Chapter Sixteen
Leo
The pain in my shoulder wakes me up, but when I see the cause, I can’t bring myself to move. I’ll willingly endure it as long as I can keep Sadie cozied up to my chest, crushing my arm.
Sweet, warm, and naked.
As soon as we got upstairs last night, we stripped each other down and she climbed in my lap. I didn’t even have time to lie back, nor did I feel the need when her face and tits were right there for the kissing and caressing as she rode me.
And just like that—at the mere memory of it—I’m distractingly hard.
But fuck, the pain in my arm is growing. Spreading up my neck. It never fucking lets up, always creeping, and while it usually hurts, it doesn’t usually annoy me this much.
If it’s getting in the way of me touching Sadie, it’s a fucking problem.
The first hints of sunrise barely penetrate the sky. We need to be up soon for game day responsibilities, but I want to steal twenty more minutes with her. My lips find what they can reach—her forehead and cheek, mostly.
She stirs, giving me the chance to shift her to her back. A smile blooms on her face before she even opens her eyes. Her hair curls over her silky sheets, dark and messy from where I gripped and tugged as she bounced up and down in my lap, and then when I stroked it as she fell asleep.
Beautiful. The peaceful look on her face soothes me.
Fuck, this woman has a hold on me.
I take her hands and guide them toward her headboard. At this, her eyes flutter open and her grin turns sly. “What are you doing?”
I kiss down the column of her throat until her hum vibrates my lips.
“I’m rising and shining.”
Her body tenses and her back arches as I move lower.
All I could think about while we were driving back last night was spreading her legs and tasting her until neither of us cared that we almost got caught at the bar or that this is probably all very stupid and shortsighted.
But then we got home and couldn’t stop fucking long enough to make it happen. Not that I wasn’t ready, mind you. She just fell asleep after having her wicked way with me in her bed.
That changes now. “Spread your legs for me.”
She hums as I kiss past the soft skin near her belly button. “You don’t have to. We need to get ready. We’ve got a busy day, and I need to shower.”
She’s about to learn that I do, in fact, have to. I won’t stop thinking about it until I do, and I won’t stop remembering it after.
“We’ll shower when I’m done,” I correct. “Much more efficient that way. Please, Rivs. Give me something good to think about while I’m on the ice today.”
“You’re asking your coach for a distraction?” She closes her legs beneath me, turning into a plank. “No way. I should deny you everything so you’ll play angry.”
I roll onto my back, dragging her to straddle my face. She sucks in a shocked breath but doesn’t fight me. I stare up at her, about to blow it from the view alone. “You’d torture a man for a win, wouldn’t you?”
She leans forward to hold the top of her metal headboard so she doesn’t sink into me. But that flush on her cheeks and chest tells me she’s considering it. Wants it. “No question about it. Whatever it takes to win.”
“Hot. So fucking hot.” I kiss the inside of her thigh as my palms knead her ass.
A soft groan leaves her mouth as I lull her a little lower, like maybe she’s still unsure. “But I’d crush you like this.”
“Oh no,” I deadpan. “Sit down. You’re already here.” I kiss higher, edging closer to where we both want my mouth. “You’ll be distracted if I don’t. Wondering all day how good it’d feel to come on my tongue.”
Her breath catches at my words. She tightens her hold on the metal, conflict dancing in her pretty eyes as she stares down at me. Her tits look unbelievable from this angle, full and perky.
With her lip trapped between her teeth, she lowers down an inch. “Like this?”
I spank her once. “All the way. Fucking bury me, Sadie.”
“Only if you touch yourself at the same time.”
Oh? “Getting bossy on me again.” I wrap my hand around my stiff cock, indulging in a few pumps.
The doorbell rings.
Oh.
“You have got to be kidding me,” I growl. “Who could possibly be ringing at”—I turn her wrist to consult her smartwatch—“six thirty-six in the morning?”
She rolls off me with a miserable sigh. “I don’t know. I’m not expecting anyone.”
Don’t love that. “Are you sure?”
“No one from the team knows where I live, except for Jax, who would never show up without calling. Or at all, probably. And Vivi’s flight doesn’t land until noon, so she’s not expecting anyone either, I’m sure.”
Protectiveness flairs in my chest. “Hockey idiots don’t come looking for you at your house, do they?”
“No. That’s never happened. It’s only my phone number that gets leaked on Reddit.”
So it’s only a matter of time, then.
“Stay here.” I huff in irritation as I throw the blanket off my body and swing my legs over the side of her bed.
Once I’m up, I yank my jeans on and wrestle my bitterly angry hard-on into a discreet position.
Parting from that to deal with what is probably a solicitor trying to sell her gutters is a hellish way to start the morning. “I’ll crack the door and yell at whoever it is to get lost. Do not get dressed. I’m not done with you.”
“Yeah, no. You stay here and I’ll go down and deal with them in a minute after I throw on some clothes.”
I sigh, zero percent surprised that she wants to handle this herself.
Unless she intends to chase me downstairs naked, I will still beat her to the punch.
By the time I hit the first floor—slower than I’d like, thanks to her staircase—the visitor rings the bell again and follows it up with an intense round of knocking.
The balls on this guy. It’s too early for this.
I walk strategically to avoid being seen through an uncovered living room window, since I have no clue who it is and for all I know, it could be a reporter violating every rule to ambush Sadie at her home.
That said, I kind of wish I’d grabbed my shirt.
I take to the peephole, squinting an eye. It’s clouded by muck.
Light thudding from the stairs alerts me to Sadie. She’s still pulling tight leggings over her hips. Her Fury hoodie covers the rest of her.
I crack open the door. “We’re not—”
“Leo! Oh my god, yay. I found you!”
“Nola?” I open the door wider to confirm with my own two eyes. Sure enough, there she is, in a beanie with a giant white fuzz ball on the top and a puffy pink Columbia jacket. “How—why—what?”
My little sister stares back at me like I have completely lost my mind. “Wow, you’ve really been concussed too many times, haven’t you? Let me in, I’ve been traveling all night on the red-eye and I have to pee.”
Maybe I have been concussed too many times—only once, and that’s too many times—but my mind is blank right now. “Do our parents know you’re here?”
“Yes. They encouraged it. Someone has to check on you, since you’re too busy to answer any of our calls. So I booked a flight on dad’s AmEx and voilà.”
My father giving her and Milo carte blanche on his credit card was the worst thing he’s ever done. “You see me on television almost every day. That should be enough. Wait a second. How did you find me here, in this exact spot?”
She holds up her phone. “Location sharing. I turned it on for us last year when we were on that hiking trip and we all split up, remember?”
Not even a little bit, or I would’ve axed that access the second we reached the end of the trail. She doesn’t need to know how often I go to the movie theater alone.
It’s only been twice, but she’d be annoying about it if she knew.
“Are you seriously not going to let me inside?” she whines, tapping her foot impatiently.
“Uh, hold on.”
I shut the door in her face and glance over my shoulder.
Sadie is staring in disbelief a few feet away, hugging her chest. Good thing she didn’t chase me naked.
The significance of the moment is not lost on me. My sister will know way too much about us if she finds out this is Sadie’s house. Namely that I slept here.
“What’s the move?” I hiss.
“You should—crap.” Sadie does a double take and sprints toward a pile on the ground—her fishnets and panties. With a quickness that defies logic, she gathers them up, sprints for the couch, and shoves them between two cushions. “Okay. Let her in.”
“But—”
“Leo.” She levels me with a look. “It’s your teenage sister standing outside in winter. She’s young. She’s not going to suspect anything.”
“Like hell she’s not.”
“Just let her in the house. I’ll make up an excuse.”
“Fine,” I mutter, ripping the door back open. “Come in, hellion.”
“Why are you being weird?” she asks, waltzing past. “Whose house is this, anyway? I hope it’s Hot Callum’s—holy shit.”
I roll my eyes, and not just because my sister has the mouth of a sailor on leave. “Sadie, this is Nola. Nola, you clearly already know who this is.”
Sadie lifts a hand, her smile brightening the dim room even more than the morning light filtering in through the open door. “Nice to meet you.”
Nola gapes like a big-mouthed fish. “Hi. This is the greatest moment of my life. I so badly want to put this on Snapchat. You have no idea.”
“Absolutely not,” I intone. “Do not put Sadie or her house on Snapchat. She has a ton of very critical ‘fans’ who do not need to see any part of her life on social media. And while you’re at it, delete that dumb app and keep yourself offline, too, because I don’t want to have to eviscerate some teenagers for talking shit to my little sister. Got it?”
Nola cackles, completely unperturbed by my rant. “Protective much? I won’t film you or Sadie, I promise. So, what are we up to?”
Sadie laces her fingers in front of her. “Your brother was just taking a break from some early-morning yardwork.”
Nola crosses her arms. Her gaze hops from me—not the best time to remember that I’m shirtless—to Sadie, who is anxiously flattening her wild bed-head hair.
“Leo does your yardwork?”
Sadie nods eagerly. “Yup. Stick gathering, mostly.”
Silence descends. I scratch the back of my neck.
Nola turns to me. “You did a terrible job. There’s still a ton of sticks.”
I narrow my eyes. “How long do I have the pleasure of your company? And where’s Milo?”
“Milo’s busy being shackled to the world’s clingiest girlfriend. It’s new. It won’t last.” She cracks her neck. “I’m here for the game, obviously, then all day tomorrow. I’ll fly out Monday morning. Don’t worry, you don’t have to entertain me.”
The hell I don’t.
But—horrible timing aside—I can’t pretend I’m not happy to see her. I’ve been terrible about keeping up with my family, as I often am during the season. But until this year, I was in L.A. where they could get to me easily, so we never went this long without quality time.
I can say, however, that I wish I weren’t seeing her in Sadie’s living room.
“How about we grab coffee on our way to the arena, Nola?” Sadie asks, as if reading my mind. “Then you can hang out at the Fury Dome. There’s plenty of trouble to get into. Unless your brother has a different plan for you?”
“She took a red-eye here on her own. I think Nola will find a way to pass the time while we’re warming up.” I lift a finger. “Don’t say—”
“I want to watch Hot Callum warm up.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Nola, please. You’re going to put me on blood pressure meds.”
“Well, you are getting up there in age.”
I’m knocking on the door of thirty-three, but to my teenage sister I’m a hop, skip, and a jump away from an AARP membership.
Sadie hides her laugh with a cough. “So, Wild Blue? Blueberry lattes?” She bats her lashes my way. “Your favorite.”
“Sure,” I grumble. “Blueberry lattes in blueberry cups with blueberry straws.”
“Works for me!” Nola says cheerfully.
Sadie jabs a thumb over her shoulder. “Didn’t you say you needed to use the restroom?”
“Oh, no. That was just a lie I told Leo so he’d let me inside.”
I scowl.
“Kidding, cranky pants. I actually have to go.”
“The downstairs bathroom is around the corner, you’re welcome to use it,” Sadie offers. “I make no promises it’ll be organized. Vivi fills every inch of counter or desk or table space she’s given, and then some. A sprawler, if you will.”
Nola lights up like a kid on Christmas. “I cannot wait to see what kind of products the Vivian Starling uses. Would it be weird if I took photos so I can shop later?”
“Yes it would,” I say firmly. “Now go, please.”
She practically skips off.
As soon as she disappears from view, I turn on Sadie. “I’m sorry about this.”
With a peek to make sure we’re really alone, she says, “I’m not. I’m obsessed with her energy. But also mildly terrified.”
“That’s the Nola promise: you’ll love and fear her in equal measure.”
She steps closer. The hairs on my arm stand up. Do I hug her? Did that invitation expire the second we left her bed?
“Game day,” she murmurs.
I stiffen, reality crashing in all too soon. So much for the pleasant, sex-filled bubble we were living in.
I should be chomping at the bit to get to the arena, but I’m too preoccupied by the way Sadie looks in the morning without a stitch of makeup on. Like she’s stripped down, glowing in a way only I get to see.
“Shit,” I realize abruptly. “I don’t have my stuff. I’ll need to swing by my place. And I’ll need to run upstairs and grab my shirt. Add an extra minute to the itinerary for your inefficient spiral stairs.”
“Hey, don’t knock the stairs!” She pushes my chest. I trap her hand in mine. Her eyes soften as I rub my thumb in the center of her palm. One last touch, while I can.
“They’re quaint,” she continues, more quietly this time. “And don’t worry, we have time. Wild Blue will be a quick run, then we’ll go our separate ways. You’ll make it in time to meet with Fallon before warm-ups.”
I’m still caught on separate ways. Two words I hate the sound of.
But that’s the way it has to be.