Page 81 of One Kind Goal

Chapter Thirteen

Sawyer touched his jaw as he stared up at the ceiling in bed and winced.

Shit, that hurts.

After landing at Charlie and Austin’s house last night, he had driven Morgan and Nia back to the cottages. On the drive, Morgan had read a few posts on social media mentioning Sawyer Lundin and Austin Rayhill being spotted at the Montreal game. No pictures of Nia had surfaced and he’d finally asked Morgan to stop hunting online.

“I need more time in this bubble with you and Nia,” he’d said wearily. “Please.” There would no doubt be an ongoing buzz about last night’s incident. People couldn’t help themselves with their phones videoing and snapping photos. If it were only about him and Austin, no problem. He didn’t care about himself. Sure, he might end up looking like a fucking pansy if footage of that sucker punch to his face circulated, but on the other hand, he had a ton of fans who would no doubt rally on his side. Plus, hitting an injured hockey player made that asswipe look like an even bigger asswipe.

But if Nia got on film . . .

He didn’t want to think about that and what it would mean for his relationship with his daughter. The relationship he was only starting now. The relationship he wanted to continue building because he loved it so fucking much.

By the time they’d all gone to bed, Sawyer had pushed the night’s events out of his mind. He had to believe the Universe would work in his favor. Having Morgan’s warm, sexy body snuggled up to his helped a great deal. The mood had been killed for any kind of other fun, but cuddling with her soothed him.

Not that he would have refused a little scarf action. That would have taken his mind off things.

He pressed on his jaw again now, feeling a slight lump above the bone. He hadn’t gotten the chance to get in a good swing at that dick’s face last night. It would have been nice to flatten him, but security had come over quickly and Charlie had tugged Sawyer away, saying that stupid fan wasn’t worth getting into trouble.

She’d been right. Of course. But smashing that fucker’s nose in would have been so satisfying.

A feather-light kiss to his aching jaw made him turn his head. Morgan blinked her pretty blue eyes at him and all the anger from last night ebbed again.

“That looks like it hurts.” She went a little cross-eyed as she inspected his jaw.

“It does hurt,” Sawyer admitted. “I hope Austin’s face has fared better. He isn’t filming anything soon, is he?” Because that cheek was probably colorful right about now.

Morgan shook her head. “No. His new movie starts up next week and don’t forget he’s got Hollywood-grade makeup artists at his disposal. Hiding a bruise is child’s play for them.” She kissed his jaw again. “I probably have some makeup in my bag that can hide your bruise.”

“Is it that bad?”

“No, but if you think seeing it might upset Nia, we can cover it up.”

Fuck. He hadn’t considered a bruised face might freak out his daughter. Some father he made. Exposing his kid to a brawl, making the kid get whisked away from the scene. Maybe Carina was right to keep Nia away from him.

No. He had to believe he could do more good than harm by being a steady part of his daughter’s life.

“I’ll let you know once I get a look at it,” he said. “For now, maybe you could keep kissing me.”

“Happy to.” Morgan rose up from the sheets and straddled him. When she cocked her head, he wondered what she was doing. “I’m listening for little girls that might be awake, but I don’t hear any.”

“Thank the heavens.” Sawyer slid his hands to her hips, loving the heat of her body against his thighs. He sat up and captured her mouth with his. The kiss turned molten within seconds and he nearly ripped the long-sleeved shirt Morgan had worn to bed in half when he rid her of it.

She slipped off her pajama pants and underwear and once she was bare before him, Sawyer took a long moment to gaze at her.

“Are you just going to look, Mr. Center Forward, or are you going to go for the goal?” She slid her hands under his T-shirt then peeled if off him.

He arched up and they worked together to get his pants and boxers off. “Goal, baby. Always go for the goal.”

They dove back into kissing then Sawyer rolled Morgan to her back. He kissed absolutely every available surface of her magnificent body then sat back.

“Scarves are where?” He wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass by.

The glint in Morgan’s eyes made him nearly come right then and there. She pointed to the top drawer of the dresser across the room.

Sawyer slid off her, kissing his way along her thigh to her knee to her ankle to her foot. He yanked open the drawer and grabbed two of the scarves and a condom. As he came back to the bed, he kissed along her other leg, pausing when he got to her breasts to give them some much needed attention.

“Just the arms this time,” he whispered as he took her arms and swept them up over her head toward the bedposts.