Offsides (A Playing Hard Novella Book 3)

by Marie Johnston

  “Are you warming up?” he asked.

  “Yes.” I closed my eyes. This was nice. I could almost imagine being in bed with him. A cold, narrow bed. But I was still with him. “How was your day?”

  “Honestly? I think I took it out on the boys.”

  I lifted my head. We were shrouded in shadows, but I could make out his main features. “I thought they deserved it.”

  “They did, but I didn’t have to make them skate so hard.” He relaxed under me, scooting toward the middle so he could spread his legs farther apart.

  “End of semester tests are coming up, and I have a student that thinks she shouldn’t have to take them but her grades say otherwise, and another student who’s arguing his absences.”

  “How can he argue absences? Either it’s excused or not.” Sitting like this, my head on his chest felt natural, even if it was thirty degrees and we were in the back of a car.

  “He said he was at the pep rally, but I was at the same pep rally, and I didn’t see him. And the girl’s parents are riding my ass. I guess they want to leave early on vacation and the tests are messing with their travel plans. They don’t want to make arrangements to take them early; they just want me to waive them.”

  Kyle and I had similar conversations, once upon a time. But he’d always ranted his way through the house until I feared his blood pressure would pop his head off. “That sucks.”

  He sighed. “Yeah. I should be used to it, but at times, I think, is this what I really signed up for? I wanted to teach, not field calls from parents and argue with kids who regularly skip my class.” His arms tightened around me. “It’s been a while since I could talk to anyone about this.”

  “Kyle used to talk to me, but it was more a rant with the insinuation I’d never understand because I guess selling houses isn’t as worthy as a teacher.”

  “Fuck that. And fuck him.” He lifted his head. “Is it okay if I say that?”

  “Why not? I’ve said it enough.”

  He chuckled. “Carrie never wanted to hear about my problems. She’d ask when I was going to move on from teaching and apply for principal positions.”

  I twisted toward him, adjusting until I straddled his hips, my knees pressed into the back of the seat. He reclined as much as he could, his legs spread to give us more room.

  “Did you ever say you wanted to move on from teaching?” I asked.

  “Nope. Because I don’t. I like teaching and coaching, and both would have to give if I went back to school to get the requirements I need, never mind getting the actual job.” Running his hands up my body, he brought my head down for a kiss. “And there’s nothing wrong with selling houses. A lot of us teachers happen to live in them.”

  “I like it. I know it seems like something I turned to only because I barely finished college, but it’s flexible, and I get to talk to different people most days. I like matching people with the right house and saving them from the wrong ones. Some days suck. Sometimes people have buyer’s remorse and blame me, but I’m at the stage where it runs like a well-oiled machine and pays the bills. And I’ve managed on one income. That’s not easy for a commission job.”

  “I’m proud of you.”

  I stared at him in the dark. No one said they were proud of me. My parents half-blamed me for running Kyle off, but their distaste for his abandonment of Conner had overtaken those comments. “Thank you.”

  He ran his hands through my hair. “You don’t get a lot of support, do you?”

  “Nope. But it’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not.” His warm hands skimmed around my back and our lips met again. Our kiss deepened, and he hardened between my legs.

  But we didn’t jump into action like before. This time in the car was ours. Now that we were together, I wanted to take our time, and so did he.

  His hands brushed under my shirt, cupping my bare breasts. I could barely believe I was bold enough to come out here wearing so little. My hips started rocking against him, riding the hard length contained by his sweatpants.

  He broke the kiss, and cool air wafted over my torso as he lifted my shirt. Sucking one peaked nipple into his mouth, the sweep of his tongue across the sensitive tissue sent a flush of heat through my body.

  “Hayden.” I surged up and back down, not liking the emptiness and wanting more.

  He answered by slipping a hand between us and shoving my underwear to the side. His skilled fingers found my clit immediately.

  “I want you like this—over me, under me, beside me,” he whispered in my ear. “I want to watch you come and not worry about getting caught.”

  I rode his hand, wanting the same thing. What would it be like to wake up to him? To come home from a showing and talk to him about the house and the clients? We could discuss our jobs, laugh about the things that drive us crazy, and then relax and watch TV together. He could grade papers, and I could do my paperwork.

  He thrust a finger inside, and I bucked, my knees digging into the seat. I planted my hands behind to gain leverage without banging my head on the roof.

  I was creeping closer to the edge when he lifted his hips and shoved his pants down far enough to free himself.

  When the heat of his cock hit my thigh, I centered myself over him. Hayden removed his finger, and I pushed down.

  He grunted. “I can’t believe how good you feel.” Keeping one hand at my center, he grabbed my hip with the other. Leaning back, I undulated my hips. He barely had to do anything, not with his body, not with his hand. I gladly did all the work.

  “Hayden—” My back arched, and I kicked my head back as a wave of ecstasy washed over me.

  Heat flooded my center as he thrust up and pulled me down onto him. The height of my climax grew even higher. I was moaning and gasping my way through it, trying not to holler.

  When I tipped my head forward, he was gritting his teeth through his own peak.

  Then we relaxed against each other, breathing heavy. I was curled around him, my arms tucked around his side, and he was cradling me against his chest.

  I let out a long, steady sigh. “I can’t believe I just had sex in the back of my car in my garage in the middle of the night.”

  “I feel like a kid again.”

  I giggled into his sweater. “How many of your students did the same thing last weekend?”

  “More than I care to know.” The hot breath of his laugh wafted over my neck.

  He lifted me only enough to slip out. As I righted my underwear, he covered himself back up. Both of us needed a change of clothes, but neither of us seemed willing to move. The windows were nicely fogged, and the worst of the chill was gone. With his arms around me, I could fall asleep here.

  “I know I’m going to regret this in the morning, but I don’t want to leave.”

  “Do you think Mason will wake up and be worried?”

  “The kid sleeps like the dead, but I left a note on the fridge that I ran out for milk. Just in case.”

  “Milk,” I snorted. “Smooth.”

  He rubbed my back. “You know me.”

  I lifted my head. “That’s the thing. I feel like I do.”

  I could make out the shadow of a smile. “I know where you went to school, that you majored in finance. You’re from Bloomington and didn’t want to move to Prairie Mills but Kyle was from here, so you did anyway. Conner was little and Kyle could get a job right away. You’ve never told me your favorite color, but you have a yellow purse and whenever we went to the lake you wore a yellow swimsuit. Your parents fly to Arizona every winter, and since they haven’t come to a game, I’m guessing they’re either there already, or you’re no longer close.”

  The warm glow of how much he knew about me vanished and my shoulders hunched. “They were very little support to us when Kyle left. I haven’t told them much about what’s going on. Ironically, Kyle’s parents have kept in contact, and I think that’s helped Conner adjust.”

  “My mom thought I should try to work it out too. She didn’
t care for Carrie, but Mason is her only grandchild.”

  His dad passed away when he was a kid. Every time we talked, more details that I’d picked up over the years came to mind. He went to a small college in southern Minnesota where he was from. That’s where he met Carrie, and like me, she got pregnant early in the relationship. He liked dark colors and the occasional remodel job.

  “I think…” He paused as if deciding whether he should say something. “I think Mom would like you though.”

  The notion was sweet, but I couldn’t see us reaching that point any time soon. Taking this slow was our best bet. “When do we tell the kids?”

  He let out a slow exhale. “This is going to sound bad, but maybe we should wait until after the hockey season.”

  “You don’t want to be blamed for costing the team state if the boys don’t take the news well and it affects their playing.” Disappointment slithered through me. The last thing I wanted was for this to negatively affect our boys in significant ways. State hockey championships were a big deal to them, to the town. But sneaking around for three more months didn’t seem like the answer.

  He rubbed my back. “If we don’t go to state and the parents find out about us? Some of them might raise hell. It could cost me my coaching position.”

  His dating life shouldn’t be anyone’s business, with the school or with the parents. Missing that big of an opportunity because he started dating the mom of one of his players? It might not be an issue otherwise, but it would be because it was me.

  “I don’t want you to take the blame either,” he murmured. “Let’s be honest. Carrie was blamed a lot more for whisking Kyle away than he was.”

  “Was she?”

  He nodded. “Maybe it was because they thought I blamed her too. I do, but they were both responsible.”

  “I just don’t want to be dragged into that drama again.” I’d made a nice cocoon for myself over the last year, and I’d run back and hide in it.

  “That’s the problem. You’d get dragged much more than I would.”

  He could be right. He probably was. But that didn’t help the disappointment weighing heavy on me. I never lied to Conner. What if he found out?

  A streak of light blazed from around the door. I froze on Hayden’s lap as our heads jerked toward the door.

  “Do you think he’s looking for you?” Hayden whispered by my ear.

  “I don’t know. The light to my room is off, but I should go in.” What would I say? Anything would be a lie, and once he learned I was seeing Hayden, he’d think back and realize I’d been deceitful. Yet, having him find out the truth like that wasn’t for the best. I’d promised never to act like his father.

  “He might just be getting water.” I watched the door. Conner would call for me if he needed to talk to me and didn’t find me in bed.

  I eyed the dark shadow of my robe hanging on the railing. I’d feel much better with it on but couldn’t make noise getting out of the car.

  The light flicked off, and we each breathed a sigh.

  Hayden relaxed. “We’ll give him a few minutes.”

  The chill crept back in the car. I was burrowed into Hayden, but the shock of our near miss put a damper on his heat. I’d warm up once I snuck into bed without having to make excuses for why I was in the garage in the middle of the night.

  Chapter 6

  Boisterous noise filtered across the lounge. The Snowbirds had won, but it’d been close. Conner and the boys skated their asses off.

  Now, they were in bed, and I sat at a big round table in the dark hotel bar with Grace to my right and Laurie to my left. Laurie’s husband and the other two dads in our group were playing a game of darts.

  Grace took a swig of her beer. “I thought Coach Lennox was going to snap the sideboards before we got that last point.”

  Laurie laughed. “Right? When Jordan got that penalty, I thought Coach’s glare would melt half the ice.”

  Someday, I wouldn’t guiltily snap my gaze around the bar whenever someone mentioned the coach. I was meeting him in ten minutes so we could have sex in a bed with a side bonus of not worrying as badly about getting caught.

  He’d texted me the room number and said he’d prop the door open so I could walk in. Explaining why I was knocking on a room that wasn’t mine would be harder to explain. Just like I didn’t want to lie to my son, I didn’t want to lie to my friends.

  I wasn’t Kyle, but then again, I also wasn’t married. We had specific reasons for not sharing with anyone that we were seeing each other. Hayden had more riding on the line than I did. When I thought about it like that, I felt like less of a dirty secret.

  My exit was planned, and I was counting down the minutes. There was another game in Fergus Falls. A perfect excuse to claim I needed a decent night of sleep before we had to travel again.

  Grace turned to me. “So, how’s it been going so far?”

  Laurie sent me a sympathetic look. “I was afraid we wouldn’t see you again until graduation.”

  “Sorry about that, about not calling you back. I wanted to, but I didn’t want…”

  “People all over your business,” Laurie finished. “I figured it was something like that. If it’d been Carrie…” She barked out a laugh and took a sip of her merlot. “Well, I wouldn’t have called to check on her. I would’ve been high-fiving Coach Lennox. I always thought he deserved someone better.”

  Talking with Hayden about our exes was keenly different than this. This felt like gossiping behind his back. Laurie and Grace may have been worried about me, but how many others wanted to high-five Kyle about leaving me?

  Grace leaned in and dropped her voice. “Did you hear that he got asked out at teacher’s conferences last year?”

  “What?” Why hadn’t it occurred to me that he’d been dating? I believed him when he said he hadn’t been with anyone else. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t dating.

  “I heard.” Laurie’s eyes glowed. “Her son’s a senior now, and he doesn’t play hockey. But she works at the bank on the corner.” Laurie nudged me. “He turned her down, and I heard she wasn’t the only one.”

  “He’s been getting asked out? What does Mason think?”

  They both shook their heads, and Grace spoke. “I doubt he’d be happy. That kid… I don’t know what you did with Conner, but I wish Mason had the same support.”

  “But Mason has Hayden—Coach Lennox.”

  “Which is why he’s still doing good enough to be on the team.” Grace fiddled with the label on her beer. “I couldn’t imagine if he hadn’t had his dad. Anyway, what about you?”

  “What about me?” I wished the ten-minute wait had been up twenty minutes ago, but it wasn’t time to meet Hayden yet. What did we used to talk about before we whispered about other families?

  “Dating?” Grace prodded.

  My cheeks heated and I couldn’t look at either of them. “I don’t know if I’m ready.” Not a complete lie.

  Grace rubbed my shoulder. “At least you didn’t do like me and hop into something serious with the first guy that was nice to you at the bar.”

  “No. Who?” It was nosy, but as long as we weren’t talking about me or Hayden.

  “He sold insurance, but he got moved to East Grand Forks shortly after. He wanted me to go with him, but seriously.” She tossed a twenty on the table. “The sex was good, but not enough to uproot me and my kids.”

  Was Hayden my rebound? He didn’t feel like it. This thing between us was a lot stronger than a fling, and if it wasn’t for hockey we’d be at a different stage than we were. And the sex was definitely good. Would I uproot my life for him? At first, no, but now I think I was ready. He wasn’t. Not until after hockey.

  “How did you know it wasn’t good for the long term?” I asked.

  Grace raised a brow. “Jess, are you saying that you’re seeing someone but you’re not exactly dating?”

  Both the ladies’ full attention was on me and from the blistering burn in my cheeks,
I was furiously blushing.

  “No. No, no. Just asking. For when the time comes… You know. When I’m ready.”

  She pulled back and gave me a look like I know what you really mean. “It’s not any different than when we were younger. You just don’t know. But you’re wiser, if that makes sense. Your bullshit meter is set a lot lower.”

  I probably had to be around someone a lot more in order to know. What were a few phone calls and some quickies? But my BS meter was lower than when I was nineteen and falling for Kyle. This relationship stuff was confusing no matter where I was at in it.

  “I can’t imagine dating again. Shoot me now.” Laurie drained her wine. “Prairie Mills is a small town. Keep online dating in mind, or we’re all going to know exactly when you’re ready.”

  “I can’t imagine my life is that interesting to anyone else.” I lied. People who knew me and Hayden would be very interested in news about us dating—teachers, students, coaches.

  Laurie rolled her eyes toward me. “You start getting back out there, trust me. We’ll all know. And believe me. We’re all watching Coach Lennox to see when he steps foot back into a different game.”

  “My money’s on Jenna’s aunt.” Grace nodded knowingly.

  Where the hell had that come from? Was this what I’d missed last year, bets on who Hayden would start dating? “Mason’s girlfriend?”

  Laurie leaned in until our shoulders were pressed together. “Yessss. Jenna’s aunt just moved to town. She was at the first home game. Remember? I watched her staring at Coach Lennox the entire time.”

  I didn’t remember, and I’d been doing my own share of watching. Who was Jenna’s aunt?

  As if I’d asked my question out loud, Grace filled in the blanks. “She’s the new president of the bank branch on the corner of Main. She’s new to town, gorgeous, and very single I’ve heard.”

  “That’s my bank,” Laurie continued, oblivious to how stiff I’d gotten. “I introduced myself the other day, and I was thinking that I should introduce them.”

  “That’d be awkward,” I blurted. They both looked at me. “I mean, if they date, then he’d be dating his son’s girlfriend’s aunt. If they don’t end up dating, then they still have to cross paths because of Jenna and Mason.”