Chapter 20
TYLER
Rain wasn’t in the lobby when I came downstairs, not that I’d thought she would be.
I’d been here for hours now. It took longer for Zoey to come back to the room than I’d thought, and once I’d stepped back in, Skylar had started crying all over again.
She’d been okay while Rain was there, and to be honest, I liked having the break because Ski had either been sleeping or crying the other times I’d come.
Maybe that was part of the reason I’d asked Rain to come with me—I knew if there was someone else here, Skylar would have to feel something else, even for a moment.
Or hell, maybe it was the reason Skylar pointed out.
I didn’t know, but something had happened between when Rain first stepped into the room and when that nurse came in. I thought maybe she wanted to use the bathroom or needed some air, but when I finally went looking for her, she was right there in the hallway, and something was different.
I couldn’t place it, because on the outside, she looked like the usual Rain. Nice. Infuriatingly sexy. She could make my dick hard with just a glance, but whoever was in the hallway was not the woman I’d been obsessively watching ever since she started working with the team.
I wanted her. Maybe I even wanted something more than just her body, but she was confusing.
She sent me a text after a while saying she needed to get back, and she’d see me at the arena for our morning skate, but I wasn’t going along with that plan.
I knew her hotel, and I knew what floor her room was on because I’d paid attention. So I went there, and as soon as I got to her floor, I called her phone. I heard it ringing from behind the last room in the hallway, and just as she answered, I knocked on the door.
“Hello?”
I knocked again. “I’m at the door.”
I heard her coming. A moment later, the door opened.
She wore a confused look, but also something more.
Panic? Guilt? I couldn’t tell, but then I noticed what she was wearing.
A Grays’ shirt—and possibly nothing else.
Heat exploded inside of me, sending all the blood straight to my dick.
She was wearing my shirt. That was my number.
If she turned around, I knew my last name would be on the back.
Was this her regular sleeping attire?
She gaped at me a moment before she composed herself. Then she reached for the door, and I realized she was going to shut it in my face. I stepped inside before that could happen.
“What—” She stopped and her face went blank. “Are you okay?”
“What happened at the hospital?” Because sure as shit something had happened. She’d tucked herself behind whatever fucking fortress of walls she had in her mind, and I couldn’t reach her anymore.
A lot of emotions were running through me tonight—frustration, need, anger.
I’d had her, and then she was gone. Knowing that tipped me over the edge.
Her eyes went wide as I reached for her, no longer giving a shit about the right thing to do.
I didn’t give one fuck about anything except that I needed to fuck her.
I needed to feel her mouth. Her taste. I was desperate to have her underneath me.
“Rain…” I groaned, my hand at the back of her neck.
She gasped, quietly, but didn’t pull away.
She tracked my movement, like prey watching a hunter.
I didn’t want to hurt her. I wanted to taste her.
My fingers curled tighter, and I stepped close, crowding her against the wall by the door.
She didn’t say a word, but she didn’t stop me, so I kept moving until I could feel her breaths.
Until her chest rose, grazing my own chest. I could smell that fucking sugar scent of hers.
Vanilla cupcakes. It didn’t seem like body spray or shampoo.
I tugged her head down and pressed my face to it, making sure it wasn’t her hair.
It wasn’t. That smelled like lilacs. The cupcake smell was just her.
Her pulse was pounding, and I angled my head to look in her eyes. “Do you want this?”
Her pupils dilated. The tip of her tongue darted out, wetting her bottom lip, and I was ready to burst. I slid my hand around to the side of her throat, still feeling her pulse, and slowly, so slowly, applied pressure just under her jaw, tipping her head back.
Her mouth raised for me, but she still hadn’t said a word.
I needed her voice.
My thumb moved to her bottom lip, and I felt it trembling.
“You were there, Rain. Right there. With me.” I closed my eyes, the desperation to claim her pounding through me.
I stamped it down but moved another step closer.
She pulled in some air, and she melted. Her body relaxed.
Her breath released, and she began moving against me, brushing over the bulge in my pants.
Her eyes closed, and the sweetest moan slipped past her lips.
I dipped down, my mouth almost touching hers, but I asked again. “Rain? Yes or no?” I ground against her.
“We shouldn’t,” she said quietly.
I bent down to catch her words and held still. I made myself hold still.
The yearning for her clawed at me. It was a primal demand, a need to claim her. To have her. I tried to think of things from her perspective. Her career…
My arm shook. Jesus. I’d never felt this before.
Suddenly, she moaned again and her eyes opened, wanton need shimmering there. Her lips parted and finally I heard her hiss, “I’m going to regret this.”
That was all I needed.
I crushed my mouth over hers.