Underneath It All (Storm Series)

by Carr, Cassandra

  Alaina wanted to wrap him in her arms until this all passed. She was feeling unusually protective of him, considering they’d only known each other several weeks and he was a grown man. If this had happened to one of her kids, she could understand wanting to put Bubble Wrap around them and hold them to her, but Rob? That surprised her.

  “Oh, Rob, I’m so sorry.” Alaina bit her lip. She couldn’t even imagine being injured like that, much less having something affect her life as much as this would Rob’s.

  He sighed, the sound echoing through the phone line. “Nothing can be done to fix the problem without intervention. I’ve got a labral tear and the joint is unstable. If I kept playing and didn’t have the surgery, the stupid joint would dislocate again for sure. Geez, I practically quoted the doctor. Who I argued with, by the way.”

  Now that didn’t surprise Alaina in the least.

  He cursed then said, “Shit, you’re at school. I’m sorry. I should’ve waited to call. I wasn’t thinking.”

  “No, no, it’s fine. I’ve been going nuts not knowing what was going on.”

  “I can let you go. I’ll call you later.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure. By the way, I’m not positive I’ll be able to read for a while. I can’t drive, and I hate to keep asking Sebastian and Sarah for rides. Sarah took me to my appointment this morning, and now she’s at the store buying up the place so I’ll have food at home. Very sweet of her, but I feel like an invalid, which I hate. Anyway, I can get one of the other guys to take up the slack if I can’t. I guess we can worry about it in a day or two. I’ll miss the buggers, though. Okay, go sharpen those little minds.”

  “Take care, sweetie. Talk to you soon.”

  He hung up and tears pricked in Alaina’s eyes. He didn’t want sympathy, she was sure, but when she thought of how much pain he’d been in—probably was still in, though he’d sounded remarkably lucid—and how much more was coming with the surgery, her heart broke for him. She couldn’t help him at the moment, though, so she hastily wiped at her eyes then turned back to the class. Thankfully none of them appeared to have seen her crying so she didn’t have to try to explain herself without freaking out the kids.

  Later on, as she was going through the mail from the past few days, Rob called her. When she saw his name on the caller ID, she dropped the bundle onto the kitchen table and answered. “Hey, Rob.” The whole “how are you?” thing was on the tip of her tongue, but she figured she had a pretty good idea how he was and stopped herself in time.

  “Hey. What’s up?”

  “Nothing much. I was going to see if you wanted me to bring a couple of movies over.”

  “You really don’t have to entertain me. I’m not very exciting to hang around with right now.”

  “Stop that,” she admonished. “I want to see you.” Before he could object further, she went on, “What kind of movies do you like?”

  “I’ll watch about anything that wasn’t written by Jane Austen or Nicholas Sparks.”

  Alaina chuckled. “Duly noted. And brownie points for even knowing who they are. Okay, I’ll be over in less than an hour. Do you want me to bring dinner too?”

  “Sarah left me enough food to feed an army.”

  “Okay then. See you soon.”

  As she got ready to leave, Alaina alternated between being jealous Sarah was taking care of Rob and grateful he had such good friends. No other relationship had brought with it this kind of turmoil, and the reasons for that weren’t something she wanted to obsess over. Rob was more important.

  She showed up with three movies, knowing they’d only be able to watch one before she had to go home. But she could leave the others so Rob would have them. Even injured, though, he was quick and she didn’t fool him one bit.

  “Huh. One comedy and two shoot-em-up movies. I’m guessing we’ll watch the comedy tonight and you’ll happen to leave the other two by an obvious oversight.”

  “You caught me,” she answered, her face heating.

  “It’s nice to have people around me who care.” She sat next to him, and he sighed. “I wish I could cuddle, but obviously my bad shoulder is out, and my other arm is getting sore from compensating. You’d think all the time I spend in the gym would stop stuff like that from happening, but apparently not.”

  “You’re using it more than normal.” Sliding a hand onto his knee, she said, “I’ll do all the touching. You relax and enjoy the movie.”

  His smile was strained, the near-grimace testament to how bad the pain still was.

  “Have you taken a painkiller lately?”

  “They’re putting me to sleep and I didn’t want to drool all over you.”

  Alaina frowned. “Not even ibuprofen?”

  “I wasn’t sure what I could take along with the other painkillers, so I haven’t done anything else. Those things could fell a horse.”

  “If you need to sleep, sleep. Would it help your arm if I gave you a little rubdown?”

  He reached up with his good hand and stroked the side of her face. “You are the sweetest thing ever, you know that?”

  Barking out a laugh, she said, “Ha! I’ve got you hoodwinked.”

  His expression turned serious. “You haven’t kissed me, you know.”

  “I didn’t want to hurt you,” she admitted, staring down at her hands.

  “My lips aren’t injured. Kiss me. I promise to not hurt myself. In fact, I have an idea. Straddle me.”

  She gaped. “You consider that the safe way out?”

  Rob laughed and the sound was music to her ears. “Bear with me. Straddle me and put your hands on the back of the couch so you can lean in without putting weight on my shoulder.”

  Alaina was dubious, but did as he bade, feeling his erection swell beneath her.

  “Sorry about that.” Rob gestured toward his groin. “An involuntary reaction around you.”

  “You think I mind that I turn you on?” She smiled and shifted a bit, drawing a gasp from him. She froze. “Is this okay? Am I hurting you?”

  “No. That was a good gasp. Now kiss me. I’m not getting any younger.”

  Shaking her head at his comment, she leaned in and brushed her lips over his. “Better?”

  “Not quite.” His good hand cupped the back of her head, pulling her closer. He deepened the kiss, and when they finally broke apart so they could breathe, he said, “Now I feel better.”

  “Huh. How shocking.”

  “If we did that for another hour or two, I’d feel a lot better.”

  Chuckling, Alaina climbed off him, feeling a twinge of guilt to be leaving him in such a state. That couldn’t be comfortable, but he was right, he needed to take it easy. “Let’s put on the movie before we get carried away.”

  “You’re a good influence on me.” He leaned back against the couch, settling his slinged arm more, and smiled. “We cannot have that.”

  “Oh yes. That would be horrible.” She popped the movie into the DVD player and returned to the couch.

  The movie was funny, but soon Alaina found herself drifting. After about the third time she’d yawned in the past twenty minutes, Rob patted his thigh. “Lie down, baby.”

  Looking between his face and his thigh, she asked, “Are you sure?”

  “Of course I am. I wouldn’t have made the suggestion if I wasn’t. Besides, I have an ulterior motive. If your head is in my lap I can play with your hair. I love your hair. So soft.”

  Alaina lay down, being careful to stay away from his injured side, which thankfully wasn’t the part closest to her. Considering how muscular the man was, his thigh was surprisingly comfortable to put her head on. Soon her eyes were heavy, but she didn’t want to fall asleep and be groggy when she woke, so she turned onto her back and looked at Rob. He must’ve noticed her staring since he glanced down at her. One dark eyebrow rose, but he said nothing.

  He really was gorgeous. She’d done some cyber research on him and found one interview where the rep
orter called him a “spark plug.” Another called him a “little ball of hate.” It was a close thing that she was able to avoid spewing coffee all over her laptop after reading that particular gem. There wasn’t a shred of hate in the man when he was away from the rink, but she’d seen the way he played now that she was watching the team regularly. The best term she could think of to describe his playing style was “balls to the wall.”

  Hmm. Speaking of balls… I know a surefire way to take Rob’s mind off his injury. It flew in the face of taking things slow, but the situation had changed and she wanted to do this for him.

  She turned onto her other side, facing away from the movie and eyed the bulge at his groin. From the corner of her eye she saw him look down at her again, though he still hadn’t spoken. A grin spread on her face and she rubbed his erection. Rob gave a quick intake of breath and Alaina squeezed in response. His mouth opened on a moan and his eyes closed as she stroked him ever-so-slowly.

  Sitting up, she reached for the waistband of his sweats. His eyes popped open once more and he lifted to allow her to pull them and his boxers down his legs. Moving to kneel on the floor in front of Rob, Alaina grasped and pulled his hard shaft.

  Rob arched into her touch. “Fuck…”

  “Now, now,” she mock-admonished. “We’ll have none of that swearing business.”

  He snorted. “Aww, come on. Swearing’s a second language to hockey players.”

  Leaning forward, she engulfed the swollen head in her mouth and a high-pitched noise escaped his lips. Encouraged, she rolled her tongue around the ridge and he grew even harder.

  “Oh, baby, so good,” he told her as she brought her head down to meet her hand.

  She didn’t have a lot of experience giving blow jobs, but Rob’s reactions indicated he liked what she was doing, so she continued. Hollowing her cheeks, she sucked harder and his good hand landed on the back of her head. He wasn’t forcing her further onto him; more like he was trying to ground himself.

  Alaina kept up her attempts to drive Rob crazy and after a few short moments he let her know he was about to lose control. She hadn’t swallowed much in her admittedly limited experiences with men, but something about Rob made her want to take him to the moon, so Alaina tightened her mouth and hand around him.

  He released with a shout, and she continued to work him until he pulled her off.

  “You okay? Did I do something wrong?”

  “Sensitive,” he choked out.

  “Oh. I’m, um, not real experienced with that. I thought I’d hurt you or done something terribly wrong.”

  A disbelieving noise burst from his mouth. “Trust me. You didn’t do a thing wrong. Come up here.”

  After helping Rob dress once more, she scooted back up and sat next to him. He leaned in as if he was going to kiss her and she moved away. “I just, I…” She paused then asked, “Don’t you want me to brush my teeth or something?”

  “I know what you’re worried about, and the idea doesn’t bother me a bit. It’s actually pretty sexy to taste myself, to know you had me in your mouth. Now give me what I want.” He urged her closer and kissed her. His tongue snaked into her mouth and she moaned in response. After breaking the kiss, he said, “I wish I had better mobility. I’d love to make you come right now. I want to see your face when you do. I want you to scream my name.”

  Alaina smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll take a rain check.”

  “A rain check on an orgasm? That’s a first for me.”

  “I do what I can to keep you on your toes.” You certainly keep me on mine.

  “That you do, baby, that you do.”

  The next day, Alaina had her kids start a special project—cards for Rob. She wanted one set ready when he got out of his surgery, which was scheduled for a few days later. Alaina planned to have them make more every couple of weeks while Rob did his rehab. Thanks to his generosity, she had plenty of art supplies, so it was fitting he be the benefactor of some of the children’s efforts. As she passed out construction paper, scissors, glitter, glue, and crayons, she explained what had happened to Rob in terms she hoped her students could understand. They got down to business, practicing their letters as they copied those Alaina had written on the board telling Rob to feel better and then decorating the cards with all manner of things, some of which she could recognize and others that were more…abstract.

  Her plan was to bring Rob a bunch of the cards during the first day or two after his surgery, which, to her amazement, was actually an outpatient procedure. The guy was having major surgery on a crucial joint and they were kicking him out as soon as he woke. The healthcare system amazed her, and not in a good way. She’d asked if he needed someone to take him to the ambulatory surgery center and then drive him home, but apparently the team’s trainer was taking care of that, which made sense. He would want to be assured one of the Storm’s star players got the very best of care.

  By the time she had the students clean everything up about an hour later she had several cards to bring Rob. With a grin, she praised her class, telling them how beautiful the cards were and how much Rob would love them. Then she piled them on her desk and went on with the day’s lessons.

  ~ * ~

  EIGHT

  Rob awoke in the recovery room at the surgery center and immediately groaned. Why did his entire body feel like he’d been used for slap shot practice without any pads and yet his shoulder had been the only area they’d worked on? Maybe they’d made a mistake and done surgery on every limb. Sure as hell felt like it.

  A nurse arrived to take his vitals and ask him some questions before scrawling a few notes on her chart and leaving. When she was gone and the room was quiet again, Rob’s eyelids grew heavy once more.

  The next time he woke, cotton had been stuffed into his brain. Rob was sure of it. He couldn’t form coherent thoughts and hoped the anesthesia would wear off soon. Rob hated feeling out of control and when under anesthesia, you were many things, but in control was not one of them.

  After a while, they let Colby sit with him, and when Rob felt awake and solid enough on his feet to move, a doctor checked him one last time then got the discharge papers together. Colby grabbed everything, and on the way home, they stopped at the pharmacy to pick up the new prescription for more pain pills, which the doctor had cautioned Rob to use sparingly. Since he remembered how sleepy and loopy he’d gotten on the first batch of pills from the team doctor, he planned to do exactly that.

  Colby helped him into the house and, at Rob’s insistence, onto the couch. “You should really be in bed.”

  “I hate sitting in bed all day. Doing nothing is boring. At least out here I have a TV.” Even though he’d been leaving it on for noise lately, Rob wasn’t a huge watcher of television and had never bothered to put a set in his bedroom.

  “You’re probably going to need another nap soon.”

  “I can take one on the couch or move into the bedroom then.” Rob lay down gingerly, trying not to jostle anything.

  Colby blew out a breath. “Stubborn ass. Fine. But you need to eat before you take a pain pill, and I won’t hear any arguments to the contrary. I’ll go see what’s in your fridge.” A moment later he walked back into the room. “Either you have a guardian angel, or you’re remarkably proficient in the kitchen despite that shoulder.”

  Rubbing the back of his neck where a crick was already forming from trying to see the TV from his prone position, Rob asked, “What do you mean?”

  “Your fridge and freezer are filled with food you can throw in the oven or the microwave, complete with directions for cooking on each one. I’d give you a choice of what you want since a restaurant would be envious of the selection, but I can’t even remember everything that’s in the fridge, much less the freezer. Seriously, man, someone stocked you up good. Are you hiding some hot cook around here?”

  Smiling as he considered what Sarah would think of Colby’s comment about a hot cook. If he only knew. Rob rose slowly and went into the
kitchen to investigate. Colby was pulling various Tupperware containers out of the fridge, and Rob frowned first at the sheer number of them, but then he noticed something else. For about half of the items, he didn’t recognize the handwriting as that of either Sarah or Sebastian, but they were the only ones who had a key to his place.

  Had the wives and girlfriends cooked him stuff? He couldn’t remember them ever having a cooking party for an injured guy, but admittedly he hadn’t been paying close attention. Maybe they’d taken pity on him because they thought he was single. Rob hadn’t wanted to blab about his relationship. He certainly wasn’t ashamed of Alaina; but the guys could be brutal, and they’d hound him constantly until he introduced her to everyone.

  He picked one that sounded like something he could keep down, despite his still queasy stomach, then returned to the living room. His phone was on the coffee table, and he grabbed it to call Sarah. A quick glance at the clock said the team should be finished with practice. Rob rubbed his good hand, still holding the phone, over his chest to assuage a twinge of pain that had little to do with the surgery itself and everything to do with how much he already missed his teammates. Rob dialed and sat.

  “Rob, hi! We’ve been waiting to hear from you. Colby checked in and said everything went well. How are you feeling? Probably a stupid question, but whatever.”

  “I’m sore all over. I have no idea what that surgeon did, but I’m pretty sure my shoulder isn’t the only thing he cut up.”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Not about the soreness, but yes about the surgeon. He seemed very competent in the ten seconds I saw him before they put me out.” He waited a beat then continued, “So would you know anything about the abundant supply of casseroles and other delicacies in my fridge and freezer?”

  “Mayyyyy-be.”

  “Some of the labels have writing I don’t recognize, though, and I want to know who to thank. Did Jaela or one of the other wives make stuff?” He was popular with the wives, like Ben’s wife, Jaela, and various teammates’ girlfriends, mostly because he was friendly but didn’t hit on them like others players had done in the past. Despite that, he hadn’t expected any of them to go out of their way.