12
“YOU SURE YOU’RE CATHOLIC?”
I stepped into the hot shower and let the sting of the heat push away my thoughts. It worked for a moment, but they all came back too soon.
Both Brad and Bauer had poked at a raw wound in my relationship with Niklas. Was I turned on by the power and force he showed on the ice? My gut reaction to watching Niklas play today was sobering. I was drawn to his rougher side, his physical drive.
I closed my eyes and dipped my head under the spray, letting it drown my senses. The water rained down all around me. I was back in his house now, where just the two of us existed, and Niklas should be back soon. The heat took over, pushing the tension out of my body.
Minutes later, I emerged from the water to grab the shampoo and let out a yelp. Niklas was standing on the other side of the shower door, watching me.
“Sorry,” he grumbled. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“I—I just thought you’d be a while,” I said, my heart still thumping hard. “You know, shower, talk to the team, that kind of thing.”
Niklas shook his head.
“I didn’t do any of that today,” he said. “Not after I saw you in the stands.”
His voice was the kind of low growl that came out in more intimate moments, but the steam on the shower door blurred the expression on his face. I slid open the door and met the harsh blue of Niklas’s eyes. I sucked in a breath, and my hands dropped from the handle.
Tense muscles bulged at the shoulder seams of his t-shirt. One of his hands was balled into a fist, and the other was on the full erection that strained at his jeans. My breath quickened, and my nipples tingled in the cool bathroom air. His gaze wandered down my length, awakening my body as he paused to get his fill along the way. He unbuttoned his jeans and shoved his hand down his pants, his eyes firmly fixed on me. He was still fully clothed, but the sight of him, powerfully turned on and stroking himself, was as erotic as anything I had seen.
“Do you want to come in?” My voice caught in my throat, somewhere between a breath and a moan.
Niklas closed his eyes and let out a quiet groan.
“Do you want me to?” he asked, his gaze back on me, darker than before. “I’m hard as hell just watching you like this.”
“Come in, Niklas.”
A rumbling breath escaped from his mouth, and his hand moved faster. “I’m so turned on right now, and I don’t…I don’t want to scare you.”
My heart thudded harder, more turned on than scared.
“I’ll tell you if it’s too much,” I whispered, my voice barely there.
He didn’t need any further invitation. His hand left his pants, and he yanked his shirt over his head, muscles exposed and ready. The scent of him filled the steamy air, a concoction of sweat and desire. My God, I wanted this man. His skin glistened with steam and sweat. I wanted to step forward and taste the salty flavor of him, but I waited.
He shed the rest of his clothes, still watching me with hungry eyes. I took in the mess of his hair, the bulge of his shoulders, the tense muscles of his stomach and his thick, throbbing erection. His eyes were wild with desire and something darker, something I wasn’t sure I wanted to probe.
Niklas closed his eyes again and rested his hands on the edge of the sink. His chest rose and fell in long, steadying breaths. He didn’t look at me when he spoke.
“I saw you with Bauer up in the stands. When it comes to you, I don’t know how far I’d go to protect you, to protect us,” he said, “and I don’t want to find out.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Niklas had struggled with the aggression that sports encouraged back in Stockholm, but I had felt more like a spectator at the time. Still, even then, just getting knocked out of the tournament was enough to bring out a side of Niklas that had scared me, a side I never wanted to see again. I had watched how all of his pent-up frustrations could turn into something else. The past months had pushed that memory far into the distance, but I knew Niklas had never let it go.
I shivered. Was I scared? No, not exactly. I just didn’t know what to do with the part of me that wanted this rougher side of Niklas.
I gazed at him. His eyes were narrowed with lust, and his muscles tightened with each breath. If I was going to confront this side of myself, now was the time. I held out my hand.
“Come in the shower, Niklas,” I whispered.
The sharp rasp of his breath sent a wave of heat through my body. In two, long strides, he pressed up against me, holding me against his hard length. My lips met the hard planes of his chest. I tasted his skin, salty, hot.
He slowly walked me back into the spray of the shower, and the hot water ran along the seams of our bodies. His large hands clamped around my arms, holding my body against his. He breathed, whispering in Swedish, secret words I couldn’t understand, his mouth on the base of my neck. His teeth scraped along my skin, and he rocked into me.
“Fuck, you’re so sexy. Do you feel how much I want you right now?”
