“Baby…if I had it to do over again…I would do it all differently.” His voice whispered across her lips. “I love you. I never meant to hurt you…you’ve gotta believe me…Please, Ava.” She moved away from him and crossed to the bar to refill her wineglass. She stood staring out the wall of windows for long moments.
“I Googled you today.” She stated matter-of-factly without turning around. “You’ve won an Olympic gold medal and a Stanley Cup, dated lots of models and actresses…”
“I wouldn’t say lots.” He muttered under his breath. She turned quickly and glared at him, her hand making a slashing movement through the air.
“One or a hundred doesn’t make a damn bit of difference.” She snarled at him. “How the hell am I supposed to compete with that?”
“It’s not a damn competition!” He roared, incensed at her words. “Damn it, I love you! Not any models or actresses or anyone else! You!”
“You have groupies, for God’s sake!” She yelled back at him. “You are one of the top hockey players in the world…these women just throw themselves at you…”
“I haven’t messed with groupies since my third year in the NHL so don’t try to use that as an excuse not to trust me.” He was becoming more and more frustrated with her questions.
“And where do you see this relationship going, Cian?” She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow as if she had just had the last word. He looked momentarily dumbfounded before shrugging.
“We could date…live together…get married or any combination of the three that appeals to you.” He stated without blinking an eye. Her jaw dropped in shock causing him to laugh wryly at the look on her face. “What were you expecting me to say?”
“Not that.” She murmured, taking another drink of her wine. She regarded him thoughtfully. “Doesn’t the hockey season start soon?”
“I have to report to training camp in a month.” He responded, wondering where this line of questioning was headed.
“And how long does the season last?”
He shrugged. “Depends on if he we make the playoffs. We could be playing until June.”
“Hockey season is ten months long?” She asked incredulously.
“Actually it’s more like nine because we’re only playing half of September and June.” He responded, settling back on the sofa to watch her agitated movements. His answers to her questions seemed to be upsetting her more than anything else.
“And how much of that time are you on the road?” She questioned quietly. Cian sighed heavily, having a strong feeling he wasn’t going to like where this was leading.
“About half. Road trips generally last anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks depending on the schedule.”
“Are there groupies in every city?” She asked as she turned to look out the window again. He ran his hand through his hair, trying to keep his cool so he could answer her questions calmly, though what he really wanted to do was grab her and shake some sense into her. Why couldn’t she believe him when he said she was all the woman he needed or wanted?
“Yep, but like I said, not my cup of tea so it really doesn’t matter.” He stated.
“It matters to me.” She responded so softly, he almost didn’t hear her. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before moving to stand beside her at the bar. She turned to look up at him and the hurt and uncertainty in her eyes had him reminding himself she wasn’t accustomed to the world of professional hockey and the ever-present groupies. If he wanted Ava, he was going to have to be patient and address all her concerns.
“Ava…I don’t want anyone but you. I love you. I would never cheat on you whether I’m home or on the road.” He ran a finger lightly over her cheek. “What can I do to make you believe me?” She looked at him so sadly before shaking her head as she turned away from him.
“I don’t know.” She whispered. Silence reigned for what seemed like forever but was in fact only a few awkward seconds. He felt like someone had punched him in the stomach as his mind tried to wrap itself around the fact he and Ava might not be able to work this out. There had to be something he could do.
“Ava, please don’t do this…” His deep voice pleaded with her.
“If I said I wanted the same thing you say you want…”
“Say I want?” His eyes narrowed angrily. “I don’t believe I’m the one that doesn’t know what they want!” She whirled on him in surprise.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
He scoffed loudly, his temper finally getting the best of him. “Don’t play innocent…you’re looking for any reason you can find to get rid of me. You say you love me…but if you did, you wouldn’t be willing to just let me walk out of your life over some bullshit that shouldn’t even matter!”
“You lied to me!” She shrieked at him.
“So what!” He yelled right back, causing her to take a step back. “You’re not even gonna try, are you?” he asked with disgust ripe in his voice.
“You’re not laying the blame for this on me!” Her temper snapped as she stepped closer to him and poked him repeatedly in the chest with her fingernail. “This is your damn fault and no one else’s…” His arm snaked out and jerked her to him, his mouth coming down over hers in a brutal kiss while the fingers of his other hand buried in her hair, tilting her head back so his mouth could ravish hers. She hung limply in his grasp, completely taken by surprise by his savage kiss at first. Her hands fisted in his shirt, neither pushing him away nor pulling him closer while his mouth ground her lips against her teeth. Her moan of distress had him instantly pulling back. Her anguished expression had him moving until his forehead rested against hers, his look apologetic.
“Damn, Baby, I’m sorry…” His words were cut off by her tightening her grip on his shirt and yanking his mouth back down to hers. Their mouths meshed hungrily, their tongues stroking against each other’s in a passionate kiss. His hands grasped her thighs, lifting her so she could wrap her legs around his waist as he maneuvered them towards the sofa. The kiss didn’t break when he tumbled her onto the sofa, both of them pulling at the other’s clothes. He shoved the halter top out of his way so he could fill his hands with her breasts, his thumbs stroking her nipples into tight little peaks. Tearing his mouth from hers, he leaned down to suck one into his mouth while his hands hastily worked the fastenings of her jeans and shoved them down her legs.
“Cian…” She gasped, her hands buried in the thick hair at his nape, arching her body up closer to his marauding mouth while his hands opened his jeans and shoved them down far enough to free himself. His mouth moved to the other nipple while he thrust one finger into her already wet center, a second finger quickly joining the first, working in and out of her straining body. “Oh God, Baby…hurry…” She begged when he replaced his fingers with his thick, hard penis and entered her in one hard thrust. She groaned loudly as he unwound her legs from around his waist. He hooked her legs over his arms and spreading them wide, began driving into her body with long, smooth strokes. His eyes locked with her heavy lidded gaze as he drove them both hard and fast towards orgasm. “Cian!” She cried out as she felt her body exploding around his pounding flesh.
“That’s it…come for me, Baby.” He growled before his mouth closed over hers in a hot, wet kiss. Two more hard thrusts and his body joined hers in a shattering orgasm. He released her legs, barely managing to catch himself on his elbows to keep from crushing her with his weight. His chest heaved with his breathing, sweat trickling down his brow. She was breathing just as hard while she lay sprawled limply beneath him, their bodies still joined. When the lust-filled haze in his brain finally began to clear, he inwardly winced. Instead of talking Ava into giving him another chance, he had just pounded her into the leather cushions of the sofa with very few preliminaries and without even removing all their clothes. Hell, he had shoved his jeans down just far enough to get to the equipment…just what he needed was something else to apologize for. He turned his head and placed
a tender kiss against her throat and took it as a good sign when she moaned softly and moved her body sinuously against his. He pushed up so he could see her facial expression and found her smiling contentedly up at him. He grinned back. “Guess I don’t need to apologize for that after all.” She giggled and wound her arms around his neck, pulling him down for a long tender, kiss. “I love you, Ava.” He whispered against her lips. She laid her hand against his cheek and kissed him again.
“I love you, too.” She whispered back, smiling at him, but her eyes still looked vaguely worried. He started to ask her what was wrong and decided against it. He had talked until he was blue in the face and it had done him no good with her. At least she was letting him touch her again. He would try talking to her again in a day or two after he had time to soften her up with lovemaking…then they would see what happened. He had to convince Ava she belonged with him because the alternative was unacceptable.
Chapter Forty
“Ava, your brother is here asking to speak with you. Should I send him up?” Mike’s deep voice came across the line, sounding vaguely disgusted. Macy had informed Mike of Joey’s lawsuit when it was first filed just in case Joey or his psycho wife tried to gain entrance to the compound. Mike liked working for them; where else could he have such a cushy job, great pay, benefits and luxurious quarters with state of the art everything? No one was going to mess with his employers if he had anything to say about it.
Ava was a little surprised to hear that Joey was at her gates. What could he possibly want? Couldn’t be anything good…“Is he alone?’
“Yes.” Mike grunted out, not happy that he was going to have to allow the low-life that was stupid enough to lose a good woman like Macy Talbot and ignore a sweet child like little Miss Madelyn on the property.
“Send him up.” She responded after a moment’s hesitation. Cian had taken Max to the airport that morning before he went to work out at the ice rink and had yet to return, though she expected him any time. He was working out harder than ever as the start of training camp loomed, determined he would be in the best physical condition possible. From where she was standing, his physical condition looked pretty damn good to her. They’d fallen into an uneasy truce since their talk three days previously. They had made love, slept together, ate together, hung out together; did everything together…except discuss their future. For lack of a better word, Cian had been romancing her hard and she had enjoyed every minute of the attention. He was an intense man and being the center of his focus was a heady experience. At the same time, she’d been doing some major soul-searching. Her mind had turned the problems with Cian over and over in her mind but she still hadn’t come up with any conclusions. She loved him but she didn’t know if she could live with everything that came with him...or if she even wanted to. The ringing of her doorbell interrupted her troubled thoughts. She opened the door to find her brother standing there looking handsome and humble…a humble Joey couldn’t be good. “Hello, Joey.”
“Hey, Ava…can I come in?” he asked, seemingly unable to hold eye contact. She stepped back and opened the door wide. He followed her into the kitchen where she grabbed him a soda before joining him at the table. They exchanged idle chitchat for a few minutes before he uncomfortably cleared his throat.
“I need a favor.” He said quietly. Her eyebrows raised up her forehead in surprise.
“What kind of favor?” She inquired warily. He gazed down at his soda on the table before looking up to meet his sister’s curious eyes.
“I want to drop the lawsuit; hell, I never wanted to file it in the first place.” He muttered guilt all over his face. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “And then I want to file for divorce from Marlene.” His eyes pleaded with her. “Will you help me?”
She regarded him in stunned amazement for a moment before enthusiastically nodding her agreement. If her brother wanted to get rid of the crazy bitch he had so misguidedly married, she would be beyond willing to offer her assistance. “I will be more than happy to help you, Joey…if you’re sure that’s what you want. You screw me on this and I’ll never help you again, do you understand?” She stated coolly. She hated being like that but over the last few years, she had learned the hard way about accepting things at face value.
“I swear to you this isn’t any kind of game or scheme. I just want out and I want her to leave me alone.” He shuddered seeming to be genuinely repulsed at the thought of his wife. “She’s not right.”
“I believe we tried to point that out to you before you married Marlene.” Ava’s tone was dry. He grinned wryly and nodded. He couldn’t think of anyone that had recommended him marrying Marlene…
“Yeah, you did.” His expression became serious. “I didn’t really want to marry her…it just seemed like the thing to do. I knew I had screwed everything up with Mace…she was never gonna forgive me. I guess I didn’t want to be alone and I had sorta convinced myself I loved Marlene…but God, no one could love that psycho wench.”
“So what do you want from me?” Ava was curious to see exactly what Joey was asking her to provide. He actually blushed with embarrassment before letting out a sigh.
“I don’t have any money. I need a lawyer and a place to go where Marlene can’t bother me until it’s all over with. I will sign whatever you want me to sign and I swear I won’t ask you for another penny if you’ll just get me out of this shit.” He fervently avowed. She looked at him searchingly for long moments before nodding and picking up her phone. She contacted Jason and relayed the situation to him, letting him know what she needed. Jason scheduled an appointment with Joey for the following day to sign the paperwork to drop the lawsuit and to begin divorce proceedings. After that was out of the way, she called her travel agent next and arranged to rent Joey a small house on Oak Island and a rental car since the car he was driving was in his wife’s name.
“I don’t know how to thank you for this, Sis.” Joey mumbled as he hugged her tightly.
“I don’t want your thanks. I want you to get yourself straightened out and be a father to Maddie…and try to have some kind of relationship with Nate if he’ll let you. And try not to get yourself involved with anymore psychotic women.” She said with a laugh, hoping her baby brother had learned his lesson and would actually make an honest attempt at being a father to his children…but she had her doubts. She had done all she could do; the rest was up to him.
“Babe! I’m home!” Cian called loudly as he entered the kitchen from the garage, stopping short when he saw her at the table with Joey. His eyes went from Ava to Joey and back, narrowing speculatively. She grinned at him, finding it oddly thrilling that he was so jealous of her. She had it bad.
“Cian, I’d like for you to meet my brother, Joey Talbot. Joey, this is Cian Secord, my…”
“Hey, you’re that hockey player!” Joey exclaimed and stood up, sticking his hand out to Cian in greeting. “Nice to meet you, man.” Cian looked momentarily nonplussed, before smiling politely and shaking Joey’s proffered hand.
“Same to you.” Cian said in a cordial tone. When Joey turned his back on Cian to rejoin Ava at the table, Cian raised his eyebrows in inquiry at her but she just smiled and shook her head. Cian crossed to the refrigerator and grabbed a Gatorade from the shelf. “I need a shower so I will leave you two alone.” When he passed Ava, he leaned down and brushed his mouth across hers and smiled. She returned his smile and was still smiling after he had exited the room.
“So…you and the hockey player, huh?” Joey asked appearing very impressed. She felt herself blushing before shrugging. Her brother chuckled at her reaction. “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen you embarrassed over a man.”
Ava narrowed her gaze on him and huffed out a breath. “I’m not embarrassed…I just know a lot of people think he’s too young for me…”
“Since when do you give a damn what anyone thinks?” Joey hooted out a laugh. “He’s legal and obviously isn’t here against his will so who the hell cares?” S
he rolled her eyes and quickly changed the subject.
“Make sure you’re at Jason’s office tomorrow by 2:00 pm. He said you should be done in time to catch your flight. Jason’s the best and will take good care of you.” She said as she walked him to the door a few minutes later. “If you change your mind…”she started warningly.
“I’m not gonna change my mind.” He smiled ruefully, giving her another hug. “I’ll call you when I get to North Carolina, okay?”
“Be careful.” She squeezed him, happy to momentarily have her brother acting like his old self. “I love you.”
“Love you.” He responded before closing the door behind him. She was standing by the door watching him drive down the long, winding drive when Cian walked up behind her. His arms slid around her waist and pulled her back against him, his chin resting on top of her head.
“So that’s the infamous Joey Talbot.”
She snorted out a laugh. “Infamous is right.” She turned and slid her hands up his chest to lock around his neck. She breathed in the heady scent of his soap and clean skin before leaning up to kiss the base of his throat. “Did you have a good workout?”
Melting The Ice Page 23