“You don’t have to,” Grady offers, like having this gorgeous man’s beautiful cock as my first would be some kind of chore.
“I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. Wanting it,” I assure him. “I’m just like, I mean…”
“I have a feeling you can do no wrong, baby.”
It’s ridiculous that Grady calling me baby makes my heart grow wings, but it does. I shove that mushy feeling away and give myself to the primal one—the one that wants to suck his cock more than I want another Stanley Cup. I press my lips to the tip. He sighs, like he’s just entered the gates of heaven. When I wet the tip with my tongue and slip the whole thing deeper into my mouth, Grady groans and hisses out a curse like he’s been burned by the flames of hell. His hands slide over my shoulders and into my hair, but he’s not rough like I was. He’s gentle, and he quivers like he’s fighting his own urges. I appreciate it. I want the chance to explore with my mouth and discover what I’m capable of. How deep can I take him, how he tastes and feels? I move faster, slower, squeeze him tighter in my hand that’s following my mouth, and then lighter. I finally settle on a rhythm and the right pressure when his fingers spasm in my hair and his hips buck against his will.
He’s swearing softly and panting out my name. “Shit, Landon. Jesus, Landon. Oh my fucking God, Landon.” It’d be funny if it wasn’t so fucking erotic.
“I’m gonna…” His hands move, and he urgently lifts my mouth off him. I keep my hand in place, and it takes a pump and a half until he comes all over me and his stomach, his back arching high off the bed.
When he drops back onto it, I move my hand and drape my whole body over him, smearing his spent desire between us as I kiss him. He laughs into the kiss and bites my bottom lip. “This is crazy.”
“In a good way?”
“The best way.” He kisses me, running a hand into my hair and smiling as we break apart.
He winks at me, and I try not to freak out that my heart has grown wings again.
Chapter 24
Grady
A part of me worried Landon might make up some excuse and bolt as soon as we were done fooling around. I know what a clusterfuck of conflicting emotions a sexual awakening can have on a guy. But Landon stayed, and after we used the wet wipes I keep in my night table to clean up, we talked about stupid shit. The stuff friends are supposed to talk about—the game, which new teammates we like and which we just tolerate, and then we exchanged documentary recs from Netflix. We talked and laughed until the sun was almost ready to come up. And then we both drifted off, together. Not cuddling but lying side by side, kind of tangled up in each other. So the irony isn’t lost on me when I’m the one who bolts.
I woke to my phone buzzing on my night table. Landon was curled on his side, away from me, snoring softly. With blurry eyes, I grabbed my phone and saw my cousin Harlow’s name on the screen. It was barely six o’clock, so I answered it because Harlow wouldn’t be calling at this ungodly hour unless it was important.
I slip out of the bedroom and walk all the way to the kitchen so I don’t wake Landon. I don’t want to wake him for a million reasons, one being that he’s had bags under his eyes for weeks, and he definitely needs this sleep. The other is that I’m scared that if he wakes up those words we said and things we did might scare the fuck out of him in broad daylight. They kind of give me a mild panic attack if I’m honest.
I answer the phone in a groggy voice with, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she says quickly. “Sorry. I know it’s the crack of ass. Can you meet me though? I’m at Ocean Perk, on Temple.”
She’s in Ocean Pines? That makes me believe that whatever she needs is serious if she got up before dawn and drove out here. “Yeah. Is Shelby with you?”
I kind of assume she isn’t because Shelby would just pound on my door at whatever hour she wanted. Harlow is more discreet because Harlow knows my secrets. Every last one of them. “No. I have secret project stuff to do, which is why I’m back. I couldn’t talk to you about this last night because everyone was around, and it’s yet another secret.”
Harlow and I really need to find something to bond over that isn’t stuff we’d rather die over than share with the world. “Let me throw something on. See you in five.”
“Thanks, Grady. I’ll have a chai latte waiting for you.”
I end the call and walk over to the closet where my stackable washer and dryer are in the hall. Thankfully, I didn’t empty the dryer, and there’s a clean sweat suit in there. So I pull it on over my naked body and head back to the kitchen. I write a short note and sneak into the bedroom and leave it on my pillow for Landon. Then I shove my bare feet into some winter boots, throw up the hood on my sweatshirt, and slip out the front door.
Harlow is sitting in a booth at the back of the small cafe. As promised, there’s a chai latte waiting for me across from her. I slide into the booth after ruffling her hair with my big hand. “What’s wrong?”
“I told you, I’m fine.”
“Something is wrong, though, because you wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t.”
“I have a secret meet-up with the boyfriend.” Harlow lifts her hands and makes air quotes as she says boyfriend. I smile.
“Your mother is like the love child of Cupid and Venus,” I remind her. “I’m surprised she’s gone almost an entire year without hunting down this boyfriend so she can fawn all over him.”
Harlow laughs softly and tucks her dark hair behind her ear. She’s a weird mix of her parents. She’s got all her mother, my Aunt Rose’s delicate, dark features, but her father Luc Richard’s bold, tough-as-nails personality. She’s also got his athleticism and competitive streak. People think she outgrew it, but she hasn’t.
Her boyfriend is the ice rink and a trainer in Portland. Harlow used to be a figure skater. She was a state champion, but she dropped it her senior year of high school for two reasons—an injured knee that just wouldn’t set right and a boyfriend she was head over heels for who didn’t think she should keep doing it. Last year, she decided to lace up again and is now training to be a competitive ice dancer.
“You know that you could tell them. You’re close to competing in events they will likely see or hear about in the media soon,” I warn. She’s only done some regional stuff so far, but she has to win at higher levels to get a chance at a spot on the Olympic team, which is her endgame.
