“That,” she breathed. “Definitely that.”
My hands pushed through her beautiful, thick copper hair, tugging her head back so I could feast on her throat, feel her rapid pulse on my tongue. Her skin was so sweet but also salty from the small bits of sweat. I could taste nothing else for the rest of my days and be satisfied.
I groaned into the crook of her neck as I felt the spot where I’d bit her. “This is going to be a problem.”
“You only think of that now?” She pushed the sweaty strands back from my forehead, and I looked up into her eyes.
“I’m going to want you every time I see you across the locker room. When you yell at me or blow that awful fucking whistle, it’ll make me hard enough to shoot the puck with my dick.”
A surprised laugh boomed out of her, her chest vibrating against mine. “Well, that’s certainly an image.”
“Tell me I’m not alone here, Frankie. Tell me you can’t stop thinking about me. That when you’re bitching about me with the other coaches, you’ll be thinking about how you screamed in orgasm with my tongue inside you.”
“I did not scream.”
“I beg to differ.” I laughed. “It went something like ‘Oh! Oh, Teddy, you fucking god. No man has ever known their way around a vagina like you. Yes! Yes! Yes! Master, please!’”
“Master?” She pinched my side, and I pinned her hand there against me.
“More or less.”
“I hate you.”
“I think we both know that’s a lie.” I brought her palm up to my lips and kissed it. “I make you smile.”
“I think you make the world smile.” I felt, rather than saw, the eye roll in her tone.
“True. But not usually you. It has been my mission since the day I met you to earn this brilliant, beautiful smile of yours. But you wouldn’t give it. Now, you won’t stop, and it’s obnoxious.”
“Asshole.” But she was laughing.
I slipped one leg between hers, plastering our bodies together. Only the thin fabric of my boxers kept me from slipping inside her right then. “There’s something I’ve been wondering, but you wouldn’t tell me before because you were avoiding me and my big, giant cock.”
“You’re right. You are a big, giant cock.”
“Thank you.”
She reached out to swat me, but I ducked my head, catching her thumb between my lips and biting down.
“Fucking hell,” Frankie whispered. “Stop that right now or I’m going to climb you like a tree.”
I released her hand, a reluctant gesture, but I couldn’t let the moment slip away. “Intriguing, but maybe later. I really do want an answer.”
She motioned for me to continue.
“The family emergency that kept you away from the team for two weeks…” I saw the shift in her demeanor the moment I mentioned it, like a wall descending. She pulled away from me, scooting to the far side of the bed, putting distance between us. Her eyes shuttered, and her breath quickened, as if trying to control something she couldn't name.
Sitting up, she wrapped the blanket tighter around herself, pulling it close like a shield. “I probably do owe you this.”
“No.” I sat beside her, careful not to crowd her. “You don’t owe me anything. Forget I asked.”
“It’s okay.” Her voice was thin and hollow, as if each word required all her strength. “There was no emergency.”
“Then, why?—”
“Griff was worried I was on the verge of a breakdown,” she said, her voice cracking with a rawness I hadn’t expected. “After my engagement fell apart…” She shook her head, the motion small and weary. “Fell apart… what an odd way to say it. No one fell unless you count Travis’s pants. I was going to marry him. It was all planned. I had this vision of my life, this future I thought I was building. And then, in a single moment, it all came crashing down. I was left with nothing. Alone. Again.”
Again?
