Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
McCabe
M y heart pounds so hard and fast I can feel it rattling against my ribcage. My breath is coming in short, deep pants, and my entire body is on high alert as the blood races through my veins.
“Hey,” a sweet, soft voice soothes as I feel a warm hand press against my cheek. “Hey, it’s okay.”
What the hell?
I open my eyes, and even in the darkness, I can see AJ lying next to me, her face only inches from mine. She swings her leg over my hips, pulling me to her in a full-body hug.
“What . . .?” I exhale.
“You were having a nightmare.”
And then it all comes tumbling back—standing on the ice, the glass separating me from the crowd as I watched AJ get pushed forward with Abby strapped to her.
“I...In my dream, we were back at that game when the fight broke out in the stands, but instead of you falling backward, you fell forward and landed with Abby underneath you.” I woke up right as they hit the seats in front of them, but my body’s reacting like I just watched my child get crushed between the hard seat backs and AJ’s body.
Realistically, I know she might have been able to break that fall without injuring Abby because her hands would be in front of her, but all I can picture in my mind is Abby getting crushed. That fall could have had a catastrophic outcome, and my mind clearly can’t let go of that, even though Abby is safe and AJ’s injuries were much less severe than they could have been.
Leaning forward, she kisses my forehead while smoothing the furrowed line of my brow with her thumb. “Everything’s okay. Abby’s just fine.”
“Yeah, but you’re not,” I say, running my hand down her arm until I get to the splint that’s around her wrist.
“I’m fine, really.” Her voice is vulnerable in the quiet, and it’s such a turn-on to see this other side of her, when she’s not wearing the armor she shows up in every day. “The swelling has mostly gone down, and when we get back to Boston, they’ll put a cast on. I’ll be good as new once it’s healed.”
I’d traced the bruises on her back last night while buried inside her, thankful she wasn’t hurt worse but also feeling the double-edged sword of guilt, knowing that if she hadn’t been injured at that game, then we probably wouldn’t be here, together.
Or maybe we would be? This thing between us was set in motion when I kissed her in her office, but her injury definitely accelerated things—gave me a reason to see her more, gave her less of an opportunity to push me away.
My voice is still gruff from sleep when I tell her, “It shouldn’t have happened in the first place. I should have spoken up about the fans’ behavior when you asked me to?—”
“I doubt that would have prevented what happened.”
“We’ll never know because I didn’t do what I should have. But I will. You just need to have someone ask me about the fighting again.” There were no questions about it after last night’s game, which could mean a lot of different things—either people have already forgotten about it, or the reporter who asked at the home game wasn’t at our away game, or AJ meant what she said about not asking me again until I’d gotten some coaching around what to say.
When I ask her about it, she says, “I think that you need to talk to someone in PR about this before you’re asked again.”
Pulling her tight against me, I kiss her forehead. Outside, I can hear the low thrum of a city on the verge of waking up, while the soft orangey light of sunrise filters through the slit where the heavy hotel room curtains meet.
“It’s early. Let’s go back to sleep and we can talk about it later.”
She murmurs her agreement and rolls over, snuggling her back into me so I’m spooning her. I lie there, my thoughts still running wild as I listen to her breathing slow and become more rhythmic, until I’m certain she’s sleeping.
My body is often restless when I first wake up, like it can’t wait to start moving again. I know there’s no way I’m falling back asleep, so I cuddle her until I can’t stay still any longer. When I roll away from her and stand up, she doesn’t move. So I pull my clothes back on quietly, grab my phone off the nightstand where I left it last night, and slip out of her room almost silently.
I’m thankful it’s early enough that I don’t run into any of my teammates in the hallway. I bet most of them are sleeping off the partying from last night. With a big win yesterday and no practice today, everyone celebrated—even Colt, Drew, Zach, and Walshy, who rarely go out after the games except to grab some dessert.
I change and then shoot her a text so she’ll know why I’m not in her bed when she wakes up.
McCabe
I couldn’t fall back asleep, so I’m going to the hotel gym. If you don’t have plans today, don’t make any.
I’m half an hour into my workout when Colt and Drew amble into the small exercise room in the hotel. They’re mid-conversation as they open the door, chatting about Colt and Jules’s engagement, and freeze when they see me.
“You’re up early,” Colt says as he takes the bike next to me, while Drew heads to the treadmill. Running is my nemesis...something I do only when forced to.
“Couldn’t sleep,” I say, but as I reach for the towel hanging on the handlebars and bring it to my forehead to wipe away the sweat dripping from my hair, I catch a whiff of AJ’s scent—sweet but musky—on my hand. I press down the memories of last night that resurface at the smell of her, and focus on the way Colt is rambling about how he can’t sleep anymore without Jules.
“Oh, how the mighty have fallen,” I joke.
“You’ll see,” he says. “Someday, you’ll meet that person you can’t live without. Everything changes then, and you’ll wonder how you survived before.”
I glance sideways at him, afraid to turn toward him because I’m not sure what he’ll see on my face. Because in my head, I’m thinking: Is AJ that person for me?
For as long as I’ve harbored this attraction to her, I never truly envisioned a scenario where things could work out for us. Not until recently.
Suddenly, I don’t want a life where I don’t get to see her chatting away to Abby in her highchair in the morning while she sips the coffee I made her, where I don’t get to bury myself inside her every night while telling her how fucking magnificent she is.
But I don’t know if that’s what she wants.
“Dude,” Colt laughs, the low rumble rolling out of him from beside me. “Something you want to tell us?”
I glance up, and though the treadmill is facing the wall, Drew’s watching our conversation in the mirror with interest. That’s when I notice his headphones are still around his neck, so he’s clearly listening as well. Thank god Walshy isn’t here, because given what he knows about AJ and me, it would be easy for him to assume there’s something romantic going on.
I bark out a laugh, like the idea of me having feelings for someone is ridiculous. “Yeah, like I have time to have a woman in life.”
“You dated that chick, what’s her name . . . ”
“Annabelle,” Drew chimes in, and I’m not even sure how he knows that.
“Yeah, that’s the one. You dated her in the fall,” Colt reminds me.
“Which is when I realized the only girl I have time for is Abby.”
What I actually realized in dating her was that most women aren’t interested in a guy who already has a kid with another woman.
Colt looks like he’s holding in a laugh as he nods. “Okay. Sure.”
“You know you could tell us if you were dating someone, right?” Drew says.
“I’m not dating anyone.”
“Yeah,” Walsh says from the open doorway, and our heads all swing toward him. How is he so fucking stealthy? “McCabe has too much on his plate right now for a relationship.”
But from the look in his eyes, I can tell that he’s starting to connect the dots. Fucking hell.
“Speaking of,” I say, glancing at the clock on the wall. “I’m supposed to check in with the nanny before he takes Abby to the sing-along at the library this morning.”
Hopefully, none of them knows that the library doesn’t even open for a full hour. But given that Walsh has several kids, I’m sure he suspects I’m just trying to get out of this conversation—and out of this room—as quickly as I can.
“ I never in a million years would have imagined that this is how I’d be spending my day off,” AJ says, pulling her sunglasses onto the top of her head as we come to a stop on a covered bridge. When I told her to be ready for a day of sightseeing, I neglected to mention that we were leaving the city in a rental car, or that it was a convertible. She’s windblown and her cheeks are pink, even after spending the last hour walking through the mostly shaded trails of Valley Forge.
“Sorry, I’m a bit of a history nerd and a national park enthusiast.”
Her shoulders shake with laughter. “Yeah, I got that from how riveted you were by the intro video we watched at the welcome center. And then the way you dragged me through several historical buildings, looking like a kid in a candy shop.”
“Hey,” I say, stepping up behind her and fully boxing her in against the low wall of the bridge as she looks out at the creek below us. It’s quiet at the park today. We’ve barely seen anyone on the trails leading from one site to another, probably because it’s a weekday. “You can take the history nerd out of the classroom...”
“I forgot that’s what you were studying in college.” Looking up over her shoulder at me, her eyes search my face like she’s running through the memories of when she scouted me all those years ago. “Didn’t you say that if hockey didn’t work out, you wanted to get your PhD and become a professor?”
“Yep. Why do you look so amused by that idea?”
A scoff rattles around in the back of her throat. “I can totally imagine how packed your classes would be...all those girls wanting to fulfill their history requirement with the hot, grumpy professor who growls at them when they don’t know the answer.”
My bark of laughter echoes against the hillsides. “So you think I’m hot?”
She chuckles. “I think that’s your only saving grace, given the less charming aspects of your personality.”
The smirk gracing her lips lets me know she’s teasing, so in response, I trail my fingertips up her thigh under her dress, pressing her back into me so she can feel how I’m already growing hard from just her proximity. When I reach her waist, I toy with the top seam of her underwear. “Really? That’s my only saving grace?”
She drops her voice even though no one is around. “I mean, I guess you give me decent orgasms as well.”
I let my fingertips creep along her skin until I can feel the curls right above where her legs meet. “Decent, huh?”
Pressing her head back against my shoulder, she whispers, “We can’t...” and then takes a gasping breath when I slide two fingers over her clit and slip them into her. “We can’t do this here.” She’s panting as I work my fingers inside her and she lets me continue just long enough that I don’t think she’s going to stop me.
“No, really,” she says, her hand flying to my arm. “I want to. But I can’t. Not out in the open like this.” She pulls my arm away from her so that my fingers slip out.
I hold her tighter against me, lowering my voice. “This morning at the gym, when I went to wipe my face with my towel, I found I still had the scent of your cum on my hand.” I press my now rock-hard cock into her lower back. “All I’ve wanted to do since then is touch you again...make you come so hard you forget how to speak.”
She reaches her arm up, sliding her hand back around my neck and pulling me even closer. Then, in a low, sultry voice like the one I dreamed she might have, she says, “You don’t like it when I talk?”
I tilt my head to the side so I can meet her gaze as she looks up at me over her shoulder. “Let’s get one thing straight. I think you’re fucking brilliant, and I love talking to you. But I love it even more when I’ve brought you so far over the edge that the only word you remember is my name. And I’m going to take you over that edge again, ideally right fucking now.”
“If we’re caught...” I can tell her eyes are darting back and forth to the paths that lead to either side of the bridge.
“We’ve hardly seen a single person out here.”
“Yeah, but if we did . I don’t have the luxury of being wanton like that in public. If I’m caught, I could lose everything—the reputation I’ve built, the award I’m nominated for, and possibly even my job.”
I let her words sink in, let myself fully understand her worries. She’s worked so hard and broken every stereotype to get where she is in this industry and with this team. I don’t want to ruin that for her. But I also don’t miss how “everything” for her is really just work.
“Come here,” I say, taking her hand and leading her across the bridge.
“Where are we going?” She’s struggling to keep up with me in her cute little fashion sneakers. I didn’t tell her we’d be hiking, but to be fair, I didn’t know at the time. I thought we’d stop by the visitor’s center and see some of the historical buildings. I didn’t realize I’d be so desperate to be alone with her that I’d suggest we “take a walk” on what turned out to be actual hiking trails.
“There are some ruins up this trail,” I tell her. “I suspect we can find somewhere more private.”
“You really can’t wait?” Her voice is teasing, but also, she sounds surprised. She deserves to feel wanted, to know what it’s like to have a man in her life who’s desperate to be with her. And the fact that she’s been married—and yet hasn’t experienced that before—pisses me the hell off.
I spin so I’m facing her and pull her toward me, my eyes scanning the trail below to make sure there’s no one within earshot. And then I take her good hand, bringing it between us and pressing it against my cock. She sucks in a breath when she feels how hard I am.
“Does it feel like I can wait, Sunshine? Because I feel like I’m about to die if I don’t get to touch you again right now. And from the way you were dripping all over my hand, I’m thinking you don’t want to wait, either.”
She lets out a small whimper of longing while she strokes me, and I take a small step backward, breaking contact.
“Oh my god.” The words are practically a whisper as they fall from her lips, and the way she’s looking at me with those glassy eyes, dark with desire, there is no doubt that she wants me as badly as I want her—even though we’re in the middle of a national park.
“But if I’m wrong, and you want to wait, we will.” I hold my hands up in mock defeat.
A strangled gasp leaves her—as if she now can’t stand the thought of waiting, even though a few seconds ago, she was suggesting it—and she steps toward me. Raising onto her toes, she wraps her arms around my shoulders and kisses me, right in the middle of the path. And my mind races, considering the quickest way to get her alone and naked, before determining that my suggestion of the ruins is, in fact, probably the best option.
“Come on.” I nod my chin up at the hill. “Let’s find somewhere more private.”
As soon as we crest the top of the trail, the stone walls of the old bottling factory come into view. I recognize it from the video at the welcome center, and I’m even more thankful that I paid attention.
We take the stone steps up, and AJ murmurs, “Are you sure we’re supposed to go in here?”
“The ‘watch your step’ sign makes me think it’s okay,” I say. “But hopefully no one else wants to explore this area for at least the next five minutes.”
She snorts a laugh. “Only five minutes, huh?”
“We’re going to have to be quick,” I tell her, keeping my voice low because I know how sound can carry through the valleys carved between these rolling green hills.
“No multiple orgasms this time?” Her whispered teasing makes me wish we had all the time in the world, but I’m not willing to risk getting caught.
“I’m going to make you come so many times tonight that you’ll lose count. But today, I’m going to fuck you so hard and quick you’ll come faster and harder than you ever have.”
“Jesus.” She exhales the word with a sigh, and when I look over my shoulder at her, I’m captivated by the swell of her breasts in the scoop neck of her black tank dress, and her pebbled nipples showing through the thin fabric as she stands there at the top of the steps.
I pull her around a corner and against a solid stone wall so we’re blocked from the view of any hikers on the path.
AJ’s hands are already on my belt, unbuckling it and then working on my button. “Hey, you shouldn’t be doing that with your hand hurt like it is,” I say, bringing my hand over to cover hers. I’m thrilled that she’s not in so much pain that she can’t use her fingers, as was the case a few days ago, but I also don’t want her to do any damage. Instead, I undo the button and zipper, sliding my pants down my hips and letting the waistband rest on my thighs where they’ll be out of the way just enough.
I don’t expect her to drop to her knees while telling me to pull my boxers down, but the sight of her there removes any lingering concerns I have about what we’re about to do.
Because watching Alessandra Jones take me in her hand while she circles the head of my cock with her tongue before wrapping her lips around me and taking me all the way to the back of her throat is one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen. The quiet gagging sound she makes, and the way she pulls back and then takes me even deeper so I’m sliding into her throat, has my balls already tightening up.
“AJ,” I hiss on a pained whisper, because if she doesn’t stop, I’m going to come right down the back of her throat—and as much as I love that idea, I want to feel her coming on my cock even more.
She tilts her head up to look at me while she works her hand around my shaft, but she says nothing, instead raising one eyebrow like she wants me to continue.
But words are failing me, so all I manage to grit out is: “Up. Now.”
A small smile plays on her lips. “Yes, sir.”
Oh, fuck me . Is there anything in the world hotter than the most powerful woman in hockey calling me sir ? I think not.
When she stands, I slide my hands up her thighs, curl my fingers around the thin straps of lace, and jerk my hands apart quickly. The ripping sound of the fabric is barely audible above the rustling of the leaves in the gentle breeze and the birds chirping in the dappled sunlight.
Jaw dropping open in surprise, AJ stares at me with those huge brown eyes. I could get lost in the kaleidoscopic of browns, amber, and gold I see there. But I won’t, not now anyway. Because I’m too busy bringing that thong up to my nose, inhaling her scent as I tell her, “I fucking love the way you smell when you’re turned on.”
“Holy shit,” she whispers before licking her lips and leaving them parted like she can’t breathe without her mouth slightly open.
I stuff her underwear in my pocket before I pull her dress up around her waist, slide my hands around the back of her thighs, and lift her up against that stone wall. I don’t even check to see if she’s ready for me; I just assume she is, and as I step forward, lining my cock up with her entrance, I’m met with the signs of her arousal. “I love the way you’re always dripping wet and ready for me, Sunshine.”
With a moan, she closes her eyes and leans her head back against the stone wall.
“I want access to your tits.”
“Jesus, Ronan,” she says, as she moves her hands from my shoulders to the straps of her tank top, pulling down and to the sides so her breasts slip out. The way they’re held there by the bra and the edges of her top have them pushing together, looking bigger than they actually are.
She’s a perfect handful, and that’s all I need, but the slit of her cleavage where they’re pressed together has me telling her, “Someday, I’m going to fuck these breasts.”
Her eyes fly open at my words, and I tilt my hips up, notching into her sweet, hot pussy.
“God, you’re so fucking wet for me.”
“Only for you,” she says sweetly, bringing her hands back to my neck. She threads her fingers into my hair, giving the strands a tug. “Now fuck me, please.” As she drives her hips down, I slide into her a bit more. “Don’t make me beg.”
“The thought of you begging me to fill you...” I groan, pushing into her another inch. “...has me harder than you can even imagine.”
“Please, Ronan.”
And that’s it. The sound of my name rolling out of her with a breathy sigh has me pulling her down onto my cock hard and fast. Pinning her against the wall, I rail her while I dip my head forward and suck one of her nipples into my mouth, circling it with my tongue and taking a few long pulls that have her moaning.
I look up at her, and pull back enough to say, “Quiet, Sunshine. You don’t want us to get caught, do you?” And then I scrape my teeth lightly around her nipple before sucking it back into my mouth, testing her ability to hold back her pretty sounds.
Her lips are clamped together now, but the groan that rasps in her throat as I slip into her over and over, combined with the delicate drag of my cock against her inner walls and the crude sound of slapping skin every time our bodies meet, has me on the edge of coming.
“I need you to touch yourself,” I tell her, and she brings two fingers to my lips. I pull them into my mouth, running my tongue along and around her fingertips, loading her up with my saliva. If I weren’t so close, I’m confident I could make her come without the additional help. But that will have to be a goal for another time. Right now, we need to finish before anyone else wanders up this path.
She sucks her stomach in to make room for her hand between us, which has her pussy clamping down on me even more. “Fuck,” I whisper. “This is too good.”
Biting down on the corner of her lower lip, she smirks at me. “Too good will be when you make me come.”
“Try to be quiet,” I say, and then I take her other nipple, drawing it into my mouth with a not-so-gentle suck that has her hips pushing forward to meet mine while she chants “Yes, yes, yes” on whispered sighs.
She increases the speed while she uses her good hand to circle her clit and rests her splint on my shoulder in order to tug at my hair. The slight amount of pain pushes me closer, and I feel the telltale signs of my orgasm. But I don’t want to come before she does.
“Now, Alessandra,” I growl between clenched teeth.
“I’m not there yet,” she says breathily.
“Like hell you’re not.” I pull her nipple back into my mouth roughly, sucking hard and leaving her moaning. Then I adjust one of my hands that’s holding her up and press my middle finger against the opening of her ass. I meet her gaze as I apply a light pressure, not entering her, but wanting to make sure she’s okay with being touched there.
Her mouth parts with a sharp inhale, her eyes widening as she stares down at me. As I press a bit harder, her eyes widen even more. She’s breathing hard, her hips moving into me at a frantic pace, and she gives me a little nod. So I slip my finger into her, just barely, and her mouth drops open as she pushes her head back into the stone wall so hard her back arches. I feel her pussy clamping down on me as a choked cry escapes her, her muscles moving in rhythmic waves as my orgasm simultaneously moves through my body and nearly has my legs buckling from the intensity.
Faint voices ring out in the distance, and I lift my head, taking her mouth in mine and kissing the hell out of her as she works through her climax. Not only do I not want to risk her making a sound, but also, I’m feeling emotions I’ve never felt before.
It’s not just the desperate need to be with her, to be inside her. It’s also the realization that I never want to feel this with anyone else. And that thought is both terrifying and reassuring at the same time.