few blocks from the arena where he’d stayed when Minnesota had played the Storm, and a couple of the restaurants. Even the places Terri had taken him to eat so far had been close.
He had no idea where Terri had been set up, but he did know how to find the door to the parking lot, so he went there to wait. Terri’s car was still in the lot. Mikael had waited perhaps ten minutes before Terri came around a corner, lugging her no-doubt heavy equipment bag on her shoulder. Silently, he approached and took it from her. She raised one eyebrow.
“Feeling like doing your good deed for the day or were you waiting for me?”
Not able to help it, Mikael flashed a grin. “Both?”
Terri rolled her eyes, but smiled. “Fine. Come on.” She led the way to her car and opened the trunk. “Throw them in there.” He put both their bags in and she then closed the trunk before pivoting to face him. “It’s past lunchtime but before dinner.”
“Yes?” He felt his eyebrows draw down. How did she expect him to answer?
“Are you hungry?”
“Yes.”
“Ah, that’s better. Not a question.” Terri tapped the roof of the car. “Get in.”
He fidgeted for a minute and then finally said, “I would like to change. I put on clothes quickly this morning.”
She looked him up and down and various body parts got interested in the situation quickly. He shifted from foot to foot so hopefully she wouldn’t notice. “If you’d feel more comfortable, go for it, but I think you’re fine.”
I think you’re pretty fine, too, but no, I do not want to go out in the shirt I slept in.
“I would like to change.”
“All right. Let’s hit that first and then we’ll go.”
The thought of having Terri alone in his hotel room made Mikael lightheaded. “I can just meet you back here if you don’t want to walk over.”
“It’s no trouble.”
Maybe she wants to be alone with me.
Together they pulled his bag back out and then walked to the hotel, hopping on the elevator to Mikael’s floor. He found his room, slid the key into the mechanism, and opened the door. By nature and necessity neatness had been bred into Mikael, but he hoped he hadn’t left stuff lying around when he’d run out this morning.
He grabbed some clothes from his suitcase and said, “Sit down and I will be right back.”
“Okay.”
Stealing into the bathroom, Mikael then leaned against the back of the door, blowing out a slow exhale and closing his eyes. He wanted in the worst way to go back out there and kiss Terri, slowly lowering her to the mattress underneath him, but he couldn’t. No matter how much he desired her, Mikael wouldn’t pressure. That left the immediate problem of his arousal, though, and he wasn’t about to jerk off in the bathroom with Terri on the other side of the door. Besides, she thought he’d gone in there to change, and him being gone for several minutes longer than necessary would probably look suspicious and embarrass him. With his luck he’d blurt out what he’d been doing and the team could rent him out as a permanent red goal light.
As he changed, Mikael tried to think about unsexy things; the smell of a locker room, the way most hockey players’ feet looked all gross and malformed from wearing skates so much, taxes, anything to get rid of his hard-on. It worked and Mikael left the bathroom.
“Are you ready?”
Terri turned from the window. “This is an incredible view, too.”
He approached her. Maybe one kiss. Like the one kiss at the marina. Right. “Yeah, it is, but I am not looking at the waterfront.”
She blushed and he found himself charmed still more. “You’re goofy.”
“Goofy?”
“Silly.”
Mikael pretended to be affronted. “I am not silly.” Reaching his hands up, he did what he’d been dying to do for a while now and pushed them into her hair, dislodging much of it from its ponytail, and kissed her. Terri’s hands slid around his waist and one of his dropped to her shoulder and pulled her closer.
Kissing Terri felt completely different than anything Mikael had ever known. He ran his tongue over her lips and she opened her mouth. Though he’d never been the type to find a woman for one night, slake his lust and be on his way, with Terri he found he wanted to talk to her all the time, just have the opportunity to be with her. Of course, he wanted to kiss her from head to toe, but doing that wouldn’t be enough.
Terri’s mouth tasted sweet, as if she’d had a piece of chocolate recently. Mikael was a chocoholic, which he rarely got to indulge, and another moan pushed out of his already screaming-for-air lungs. He backed off just long enough for them both to drag in breath and, when he did that, the unmistakable smell of Terri’s arousal assaulted his nose in the best possible way.
“I want you. I am hungry, but I want you. Not to have sex. I would not do that so fast. But you are so beautiful...”
She smiled, a softer expression than he’d ever seen, and his heart skipped a beat. “Food first, making out later.”
“Making out?” Terri used a lot of phrases he wasn’t familiar with and sometimes Mikael felt a little dumb.
“Kissing. Stuff like that.”
“Oh. Yes. As long as there’s making out, I’m good.”
A snort escaped her. “Typical man.”
Mikael frowned. Dropping both hands to her shoulders, he said, “This isn’t about sex. I hope you know that. I like you. I like you very much.”
“I like you, too,” she whispered, looking down.
He took a gentle hold of her chin to get Terri to raise her gaze once more. “Why do you look so sad when you say that?”
Her eyes searched his. “I told you. It’s probable I’ll have to leave the area to keep playing.”
“So that means we cannot date?”
Pulling aw
ay more, she took a step back, rubbing her forehead. “No. Just...I don’t want to start something and have to leave it.”
“Do you have an offer?”
“No. I’ve been in contact with some minor league teams, both here and in Canada, but haven’t heard anything definite yet.”
“Then why don’t we see where this goes? There is no pressure for anything to happen that you’re not ready for.”
Terri cocked her head. “You really believe that, don’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re really that nice, to let things happen when they do.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Most men would either want to take things further, so we had more ties when I left, or they’d cut me out entirely and move on.”
“I think I am not like most men,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I do not have sex with as many women as I can. It is not a competition. I want to find someone I can be with. I am not planning to propose marriage to someone and have babies as fast as I can, but I’m old enough to know what I want, and that is not one-night stands. A girlfriend, something more...” He struggled for the word.
“Steady?”
“Yes!” He hadn’t meant to sound so enthusiastic and had probably scared the poor girl, but she hadn’t run yet.
Terri nodded, biting her lip. “I can live with that.” Her stomach grumbled. “But I can’t live without food, so let’s go eat.”
*****
During dinner, Terri’s phone rang. Looking embarrassed, she held up one finger to Mikael and booked it out of the restaurant. He watched her go, hoping everything was okay. A moment later she returned.
“So you know how I was saying I’ve been in contact with some teams?”
“That was one on the phone?”
“Yes. The Storm’s minor league affiliate, actually, who I hadn’t heard were looking for a goalie. The minor league team is owned by the Storm. They have their own management staff, but several of the Storm executives work on things for the minor league team. That was a Storm executive, the assistant GM.”
Red Hot and BOOM! A Sizzling Hot Collection of Stories from the Red Hot Authors Page 42