Chapter 11
“Piper, would you mind getting the ice baths ready? A few guys are coming in after practice.”
“Sure thing, Claire.”
It’s not the most glamorous job, but I don’t mind. It’s all part of what I need to do in order to get my degree.
Will I work in hockey in the future? I don’t know. I’d love to do something with sports because that’s what I’ve grown up around, but who knows?
I haul buckets of ice into the cold, metal tubs so they’ll be ready for the guys.
Nick is the first one in.
“Hey. How was practice?”
“Good.” He nods, chugging from his water bottle. “Feels good to be back between the pipes.”
“I don’t envy you at all.”
“What, you don’t want to take a puck flying at you at ninety miles per hour?”
I wince. “There’s no way I could. I’d get scared and duck.”
Nick laughs, a quiet sound because he hates being the center of attention. “It’s a good thing you aren’t playing for us then.”
Sliding into the tub, Nick lets out a loud gasp.
“How ya’ feeling?”
“I’ll be better when I’m out.”
“You know it helps,” I chastise him.
“Doesn’t mean I don’t hate it.”
“Put your big-boy pants on,” I tell him as I laugh and get the next one ready.
Duncan and another teammate walk in. This is why I shouldn’t date players. Because I have to see them when we break up.
I focus my attention on the various equipment around the room. No sense in getting worked up because of Duncan.
“You good?” Nick asks.
I smile at him. One I don’t really feel. “I’m good.”
I hate that Duncan still has this pull over me. Not that I still have feelings for him, but God, what a dick.
“Ava is crazy in bed.” Duncan has a smug look on his face as he gets into the tub. “Gives any guy a zamboner.”
I spin away, organizing a stack of towels so I don’t have to see him. God, what a tool.
Not that I care that they’re still seeing each other. Those two deserve each other.
“I thought you weren’t seeing her anymore?” someone asks Duncan. I don’t know who.
“And give up that kind of sex? Hell no.”
“Man, you get all the ladies. I don’t know how you do it.”
“She’s great if you need a quick lay. No one will say no to me.”
More like she wants to bag a hockey player. But I keep that to myself.
“I need to learn at your feet. You get more ass than anyone I know.”
“Damn straight.”
I fight the groan. What did I ever see in Duncan? Did he talk about me like this with the team? I hate to think about it. I don’t want anyone knowing anything about our sex life.
At least it’s not something I have to worry about now.
“Maybe Ava has some friends you can hook me up with.”
“Oh God,” I mutter to myself. I hate that I have to subject myself to this conversation.
“Need something, Piper?” I hear Duncan chirp.
I turn toward his smarmy voice. “No. Do you have everything you need?”
I paste an extra big smile on my face. It’s the only way I can deal with him.
“Hey, maybe you can hook me up with Piper.”
My eyes fly to the guy in the tub that I’m not too familiar with.
Rhodes? Riley? I should know who he is since he’s glommed onto Duncan, but I don’t.
I only work with a handful of players, so I’m not on a first-name basis with all the guys. He has slicked back, dark hair. No doubt from practice. A scar cuts through his jaw.
Nothing about this guy is attractive.
Although, I question my sanity because I found Duncan attractive.
“Nah. You don’t want her.” Duncan looks me square in the eye, dripping water as he gets out of the ice bath. I refuse to back down from him. I want to know what he’s going to say after that.
“Why not?” Riley/Rhodes/whoever asks.
There’s a slight lilt to his lips as he answers. “She’s not good in bed.”
My entire head is buzzing with anger. I’m seeing red. Shaking. I’m so pissed at the words I couldn’t have possibly heard come out of Duncan’s mouth.
“Are—”
The words die on my tongue as Cash comes barreling into the room, heading straight for Duncan.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Duncan and Cash are chest to chest. Looking at the two of them up close, Cash towers over my ex.
More muscle.
More solid.
More…everything.
“What’s it matter to you?” Duncan sneers. “Your girlfriend can’t take a little criticism?”
“A little criticism?” Cash’s hand flexes into a fist at his side. “You’re being a fucking asshole. That’s what you are. You don’t talk about Piper—hell, any woman—that way.”
“What’s a little locker-room talk between teammates?” Duncan tries to brush off Cash’s words.
“Apologize. Now.” Cash’s mouth barely moves. I can feel the anger rolling off him in waves.
Grabbing Cash’s shoulder, I step between him and Duncan. My small stature has never been more apparent than standing between these two hulking men.
“I’m sorry you feel the need to cast aspersions about our sex life, Duncan, but I can assure you, that’s not how it actually happened.”
I surprise myself by being able to get the words out. At how calm I sound.
Duncan looks confused. “What are you talking about, Piper?”
I go in for the kill. Because if this man is going to treat me like this, I’m going to share the details. Even if these guys don’t need to know it. Duncan doesn’t get to have the upper hand here after what he did to me.
Fuck being the bigger person.
“Not good in bed? I had to get myself off every time we had sex together. Could never seem to make a woman finish, could you?”
Cash’s warm hand settles on my hip, giving me a squeeze. Knowing he’s behind me instills more confidence in me as I watch the anger wash over Duncan’s face.
“Dude, are you serious?” one of the guys asks.
I glance around at them. “Sorry. Your little sex god here isn’t all he’s cracked up to be.”
“Are you really going to listen to her?” Duncan tries to save face. “I bet Cash here doesn’t get her off either.”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I cross my arms over my chest, staring him down. “He’s more of a man than you’ll ever be.”
“I doubt it.”
I make a split-second decision. Cash’s face makes it clear he is still angry at Duncan, but he’s also staring at me with confusion.
Clasping Cash around the neck, I pull him down to me and lay one on him.
Shock is the only way to describe how he’s reacting right now. Cash’s lips are firm, unmovable, under mine.
Oh God. I completely misread this situation.
Except…is Cash kissing me back?
Cash
Oh shit. I should not be doing this. I should not be kissing Piper. But when I came into the training room after practice and heard what Duncan said about her?
I nearly lost my shit.
A few of the guys on the team will talk about people like that, but Piper?
I was lucky Piper decided to kiss me instead of my punching Duncan and getting cut for behavior detrimental to the team.
But I don’t care about that. Not when Piper’s soft-as-clouds lips are on mine.
And taste as sweet as vanilla.
My hands wrap around her waist and pull her in close.
I shouldn’t be doing this. Kissing her like this.
Kissing leads to feelings. Feelings neither one of us needs to have.
I don’t care about any of that right now as I deepen the kiss. As I sweep my tongue into Piper’s mouth.
She likes it, if her fingertips digging into the short strands of hair on the back of my neck are anything to go by.
The training room completely fades away as I get lost in Piper. Everything about her is invading my senses.
Her sweet taste.
The way she smells.
How soft her curves feel under my hands.
Piper Fields could drive a sane man wild.
Me?
I am feral.
I have no sanity. Not when it comes to her. I’ve lost it when it comes to the woman in my arms.
“Get a room,” someone calls out, breaking the trance I’m in.
Pulling back ever so slightly, my gaze connects with hers. Her lips are wet, and all I want to do is take them again. Blue eyes filled with lust are staring up at me.
The one thing I don’t see there?
Regret.
Good. Because the last thing I want is for her to feel remorse about this. Fuck. I don’t think I ever could with kissing her.
“You okay?” I cup her cheek.
She looks around, before nodding at me. I glance around the now-empty training room. It’s only the two of us. I should step back and give her some space, but I don’t want to.
Turns out, I like having Piper in my arms.
“Yeah.” She blows out a breath. “Thank you for coming to my defense.”
I shake my head. “I would have punched the living daylights out of him if it weren’t for you.”
“I can’t believe he said that.”
I smirk down at her. “I think you were holding your own pretty well.”
“I don’t think everyone on the team needed to know about me and my vibrator.”
This time, shock hits me square in the chest and I take a step back. “You mean…that was real?”
A blush creeps up Piper’s cheeks. It wasn’t there when she told Duncan about it, but I can only imagine now.
“Yes.” Her voice is firm. “If he can talk about me that way, I can most certainly spill the beans on him.”
Fuck. Me.
This is the very last thing I need to be picturing. The sexy-as-fuck woman standing in front of me using her vibrator to get off.
Is it purple? Pink? Blue?
What’s her O-face look like?
“Earth to Cash.”
Piper is snapping her fingers in front of my face.
“Sorry.”
“Are you okay?” she asks me.
“Me? He’s the one that was trying to embarrass you in front of everyone.”
“He has small dick syndrome. He has to make up for it somehow.” She shrugs a shoulder.
Her words have me bursting into laughter. “Damn, Princess. You’re brutal.”
“I mean, have you seen his dick?” She holds her fingers a few inches apart, nothing sizable. “There isn’t much to work with there.”
“Is this how you talk about all your boyfriends’ dicks?” I ask, quirking a brow at her. I lean my ass against the massage table.
Piper takes a tentative step toward me. “Not everyone.”
“No?”
Is she talking about me now?
“I haven’t talked about yours.”
This is a conversation I shouldn’t have started. Two minutes after kissing Piper and my brain is mush.
“Because you don’t have any clue what you’re dealing with.”
Her eyes flit down to my crotch, and I know she’s thinking about it now.
Just like I am.
I don’t know if all that sweetness could handle my pierced dick. How long it gets when I’m hard. Kind of like now—just thinking about her taking it.
“Think you could handle it? Handle my cock?”
Piper’s eyes snap to meet mine. She doesn’t flinch at my words. Hmm. Maybe she could handle it.
“Guess we’ll never know.”
Piper bounds out of the training room in a whiff of perfume that goes straight to my groin.
Fuck. I rub the heel of my hand over my dick to try and stave off coming in my pants.
The Princess has cast her spell over me. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to break it.