Chapter 6 Happy
HAPPY
Hannah stands across the ring from me, light on her feet, gloved hands held up in defense, a murderous look in her blue eyes.
She thinks she looks tough, but she’s fucking adorable—cheeks smushed together in her headgear, a mouthguard protecting her teeth that, when she sneers at me, says bite me.
But regardless of how cute she looks, I try my hardest to take this seriously because I can tell she’s got some aggression to take out.
Coming at me, Hannah swings, but I dodge it, jabbing lightly and getting her in her chin when she drops her guard. She growls under her breath, swiping at her nose with her glove and sniffing once. She’s trying so damn hard to look badass, but again, she’s just too cute to pull it off.
Silas tries to coach her, giving her pointers and telling her what to do, when to bob, when to cross, when to block, but she’s not listening to him. She’s so hell bent on landing one on me that I doubt she can even hear him through her own internalized rage.
I give her another little jab, connecting with her cheek, and again she growls, swinging her right fist up with a punch that has far too much power behind it to be considered sparring, but I allow it.
She misses again, and I’m forced to bite back my laughter because she’s getting pissed now.
When I throw another left jab, she bobs and weaves this time, and I wink at her. “Atta girl.”
“Go for the body!” Silas yells from over the ropes.
Finally doing as she’s told, Hannah jabs, landing a punch in the center of my gut and knocking the wind out of me for a few seconds.
I stagger back, falling onto the ropes, and she advances, laying into me with body shot after body shot.
It doesn’t hurt—I’m wearing a belt—but what a dirty little cheat.
Wrapping my arms around her, we’re clinched together, and I turn her with ease, pressing her into the ropes, which is a bad move since our bodies, slick with sweat, are pressed up against one another and there’s a lot of gyrating and heavy breathing.
“Ew, are you hard?” Hannah shrieks, pushing me off her with a grunt.
I stumble back with a chuckle, looking down at the serious tent pitched in my shorts. But in my defense, the big guy has a mind of his own.
“Sorry,” I say, entirely unapologetically, offering a casual shrug as I try to adjust myself through my shorts, which is not easy when wearing boxing gloves.
“You’re disgusting,” Hannah huffs, spinning around and climbing under the ropes before making a beeline for the cool-down mats.
She glares at me in the mirrored wall as she removes her gear, lowering onto a mat, and I glance sideways at Silas to see him trying not to laugh, avoiding my eyes and holding a hand to his mouth to conceal his smile.
“De-glove me.” I hold my fists out to him and he shakes his head to himself, unfastening my gloves.
I climb down from the ring and strut across the gym floor, stopping at the mat next to Hannah and starting to stretch my quads.
But as she gets into a downward facing dog, just to torture me I’m sure, my jaw falls slack when her perfectly round ass, the one I spanked last night, points directly at me, causing my dick to twitch again.
“What days do you usually train here?”
I blink, snapping myself from the revery her ass has me trapped in, realizing she just asked me a question. “Um… m-most days,” I stammer like a fool.
Hannah turns her head, looking up at me, one brow quirked.
I shrug a shoulder, forcing myself to look away from her and her taunting ass as I stretch my traps.
“I’m not really a fighter. In fact, I hate fighting.
I mean, I know it’s a big part of hockey, but I try to stay out of it, you know?
And when I do get involved, I’m normally just running my mouth off while secretly hoping Mason or Loges or Alex Henry is there to back me up.
” I offer a self-deprecating laugh at myself because, despite being a D-man, fighting is definitely not my strong suit.
“I only train here because my mom and stepdad, Lewis, own the place. He’s a retired heavy weight world champ, so he taught me a thing or two when I was growing up. ”
Hannah releases her pose and pushes up, turning to me, her hands on her hips. “I don’t care.”
“Wow, okay. Rude.” I snap my mouth shut, fighting a smile because she can act all she wants, but I can tell by the flush of her skin and the way she’s trying so fucking hard not to allow her eyes to trail down over my body that she’s not quite as indifferent as she’s making herself out to be.
She lifts her chin a little higher in a show of steely determination that doesn’t fool me for one second. “I just want to know when you’ll be here so I can avoid the place.”
“Aw, Baby Draper,” I coo, taking a step closer and closing the distance between us. “You don’t wanna tussle with me?” I lift a brow teasingly, while purposely dragging a hand down over my chest and my abs.
Hannah’s eyes drop, following the path of my palm as it skates down to the low-slung waist of my shorts, and I watch as her teeth clamp down on her bottom lip, unable to conceal my shit-eating chuckle which, of course, forces her eyes back up, her gaze turning deathly.
“God, I should’ve gone with my gut and skipped today,” she mutters to herself, spinning around and storming off.
And I watch on, my cocky smirk lingering, but as she grabs her jacket and her bag, I realize she’s actually leaving, and I jump into action because no way is she getting away that easily.
I’m tugging my sweatshirt down over my head as I push through the doors in time to see Hannah storming up the sidewalk.
“Baby Draper, wait up!”
She ignores me of course, so I decide to chase after her.
“Stop. Let me give you a ride,” I say, gently placing a hand on her shoulder to stop her.
She shrugs out of my reach, glaring at me. “Yeah, because that worked out so well last night…”
I blink at her, confused. Is she being sarcastic? Last night was fucking phenomenal.
“I mean, if two orgasms are wrong, then I don’t wanna be right,” I say with a smug grin.
She rolls her eyes. “There is no conceivable way that I am getting in your stupid truck again.”
I go to argue, but then, as if the weather gods are on my side, the heavy clouds that have been looming all day suddenly break, and it’s raining. Hard.
“Déjà vu.” I flash her a conspiratorial wink.
“Fuck’s sake,” Hannah mutters, following me as I jog across the street to my truck.
“You can just drop me off,” Hannah says as we turn onto her street.
“Yeah, I’m not gonna do that,” I say under my breath with a snort, pulling into the first parking spot I can find.
When I shut off the engine, I look at her to find her glaring at me.
“What?” I shrug. “I’m a gentleman.”
She laughs. Loudly.
I deadpan. “What? I can be a gentleman... sometimes.”
Laughter subsiding, Hannah wipes at the corner of her eye. “No. You really can’t.”
I balk. “I am offended.”
“No, you’re not.”
“You’re right. I’m not.” I sigh, snaking my arm around over the back of her seat and leaning in. “But just let me walk you up so we can kiss.”
“No.”
“Okay, well then let me up to see Toast Malone. We bonded last night. We’re, like, bros. I miss him.”
Hannah purses her lips, arching a brow, her pretty blue eyes bouncing between mine. “Happy, last night can’t happen again.”
“Why not?”
She looks at me like I’m insane.
I scoff. “Seriously, why?”
She opens her mouth to speak, but I interject.
“You’re single. I’m single.”
She snaps her mouth shut.
I continue, “Neither of us wants anything serious.”
She studies me, her rosebud lips twisting to the side.
“And we both had fun last night,” I continue quickly when I can see she’s about to lie through her perfect teeth again. “And don’t you fuckin’ lie to me. You can’t fake squirt. I Googled it this morning.”
Rolling her eyes, Hannah folds her arms across her chest, which only pushes her perky little breasts together. “So, what are you proposing? Casual sex?”
“Friends with benefits.” I grin.
“Friends?” She frowns, her side-eye full of disdain. “I barely even tolerate you let alone like you.”
“Wow,” I guffaw. “Okay then, enemies with benefits.”
“Enemies is a bit harsh. I mean, it’s not like I want you to die,” she says.
“Well… thanks… I guess?” I chuckle.
“Frenemies with benefits,” she counters.
“Frenemies with benefits,” I repeat.
Her gaze trails downward, zeroing in on the way the legs of my shorts have ridden up, showcasing my impressive quads, if I say so myself. I bite back a shit-eating grin. “Eyes up, Baby Draper…”
Hannah looks up at me, and I waggle my eyebrows suggestively. “What do you say?”
She hesitates, and in the flash of an instant, I see an uncharacteristic fragility in her blue eyes, one that is gone almost as quick as it appeared.
“I have one condition,” she says, holding up a finger.
“Name it.”
“No other women.”
“Aw, you jealous, baby?” I drag the backs of fingers across her soft cheek.
“Ew, no!” She shoves my hand away, and, with a pause, that fragility is back, only this time, she doesn’t bother trying to conceal it. “But I really can’t be the other woman. Not again.”
Wow. What happened between her and Chris really affected her, and I fucking hate that. With a thick swallow, I nod. “Okay. No other women. I swear.”
Something passes between us. An understanding of sorts. But it’s gone in a flash as Hannah says, “And you have to get tested because I hate condoms, and I’m not about to catch anything because your dick’s been in half the women of New York.”
I press my lips together, snorting a laugh.
What’s funny is that she has no idea how unnecessary her stipulation is.
Am I a playboy? I was. But aside from the occasional one-night hook-up when I’m on the road, I haven’t been the slutty asshole people write me off as for at least a couple of years.
Back then, my playboy title was one I wore proudly.
Now, it’s a facade I use to hide behind.
But she doesn’t know that. Nobody does. And, for now, that’s fine with me.
“Okay. Deal. I’ll get tested. Tomorrow. Just for you. ”
“I haven’t been with anyone since Chris, and I got tested after him because he was a cheating scumbag, and I didn’t trust that I was his only sidepiece…” Trailing off, she rolls her eyes at herself and holds her hand out like we’re settling on some sort of international trade agreement.
I shake her proffered hand, but before she can pull away, I bring it to my lips, kissing the back of her knuckles slowly. Yanking it back, she wipes the skin I just kissed over her leggings, like I’m not about to use those same exact lips to suck her clit in about T-minus five minutes.
Hannah hops out, and I follow, hurrying through the rain. She stops, swinging around to me, a crease etched between her eyebrows as she holds a hand against my chest. “Um, what do you think you’re doing?”
I look from her up to her apartment building and back again. “Coming up to fuck.”
“Now?” She gapes at me.
“Uh, yeah…” I shrug a shoulder.
“I’m all sweaty and gross,” she says, looking down at herself. “I need to shower.”
I step up to her so we’re toe-to-toe, so she can feel just how hard I am right now. When I see the telltale flush pinken her cheeks, I know I’ve got her.
We barely make it through the door to Hannah’s apartment before I have her up against the wall, pinning her body with mine.
I grip her hip with one hand and plant the other above her head, leaning in close and dragging the bridge of my nose along her jaw.
Breathing her in, I bask in the heady scent of cookies, cream, and the hint of sweat.
“Tell me what you want, Baby Draper,” I murmur, my lips ghosting the shell of her ear.
“I want your cock,” she grits out, her voice all low and throaty and sexy.
I find the trigger point at the base of her neck and swirl my tongue around it, sucking it softly. “Just my cock?”
“Yes.” Her back arches, seeking more, her hands reaching up and pushing my ball cap off my head, nails raking through my hair, holding my mouth to the spot that makes her body shudder.
“You…” I punctuate the word with a lingering kiss to her jaw, my hands snaking down over the generous curve of her ass.
“Me…” With another slow kiss to the corner of her mouth, I crouch down and lift her off her feet so her legs are forced to wrap around my waist.
“Shower…” I glide my tongue along the seam of her mouth, sliding inside and finding hers.
“Now.” I groan against her tongue, grinding my rock-hard cock against her pussy, feeling her needy heat through the layers that separate us.
The moment is suddenly interrupted by a loud, groaning whine, and I pull back, looking at Hannah before glancing over my shoulder to find Toast Malone sitting by the door, staring at us expectantly.
Hannah stifles a laugh.
I turn back to her, meeting her heavy-lidded eyes. “Did I just get cockblocked by a dog?”
“Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go.” Hannah shrugs a shoulder, sliding off me and finding her feet. “Oh, and since you two are such bros and all,” she says with a knowing smirk, “you know where his leash is.”
I blink at her, watching as she removes her jacket, walking through the doorway to her bedroom with an emphasized sway to her hips. She pauses long enough to throw me a seductive wink over her shoulder as she says, “I’ll be in the shower…”
I turn back to Toast Malone, gawking at him incredulously. “Dude.”
He groans again, shifting impatiently.
“Fucking bro code,” I grumble to myself as I grab his leash from the closet.