Power Play (D.C. Stars #2)

11. Liam

ELEVEN

LIAM

I toss the empty pizza box in the trash.

We went through almost a full pie while we watched some shitty reality television show Piper said she liked, and I put the last two slices in the fridge so she can take them home when she leaves.

I wash my hands and grab the bottle of whiskey, pouring a glass for myself. I never drink the night before a game, but this situation calls for it.

“We’re going to talk about this like adults,” I say, sitting next to her on the couch. “Why did you come here, Piper?”

She takes a minute to answer. If I had to guess, it’s because she’s afraid she’s going to get rejected. The second she puts this idea in the world, it gives me a chance to shoot her down. And, judging by the way she’s still not looking at me, I’m willing to bet she’s been shot down a hundred times in her life.

“I word vomited at the bar,” she starts. “I didn’t mean for all of that information about my personal life to come out, but it did.”

“That’s the unfortunate thing about vomit. You can’t take it back.”

Piper’s laugh is soft, and she relaxes marginally. “Please know I would never be here if I didn’t get the impression you might be interested in hearing what I had to say.”

“I told you you knew where to find me.”

“I didn’t, actually. I had to coerce your address out of Maverick and make up a lie about delivering a box of sponsorship materials.”

“You found me, though.”

“I did. And if he asks how you like the new brand of protein shakes I brought you, just roll with it.”

It’s my turn to laugh. “Noted.”

“After the bar, I went back to my room and did some reflecting about how I made a fool of myself. The more I thought about it, the more I thought an… arrangement between us could work. I want to explore my sexuality. You’re a single guy.” Piper sits up and her mouth drops open in horror. “Oh, no. You are single, right?”

“I am.”

“Thank god.”

“I’m flattered you want me so badly, Mitchell.” She lifts the pillow sitting on her lap and throws it at my head. I smile and catch it out of the air. “Goalie, remember?”

“Okay, show off.” She smiles too and picks up where she left off. “Add in the bonus of you not having a date to your sister’s wedding, and I figured we could both benefit from it. Taking me would be easier than finding someone on a dating app.”

“A dating app? Please. I’d use forged documents instead.”

“Really? You don’t think showing off a photo where you’re holding up a fish you caught is cool?”

“I’d rather bury my head in the sand.”

“I would’ve been shocked if you felt otherwise. Is being here a complete invasion of your privacy?”

“No. An invasion of my privacy would be taking a picture of my dick and posting it online.”

Her eyes bounce to the front of my shorts and linger there. A blush crawls up her neck, and now I’m thinking about her on her knees. What my cock would look like in her mouth and how deep she could take me down her throat.

This is all her fucking fault .

I wasn’t thinking like this before.

“I’d never do that.”

“I know you wouldn’t. Why are you asking me? You’re an attractive woman. You could find a guy on Tinder, or down the street at any restaurant who would be willing to sleep with you. It wouldn’t be very difficult.”

“I meant what I said earlier: I trust you, and I know—well, I assume—a big part of intimacy is rooted in trust. I don’t want to be with someone who might laugh at me, and I really don’t want to wind up on the internet. I read a whole thread about the worst blow jobs guys have ever received, and I’m afraid to ever put something in my mouth again.”

I did not have Piper Mitchell sitting on my couch and saying things like blow jobs or putting things in my mouth on my bingo card for the night, but I still snort out a laugh.

“What makes you think you can trust me?” I ask.

She’s so nice. The kind of woman who finds the good in everyone, even if they aren’t deserving of it. I want to make sure she’s not holding me up on some pedestal.

“The night at the club when I got drunk, I woke up safe in my hotel room the next morning. I know that was because of you.” Her eyes meet mine, and she smiles. “It wouldn’t have ended that way with every man.”

Christ.

I did not expect her to remember that.

She could barely walk straight, for fuck’s sake, and she knows I tucked her in bed?

My cheeks heat. I don’t know the last time I blushed, but right now, my skin is on fire.

“Let’s start from the beginning,” I mumble, switching gears. Trying to get away from whatever the hell I’m feeling right now.

“I figured we could?—”

“The very beginning. Tell me about your ex.”

“Steven?” Piper deflates. “We met in college and dated while he worked at a tech startup. He proposed to me when we were in our early twenties, and we got married really young. He made a lot of money very quickly when his business took off, thanks to his dad’s connections, and he kept making more of it. There was this obsession with being successful. Being the best. All of his time, energy, and attention went into work, and I got pushed to the side.”

“Then you got divorced.”

“I, um, saw a text I wasn’t supposed to see. He played it off like I was imagining things. Like I was crazy. Then—” She groans. “This next part never gets any less embarrassing.”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“It’s important to the story. We hadn’t slept together in almost a year. I wanted to convince myself it was all in my head and decided to surprise him during his lunch break. He landed a big investor the day before, and things like that always put him in a good mood. When I walked into his office, he was going down on his secretary.”

“What a fucking prick.”

I’ve played with guys like her ex. The ones who mess around and don’t think they’ll ever get caught because they consider themselves invincible. Maybe their wives or girlfriends know what they’re doing behind their backs and don’t give a shit, but I can’t imagine having the life everyone else wants and still wanting more . Like being at the top of the pyramid isn’t enough.

They want to get their dicks wet. Want to walk around like they’re gods because of their name or their job or how much money is in their bank account. There’s no humility, just ego. Everything is about having the attention on them.

I fucked around a little my first few seasons in the league. I slept with a woman or two and got caught up in the fun of being an athlete who never had to work hard to get laid, but it lost its appeal pretty quickly. That’s not who I am.

And I’ve always thought guys who cheat are the bottom of the fucking barrel.

“It’s almost like he wanted me to find him. Turns out, he’d been sleeping with her for months,” she says. “He blamed me for not fulfilling his needs, filed for divorce, and here I am: a woman in her thirties who’s only been with one man. It’s sad, isn’t it?”

“It’s only sad if you make it sad. Seems more like you’re free from a selfish idiot who probably couldn’t find your clit even if it had a big flashing sign pointing to it.”

Piper tries to bite back a laugh but fails. “That’s strangely comforting.”

“I can be considerate occasionally. Excuse the vulgarity, but why not watch porn? There’s plenty of stuff out there. It’s all fake as shit, but you’d get the idea.”

“I have.” Her cheeks turn even pinker and my mind—my fucking traitorous mind—wanders to Piper with a computer on the bed next to her. Her fingers slipping under her shorts and her head against the pillows. I knock back all of my drink and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. “I know it’s not the real thing, and I don’t want to have a visual learning experience. I want to be hands-on. I want to figure out how things are supposed to feel and how things are supposed to sound. I want to know if what I’m doing is good.”

“What—” I glance at my empty glass and consider pouring myself another shot. Maybe two. Fuck the headache I’ll have tomorrow. “I need you to explain this all to me very carefully, Piper, so I understand exactly what you’re proposing.”

She gnaws on her bottom lip. Twists her hands together and takes a deep breath. “I would like us to be intimate with each other. I want you to be my guide in the bedroom. My coach, to put it in sports terms. Sex is a big component of it, yes, but I also want to learn the other things that make up a physical relationship. I know how cheesy this sounds, but I really think my happily ever after—my real happily ever after, because I refuse to believe the first one counts—is out there. I don’t want to miss out on my soulmate because I don’t feel confident in the bedroom and hide myself away. And, even if I don’t hide and end up meeting someone, a guy has barely ever made me orgasm. I’ve just… I’ve been made to feel embarrassed while being intimate too many times, and it makes me never want to try again.”

“Guys who care about you won’t give a shit if you can orgasm or not,” I say. “They also won’t stop trying after one failed attempt.”

“This is about me too though, and my journey. I lost so much of myself when I was with Steven, and I want to find it again. I don’t want to be a pushover who always puts others first. I don’t want to be quiet and timid and… and told I’m supposed to act a certain way. For once in my life, I want to be selfish. I want to have fun and I want to have sex and I want to be the woman who takes whatever the hell she wants. I want to not give two shits about what anyone thinks of me, Liam, and for some reason, I think you can be the one to help me with that. I mean, the other night at the bar was the most I’ve been turned on in years and you barely touched me. That has to mean something, right?”

I stare at her, and pride ripples through me.

Her cheeks are a rosy red and there’s a glint in her eyes that wasn’t there when she knocked on my door. I’ve seen Piper Mitchell a dozen different ways over the years, but this right here might be my favorite one.

Determined.

Blunt.

Sexy as hell.

“If I were to say yes, we’d need rules. Strict fucking rules and an iron-clad plan for the next few months.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“If I’m going to help you in the bedroom, you’re going to help me at my sister’s wedding. We’re going to have to get to know each other well enough for you to answer questions my family might have without it being obvious we’re bullshitting them.”

“Easy enough. Research is my job. Besides, I’ve been curious about you for a while now. The more I get to know you, the better.”

That makes me nervous. Makes me want to reinforce the walls I normally put in place to keep people out when they try to get close, because my business is my business, not theirs. But then Piper smiles at me. Reaches out and puts her hand on my arm. Her thumb strokes over my tattoos, and I melt a little bit.

I’m weak as shit.

“Right. Okay. Yeah.”

“What are your other rules?” she asks.

I have no fucking clue what my other rules might be, because I didn’t expect to spend my night casually discussing sex with the woman I’ve had a crush on for fucking years.

“Communication,” I say, pulling something out of my ass. It sounds important, though. Like a rule I would suggest if I was thinking clearly. “You can’t hide from me when we’re talking about something in the bedroom. I need you to be upfront about the things you like. The things you don’t like. If you assumed you’d like something and end up hating it, you can’t keep that to yourself.”

“Wow.” Piper laughs. “You sound like you’ve done this before. Are you a secret sex coach on the side?”

“I haven’t had sex in four years. But no. I’ve never been someone’s sex coach before.”

“ What ?”

“What?”

“You haven’t—but you—I thought?—”

“I don’t sleep with women during the season.”

“And the offseason?”

“Haven’t been interested in anyone.”

She shifts on the couch and straightens out her legs before crossing them at her ankles. “Have you slept with a lot of women?”

“Depends on your definition of a lot. I wasn’t a fuck boy like some of my teammates, but I’ve had sex.”

“Were you—did they think you were good?”

“Yes,” I say, and her face turns red. “I know what I’m doing.”

“Do you have an exit survey? A rating scale from one to five? Maybe I could make one up for us if you agree to… to fuck me.”

“I’m not a boy, Piper. I don’t need surveys or ratings. I’m a man, and I know how to listen. Listening goes a long way, and it’s not difficult to do.”

She nods and wets her lips with her tongue. I try not to stare at her mouth. “What other rules were you thinking?”

“If we’re going to do this, we’re going to be exclusive. No one else is going to fuck you if I’m fucking you,” I say. “I’m not someone who likes to share. What’s mine is mine.”

“That won’t be a problem.” Piper looks at me, her gaze heated and heavy. “I could barely ask you to sleep with me. I don’t think I could do it again.”

“Good.” I rub my jaw. I agreed to join No Shave November with the rest of the guys, and the stubble on my cheeks scratches my palm. “I need to think about this for a few days. My priority is hockey. It’s what I’m paid to do. I’m not going to sacrifice the thing I love more than anything in this world for sex.”

Piper bobs her head. “There’s no rush. Thank you for even entertaining this idea. I know it’s farfetched, and I won’t be upset if you say no. I figured, why not? I’m doing all these other new things in my life. Might as well add good sex to the list too.”

“If I say no, will you ask someone else?”

“Um.” She taps her fingers on her thigh and shrugs. “Maybe? I haven’t gotten that far yet. I guess I will. I have nothing to lose. It’s not like my personal life can get any more pathetic.”

I grind my teeth together and nod. I really fucking hate the idea of someone else—like one of my goddamn teammates—touching her and gloating about it.

It tempts me to say yes on the spot, but I need to think with my head, not my dick. I need to consider the pros and cons about agreeing to her plan before I get too deep into a mess I can’t claw my way out of.

“I’ll text you what I decide.”

“Perfect.” Piper offers me a tentative smile and stands. “Have a good rest of your night, Liam. Thanks for the pizza.”

“Take the slices in the fridge for your lunch tomorrow.”

Her smile stretches wider. “I will. Thank you.”

She walks away, and when I hear the front door close behind her, I drop my head in my hands and groan.

Letting Piper sit on my couch for almost two hours might be the biggest mistake of my life, because I already know my answer is going to be fuck yes .