THIRTY-EIGHT
Max
B eing suspended means I can’t participate in morning skate, the team meeting, or go into the locker room.
I lay in bed and stare at the ceiling. My eyes slip closed and I touch my cock, remembering Luca jerking me off last night and how I came in my pants so hard, I nearly collapsed. It was all I could handle with the raging flashbacks of Jake fucking with my head.
Right now, all I want are Luca’s lips on mine. On my cock. He’s hot and intense. And not...dirty.
Christ, I’m like a lovesick puppy with a busted lip who can’t stop thinking about my bodyguard.
Luca.
Not Luca, Daniil. I shake that name away. I like Luca or Luc better. But I’m guessing he’ll want his identity back when he returns to his hitman gigs for a mafia organization operating in the Manhattan shadows.
I’m tempted to put on a pair of briefs and find him. Let him see my hard-on. My dick twitches at that, but I’m not going to make it.
I jump into the shower, and bracing against the icy water, I wait for it to warm up to make myself come. Breathing heavily against the shower wall, my shoulders relax when the hot spray soothes my back muscles.
Cleaned up, teeth brushed, but shirtless with track shorts, I wander into the hall. With Luca’s bedroom door cracked open, I see inside. His bed is unmade.
Fury churns my gut. There’s also no trace of his cologne anywhere, and my spine stiffens.
He’s not here. He left and never came home. Where did he go? He’s supposed to be protecting me.
The monitor on my kitchen counter beeps.
Front Door Open. Front Door Open.
When the shadow gets closer, I grab a kitchen knife and raise it. I’m ready to hack into the person when that spicy cologne scent hits me and nearly brings me to my knees.
Luca struts into the kitchen and jumps back at seeing me with a knife. “Where’s Mike?” he asks the code phrase he gave me.
I have two answer choices.
Mike’s at the gym = Someone’s in the apartment.
Or...
Mike’s getting gas = All’s clear.
“No one’s here,” I say instead. “Where the fuck did you go?” I notice a brown paper bag in his grasp.
The aroma of something delicious hits me.
“I called my boss after you went to sleep and told him I had to leave for a few hours.”
Leave. For a few hours. “How could you leave me here alone?”
Luca places the bag on the counter and folds his arms. “For someone who didn’t want a bodyguard, you complain a lot when I’m not around.”
“You convinced me I need one.” I swallow. “What’s in the bag?”
“Where did I go? What’s in the bag?” Luca removes his suit jacket, a gun holstered under his right arm makes him look so damn sexy. “You sound awfully possessive.”
I’m not sure why I’m dying to know where he went. He insisted I need his protection then he leaves me. “Tell me. Please.”
“Aw, fuck, Max if you’re going to beg, save it for when you want me on my knees.”
My cock stiffens back to life. And my running shorts will give him the show I wanted earlier. “Don’t fucking tease me.”
“I met with a man about that job I told you about.”
My jaw unhinges. “Already?”
“I need to secure a place for me and Samara.”
Hearing his sister’s name, my anger softens. Even though she’s a badass who scared me a little. A contractor she hired is recarpeting Luca’s guest bedroom and giving the entire condo a cleanup when we’re not home. My condo association wasn’t pleased with the unscheduled maintenance.
“That’s where you were all night?” I move toward him. “Meeting with the...mafia boss you want to work for? What’s his name?”
Luca shakes his head.
“Another name I can’t have in my head?”
“You’re catching on.” He rolls up his sleeves and goes into my fridge like he lives here.
The visual tears at my soul, then puts me back together. A gorgeous, working man, living with me. Sharing a home. Opening my refrigerator like it’s his.
Ours.
He takes out a container of orange juice and my eyes stray to the bag of food he brought home.
It’s warm to my touch, and as I bring the lumpy contents to my nose, I damn near rip it open. “Bagels?”
“From the city. Right out of the oven.”
“And loaded with carbs.” The freshly baked dough makes my mouth water. “I hate you.”
“Good thing only one of us will be the death of you.”
“You bought the bagels, I’ll cook breakfast. ”
After I change into something appropriate for frying bacon, I cook Luca and I two amazing bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches on the warm and crusty New York bagels. I have so many more questions about this new job, but Gilda walks in and looks upset that she didn’t get to make me breakfast on a rare day that I’m still at home during the season.
My busted-up face opens the conversation, and I close it with my suspension. She doesn’t even let us clean up, but Luca’s eyes look like he’s drugged.
He’s been up all night.
I haven’t been suspended since college and have no idea what to do with myself. Coach Beck left me a message saying he and Bronwin don’t want me at the game. I’m too wiped out to argue. But I call the defense coach, and he uploads videos for me to watch from home all day.
Luca sleeps until around two and finds me in my office sprawled out on the leather sofa looking at my iPad. He’s in sweats and a T-shirt. And looks fucking delicious.
“Gilda gone for the day?” he asks, adorably rubbing his eyes.
“Yeah. I reset all the alarms.” I sit up. “Tell me about the job.”
“Why?” He leans on the chair, crossing one ankle over the other.
To see if I can still fuck you after you leave.
But I don’t say that.
“Curious. I don’t know anyone in the mafia. It’s a word that gets thrown around a lot. I’m thinking it means a lot of different things. Different businesses.”
Luca takes a seat. “Very good. It is a catch-all. Different syndicates deal in different forms of illegal activities. ”
“Can you tell me about the work you want to do for the people in Manhattan?”
He tilts his head, his jaw twitching. “My wife never asked me what I did for her brother. Specifically. Never cared.”
“I care.”
He smiles. “One of the families runs underground gambling halls. The places are secure. Playing is invite-only. Cameras everywhere. I’d like to take care of collections for them, so I can move around a lot.”
“Isn’t gambling legal now in New York?” I ask.
“Electronic games went legit years ago. Not table games. That’s why Daria is still underground.” He grumbles, cursing himself. “Max, I swear, erase that name from your brain.”
“What name?” I smile and cross my legs. “No one’s ever tried to fuck with these guys?”
“No,” he chuckles.
“Why?” I lean forward, truly interested.
“Rarely do five families bond the way they have.”
“How have they bonded?”
He holds a hand in front of his face for a minute, then he says, “Four heads of the five families are male and they’re all married to a lady boss of the primary family.”
“Wait.” Something catches in my throat. “Four mafia bosses married four sisters from one family?”
“Close. One daughter of a don, who’s dead. She married all four mafia bosses. Just her.”
My brain spazzes out on that one. “Come again?”
“I’m sure there’s plenty of that with four dudes and one lady.”
I did hear right. I don’t bother asking how that works since I know plural marriage is illegal in every state.
“The guys... Uh... They mess around, too,” Luca adds, grinning. “With each other.”
Just when I thought this conversation couldn’t get any more interesting. “Really?”
Then something sinks in. Getting to my feet, I stand over Luca. Jealousy coils up my spine. I grip his hair and push my track pants down. “Do I have to punish you for going behind my back to get laid?”
He grips my cock. “They only fuck each other. Not that I would have joined them if they asked me.”
“You’ve been out all night with a potential new boss who’s also gay.”
“Two. And they’re bi. Married to a woman.” He brings his face to my cock.
“Ouch,” I choke out, feeling his teeth graze along my length.
“Do I have your attention?”
“Yeah. Suck me. Please.” My breathing goes ragged and when he closes his lips around my dick, I forget everything else.
AN HOUR LATER, WE’RE in my shower, kissing, cleaning all the lube off from us fucking for an hour.
“What’s the plan for the rest of the day?” I ask.
“More of this.” He grabs my cock.
“The game starts at 7. I need to watch it.” I tense up, and I can see he thinks I’m pushing him away.
“Sure.” He gets out and knots a towel around his waist.
“I have a few more hours of videos to watch. Watch with me? I can use an opinion from the bench.”
“Sure.” He finger-combs his dark curly hair, looking so damn sexy.
I’m suddenly starving. “Do you know how to make chili?” I ask, playing the sympathy card. “I have a real hankering for it. ”
“With or without cornbread?”
I can fall in love with this guy.
WE EAT AND WALK OFF the meal down at Stamford Harbor while the sun sets in a blaze of reds and purples on the horizon.
“You know, with that arrangement the four bosses have with their lady boss and each other, in that world, I’ll be accepted,” Luca breaks the silence. “We’ll be accepted.”
Acceptance. What a fucking concept. My throat tightens. People know me. How... How can I do this?
“You know, you can do so much better than me, Luc,” I mutter, turning inward.
“You are a moody son of a bitch.”
“Then why do you want me?” I lean against the metal railing, the tide lapping against the pilings. “Do you just want to fuck a hockey player?”
“You’re right.” His words drop my heart into my stomach. “But not just any hockey player. You. You’re the hockey player I want to fuck. You could have been a quarterback. A tennis star. You could have been the goddamn bag boy at the grocery store.”
“That’s a good one.” I double over, laughing. “So, New York... It’s more open than Connecticut, isn’t it?”
“That I can’t argue.” He steps back. “What are you suggesting?”
“Nothing. Just a little punch drunk from the lack of sleep.” I feel my face heat up, and I wonder if he notices in the hazy twilight settling on the pier. “Are you going to keep sleeping in that bedroom which is basically a construction site?” I tear down my wall to see if I can knock down his.
“Do you have another bed to offer me?” he asks.
“Yeah. Mine.” I pull him in for a scorching kiss that I get totally lost in.
Hearing the planks creak, I break the kiss. For once I don’t care who sees me. Me. But I’m still sensitive to people’s comfort levels seeing two men making out. I grab Luca’s hand and return to the car.
Scorching sexual tension hums off us on the ride home from the harbor and in the elevator, I push him against the wall to taste more of his mouth. But the game is starting any second.
Inside the apartment, I head to my media room where the tight space feels more intimate. Living rooms with a wall of windows invite spies. It’s not wise for either of us right now to be caught in a compromising position.
Luca joins me, and his mouth dips open looking around. For a moment, I’m embarrassed. It’s garishly decorated in memorabilia. My circle of friends are all players, or ex-players, and agents. To an outsider, it feels like I’m bragging.
There’s a reason all of this is in a room that only I use. And not the living room where I host guests.
“You’ve lived the dream, you realize that?” Luca says, looking around.
“I do.” I’m reminded that while I’ve experienced moments of trauma, I’ve had years of glory and success fading compared to those horrible seven days with Uncle Harris are a blip to the months I’ve had with Luca.
I never considered having a partner until this very moment, and wonder how a room only dedicated to me will fly in a home that I’ll share with someone else. The man who shares my refrigerator.
“What’s on your glory wall?” I ask Luca.
“I don’t need a wall.” He taps his forehead. “My successes are up here. The moments I felt proud.”
Scoring goals feels hollow compared to a life of real consequences. “You’re proud of killing people for Belova?”
He ambles toward me, slow and measured. “Surviving horrific situations and to come home and kiss my son was the success part.”
He called the sport I love violent. “We share the same primal instincts to survive. To get what we want.”
Luca’s eyes blaze with heat. “I know what I want right now.”
Fuck, I hope it’s what I want.
“Tell me.” My hand instinctively drops to my pants as my cock thickens. We’re in our own world right here.
“I want to taste you. Go down on you while you watch the game.”
My chest seizes at the promise of Luca sucking my cock while I watch my team play. Can a fantasy ever match up to reality?
“You might regret that.” I lower my zipper. “I might want to get suspended more often.”