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Hooking

Page 21

by Allen, Kristine


  When he pulled away and stood, I noticed the raging hard-on in his basketball shorts. I shot him a pained look and motioned toward it. “Um, looks like you have a bit of a problem?”

  He pulled his hips back out of my reach and adjusted himself with a wince. “I’ll be okay. That’s not important. You are.”

  One last lingering kiss and he was out the door, whistling as he went down the hall.

  With shaking legs, I sat in my desk chair. It was then that I realized he didn’t put my panties back on me. Looking around the tiny office, I quickly realized they weren’t there.

  Opening my phone, I sent a message.

  Me: My panties disappeared

  Biker Boy: Imagine that

  Me: You’re in so much trouble

  Biker Boy: Promises, promises. I’ll be waiting at my house for you.

  The entire way to his place, I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel. Anticipation held me hostage, and I’d been on edge all day. Alex loves me. He said he loved me. Wow. That had blown me away in a fantastic way.

  He must’ve been watching for me, because he came walking out the garage door as I parked. His smile was brilliantly blinding.

  It matched mine.

  He opened my door and helped me out. “Hey,” I said on a sigh.

  “Hey, yourself. How was the rest of your day?”

  “Busy,” I huffed out. “But it doesn’t matter now. How was practice?”

  “Rough. Coach worked the dog snot out of us,” he said, then chuckled.

  Before I could throw myself at him, I stopped. I needed clarification. “So we’re doing this for real? You meant what you said?”

  “If that’s what you want, yes. But the ball’s in your court. If you don’t want to risk it, I’ll back off. Not that I want to, but your happiness is more important than anything to me. During the time I ghosted you, I did a lot of thinking and soul searching. Realizing your happiness was more important than anything else—that’s how I knew I loved you.” He waited for my answer as my heart tried to hammer through my chest wall.

  Stretching up onto my tiptoes, I kissed him. Then I said against his lips, “You said something about finishing what you started earlier?”

  “I made you supper,” he said between kisses. We kissed in-between each step that carried us into the house.

  Feeling bold and taking charge for once in our relationship, I tugged him to the table and rested on the edge. I pushed the chair out a little further. “I believe you were about there,” I said as I pointed at the chair.

  He smirked. “Is that right?”

  I nodded, and he sat, raising a questioning brow. “Yes.”

  “Now what?” The thought that he was letting me drive this train sent my need through the roof.

  “Whatever you were going to do in my office.”

  He chuckled darkly. “What if all I planned to do was kiss you?”

  Shooting him a droll stare, I snorted. “Right.”

  He grinned, then reached for me. “Like this?” Raising my blouse until it was untucked from my skirt, he watched me, waiting for my guidance.

  I nodded as I wet my bottom lip.

  He slowly unbuttoned my shirt. The anticipation had me trembling. I sighed as he kissed my abdomen, and a shiver skated down my spine. His hands went back to my legs and slid further up my skirt. When they did, his forearms pushed the fabric higher.

  The way his lips moved over my skin as he whispered dirty little secrets to my body had me moaning softly. My hands left the light hold I had on his hair and gripped his muscular shoulders. “I like this bold side of you, Syd.”

  Slowly and gently, he moved me until I lay back over the kitchen table. My head was slightly over the opposite edge, and my hair hung down to touch the floor. Sensually, he kissed, nipped, and licked the skin from my ankles to my knees.

  I raised my head to look at him, and our eyes locked. He held my gaze through every smooth, seductive motion, daring me to tell him to stop.

  “Alex.” His name whispered out of my mouth on a needy exhale.

  “Do.” Kiss. “You.” Bite. “Want.” Lick. “Me.” Feathered touch of his nose up my leg. “To stop?”

  “Please don’t,” I gasped. Those perfect lips curled into a satisfied smile as he reached up to slip my panties down in a tortuously slow motion. “Hey, I thought you had a panty thief earlier. Where did you get these?” he asked with a smirk.

  “Gym bag,” I blurted out as I gasped. I let out a raspy moan when he licked my calf and teased the skin with his teeth.

  “I can’t believe you want me to have dessert first,” he whispered against my inner knee as he slid them all the way off. “Maybe I should stop so I don’t spoil my supper.”

  I shot him a don’t you dare look as I gripped the edge of the table.

  He held my hips with splayed hands, and we met in the middle, with him kissing me in the most intimate way a man could kiss a woman. Fire burned through my veins as I bit my lip to control the sounds that escaped me.

  The sexy way that he refused to look away from me through each and every movement was driving my core temperature through the roof. Fevered, I thrashed as he drew my clit into his mouth and sucked.

  “Allllleeeeexxxxx,” I drew out, barely louder than a breath. Despite all my initial intentions to let him worship me, I wiggled at the intense sensations.

  “Sit still. Or I’ll stop,” he growled in warning.

  “Don’t you fucking dare!” I yelled. His chuckle sent soft puffs of his breath to tease my already overstimulated flesh. “Oh, God,” I moaned.

  Intent and focused, much like he was on the ice, he resumed his pace, and it wasn’t long before I was careening over the cliff. My nails dug into his arms, and one hand grabbed his hair, shamelessly grinding my pussy into his face as I shattered.

  Relentless, he kept up his assault, drawing out the pleasure as I reeled. I lost focus of everything except the explosive perfection of what he was doing.

  Riding the waves of bliss, I panted. When I finally floated back down to reality and only soft little echoes of my climax remained, I blinked until my vision cleared. “Holy hell. That was….” I couldn’t find the words.

  “Amazing?”

  “Yes,” I sighed.

  “Delicious?”

  “Yesss,” I agreed. He chuckled, then helped me sit up, then wiped his face and beard, which caused me to flush.

  He leaned up to kiss me, and though he’d wiped himself off, I could still taste myself on his lips. When he pulled back, I sighed.

  “Now how about that supper?”

  Bliss-drunk, I grinned. We ate, then spent the rest of the night making up.

  After that night, he was busy all week, due to practice for the Tuesday home game and then their road trip. We’d still spent every night together either at his house or mine until he left for the away week. They’d come home briefly between games on Monday night, and we’d been able to spend lunch Tuesday and that night together.

  I’d tried to argue against it. “Alex, I don’t want you to get whatever Katie and I’ve got going on. If you get sick, you’ll miss your games,” I reasoned, but he insisted he’d be fine.

  “I have a great immune system. I hardly ever get sick,” he’d told me.

  He’d taken care of me when I was too exhausted to get out of bed that night. He’d even held my hair while I hurled up the very expensive lunch he’d bought me.

  “Syd, maybe you need to go to the doctor,” he suggested as I emptied my stomach again.

  I shook my head. I hated doctors. “Katie has been sick too. I really think we’ve been passing it back and forth.”

  “I’m not a doctor, but I’m not so sure that’s how it works,” he said skeptically.

  I waved away his theories.

  “If you’re not better by the time I’m back, you’re going in. No arguments, eh?”

  Childishly, I stuck my tongue out at him.

  He chuckled. “Nice, Syd.” />
  I wrinkled my nose at him. “What have your mysterious people found out about the safety of my job if I say I’m banging the star player?”

  He choked on his laughter. “Jesus. Let’s get you back to bed, then we’ll talk.”

  Once I was cleaned up, he cuddled with me in the bed.

  “There’s no real hard and fast rule that says we can’t date. You’re not an ice girl. I’ve never understood that rule, but it doesn’t really matter either way. So it seems like it shouldn’t be a problem, but I need some time to get some shit situated.”

  “When I discreetly asked around, some of the people said even though there wasn’t a rule, they would find ways to get rid of the employees because the owners were old school sticks in the mud. So what kind of stuff do you need to get situated?” My eyes narrowed on him as he tucked me into bed. He got red in the face.

  “I don’t want to say until I get more information. It might end up being a happy surprise.” Honestly, I wasn’t sure I had as much faith as he did.

  And now everything was about to change.

  It had been almost two weeks since Alex had told me he loved me. That Sunday dawned bright and early, but I’d been up all night. I was sitting on the end of the couch, waiting for Natalie to wake up.

  The last away game of the stretch had been last night. Natalie and I had cheered them on from my couch.

  We’d made plans for her to spend the night, then I’d drop her off on my way to Alex’s today.

  She’d consumed a bottle and a half of wine the night before and crashed hard. I hadn’t touched it because the first sip didn’t sit well in my stomach.

  When she wasn’t showing any signs of waking up, I stealthily ran a fingernail up her foot. She grunted and jerked her foot. I did it again.

  She jerked again, but that time got up on her elbow. Her hair was a mess of tangles, and she had a miserable curl to her lip. “Whatchodoinupsoearly?” she mumbled.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry. Did I wake you?” I asked innocently. The look she gave me told me she wasn’t buying that.

  “Mm,” she grunted. “Sure you are. Why are you up so dang early?” She ran a hand down her face, but it did nothing for her disheveled appearance. If it wasn’t such a dire situation, I might’ve laughed.

  “I have a problem,” I finally admitted, crumpling into tears.

  “Hey!” She quickly sat up and wrapped an arm around me. “What the heck happened?”

  My hand that had been wrapped tightly around the stick in a baggie opened, revealing the item. Her eyes went round as saucers.

  “Syd?” She asked repeatedly looking from me to the stick and back again.

  “I know,” I wailed.

  “Did you go to the store this morning? I didn’t even hear you leave. Why didn’t you say something last night?” Her shock caused her to have word vomit as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. I wasn’t sure I had, and I’d been looking at it all night.

  “Because last night I still believed what was wrong was a stomach bug. Then I spent the night puking my guts up. When I got a clean towel out to dry my face, I spilled my tampons.” I sniffled. “Then I realized I hadn’t used any in quite a while. So I started to count the days, but it didn’t take a genius. I’m not sure why it didn’t occur to me sooner. But Katie has been sick too; I just figured we were passing shit back and forth. So I had this from that time you thought you might be. You know, when we bought one of every test they had at the store?”

  “Oh, shit. Um….” She hesitated, uncertain what to say.

  “I knowwwww!” I grimaced as I blubbered.

  “Sorry, Syd, I’m a little confused because you’re seriously distraught.” She gave me a questioning look. “You said he told you he loved you. I’m not seeing the problem. So it’s a little early in the relationship, but hell, he was ready to raise a baby he thought was his with some random chick. This one is with someone he loves.”

  The problem with that logic was that she hadn’t been there the day he found out. Hell, he hadn’t even talked about the baby since the day they took him away. It was like the whole situation was simply erased. So he was either truly relieved or he was burying the emotions and not dealing with them. Neither was a good option in this case.

  “I know what I have to do.” I sniffled pathetically.

  It was the hardest decision I’d made in my life. Though I loved him, there’s no way I was giving up my baby because he didn’t want one. There was no way we could make things work with him being that against having kids.

  “Did you call him? Have you told him yet?” Natalie asked. Her brow furrowed as she studied me.

  “No. I don’t know that I will,” I admitted with a sad frown.

  “What? Why not?” Incredulous, she slapped her hands on her head.

  “God, Nat, you didn’t hear him that day. He doesn’t want a kid. He seemed relieved when they found out Hank Isaac wasn’t his. He said he was glad and didn’t want kids. But it’s okay, I don’t need him. I’m perfectly capable of raising this child by myself.” It hurt to say that out loud, but I was and I would.

  “That’s not the point, Syd. You didn’t make this baby all by yourself, did you?”

  “Of course not.” I sighed as I laid my head on the back of the couch.

  “Then he has an obligation in this too. Even if he doesn’t want to help raise it, he can still help you out financially. There’s no way you’re going to be able to afford decent daycare on your own. My coworkers bitch about how expensive it is all the time,” she argued.

  “Hell, no, then I’m no better than that gold digger who was fishing for a baby daddy. If I have to, I’ll move home. I don’t want his money!” I growled in disgust. The thought of having to move home sucked too. Facing the disappointment I was sure to see in my dad’s eyes every damn day was not tops on my life lists. Ugh, who was I kidding? It would be miserable. The worst move in the world.

  “I didn’t say you did, but you need to be realistic, not emotional. Did you get pregnant on purpose?”

  “You know I didn’t.” I scoffed and found emotional tears again.

  “Then there’s no comparison. It was an accident. But you both knew the risks when you did the deed, so he has no room to bitch.” She was so rational, but I was having a hard time imagining telling him. It terrified me.

  “You’ve never really said… do you love him?” she asked softly.

  “So damn much.”

  I needed to see where we stood with it once and for all. If he truly didn’t want kids, this ended any chance of us working out even if there was a mysterious loophole. To have him think I could do something like this on purpose bothered me, too.

  Not that it would matter in the end, since we’d be over.

  “Fine. I’ll tell him.”

  Eventually.

  “Beautiful”—Pop Evil

  “Meow!” Victor howled as I sprawled on the couch, flipping through channels aimlessly. Nothing appealed to me, but I was tired and wanted something mindless. When I didn’t show him attention, he jumped up and snuggled into my side as he stared up at me.

  “I know buddy, she’ll be here soon.” I pretended that his discontent was because he missed Sydney too. Hell, for all I knew, he might. She’d stayed most of her nights at my place before the road trip.

  Restless, I shut the TV off and listened for the sound of her car as she pulled up. I should’ve given her a key. Why the hell hadn’t I given her a key?

  The sound of a car in the driveway had me jumping up. I realized I was nervous. Extremely so. My hands were sweating like I was getting ready to step on the ice for the last game of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

  My mind spun to how long I’d actually known her. In truth it was close to six months or more. Then I wondered would she think it wasn’t long enough? What if I was jumping the gun?

  I checked everything once more. My heart raced so I took a few deep breaths. Shook myself out like I was preparing for the title fight
. And maybe peeked in the mirror in the hall.

  Hair straight, teeth clean, beard trimmed and smooth.

  “Meow!”

  “Okay, okay,” I said to my mouthy cat. “I’ll let her in.”

  But when I opened the door, she was still sitting in her car, hands on the wheel. It was still running, and if I wasn’t mistaken, she looked like she was considering backing right back out. Her lips seemed to be moving, so I thought maybe she was talking on the phone.

  I looked down at Victor, who was watching through the glass storm door. He looked up at me. “What’s she doing?” I asked him as if he’d answer.

  When it went on for a while and she didn’t get out, I couldn’t stand it anymore and I walked up to her car window. Tapping on it softly, I was surprised when she jumped and squealed behind the glass.

  She swallowed nervously and shut the car off. I stepped back as she opened the door and stood. Nervous energy seemed to physically hit me as it pinged off her. Did she know? Maybe I’d done something to give it away? I cast my own nervous glance to the house.

  “Hey,” she said as she looked up at me. That sexy top lip that was slightly fuller than the bottom seemed to quiver. Her dark hair was silky soft over my hands as I gathered her against me. Her arms wrapped around my waist, and she pressed her nose into my neck.

  “I missed you,” she said against my skin, then reached up and kissed my jaw.

  “I missed you too, baby.” The endearment slipped out, but I found I didn’t mind. In fact, it tasted good on my tongue. Felt as natural as breathing.

  She didn’t move, and while I could’ve held her like that all night, I was anxious. I’d been planning all week. I’d done everything I could to make it perfect.

  “Do you want to stay out here all night or go inside? I mean, if you want to put on a show for the neighbors, we sure can, but I’d rather not.” She gave a laugh into my shoulder that didn’t seem to hold a lot of weight.

  Using the edge of my fingers, I caught her chin, lifted her head, and held her gaze. “What’s wrong with you? And don’t say nothing.”

  “It was a long week. I never really thought about how bad it would be when you were on the road for days on end.” Though her face was still up, she dropped her eyes. Unease sifted through me, like snowflakes building up to bury me.

 

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