Chapter 11
There’s someone at the door for you. Cole’s text message came through as I was struggling to wake up for the first time in fucking forever.
Early morning sunlight streamed through the sheer curtains. We didn’t have morning skate before our second match up of the week, but I liked hitting the rink early anyway. It gave me a good excuse to stop pretending to sleep.
My phone buzzed again in my hand as Cole urged me to hurry, but I couldn’t get up because Taryn lay across my chest basically sideways on the bed. After our talk—and everything else—last night, I hadn’t expected to sleep at all.
A third message came through, this time from Reece, and I groaned. A woman was waiting for me. Great. The only woman I was interested in seeing was doing a blanket impression with her bare breasts pressed against me. Apparently, she’d never put her shirt back on.
My erection was immediate and unwanted. If Taryn was the key to getting a full night’s rest—and all evidence pointed to yes—I couldn’t take advantage of her again.
Her wild response last night and her pillow talk after pointed to a satisfied woman, but we never would have gone there if I’d stayed on the couch as I’d promised.
Taryn made a low humming noise and rubbed her cheek against my shirt before blinking her eyes open. She stared up at me for a long second in confusion.
“Mase?”
I raised a brow and waited for her to remember.
It didn’t take long. Pink crept up her cheeks, and she bit into her lower lip.
My abs clenched with the need to cross the distance and take her mouth.
I hadn’t kissed her last night. I wasn’t going to do it now when she barely remembered why I was here.
At this point, I didn’t have time to start those games again. A surprise visitor was waiting for me. At least I knew it wasn’t my dad.
Taryn sat up, then cursed when she realized she wasn’t wearing a top. With my newfound freedom, I reached down and snagged her shirt off the floor.
“Thanks,” she muttered, though she didn’t seem to be in a hurry to cover herself.
I swallowed and put in a valiant effort to keep my eyes on her face. “Sorry if I woke you up.”
A high-pitched yelp from the other side of her door drew our attention, and she sighed. “It’s fine. Hudson is an early riser.”
She finally shook out the material and pulled it over her head. I was both relieved and extremely disappointed.
“Umm…” I said, like a complete idiot. My brain may as well have melted out my ear while she was sitting there topless.
I cleared my throat and tried again. “I have to go.”
Taryn offered me a half smile. “I figured. Honestly, I’m surprised you’re still here. You must have actually gotten some sleep after all. No thanks to me, I think.”
Her gaze darted down to the unmistakable bulge in my sweats, and I laughed.
“If I thank you for last night, will it be weird?”
“Yep,” she said cheerfully. “Though I always appreciate appreciation. I feel like I should be thanking you.”
Taryn threw the covers back, and I lunged across the bed to hold her still. “I didn’t intend for any of that to happen.”
She slowed and met my eyes. “I know, or I wouldn’t have said yes.” My phone buzzed again in my free hand, and she frowned at it. “Everything okay?”
I released her and checked to see a series of emojis from Reece I didn’t plan to try to decode. “Probably. I don’t know. Someone’s at the house for me.”
She pulled on a pair of sweats and a hoodie over her tiny pajamas. “Need me to come run interference? I imagine you loathe unannounced visitors. Or visitors at all.” She cocked her head. “Wouldn’t showing up during the day ruin all your carefully curated vampire vibes?”
I mock growled at her and leapt off the bed to throw her over my shoulder. She shrieked with laughter, and Hudson started barking furiously in the hallway. Taryn grabbed two handfuls of my shirt and kicked her legs.
“Put me down,” she demanded between peals of laughter.
“Not until you confess you secretly like the idea of being with a vampire.”
“Never,” she declared dramatically.
I tickled the back of her knees as I spun to gently lower her to the bed. She landed on her back with a small oof. I settled on top of her, careful to keep my weight from squishing anything important.
“Are you sure?” I asked, my voice low and rough as I braced myself with my hands on either side of her head.
“Maybe one specific vampire,” she admitted. Her breath came in pants, and her face was flushed and smiling, inches from my own.
I couldn’t hold back any longer. With excruciating slowness, I lowered my head. I wanted her absolutely aware of my actions.
Taryn’s lips quirked up a split second before she met me halfway. Her hand curled behind my head, fingers threading through my short hair, as our mouths collided. The intensity at the start faded into a soft exploration.
She made a purring noise in her throat and melted under me.
So easily, I could tip this into a repeat of last night.
A continuation. Push her a little farther, then a little more until I had what I wanted.
Except this time, I didn’t want an impersonal release.
I wanted a long, drawn out night—day, whatever—with her at my mercy.
I wanted to find what made her whimper and what made her scream.
And I wanted to do it over and over again.
The urge reminded me she hadn’t signed up for sex. I clenched my hands into fists and forced myself to pull back, intent on keeping the kiss light, playful.
“Are you sure you have to go next door?” she whispered.
“Unfortunately, yes, but this isn’t a good idea.”
Taryn instantly stiffened underneath me. “Excuse me?”
I pushed up and away, straightening my sweats in a vain attempt to hide my erection.
“Last night, you told me this wasn’t an invitation for sex.
I wanted to sleep, and I did. I also made a move when I shouldn’t have.
I don’t want you wondering next time—and there will be a next time—what I’m really asking for.
When you invite me in for sex, I want it to be very clear…
and I want you one hundred percent on board. ”
“Oh shut up,” she muttered as she approached the door. “We both slept well last night thanks to you. Go next door before I decide your honorable intentions are stupid.”
Hudson burst past Taryn as soon as there was a crack. He circled me with his butt wiggling, wagging his stump of a tail. I relented and gave his back a pat before following Taryn into the hallway.
“C’mon, Hudson,” she called.
The little dog narrowly avoided her legs and launched himself down the stairs. I almost expected to see him tumbling head over ass, but somehow he got his legs under him just enough to skid to a stop at the bottom.
I shook my head. “I thought Sunny had a lot of energy.”
Taryn snorted. “Don’t let him fool you. In ten minutes, he’ll be passed out on the couch with a full belly.”
Downstairs, Taryn’s mom was nowhere in sight as I made my way to the front door. Taryn already had it open for Hudson, who zoomed around the yard barking joyously. She tilted her head up at me as I passed, and I couldn’t resist taking advantage of the moment to drop a lingering kiss on her lips.
“I’ll see you later,” I said, wishing the person at our house had picked any other day to visit.
Taryn waved, choosing not to answer. Probably wise, considering my track record of following through was like fifty percent.
In the back of my mind, I wondered if the visitor was involved with my dad somehow. He preferred to operate solo—easier to skate the rules if no one was watching—but a lot could have changed in three and a half years.
An average-sized, older woman, somewhere in her mid-60s, stood on the stoop clutching the long strap of her beige purse. Faint wrinkles on her forehead smushed together as she frowned at the door to my house.
I didn’t recognize her at first, but then she turned slightly, and a memory hit me like a freight truck. Holding Mom’s hand as we greeted the scowling, slightly younger version of her at our house back in Portland. I must have been three or four at the time.
“Grandma Katie?”
The words came out cold, and she didn’t smile as she turned to where I’d stopped halfway across the lawns. Even before Mom had disappeared, she hadn’t been a part of our lives, despite being mom’s only living relative as far as I knew.
“Mason.” She managed to convey both disapproval and annoyance in my name.
What the fuck? Grandma Katie was a bitter old woman who’d basically written off her daughter for marrying an older man against her wishes. She’d come over the one time, sniffed in disapproval for a few hours, then left. I never saw her again.
Guess that part was hereditary.
I shoved my hands in my pockets, at a loss of what to do with this ghost from my past. “Do you need something?”
Her lips pursed together before she pulled on something behind her back with her free hand. A kid.
A skinny little boy scooted out with a matching frown on his face. He wore baggy sweats, dirty sneakers, and a long-sleeved t-shirt emblazoned with a popular video game character. Messy dark brown hair fell in front of blue eyes that looked exactly like mine.
My brows shot up. I wasn’t good at guessing kids’ ages, but he looked like he was still in elementary school. Maybe the older part.
“This is Andrew,” she stated matter-of-factly. “He’s your problem now.”
She let go of his hand and took a step toward the sensible gray sedan parked behind Cole’s car in the driveway.
“Wait,” I tore my eyes away from the kid—Andrew—and positioned myself between her and her getaway vehicle.
“You can retrieve his things from the trunk.” She waved at the car. “The paperwork is in there too.”
I held up a hand. “Paperwork? What the hell, Grandma?”