Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Summer
“Hey, Banksy, what’s up?”
I dropped the can and whipped around. Hatch stood behind me in nothing but a towel because that was exactly the sort of day I was having.
“What are you doing here?”
He raised an eyebrow. Okay, he had every right to be here. Me? Not so much.
He picked up the spray can from where it had rolled to near his foot. “Just Color Hair Dye,” he read off the label, then eyed the jersey hanging above Dash’s cubby.
When I came in here, my plan was comprised of a single word: Destroy.
I wanted to obliterate something that belonged to Dash.
He could afford anything and replace everything, including me.
Looking at the vivid pink streaks like Barbie streaks of fury across the front of his sweater, I felt a burgeoning sense of accomplishment.
Not in creating something, but in sheer destruction.
After my chat with Dash, I’d sought out Tara, looking for a shoulder to cry on.
Unfortunately, she had already left for the day, but her salon inspired me with its gallery of potential mutilation.
Touching her scissors was a little like messing with a chef’s knives—absolutely verboten—so I focused on the haircare supplies.
I found a can of semi-permanent pink hair dye, which I imagined Tara used for fun applications of color for the under twelves and clients who weren’t so brave.
Now here I was, a woman scorned, all because Dash wasn’t acting suitably damaged by my actions.
“I—I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He handed the can back to me. “Go ahead.”
“I’ve done enough.” I didn’t want to damage the cubby or surroundings because someone other than Dash would have to fix that. I placed the can down on the bench.
“He was a jerk to you.”
“I shouldn’t have expected anything else. I’m mostly angry about the lies he’s spreading.” I swiped at a tear. “Yet, I can’t blame him, can I?”
In a flash, I found myself wrapped in strong arms. “Summer, you didn’t handle the end of your relationship well. But you’re trying to make amends while he’s acting like a little bitch.”
I chuckled against his chest, which felt so good on my cheek.
He tipped my chin up, and I was suddenly frighteningly aware of how beautiful he was. Not just in looks, but inside, too. He had come to my rescue, sheltered me from the storm, and respected my choices. He’d also made it clear that he wanted me.
I was a data girlie, and that was the data point thrumming through me this minute.
“Don’t mind me. I’m feeling sorry for myself.”
“That’s okay. We all do from time to time.”
“Weirdly, the thing that hurt the most wasn’t the false accusation of cheating or the hints that I was definitely not after his money.” I snatched a breath. “It was that dig about not connecting with his family. Like I’m some sort of sociopath who can never belong anywhere.”
He growled. “Total and utter bullshit. I’ve seen you with people, with players in the front office and at the Empty Net. Last Halloween you came to our house party, and the kids adored you and your Taco-Belle Disney princess costume. People feel better when you walk into a room, Summer.”
Not everyone. At that party, Hatch had glowered at me any time I caught his eye. The contradictions fascinated me.
He was still talking. “So maybe you’ve held yourself back a little because of your past, but I know my sister wouldn’t have invited you into her home if she didn’t think you were worth her time.
She’s an excellent judge of character. Carter has to buy every connection in his miserable platinum-plated life. You earn it by being you.”
His kindness floored me. I wasn’t sure I deserved it, but I couldn’t deny how special he made me feel.
Unable to help myself, I rubbed a hand along his chest, loving how his breath hitched. I did that. I held some sort of power over him, and when you felt as weak as I did, any glimpse of control was heady.
“I’m a little sick of it. The self-pity, the punishing myself.”
I hadn’t done much of that in Saugatuck. I had let Hatch make me feel good. I wanted to feel that way again.
He merely watched and waited, giving me space to sort out my feelings. But the tension in his body was unmistakable. He was a dangerous predator, coiled, ready to spring, and all I had to do was whisper, “here, kitty kitty.”
That Hot Goss garbage made me the villain. If I was to do the time, I may as well do the crime.
I reached up and kissed him.
“Oh, fuck,” he murmured into my mouth.
I couldn’t have envisioned a better reaction.
Until he topped it. He grasped my ass with both hands, scooped me up like I weighed nothing, and pushed me against the nearest cubby.
Dash’s.
A small part of me enjoyed that. The majority stakeholder in my brain, on the other hand, preferred to ignore it and let myself be swept away by the moment.
By Hatch’s hands on me, rough and seeking.
By his mouth on mine, devastatingly gentle, then resoundingly passionate.
He had said I was his end game, which was absurdly focused and serious.
He hardly knew me, yet he wanted me badly.
And I wanted to be wanted like this. I needed it.
But not here against my ex’s cubby. Not even I was that messed up.
Oh yes you are.
Go to hell, Shelby Mae!
I pulled away. “Someone might come in,” I panted.
As usual, Hatch had the answer. Lifting me up, he brought me through to the showers. More private, and though the water wasn’t on, it felt steamier. Sexier. As if it could get any hotter in here.
The next few moments passed in a wild tussle of hands and mouths. My leggings yanked down, a towel ripped away, the bliss of his palm cupping between my legs. Yet again, Hatch was ever generous, giving me what I needed. It was time I returned the favor—and took back some control for myself.
I fell to my knees and tipped my head back to meet his glowing, green-eyed gaze.
His lips parted. Words seemed to fail him. Finally, he managed, “Sunshine, you don’t have—”
I didn’t let him finish.
At least not yet.
No tentative licks or strokes for me. I took him in my mouth, or as much of him as I could, because not only was Hatch Kershaw gifted on the ice, he was gifted in all areas.
“Oh, Christ!” Followed by a lusty groan that echoed off the tile as I sucked the hard length of him.
Grasping his rock-hard butt cheek for leverage, I practically whimpered when the salty sweetness splashed my tongue.
I peered up and saw that he had placed one fist against the shower tile.
His other hand coasted to the back of my head, and now his fingertips raked my hair—cafuné, my favorite Portuguese word!
—though his grip was a little harder than that phrasing implied.
Less the casual hair rake of a lover and more the sensual grasp of a man needing to fuck his woman’s mouth.
His hips rocked, gently at first, like he was trying not to hurt me. But I squeezed his butt, encouraging him to let go. To take what was his. He thrust deeper for a few strokes, but before he could set a rhythm, he pulled me off him and cupped my cheek.
“Look at you,” he whispered, his tone one of awe. “Absolutely perfect.”
And I felt that with him. With Hatch, I felt like I was a hot mess with potential.
Precome leaked from his slick cock, so I cleaned him up with kitten-like licks, watching as his eyes smoked over.
Before I could restart my very important task, he grasped my arms and pulled me to my feet.
Then higher still, as he pinned me to the wall, both hands curving my ass, and pierced me with the cock I’d just sucked.
Oh God. The feel of him inside me took me out of myself, shot me to a better place.
I didn’t last long. Clawing at his back, I bit into his shoulder to muffle my scream of pleasure. He followed me over with a final, powerful stroke that lifted me high against the shower tile and impaled me fast.
I was panting hard, breathing my way back to reality. The one where everyone thought I was an unfeeling, indecisive shitshow. The one where my best ally was the man I once thought hated me.
The one where … hell. “We didn’t use protection.”
He drew back, his eyebrows in a broody V. Probably wondering how I’d ensorcelled him with my witchy spells.
“That was my fault,” he said. “I lost my mind there.”
We both had. “I’m on birth control, but you’re not my only recent partner.” Stating the obvious, but it needed to be said.
“It’s been a while for me. The last time I didn’t use a condom, I—” He broke off, likely remembering Ava and how she had done him wrong. “I’ve been tested since, so that side of it is okay. If anything happens, we’ll figure it out together.”
We’ll figure it out together. That assurance fortified me, just as every moment with this man gave me hope that it didn’t have to be as it was with Dash. Kind, decent, unbelievably sexy men who didn’t view every mistake as a means to exercise leverage over me actually existed.
He had barely softened inside me. After slipping out of my body, he lowered me gently to the ground and kissed my forehead.
Needless to say, I loved when he did that. I felt so cared for.
“Let me clean you up.” He threw my clothes outside the shower cubicle and turned the water on.
Angling my body so my back was against his chest, he ran lathered hands over every curve, moving his fingers deftly and purposefully.
His lips brushed the shell of my ear as he whispered words of loving approval mixed with filthy encouragement.
My sweet girl … Open up for me … You feel so fucking good …
Love this pretty pussy … That’s right, baby, I’ve got you …
Look at those gorgeous tits … Want to suck them …
Love how you taste … You need my cock again?
… Fuck yeah, you do … And it needs you …
So fucking bad … Come for me, baby … Yeah, that’s it … Summer … Summer … Sum—ah, fuck!
Our moans echoed off the tile as he fucked me again and again, alternately with his magic fingers and rampant cock. Again, no protection. I didn’t care because he was my protection. Foolish, of course, but I was out of control where Hatch Kershaw was concerned.
After, I pulled up my leggings and handed him his towel because frankly, the man needed to cover up before I dropped to my knees and sucked another orgasm out of him.
The doubts rushed back in. “This isn’t really me taking the space I need to get my act together, is it?”
Wrapping the towel around his trim hips, he grinned. “We all find ourselves in different ways. Cheese boards, shower sex, petty vandalism of an ex’s workplace.”
I covered my burning face with my hands.
Chuckling, he pulled them away and drew me close.
“It’s okay, baby. You heard some bad news, and you acted out a little.
I think you’ve been putting up with Carter’s bad behavior for years and now the freedom has cracked you open.
Releasing all that tension is good for you. And I’m always happy to help.”
“With orgasms,” I stated glumly.
“Climbing my way to a hundred.”
“While I’m dragging you into my mess.”
He dropped a soft kiss on my nose. “No place I’d rather be, Sunshine.”