DAX: Royal Protectors/Sidewinders Crossover, page 6
Her eyes burned into mine. “Are you sure that’s what you want? Because I threw this at you and now I feel like I’ve essentially thrown myself at you with everything, including the sex.”
“Oh, baby, you have no idea how much I wanted to get you naked,” I murmured, stroking the skin of her hand with my thumb. “We’d be in bed right now if we could be.”
“As long as you’re sure. I suddenly felt very unsure at dinner, when they started talking about moving, changing careers, all that. It was a bit overwhelming.”
“That’s why we’re taking the summer to figure out if that’s where this is headed.” I got up and moved closer to her, leaning over her chair so I could press my lips to hers. “Stop thinking so much and just enjoy.”
“Deal.”
“So, do you want to go out tonight?” I asked, her hand warm on the side of my face.
“Would you believe I’d like to stay right here with you and not do anything but hold hands?”
“I’d like that too. Unfortunately, it looks like another storm is coming and the skies are about to open up again.”
“Aye.” She sat up reluctantly, looking up at the sky.
“And we can’t really…cuddle here.”
“We can cuddle,” she said softly. “We just can’t do anything else.”
“Then let’s go inside and maybe we can do something spectacularly normal like watch a movie together.”
She got to her feet and slowly wrapped her arms around my neck. “That sounds lovely.”
We agreed we’d each pick a movie to watch. First up was my choice, a hockey-themed movie called Mystery, Alaska, which she’d never seen, followed by one of her all-time favorite movies, something called The Full Monty, which I’d never even heard of. We put in a third movie, the original Star Wars, a movie we both loved, and promptly fell asleep. The next thing I knew, Merrie was shaking us awake.
“It’s five in the morning,” she was whispering loudly. “Off to your own beds with you before the duke wanders down and has a coronary episode! Go on then.”
Isla and I got to our feet wearily.
“Come on.” I slid an arm around her shoulders and walked her to her room. “I’ll see you in a few hours,” I whispered outside her door.
“Breakfast at nine?” she whispered, tipping her head up for a kiss.
I pressed my lips to hers. “See you then.”
I turned and headed to my own room, a smile on my face. It wasn’t the type of night I was used to with a beautiful woman, but it had been fun all the same. Sex was an incredible, exciting bonus, but with Isla, it didn’t matter as much. I could wait until we had another opportunity to be alone. It was kind of weird feeling so relaxed about all of this since it started as a favor. The minute Ian had come to me, though, I’d known there was no way I would be happy as a “fake” boyfriend. I’d been too crazy about her for too long, and this opportunity had fallen into my lap like a gift from the heavens.
I did have one reservation, though, and while I hadn’t given it much thought, now that I was lying in bed, wide awake, it was lurking in my subconscious. It all came back to my growing discontent with my professional life. I still didn’t know if I wanted to stay in hockey, and if I decided to leave, I had nowhere to go. How could I ask a woman I potentially wanted to spend the rest of my life with, to follow me…nowhere? I didn’t have a plan and I truly didn’t even know where I was going to wind up.
Something told me Isla wasn’t the type of woman to just go with the flow. Without a plan, she would be unhappy, and if I was honest with myself, not having a plan didn’t make me very happy either. At some point, I was going to have to do some soul-searching. Because losing Isla now that I finally had her wasn’t an option.
9
Isla
The next day took a turn neither of us had been expecting, when, during breakfast, Lachlan invited Dax to go golfing with him, Liam and several of their mates from work.
“I apologize for not checking with Isla first,” Liam said, “but you won’t mind letting us borrow him for a few hours, will you, Isla? A few of my mates are big fans of the Sidewinders and excited to meet him.”
I shook my head, managing a soft smile. “Of course I don’t mind. I’ve got a few things to catch up on before the wedding insanity begins anyway.”
Dax frowned slightly, obviously torn between being polite and letting everyone know he was far more interested in hanging out with me today. I gave him a quick wink, letting him know I didn’t mind.
“We’ll go out to dinner tonight,” Dax said softly, his eyes never leaving mine. “Just the two of us, okay?”
“Absolutely. Have fun.”
The guys left a little while after we finished eating, and I lingered at the table, sipping another cup of coffee. I wasn’t upset with Dax. There was no reason he couldn’t go golfing with the lads, and it was a good opportunity for me to go down to my lab for a few hours.
“Must you rush off?” Mum demanded when I got up too. “I never see you beyond dinner. Can’t your poor old mum get a wee bit of attention from you?”
I laughed. “You’re full of it. You’re busier than I am and you don’t even have a job.”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t have time for my children. Especially my only daughter.” She cocked her head, her eyes searching my face. “You all right, love?” Mum was watching me carefully and I gave her a little shrug.
“Yeah.”
“Liar.” She smiled. “You’re my child and my only daughter. You cannae lie to me.”
If she only knew.
“You’re upset that Dax abandoned you.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I need to go to the lab anyway, catch up on a few things.”
“Then what is it? Is it Dax?”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then tell me.”
I sighed. “We weren’t really dating… I made all that up.”
Mum’s eyebrows rose and then she let out an amused laugh. “And Dax agreed to the charade? How delightfully naughty!”
“But that’s the problem.” I rested my chin in my hand. “It’s not a charade now that he’s here. He said he has…feelings for me.”
“And I know you have feelings for him. What’s the problem then?”
“I’m terrified.”
“Of what?”
“The way it is between us. It’s so easy, Mum. We don’t have to work at it, everything happens naturally. We fell asleep last night watching movies. Sex wasn’t even on his radar.”
“Is this a bad thing?”
“No, not at all. We, er, well, you know, we were at the cottage alone all afternoon.” I flushed a little. Mum and I didn’t normally talk about these things, but somehow it felt right telling her about Dax and me. Because he was special and already a part of our family.
“And?” Her eyes met mine and I smiled.
“It was wonderful. He’s wonderful.”
“You’ve loved him for a long time. I’m so glad to see the two of you together.”
“Yes, but what if he’s just being nice? He says he’s not, that he’s had feelings for me for a long time as well, but I asked him to be my pretend boyfriend and now he’s my real boyfriend and I’m feeling very self-conscious about it.”
“I see.” She peered at me curiously. “What I want to know is why you’re not taking him at his word and merely accepting the fact that he wants to be with you.”
“Because he could have anyone and I’m…here.”
“Here as in Scotland?”
“Yes. And he’s in Vegas, playing professional hockey. How would it work?”
“You’ve been together a day,” Mum said gently. “What if you just enjoyed yourselves?”
“To what end? I didn’t realize what I was doing would turn into something so real so quickly, and not only do I not want to hurt him, I don’t want to be hurt either.”
“Seems to me you need to ask him those types of questions.”
“It feels too soon for that, don’t you think?”
“I believe so, but if you’re worried about it, you need to talk to him. What type of future do you have if you cannae communicate?”
“It’s just so difficult. Ian, Everly and the others will be here soon, I still have work to do at my lab, there are a thousand wedding events coming up, and we can’t truly be together here at the house, which leaves us very little time for intimacy.”
“Bloody hell, I hope you don’t let your grandfather’s antiquated rules keep you from enjoying him while he’s here. You’re an adult, Isla. What will your grandfather do? Put you out?”
I met her gaze. “You think it would be all right?”
“Certainly. Especially if he doesn’t know about it.”
We laughed quietly.
“We’ll see.” I put down my cup. “I really do have to go, Mum. See you later. And thank you for listening.”
“All right, love. And I’m always here to listen.” She reached out to squeeze my hand before I made my way up to my room. Yesterday had been a good day. The best I’d had in a long time, and I didn’t want to let go of these feelings. Dax was special, and though I’d told a big lie that set about the chain of events that brought us together, I wasn’t going to walk away from this opportunity now that I had it. He said he wanted me as much as I wanted him, and I had to have faith. Both in him and in myself. It wasn’t that I had low self-esteem or anything. It was quite the opposite, in fact. I was attractive, smart and successful, and men asked me out regularly. The problem was my interest in them. In general, there wasn’t any. And for the last two years, I hadn’t thought about anyone other than Dax, though I’d dated a little here and there.
The issue at hand was simply logistics, not that there was anything simple about them. Now that Dax was here and I saw how good it could be between us, I was already worrying about all the details that would become pertinent should we decide to get serious. On one hand, it was soon to talk about that kind of thing, but on the other, we’d been friends for nearly five years and already knew each other well. We’d slept together and had incredible sex, and so far, we were incredibly compatible. Which left me wondering how it would work if we actually fell in love. I’d been falling in love with him over time, but that wasn’t the same as actually being in a committed relationship with someone who loved you back.
“You’re being ridiculous,” I muttered under my breath as I gathered my purse and dug out my keys.
My mother’s words echoed in my brain and I made an impulsive decision. I was going to enjoy what we’d started and I was absolutely going to sneak into his room tonight. I’d figure everything else out one day at a time.
We left for dinner just after seven. I’d made reservations at a quaint but popular place in downtown Edinburgh for seven thirty, and it would only take fifteen minutes to get there. Phay dropped us off since we planned to drink and we would get an Uber home. It was kind of nice not to have to worry about driving or finding a place to park the car, and I smiled as Dax slid an arm around my waist.
I’d dressed up tonight, even though it wasn’t a fancy restaurant. I wanted our first official date to be special, so I’d worn a short black dress and high stiletto heels, showing off my long legs and trim figure. Dax had definitely noticed, his eyes narrowing slightly as I’d come down the stairs. He’d met me at the bottom, pulling me against him and whispering in my ear how sexy I was. He looked pretty great too, and I took a moment to stare at his round, firm ass as we waited for the hostess to seat us. Even in dress pants, he was hard, muscular and sexy as hell. I couldn’t wait to get him naked again, and now that I’d talked myself out of overthinking everything, I was anxious to enjoy everything he had to offer.
“Are you staring at my ass?” he whispered in my ear as we followed the hostess to our table.
“Were you staring at my legs earlier?” I countered.
He chuckled. “Guilty.”
“Ditto.”
We laughed, our eyes meeting playfully.
“So, what did you do at your lab today?” he asked after the waiter brought a bottle of wine.
“I finished analyzing some data I pulled and wrote up a report. I’ll need to go back and edit it a bit, but I can do that from home. I had to be at the lab to pull the data, though.”
“Sounds complicated.”
I shrugged. “I like data. It’s one of the things that makes me happy in my work.” I paused, cocking my head. “What makes you happy when you play hockey?”
He hesitated. “I think if I’m honest, I have to say scoring. I know it’s a cliché, but that moment when you shoot the puck and see that red light go on, it’s like an orgasm. It hits you hard and fast, and brings you so much pleasure, even though it doesn’t last very long.”
“That makes sense.” I nodded. “And I think it’s comparable to what I’m talking about. Assuming, of course, my hypotheses turn out to be correct. There’s a moment of triumph that feels ecstatic. It doesn’t last long, but it’s great while it lasts.”
“I think the difference is that I don’t score that often, since I’m on the third line, and I’ll never be a top scorer.”
“Does that matter?” I asked gently.
He nodded slowly. “To me, it does.”
“Is it a matter of working harder to prove yourself?”
“No. It’s a matter of raw talent. We have a couple of guys on the team that are superstars. Toli Petrov is forty-two years old and still the number two scorer on the team. His son Anton just finished his rookie season and won Rookie of the Year. He’s fucking phenomenal.”
“But not everyone can be the top scorer,” I said slowly. “I mean, there are twenty-five guys on a team, give or take, and they can’t all be at the top.”
“I know that, and in the past, I was okay with it, but the older I get, the less happy I am with it. I don’t know.” He shook his head. “Let’s not talk about my hockey woes tonight. Mostly, I want to gaze into your gorgeous green eyes and think about all the ways I’m going to fuck you the next time I get you alone.”
I smiled, but didn’t tell him about my plan to sneak into his room later. Surprises were a lot more fun. “I’m looking forward to that,” was all I said.
We drank two bottles of wine and ate far too much, but dinner was lovely and I was already aching to be alone with him.
“I love Edinburgh,” he said as we waited outside the restaurant for our Uber to arrive. “It’s such a great mix of old and new.”
“It is,” I agreed. “I love it too, though I admit I don’t appreciate it as much as you probably do. I’ve seen these same streets my whole life, so they’re not as poignant to me.”
“Looking down the street and seeing Edinburgh Castle… Knowing that freakin’ Mary, Queen of Scots, once lived there, blows me away.” He grinned sheepishly. “I’m a bit of a history buff, FYI.”
“I’m impressed. Maybe after the wedding, we can take a few days and go to London. Have you been?”
He nodded. “Yeah, but not as a tourist. I went for a hockey tournament, so I didn’t have time to see much. I’d love that. Let’s book a hotel for the week after the wedding. What do you think?”
“I think I’m in. For lots of hotel sex, if nothing else.”
“Oh, baby, you’re going to have plenty of that. Remember, I’m staying at the hotel next weekend, since my parents will stay in my room at the house. Wanna stay with me?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
10
Dax
I had a decent buzz and a raging hard-on when I got back to my room later that night. This no-sex-in-the-house rule was a serious pain in my ass, but what could I do? Hopefully we’d have plenty of naked time once I moved to the hotel. Maybe I’d move there a day or two early, just so we could have more alone time together. In fact, tomorrow I was going to add her name to the reservation so she could come and go as she pleased.
After removing my clothes, I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth, taking a minute to wash my face and pull a couple of Tylenol out of my toiletry bag so I wasn’t hungover in the morning. I probably should have flossed, but I was tipsy and mostly wanted to jerk off. It wasn’t a substitute for burying myself inside of Isla, but at least it would get me through the night. I debated getting in the shower, but grabbed a hand towel instead and headed back into the bedroom.
I froze when I saw the gorgeous naked woman on my bed. Isla gave me an impish smile and ran her hands over her breasts.
“Well. Hello.”
“Hello, yourself. I see you’re ready for me.” She glanced down at my erection, and I chuckled.
“What are you doing here?” I whispered, crawling onto the bed and tossing the hand towel aside.
“Rules were meant to be broken,” she whispered back, reaching for me. “We’ll just have to be a bit quiet.”
“I can do that.”
I leaned down to kiss her, lightly pressing my lips to hers. “I like this kind of surprise.”
“I thought you might.”
“Damn, baby, have I mentioned lately how fucking beautiful you are?” I trailed my fingers down her flat stomach.
“Thank you.” She motioned with her hand. “What are you waiting for, Mr. O’Day?”
I grinned, pushing her onto her back and rolling on top of her. “I beg your pardon, Ms. Campbell. I was trying to be a gentleman.”
“That ship has sailed.”
I wasn’t sure what had brought this show of defiance, but it was awesome. I moved against her, finding her mouth with mine. “I have to be honest, I’m having a little trouble believing this is real. I don’t know why, but it feels a little like a dream.”
“I’m feeling a bit the same way,” she whispered, looking up into my face. “I’ve been hoping this would happen almost since the first time I met you and now that it has, well, I keep overthinking things instead of enjoying them.”
