12. Nick
Nick
T wo days on the road and I was useless from missing Sonya.
This wasn’t even one of our longest stretches on the road and it was far from the last this season but I was distracted the moment I stepped off the ice.
Yeah, that was the beauty of being a lifelong hockey player, I could push out the noise and focus on nothing but what was on the ice.
Defending my players. Moving the puck. Protecting the goalie. Scoring goals.
The first game was an easy victory with four goals to one against the Huskies, but the day after tomorrow we would have a real fucking battle and I needed to focus on that.
Not on Sonya.
But whenever I thought she was far from my mind, her easy smile appeared in my mind’s eye.
Her low, husky voice that wrapped around me like a greedy lover.
The sound she made when I kissed the corner of her mouth and moved down to her chin, her throat, that little hollow between her collarbone.
That strangled moan she let out when I teased her nipples.
The way she begged when I wouldn’t push her over the edge.
I was completely distracted and the worst part was that I didn’t even care. The only thing I gave a damn about was that she wasn’t here with me. That I wasn’t there with her.
“Blaze, where the hell is your head?” Coach Mac’s voice bellowed after practice, not exactly angry but not pleased either.
I stopped walking and exhaled before turning. “On the game as usual. Why?”
His brows dipped and dread pooled in my belly. Had he figured out what was going on between me and Sonya? “Something’s off and I’m trying to figure out what it is.”
I let out another sigh and readjusted my helmet under my arm. “I scored a goal last night and I practiced like a beast, Coach. What’s the problem with that?”
He said nothing but he studied me for a good long while. “Like I said, you’re different.”
“I’m just me, Coach. And I’d kill for a hot shower.” And I was desperate to get to my phone and see if Sonya had replied to my last message.
After a long pause, he nodded. “Yeah, okay, go on.”
I nodded and walked away but he called after me. “Yeah?”
“You’d tell me if something was wrong, right?”
Absolutely not. “Of course.” I hit the guest locker room and took the world’s quickest shower, rushing through my post-practice routine so I could get to Sonya.
“You coming to dinner with us?” Will’s voice pulled me from thoughts of Sonya.
I shook my head. “Nah, I need to relax to get Coach off my ass for next game.” It was a bullshit excuse but he didn’t call me out on it, just shrugged with a knowing smile and walked out with Simon and Ryan.
“Relax,” Brock said with a laugh. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days because Carrie and I just call it phone sex.” He clapped me on the back. “And I’m late for a relaxation session.”
I shoved him away but my smile was unstoppable. “Dick.”
“Who is she?” he asked as we boarded the bus.
“Who?” I asked too quickly and then, “No one,” I amended even though it hurt to refer to Sonya as something so insignificant.
Brock bumped my shoulder as we got off the bus, leaning close to whisper as we entered the hotel. “Is she married?”
“What the fuck, man? No. If there was someone, she wouldn’t be married.”
“She must be special,” Cal said, coming up on my other side with a sly smile. “Let him have his secrets, he’ll spill when he’s ready.”
I sent a grateful smile to Cal.
“I just hope you know what you’re doing,” he muttered and I wondered if he knew it was Sonya.
I shook off those doubts for as long as I could, but this was getting complicated. By this I meant my feelings for her. We hadn’t exactly defined what it was we were doing and it was fine, until it wasn’t.
And now I was about to be the guy I’d never been in my life, the one who needed to know what we were doing.
Still, the moment I stepped into my room I dropped my bag and my gear and pulled out my phone and smiled at her last message.
“I don’t want to miss you, but I do.”
Somehow that admission meant more than if she’d just said she missed me.
I knew Sonya wasn’t looking for anything serious, which was why she was perfect for me.
But somewhere along the way things changed.
I wanted her as badly as she wanted me. I liked her, probably more than I should, but I wasn’t bothered by it.
I embraced it.
“I miss you too and I wish you were here in this hotel room with me so I could show you just how much.” My body was aflame the moment I hit send and saw those three little dots.
That disappeared.
And reappeared again.
“You’re nothing but trouble, Blaze.”
I smiled like a damn fool at her words. I could almost see her wearing that slightly coy smile that was equal parts flirtation and affection. “Yeah, but I’m the best kind of trouble. Right?”
“Without a doubt,” she replied immediately.
I tapped the call button, still smiling, and waited to hear that breathless whisper she always used when I called her.
“Hey.” There it was, soft and sweet, like she was glad to hear from me.
“Hey. I need to see you.” I heard the longing in my voice and didn’t pull back like I normally would have.
She sighed heavily and ended the call and called back immediately. “Better?” Sonya’s face lit up the screen with a sexy smile that made her eyes sparkle.
“Fucking perfect,” I grinned and dropped down on the bed. “So, you miss me huh?”
She laughed and the sound was music to my ears. “Maybe a little bit,” she said with her thumb and forefinger not even an inch apart. “Not much though.”
“It’s enough,” I growled. “It’s so fucking good to see you, Sonya.”
“You too,” she sighed. “Good game last night. That goal has been playing on repeat since last night.”
Her words shocked me but a warmth settled all around me. “Yeah, it was pretty good, right?”
She shrugged. “Clinched the victory.”
My smile got even bigger. “We would’ve won anyway.”
“True, but they could’ve come back. That goal ended their hope.” Sonya rolled her eyes with a heavy sigh. “Take a damn compliment, would ya, Blaze?”
Her words teased a loud laugh out of me. “If I take the compliment, can I see you when I get home?”
There was a long silence. Sonya looked into my eyes, her expression blank when she asked her next question. “In three days?”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “In three days.” I knew she had hangups about the game and coming second, but I wanted her to see that she was my priority behind the game I loved. “So?”
“Wow,” she teased. “You must want to see me pretty badly to pencil me in so far in advance.”
She was joking but she wasn’t wrong. It was fucking impossible spending even a night without her when I hadn’t spent nearly enough time in an actual bed with her. “You have no fucking idea,” I growled into the phone. “You’ve been in my dreams every night, Sonya.”
She laughed and her cheeks turned a beautiful shade of pink. “Yeah, what was I doing in these dreams?”
“Trying to tap out after I ate you to three orgasms in a row.”
She gasped. “That sounds more like a fantasy.”
I shook my head, flashing a heated grin that made her blush deepen.
“Oh no, sweetheart, sounds like a prediction.” It was that look on her face, equal parts heat and wonder, that fueled me through the next three days.
I played and practiced like a man possessed, ignoring confused looks Coach Mac sent my way.
We sailed to another victory and the minute the bus pulled into town, I took off, making it to Sonya’s place in ten minutes flat.
I stood on her porch for a full minute to get my racing heart under control before I knocked.
The door opened as if she’d just been waiting for me to get my shit together. Sonya stood there smiling in nothing but the thinnest layer of lace I’d ever seen. My brain fried at the sight of her tits spilling over the minuscule black cups, and when she smiled at me all I could do was act.
With a grunt, I scooped her in my arms and rushed inside the house, kicking the door shut behind me.
Her laughter vibrated against my lips, but when her tongue slipped out, sliding back and forth across my lips, my legs threatened to give out. When she laughed again, it settled something within me I didn’t even know was uneasy. “You should be tired, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I am,” I answered before fixing my lips to hers and kissed her as if I hadn’t seen her in five months instead of five days. “But not too tired for a sweet taste of you.”
She whimpered and returned the kiss with wild abandon, gripping my hair in her hands, climbing my body as if she couldn’t get enough of me. She kissed me in long, slow but urgent strokes, taking her time but every swipe of her tongue was feverish.
Hungry.
Intense.
I wanted to drag her straight to her room and make good on every single promise and fantasy I conjured up over the past five days. She deserved more than a few pumps and a half-drowsy quickie. “You’re exhausted,” she said, her voice a mix of worry and disappointment.
“Sorry,” I grunted.
“Don’t be.” She slid down my body and took my hand, guiding me to her bedroom where she slowly undressed me until I was completely naked. “Unless you only came for orgasms?”
“Fuck no, I came for this.” I pulled her close and held her tight, kissing the top of her head. “Orgasms are the sprinkles and cherries on top, Sonya.”
“There you go with that charm again.” She stripped out of the black lace and holy fuck what was underneath the lace was even better.
Her skin was smooth except for a few freckles, her tits were large and full with hard nipples.
That small waist gave way to hips that haunted my dreams and those shapely legs that I wanted wrapped around my neck, my waist. However I could get them.
“Come on, cowboy.” Sonya pulled back the bedding and patted the mattress.