Collide: A Hockey Romance, page 20
“Does she have it?”
“What?”
“Your attention. Does she have it?”
The question catches me off guard. I didn’t think she even cared where my attention was. Is she jealous? “If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been a bit preoccupied.” I pull her in for a kiss that she finally reciprocates. “So, are you coming or not?”
“Not.” She releases herself from my hold and heads to the bathroom. “I have work to do.”
I follow her to block the door. “You’re mad.”
“I’m not.”
“Fine, then you’re jealous.”
I must be enjoying her reaction too much because she glares. “You wish.”
“Then why is this here, hmm?” I press a finger to the crease between her eyebrows. “Contrary to what you believe, I know you, Summer.”
“You know my body, Crawford. You don’t know my mind.”
“I bet I can figure it out just as quickly.” She tries to close the door again, but I don’t let her. “I don’t even get to shower with you?”
“I’m taking a quick one.”
“Me too, just a quickie.” That splinters her annoyed glare. “Don’t you at least want to wish me luck before my game?”
“We both know you don’t need luck.”
“Yeah, but I do need this.” I reach around to grab her ass, and she yelps before melting into my arms. Walking backwards into the washroom, I kick the door closed.
TUESDAY’S ARE MY favorite. Why? Because Summer has no classes and I’m free after my coaching session. Another plus is not worrying about the guys throwing parties because we have practice on Wednesdays, and hangovers don’t mix well with Kilner’s voice.
Walking into Summer’s dorm, I drop my bag by the couch. “Those little tyrants know how to wear me down.”
“Don’t complain. You love it,” she says when I crash beside her with a groan. “Admit it. You do.”
I shrug, but I can’t suppress my smile. “Yeah, I do. They’re pretty amazing. I get to see their passion, and it reminds me how much went into getting me where I am today.”
Admiration flits through her eyes but then her face scrunches. “God, I bet all your kids are going to be hockey buffs.”
“Definitely. They’ll learn to skate before learning to walk.”
“Sounds torturous. What if they want to play soccer or…basketball?” She adds the latter suggestion purposely, but her smile is so pretty I have a hard time focusing on anything else.
“I’ll support them no matter what.” I wasn’t pressured into sports, so putting an ultimatum on a kid never made sense to me. People are naturally drawn to their talents, but to get to the top it takes hard work, and that doesn’t come from force.
“How magnanimous of you.”
“What can I say? Our kids will be lucky to have me as a dad.” The words spill like water, and I freeze.
The awkward air hovers for only a second before she laughs. “You’re crazy if you think I’d ever carry your big-headed children. Your wife better have a wide birthing canal.”
That eases the tension drilling my chest. “I’ll add it to my list. A wide birthing canal for large-headed children.”
“Don’t forget, willing to suffer through your idiocy.”
“Is that what you do? Suffer?”
She nods, not paying me her full attention until I lean over to move her laptop. She doesn’t protest when I wrap my hand around her ankle and tug her to me, homework abandoned. Contentment skips my bones because Summer never abandons her books, but right now her only focus is me.
She smells so good I dip my head to kiss her neck, burying my nose in her sweet smell. “Is this considered suffering?”
She sits on my growing erection. “Yes,” she breathes. “Complete torture.”
I slide up her white tank top, looking at her for permission. She doesn’t waste time, removing it herself. Braless tits are so close to my mouth that I have to shift her on my lap to keep a semblance of control. I push her hair behind her bare shoulders, touching every expanse of skin except where she wants it. My hands run along the outline of her body, only grazing her full tits, which pulls a frustrated noise from her. Summer’s fingers dig into my shoulders, and when I look at her, her eyes are ablaze.
“I’m half naked in your lap, Crawford. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what I want you to do.”
I move just a hairbreadth away from her strained nipples. “I know what you want. It’s always clear what your body wants from me, Summer, but I know you like it like this. When I tease you., make you suffer.” My breath blankets her goosebumped skin as I leave gentle kisses between her tits. The hand squeezing my shoulder moves to the nape of my neck.
“Don’t tell me you want me to beg because that’s never going to happen,” she declares.
Slapping the side of her breast, I watch it bounce. “Only good girls get rewarded. And you’re not being a very good girl right now.”
“I’m a brat, you’ve said it yourself.” She moves closer so she can whisper in my ear, her tits pressed against me. “Now make me come, Captain.”
I swallow so hard I’m surprised my tongue doesn’t go down.
Games are my thing. I’m good at them, good enough that I always win, but here, Summer wins. Every time. There’s no chance I could ever refuse her, especially when she smiles like that or draws her bottom lip between her teeth with a deceptively innocent look. The sweet tits in my face are also a plus.
My hands fly to the buttons of her jeans, and hers to my belt. We’re fumbling, trying to shed our clothes as quickly as we can. She shifts from my lap to peel her jeans off. The eagerness is almost animalistic as we focus on one goal.
“I want you like this. Want you to ride me,” I say when she’s naked and back on my lap.
She takes me in her hand, giving me a slow pump. I shift to angle her perfectly, my hands spanning the entire width of her waist, and I revel in how much smaller she is than me.
“Fuck, wait,” I grit out before she lowers herself. “Condom.”
But when I reach over to grab my bag, she stops me. “I’m on the pill.”
It takes everything in me not to choke and form a sentence. “Okay…I’m clean,” I say, clearing my throat. When she nods, there’s no hiding my shock. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” she says. “I trust you, Aiden.”
With warm pleasure blanketing my chest, I take hold of her hips and sit her on my cock so slowly, my head lolls. Every inch of her squeezes me like a tight wet fist with three simple words fluttering around us.
Summer’s fingers tighten in my hair when her ass slaps my thighs. Her face scrunches in half pain, half pleasure as I move her up and down my length.
“You’re so tight, Summer. Fuck, I can’t get enough of you.”
She closes her eyes and rests her forehead against mine, but I can’t take my eyes off her. Her face, her tits, her taking me so well. She’s mesmerizing. Nothing I’ve imagined holds a candle to the reality of her. When I kiss her, her pace slows, and she rolls her hips, causing me to let a rough moan into her mouth.
“You feel so good,” she praises, leaving kisses all over my face.
“You like my cock? You like that only I fill you up?” My throat is tight when she nods. “Then be good and take it all.”
Her eyes brighten. “Who said I’m a good girl?”
“We both know you are when you’re riding my cock, Summer. Now make me proud, baby.”
She shifts back, bringing her hands behind her to rest them on my thighs. She slides down until I’m buried deep, her nails digging into my skin. I lose my breath at the view of her naked body taking me bare inside her pussy. I’m living a wet dream, and I can’t remember how to function.
She smiles when she sees my tight jaw and wild eyes, then moves high until only the tip throbs inside her. I groan.
“Am I being a good enough girl for you, Aiden?”
I lean back to look between us and bask in the wet sounds of her arousal. “So fucking good, Summer. So good.”
She hums and lowers herself again. “Then don’t touch me.”
My eyes are so focused I barely process her words. “What?”
“I want you to watch me. No touching.”
“Fuck no.” My grip tightens. But she stops, sliding up until my dick threatens to bob out of her.
“Your choice.”
“Okay,” I concede, pulling away my hands. “Okay.”
Her wicked smirk matches her rhythmic movements, threatening my sanity. With her face inches away she buries me to the hilt, and I struggle to keep my eyes open.
“I’m going to come.” The words grate against my throat. “Tell me to come inside you,” I whisper the demand against her lips as my hands dig into the couch, itching to touch her.
A heavenly sound leaves and whispers, “Come inside me.”
“Then let me touch you, baby,” I beg. “Please.”
She must take pity on me because she takes my hands and brings them right to her full tits, and I squeeze. She’s so wet, I can feel it all over my thighs. My thumb presses her clit, and I pinch it between my fingers. She cries out, slumping forward, and the tremor and the tight grip of her pussy makes me come too.
It’s her sated smile when she drops her forehead to mine that cracks my chest wide open.
Fuck.
30 | SUMMER
IT’S THAT TIME the of month when everything starts to make sense. Crying over a car commercial about International Women’s Day, wanting to tear a certain hockey player's clothes off, and eating everything in our emergency snack drawer. It all makes sense when I get my period.
It’s an unwelcome surprise because I had written off my aches and pains to hunching over my laptop and pulling all-nighters at the library. I sent in my final draft last week, and it received a reluctant stamp of approval from Langston. I expected relief to sink in and that tornado in my stomach to settle, but instead, I’ve become more fraught. Because this is it. I’ll soon find out if I’ve worked hard enough to make my grad school dreams come true.
The thoughts are depressing, and the unrelenting torture from my uterus isn’t helping. Amara asked if I needed something before she left, but I told her not to worry. Now, after a few hours of rotting in my bed and throttling the life out of my poor stuffed cow, I could use some serious painkillers. Crying and moaning haven’t subdued the pain, so I’m hoping she comes home soon.
Over my groaning, I hear rustling in the kitchen. “Amara, is that you? Will you break into the Pharmaceutical Sciences building and get me some morphine?”
But when my bedroom door opens, Aiden is standing there.
He’s wearing a gray suit, crisp white dress shirt, and royal blue tie. You can tell how large his arms are even under the jacket, and he looks so hot I can’t contain myself. He leans against the doorframe with a smile. “Hi, Summer.”
I think I might be drooling, so I turn to press my face into a pillow. “I’m out of commission,” I say, my voice muffled.
He chuckles. “You know that I like seeing you even when we don’t have sex, right?”
That is mostly true, I suppose. This past week we hung out more times than I can count, and it ended with us talking for hours or watching a Turkish show instead of our original arrangement.
He looks so handsome in that suit, and it’s confusing the hell out of my ovaries. I’m so hot for him it’s concerning. “Why are you still here? Don’t you have the Ohio State game?”
“Home game. Wanted to stop by and see you first.”
“Don’t think you can win without me at your game? Don’t worry, I’ll be there in spirit after I die from these cramps.”
He shakes with laughter. “Amara told me you weren’t feeling well, so I brought you something.” He leaves my room and comes back with a bed tray. There’s steam clouding out of my favorite mug, a box of chocolates, a warming pad, and best of all some extra-strength ibuprofen.
I sit up, allowing him to lay it over my lap. My eyes begin to sting. “When did you do this?”
“While you were screaming into your pillow.”
“I was not screaming. Just gently cursing Mother Nature.” I take the warming pad and place it over my stomach. I eye the mug with suspicion, bringing it to my lips. It’s perfect. Aiden even added ginger, and my heart burns a little, this time not from the overuse of cinnamon. “You’ve been practicing?”
“Dylan’s been teaching me. Apparently, his mom loves chai.”
The thought of two hockey players hovering over a stove to make the perfect chai makes me smile. “Thank you.”
“Anything for you,” he says softly. “Want me to get your laptop so you can watch something?”
Still stuck on his words, I slowly shake my head. “The only way I’ll get my mind off the pain is by taking a nap.”
He nods and leans in to kiss my forehead. Once, twice, three times. Each kiss causes a devastating flutter to erupt in my stomach. He shouldn’t be playing with my emotions like this, especially not right now.
“Stay,” I blurt because apparently, I’m an idiot. He pauses halfway to the door, and my dumb question makes my heart twist like a coiled spring. When his hooded gaze meets mine, I’m breathing so hard I might be panting.
Aiden stalks over to me, pulls my chin forward and kisses me so thoroughly that butterflies ravage my uterus. When he pulls back, he stares at me with a thunder of emotions behind dark eyes.
“I have that game.”
“Right. Obviously. I don’t know why I said that.” Do cramps also make you stupid?
He watches me for so long that I think there might be something on my face. He reluctantly pulls away, like leaving right now is bringing him a great deal of pain.
But then he says, “Give me a few hours.”.
I watch his broad shoulders and hard back exit my bedroom with a soft click of the door.
I STIR FROM deep sleep when my mattress dips and a warm body sneaks under my comforter. A heavy arm drapes over my waist, relieving the sparks of pain that still flare there. Aiden’s clean scent envelops me in a comforting hug, and I think I might be dreaming.
He pulls me so close our bodies curve together like two puzzle pieces, his legs tangling with mine. With a deep inhale, he buries his head in the crook of my neck and plants a featherlight kiss there before he starts massaging circles just below the waistband of my sleep shorts. It’s as if he senses the tightness in my body, and his magical hands unravel it within seconds.
I hum in pleasure and absentmindedly move my hips into him. He grunts a sound of disapproval, and when I try to turn he doesn’t let me.
“Go back to sleep,” he murmurs. His warm breath dusts the shell of my ear, and a shiver erupts. Aiden takes that as me being cold and pulls the comforter higher under my chin. Honestly, I’m kind of burning in the heat of his body, but I’d rather have a heat stroke than tell him to move.
“How was your game?” I ask anyway.
“OT win. I was dying to get back here,” he admits, kissing my temple. “Now go to sleep, baby.”
I smile at the wall, wrapped up in everything Aiden. His smell, his body, his words. Everything is mine at this moment, and I don’t want it to end.
MY FIRST ALARM should have been when I woke up smelling Aiden. My second alarm should have been Cassie’s loud voice on the other side of the door.
Unease tickles into my stomach when I feel hard muscles underneath me and Aiden’s sound asleep face. It’s peaceful, and smooth since he shaved the stubble. But just seeing him here sets alarms blaring in my head. We've explored every part of each other’s bodies, but we’ve never actually slept together.
“Donny! You’re here early,” Cassie’s voice drifts over again, and my heart drops. His name disintegrates the remaining fog in my brain. I completely forgot we were meeting today.
I twist away from Aiden, but he’s holding me so tight I can barely move. The heavy weight of his hands relieved my residual pain, and I would be forever grateful for that. But right now, I need him gone.
“Aiden,” I whisper, but he doesn’t stir. When I jostle him, his grip tightens as he stretches. Sleepy eyes find my face inches away.
Then he smiles.
He’s so content I wonder if he realizes it’s me he’s looking at. His large hand comes to my face, letting his thumb smooth across my cheek. The touch is so delicate that I hold my breath when he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear and leans in.
I should move. I should really move.
When footsteps sound outside my door, I jerk, tumbling out of his hold and onto the floor.
“You good?” Aiden’s deep voice is laced with sleep as he stares at me over the edge of the bed.
I’m already pulling a hoodie over my head. “Great,” I mumble, fixing my hair.
Aiden’s still lying there, propped up on an elbow. “Summer, what’s going on?”
I sigh. “Donny—”
Rap rap rap
“Summer, Donny’s here.”
“Give me a sec, Cass.” I frantically fix my hair and turn back to Aiden. “You need to climb out the window.”
“Excuse me?”
“Now!” I urge.
“I’m not climbing out of a four-story building, Preston.”
I run an impatient hand through my hair. “Why not? Isn’t that what all those muscles are for?”
He releases a tired breath. “We don’t need to hide from him.”
“I don’t. You do.”
His jaw ticks. “That asshole is not going to dictate how I spend my time.”
“Aiden, I can’t do this right now. Can you just hide in my bathroom?”
Rap rap rap
“Summer?” Donny’s voice filters through the door.
My heart catapults to a different dimension when Aiden still hasn’t moved. “Please?”
He grumbles but disappears into my bathroom. Guilt pricks at me seeing the wounded look on his face, but I don’t have time to dwell.
