I know he’s half-kidding, but I decide to answer him anyway. “Yes, I’ll miss you.”
We’re pulling into his driveway, and as we exit the truck, he says to me, “My house is yours, Win. Be sure to make yourself at home while I’m away.”
We walk through the porch and into the living room. As Hunter switches off the alarm, Theo comes down off his cat tower to greet us with a stretch and a meow.
Hunter goes to scoop his litter box while I put out a can of cat food for him.
Theo’s happily eating when Hunter returns to the living room with a sealed bag in his hand from the litter box.
“I’m going to dispose of this,” he says as he steps outside.
I follow him with the filled recycling box, and I dump it into the recycling bin while he tosses the poop bag into the garbage.
He shoves his hands in his pockets. “Bet you don’t hear quiet like this in Manhattan.”
I smile. “You sound like your brother. Trying to get me to stay here.”
“Who me?” He puts his arm around me as we climb the steps together and re-enter the house. “I was just surmising.”
“Huh.” I take a seat on the living room couch. “New York is where Broadway is. And Broadway’s my place. Just like hockey’s yours.”
His eyes burn into mine. “I get it. I would never try to take you away from your thing, Win. I’m happy for you.”
While I’m putting on a good show, the truth is that I’m not sure Broadway is my thing. Not anymore. But I don’t have a clue how to start over or what that would look like, and I’m not ready to share my feelings with anyone yet.
I pull my gaze away from his and say in a teasing tone, “You and Liam wouldn’t understand New York City, anyway.”
Hunter lifts up Theo and sits on the couch with him on his lap. He’s across from me, but I stretch my legs out on the couch so they’re nearly touching his.
“You say that like neither of us have ever been there,” he says with a grin. “We’re going there tomorrow for a game, darling.”
“I know you’ve been to New York.” I didn’t mean to say that.
“Because you’ve followed my games.” His tone is curious.
“Yes. And because…I thought of reaching out a time or two in the past ten years. So, when I knew you were in town, I thought of it more.”
“Winter, every time we went to New York to play, I thought of you. But you and I…we promised to make a clean break when you left. And I didn’t want to jeopardize the great things you were doing on your own.” A shadow crosses his face. “I fucking hate that I didn’t reach out. If I’d known you were suffering, you know I would have been there for you.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
I nod. “Life just kind of marched on the last six months. Really, it marched on the last decade, and before I knew it, ten years had passed. But I’m here now.”
“You are.” His hand that’s petting Theo stills. “I’m glad you’re here, Princess.”
“Me, too. Seeing you and your brothers again has been nice. You’ve obviously built something special for yourselves. You’ve turned your whole lives around. After your dad…” I choke up. “I’m sorry.”
Hunter’s big hand grasps my ankle that’s closest to him. “Liam said they’re thinking about re-examining the case.”
His green eyes are fathomlessly deep, and the pain that just came to the surface slays me.
“Oh my gosh. Hunt.” I wince. “Do you know why?”
“They have new evidence, apparently. We may need to look at a line-up again.”
I can’t imagine what it would be like, as a teenager, asked to identify my father’s possible killer. I can’t imagine doing it as an adult either.
“I’m so sorry. If you need to do that, I’ll go with you.”
His head jerks slightly. Just enough that I notice.
He doesn’t want to let me in. Not like that. I try not to let on how much that stings.
Hunter’s always been a close-to-the-vest kind of guy. He was torn up after Mrs. Storm died when all four boys were under twelve. When his dad was murdered, another piece of Hunt’s heart shuttered, and I don’t know that he’ll ever open it fully again.
“If you want support,” I add quickly. “I won’t crowd you.”
His lips twitch. “Princess, you’re the opposite of a cager.”
Maybe so. Maybe I always was more interested in things other than an intimate relationship.
But tonight, what I’m most interested in is sitting across from me tenderly holding onto my ankle.
“So. Not to change the subject or anything…”
“Please.” His eyes plead with me. “Please change the subject.”
“To get back to what we discussed earlier today—my answer is still the same,” I say. “If you’re willing to help me, that is.”
Hunter’s eyes darken. “You’re aware of the risks.”
“Yes.”
He picks up Theo and puts him directly on the couch cushion. Then, he leans closer and cups my cheek tenderly. “I’m honored you trust me enough. I’ll do my best to anticipate what you need, but I may need some guidance from you along the way. I’m sure, actually, that I’ll need guidance.”
I nod. “Okay.”
He takes my hand in his. “You want to start tonight?”
Another nod from me. “Yes.”
He stands up, tugs me behind him, and heads for his bedroom, flicking off the lights in the living room and hall as we go.
Once we’re in his room, he urges me onto his bed, and then he crawls up next to me. Propping his head up on his hand with his elbow on the mattress, he says, “Let’s talk first.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“I’m game for anything—and everything—that you are.” His gaze is molten with heat. “But I do want this to be exclusive. I know it will have an expiration date and that when you return to your real life, what’s between us will end.”
My real life.
I’m not sure I know what’s real and what’s not anymore.
“But while you’re here and we’re doing this, I don’t want anyone else in either of our beds.”
I sigh. “Obviously, with my issue, I won’t…”
“I mean once you heal,” he clarifies. “Because you will heal, Winter.”
“But once I heal…”
“You think we’ll stop?” He runs a finger down my cheek. “If that’s what you want, we will. But I already know I’ll want as much as you’ll give me, darling.”
A full-body shiver goes through me at his words. “Okay. Exclusive. But how do you know I’ll heal?”
“Because when have you ever not gotten something you set your mind to?”
I shrug. “This is my body, not my mind. I can’t just mind-over-matter it.”
Hunter reaches for my waist and, hooking his thumb into my belt loop, he tugs me up against him. “No, but you can trust again.” His mouth lands on mine, and my thighs clench. His kiss is firm and certain.
My hands go to the hem of his t-shirt, and I slide my hands underneath to his hot skin. I run my fingers over his ribs and up to his defined chest. Meanwhile, his tongue slides inside my mouth, and emotion unexpectedly fills my throat.
Hunter’s right. I can trust again. Because I’m with him.
The realization breaks the dam inside of me.
For six months, I never cried about what happened. Not one time.
But right now, tears fall down my cheeks as Hunter kisses me. When he hesitates, I beg him to keep going.
“Are you sure?” His voice is uncertain.
“I’ve never been more sure of anything. This is exactly what I need,” I promise him. “You are exactly what I need, Hunter. Please don’t let me down.”
His teeth sink gently into my neck as he unhooks my bra. When his thumb brushes over my bare breast, my hips start bucking against him.
“Take off my clothes,” I say into h
is mouth. “I want you to rock my world.”
He groans as his tongue tangles with mine. “Win, you’re the one who’s gonna rock mine.”
By the time we’re both naked, I’m still emotional, but now I’m moaning. Hunter reaches off the bed and into his jeans pocket. When he leans over me with a condom in his hand, I shake my head vigorously.
“No. No condom,” I say to him. “I can’t.”
“But…” Confusion flashes over his face.
“He…when he…” I choke on the words. “He whipped out a condom, and so it reminds me…”
Hunter tosses the condom into the trash immediately. “I’ll pull out,” he promises me.
But I shake my head. “I’m on the pill. You don’t have to pull out. It’s all good as long as you’re clean. I am. I was checked after that…and I haven’t been with anyone since.”
“I was checked right before you came home, and I haven’t even looked at another woman since I opened my door to you.” His mouth closes over mine. “I never look at anyone else when you’re in my life, Princess.”
As he positions himself over me, he freezes. “I’m sorry. You should be on top.”
“Why?”
“Because this probably reminds you…makes you feel trapped or scared.”
I shake my head again. “He didn’t…this wasn’t the position we were in when he tried to…he was behind me.”
Hunter runs a hand over his face. “Right. You said that…okay.” He kisses me again. “This is harder than I thought it would be, Winter. I don’t want to talk about what happened to you while we’re in bed together, but it keeps coming up, and I feel like that’s my fault. I just want you to know you’re safe.”
“I do.” I look at him. “We’ve waited a long time for this.”
His green eyes are liquid with emotion. “I’ve wanted to do this with you since we were teenagers.”
“Me, too.”
But a lot changed in ten years, and I tense as Hunter shifts to go inside me.
He pushes slowly—so slowly—but I’m braced for discomfort. The attack hurt so much physically and emotionally. I thought I’d never get over the trauma of when that prick tried to force his way inside me without my permission. Even though I got away, the damage was done, and I never wanted anyone that close to me again. I haven’t even put my own fingers inside myself since.
But as Hunter slowly enters me, stretching and filling the most vulnerable part of my body, I feel good.
“You okay?” He goes still inside me.
“Yes. I’m good.”
“Relax and breathe.” His voice is in my ear. “It will help with any tension. Breathe for me, Win.”
I let out a deep breath, and he slides in even more. And, oh God, I want him deeper.
“More,” I say, my voice sounding husky. “I need you deeper.”
He pushes further in and then stops moving. Our eyes lock. Holy shit, I’m so crazy for him I can hardly stop from saying how I feel out loud.
“Hunter.”
The emotion on his face overwhelms me. “I know.” He puts his cheek to mine. “I feel it, too. I knew I’d feel it. You’re going to shatter me for anyone else ever again.”
He drives inside me more deeply and then drags himself out. And then, he does it again.
By the third time, I’m begging him, “Faster. Please.”
He obliges.
“Harder, Hunt.”
His thrusts become longer and deeper. The more he moves, the more I meet his thrusts halfway, my hips bucking off the bed to keep up.
“So good, Princess. Fuck, do you know how much you turn me on? Do you know how good it feels to have my cock inside your sweet heat?”
Hunter’s dirty talk spurs me on, and I feel myself clenching around him. He curses into my neck and keeps murmuring into my ear.
He talks to me the entire time, telling me how perfect I feel, how turned on he is, and how incredibly hard he’s going to come. But not until I do, he whispers. If it takes the rest of my time in New Orleans, he’s not going to come until I do.
Well, he won’t have to wait long. My orgasm starts small, so tiny that I hardly recognize it, but then it builds, and by the time I’m in full crescendo, the waves of pleasure are so big I’m saying Hunter’s name over and over like a chant.
He follows me into release, calling out, “Win” as he thrusts hard into me and then collapses with his face buried in my shoulder.
We stay still for over a minute, catching our breath and coming down from the high.
“We’re definitely doing that again,” I say.
He lifts his head and looks into my eyes. His have a wicked gleam to them. “Damn straight we are.”
Chapter 15
Hunter
For the second morning in a row, I wake up with my arm wrapped around Winter’s warm body.
But unlike yesterday morning, today things are clear between us. As clear as either of us are willing to make them.
I drag my hand down Winter’s smooth skin until I reach her thigh. I turn her just enough that she rolls onto her back as she lets out a little sigh in her sleep, and then I whisper in her ear, “Do you want to be touched?”
She opens her eyes.
I lean in and kiss her bare shoulder. “I would love to have woken you up with my head between your legs…”
She lets out a moan.
“But I didn’t want to take you by surprise like that.”
After what she told me about being attacked, I want to make sure I always get clear consent from Winter before I do anything intimate.
“I appreciate that, Hunt.” She ruffles my hair. “I don’t think I’m ready to be surprised yet. But someday…”
Yes, someday Winter will fully heal. Hopefully soon. But definitely before she leaves town, when she’ll head back to New York. And at that point…maybe she’ll meet someone new. My chest lurches at the very idea, and I force the thought out of my head.
She’s watching my face carefully. “Something wrong?” she asks me with concern.
“No.” I say it quickly.
She takes my hand in hers and moves them both down her bare body and between her legs.
“I’d like you to touch me,” she says.
“With my fingers?” I ask her.
“And your…” She catches her breath.
“My…my what?” I love the way she squirms when she’s turned on. I can feel her getting wet where our hands are joined between her legs.
“Your tongue.”
“You want my tongue on you?”
She bites her lip before releasing it to say, “Yes. A lot.”
“A lot of my tongue?”
She reveals that genuine Winter smile I love so much. “A lot of your tongue, and I want that a lot. A lot, a lot.”
I ghost her mouth with mine. “Okay,” I whisper.
I slide down her body until my face is between her legs. I stroke one finger inside her folds until she arches to meet my touch…and then I lick her.
I feel two hands grip my head. “Oh God, Hunt. Don’t stop.”
I don’t. I lick her more. She tastes like a dewy morning in New Orleans—hot and sweet, and the taste drugs me. I’m so hard I honest to God could come without being touched.
“So good.” She bucks up into my face.
I couldn’t agree more.
I taste every ounce of Winter’s arousal on my tongue, and I keep going, determined to tip her over the edge into bliss.
I’ve only kissed Winter like this once before, and we were just a couple weeks away from her moving to New York City. But I memorized the moment, and I learned what she liked and how she liked it.
I slip two fingers inside her now as I lick and suck her most sensitive spot.
“Hunt…”
She draws out my name, the southern accent she’s worked so hard to destroy coming back strong right now. I smile into her wet heat and keep kissing her until I feel her spasm around my fingers.
<
br /> She calls out my name as she comes, and I keep my mouth on her throughout her orgasm.
When I feel her fully relax, I crawl up her body and lie next to her, my head sharing her pillow.
“Good morning.”
She turns her head to face me. “Do you plan to wake me up that way again sometime? Because I wouldn’t complain at all.”
Neither would I.
* * *
I don’t want to go on this road trip.
I never enjoy staying in hotels and flying back and forth at all hours of the night from one city to another. But that’s not why I’m decidedly against this particular trip.
No, I’m actually looking forward to the games. Now that I’m coming out of my slump, I’ve been enjoying hockey again.
What I’m dreading is leaving Winter for ten days.
She kisses me goodbye in the kitchen and jokes that this is why I hired her—so I’d have someone to pet sit Theo without having to worry about kenneling him or scheduling someone to come over. But her eyes tell a different story. She’s going to miss me, too.
“I’ll text you.” I give her one last kiss before turning for the door. “Have a good week.”
“You too. Kick some ass in your games. The girls and I are going to have a house party tomorrow when you play New York.” She pumps a cute, little fist in the air. “Go, Fire!”
I wink. “See you soon.”
* * *
The plane ride to NYC is less than three hours, but that’s plenty of time for an entire team of hockey players to let loose. Our coaching staff sits up at the front of the private plane and goes over game plans, and we players fill up the rest of the plane. Our owner is a young billionaire named Noah Watts, and he’s pulled out all the stops to make sure New Orleans’s new hockey team is well taken care of.
From the brand-new arena with trendy retail stores built around the venue to the private plane that Noah supposedly bought on his own dime, our team is a lucky group. Having our own plane is a luxury I didn’t experience with my last team, and traveling on road trips with a chartered plane was always hit or miss. In New Orleans, we’ve got the same plane for every trip, and the seats and amenities provide ridiculous comfort, not to mention a smooth ride.
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