I feel his hands drop from my face, rapidly skimming over my rib cage, to the bottom of my shirt. I release my grip on his T-shirt, a feeling of love and warmth pouring through me. I move my hands up to his neck, stroking him, feeling his pulse flicker wildly beneath my fingertips. I need to be closer with him. I need his skin on mine.
I need to feel him everywhere.
Aiden groans, and I swallow the sound. It belongs to me. His sound, his kiss, his taste, his body, his heart—they’remine.
I slide my hands up underneath his shirt, spreading my fingers wide over his cut muscles, wanting to feel as much as I can. His mouth breaks free from mine, and then Aiden picks me up and reclaims my mouth with his as I wrap around him, his hands under my butt and my hands around his neck. He carries me back to his bedroom, and as soon as he sets me down, we’re stripping each other out of our clothing. Aiden rips his shirt off, casting it to the floor, then helps me with mine. His fingertips slide around to the back of my black lace bra, unhooking it. As soon as it falls away, his mouth is on my collarbone, sucking my skin. I run my hands down his muscular back, my head falling backward as his mouth and teeth claim my neck as his.
I shiver from the sensation, from every brush of his tongue, every kiss, every nick of his teeth. I close my eyes and revel in the heat of his skin, his body hard and taut against mine, his mouth urgent and greedy. His hands skim over my breasts and I arch against him, my nails digging into his back. Aiden moans into the valley between them, and my hands move to his hair, gripping it as I feel the warmth of his breath caress my skin.
“You’re so beautiful. So soft,” he murmurs between kisses. “And you’re mine. This ismine.”
“Yes,” I manage to say.
Aiden lifts his head as his hands move to the waistband of my jeans, his fingertips undoing the button, digging down to the lacy waistband of my panties, dipping just below it and skimming oh-so-lightly back and forth.
I whimper now, beginning to throb with need. “Aiden, please,” I beg.
“Is this mine?” he demands.
I LOVE IT WHEN HE TALKS LIKE THIS.
“Yes,” I manage to get out.
“Good.”
His fingertips skim lower, and I shudder against him. I reach for his belt buckle, burning a trail of kisses all over his chest as I undo it.
Before long, we’re out of our jeans and underwear, and we tumble back onto his bed, our bodies hot against each other. Aiden pins me to the mattress, his mouth urgent and seeking, his hips pressed against mine. The room is dark except for the city lights that stream in through his blinds, illuminating this beautiful man who has just told me he loves me.
Aiden pushes himself up, bracing himself with one hand on either side of me, and stares down at me, pausing to catch his breath, his gaze intense and penetrating.
“I love you,” he finally says. “I loved you before, but you made me love you even more tonight.”
I reach up and stroke his face, carefully moving my fingers over his sensual lips, now swollen by kissing. To his jaw. Up to the scar over his left eyebrow.
Mine,I think again.Mine, mine, mine.
As our lips meet again, our tongues tangling in another delicious kiss, I know one thing.
Aiden is mine.
And I am his.
Chapter Twenty-Five
I love game nights during the MLS offseason.
Even more so now that I get to attend games as Aiden’s girlfriend, even if nobody knows it.
I take a sip of my matcha. Tonight I needed a pregame caffeine hit after a late night at Aiden’s. It’s hard to believe it all wasn’t some weird fever dream, from the complete heartbreak of thinking I was ending things with Aiden to hearing him say he loved me and would sooner give up hockey than to quit loving me.
I have never felt more loved by anyone than I did Aiden last night—both emotionally and physically. I still can’t believe this man is actually mine.
I’m wrapped up in this happy thought as I head back through the basement concourse, surrounded by concrete and wrapped in cold air. I’m still feeling the rush of watching warm-ups and taking a lot of pictures, of both Miami and Las Vegas players. Yes, I get to do it as part of my job for Real Miami, but I want it to be my sole duty.
And I would love to do it for a hockey team.
Aiden has challenged me to bring that idea forward. As something more than a dream that has been buried—something I should actively pursue as a career. To let my talent speak over the last name of Rivershon. His love and belief in me have mademe brave enough to do it. I’m going to come up with a plan to make it happen.
