Chapter 30
Aisling
Present day
I wake up warm and cosy, surrounded by thick green sheets.
I tentatively push the quilt below my eyes so that I can peek out from the bed and take in my surroundings.
I blink, suddenly realising where I am.
The bed.
The bed that Tanner made for me.
My breathing hitches in my throat and it all comes flooding back to me.
Sinking my teeth into my lower lip I pull the sheets back over my face and glance down beneath the dark green canopy to see two big hockey player arms wrapped around my waist, firmly leashing me flush against his warm abdomen.
I stare down at his forearms for a beat. Then, with twitching fingers, I give him a little prod in the meaty bit.
Tanner’s body tenses and then his arms are strengthening their hold, his broad chest swelling behind my back as he wakes himself up.
I turn around in his arms just as he rolls himself onto his back, pushing his digits through his hair as he tries to calm his breathing back to normal. One of his arms is still wrapped tightly around my lower back, clutching me against his side, and the second that he realises what he’s holding his eyes snap open, flashing down to my face.
His chest enlarges to twice its size and his large biceps flex, his arm still lifted in the air where he’s paused it mid-tug.
He blinks down at me in wide-eyed wonder and then his hand is shooting down beneath the quilt cover, fisting his length.
“Jesus Christ,” he rasps, his morning voice a billion octaves deeper than usual. The hand that was resting on my lower back slides down over my behind, and he uses his grip to shove me up his chest.
“Ash,” he murmurs, giving me a tired but handsome smile. “I can’t believe that last night happened. I can’t believe that I have you in my arms again.”
The hand on my ass palms me harder, and then he’s groaning as he slips his thick quad between my thighs, breathing out a pained laugh as he tosses himself faster beneath the sheets.
With a rugged sound from deep in his chest he tears his arm away from his erection, immediately tangling his fingers up in my hair as he rolls me onto my back and drops down on top of me.
I choke on a gasp as his rigid dick impales my stomach.
“Sorry,” he murmurs quickly, lifting himself up onto his elbows. His morning wood is so long that it’s still dragging heavily over my stomach. He gives me a slightly embarrassed smile and says, “I can put some clothes on if you want.”
My cheeks flush pink as I whisper, “Not on my account.”
He immediately laughs and gives me the most gorgeous grin, smile creases taut in his cheeks as his gaze rakes down my body. There’s a playful glint in his eyes when he shoves himself up onto his haunches, stepping heavily down from the bed and rolling his large shoulders.
I sit up on my elbows and frown.
“Where are you going?” I ask, my voice light and breathless.
He sees my expression, chuckles quietly, and leans down to kiss me.
When he lifts up from towering over me he gently pushes the sheet from under my chin, letting it rest gently just above my breasts. His eyes flare with heat but he doesn’t push the quilt any further.
Then his gaze lifts back to mine and he swipes a condom from the bedside table.
“Gonna workout,” he rumbles gruffly.
I blink up at him. First in shock, then in horror.
“You’re gonna what?” I breathe, lifting an eyebrow and hoping that I misheard him.
Tanner fists his thick cock with one hand and I go a little lightheaded as I glance down at it.
“Correction: we’re gonna workout.” He drops his erection, letting it hang hard and heavy between his thighs. “You’re joining.”
I gasp and place one of my hands over my heart.
“Tanner, that is the worst thing that you have ever said to me.”
He smirks and gently eases the sheets from my body, keeping his eyes on mine as he leashes our fingers together.
“Not the kind of workout that you’re thinking, baby,” he murmurs, tugging me to my feet and then hunching down so that he can kiss my cheek.
I try not to flush too hard when he pulls away, his mouth leaving a sparkling tingle in its wake.
“What kind of workout?” I mumble, looking up at him from under my lashes.
“You wanna know what kind of workout we’re gonna do this morning?” he asks, his voice all deep morning gravel. He walks backwards so that I follow him out of the room, fingers warm and strong as he squeezes my hands with his.
I frown up at him in reply, not dignifying that stupid question with an answer.
He laughs quietly and in the next second I’m squealing, as he hauls me against his chest, pressing kisses all over my cheeks.
“Weights,” he grunts, grinning as he bounces me in his arms. He gives my body an approving once-over before adding with a smirk, “A pretty tiny weight today though.”
It takes me a moment to realise what he’s really saying and when I do I’m giggling and trying to hide my smile.
Okay, that was cute.
I’m the workout.
Tanner’s deep chuckle reverberates through my body and I cling onto him harder as he tries to find the room that he’s looking for.
“Where are you taking me?” I ask him, looking over my shoulder.
“To Heaven, hopefully,” he drawls, smirking as I roll my eyes. “Bathroom,” he says finally, and I point my finger toward the correct door.
“Didn’t you snoop around while I was trekking yesterday?” I ask him.
He sets me gently down on my feet as we reach the threshold.
“Hell no. Wouldn’t have felt right. Had to keep goin’ back and forth to the cabins when I needed to take a leak.”
I breathe out a surprised laugh because that’s… really thoughtful. In a kind of country boy way.
He herds me through the door but stops short the second that we’re inside.
I feel heat rise to my cheeks because this is the first time that anyone has seen the bathroom’s renovation.
“Jesus,” Tanner rumbles, shoving his hand through his hair. I peek up at him as he takes in the room, nerves twisting in my gut.
His eyes instantly drop to mine and I almost look away from the intensity of his stare.
“You did all this?” he asks, his voice deep as he gestures to the wall behind me. “You did all of this on your own? In, what, a matter of weeks?”
I search his eyes warily before glancing over my shoulder at my handiwork.
There was a lot of plumbing and electrical work that had to be checked out when I hired in the contractors, but after that it was a matter of working the room into my own design. The whole lake house is walled with rich medium-brown wood, bar the shower right in front of us which I spent days turning into black-tiled perfection. It’s sexy and intimate and exactly how I wanted it to be, and when I glance back up at Tanner I think that he might like it too.
I shake my hair out of my face and put on my most emotionless, business-like expression.
“What do you think?” I ask, my voice a little husky.
Tanner’s palms settle on my waist, drawing me against him as he walks me backwards, further into the room.
“It’s fucking beautiful, just like you.” He grips my chin in his palm, tilts my head back and kisses me. His free hand slides down to my behind, massaging me roughly as his tongue caresses mine.
When he pulls away his big chest is heaving.
“Your parents are gonna be so fuckin’ impressed.”
I breathe out a nervous laugh and press my hands against his abdomen.
“Maybe,” I laugh, “but this isn’t really their thing. Small towns, lake houses… that isn’t where the money is.”
Tanner strokes his thumb up my jaw, eyes too striking, too penetrative.
“But it’s your thing,” he rumbles. “And there is some money in it.”
“Not the kind of money that they’re after,” I explain.
“But it’s a market that they may as well be involved in, because if they aren’t providing the properties then someone else will.”
It’s a good point, even though I can’t be sure my parents will care.
I hum quietly down at my sparkly toes.
Tanner’s fingers push gently beneath my chin, tilting my face up to his as he presses his body against mine.
“It’s perfect,” he tells me. “You did so fuckin’ good.”
I swallow and force myself to maintain his intimidating eye-contact.
“Thank you,” I breathe shakily.
“You’re welcome,” he replies, his voice confident and hard.
A thought flashes through his eyes and he glances back at the shower before looking down at me again. His palms squeeze around my waist as I caress my hands over his chest.
“Did I tell you that, uh… did I tell you that the hockey team that I signed to is this one? The one in Larch Peak?”
I blink up at him in surprise. “No, I don’t think that you told me that,” I whisper.
He links his fingers through mine, eyes on our hands as he nods his head.
“Well, this is where I’m gonna be. In Larch Peak. Playing hockey.”
“Okay,” I whisper, my thoughts so loud that I swear he’ll be able to hear them. “So, have you… bought a place here yet, or are you still looking around?”
“Still looking around,” he answers immediately, eyes shooting back to mine. “What about you? Do you know where you’re gonna move to?”
I shake my head, the tension in the room almost too much to handle.
Maybe I’ll move back home to where my parents are, or maybe I could move to be close to Connell. But the fact of the matter is that there’s nowhere I need to be.
If my parents let me take up my dream role in their company then the majority of the job is going to be in individual small towns, my home base permanently in flux.
But it would be pretty nice to have a place to call home.
Tanner looks down at me, eyes burning, and then nods once – silently letting me know that he’ll drop the subject… for now.
Suddenly we catch movement over to the side and Tanner quickly turns to his left, brow lifting in surprise. When he sees our reflections looking back at us in the vanity mirror above the sink, his handsome smile meets mine, mouth lifting into a smirk.
I breathe out a giggle when he pushes his broad chest against my face and I shove at his pecs, the height difference giving me butterflies.
He quickly wraps his forearms around my middle and hauls me even closer, growling when my pinch-happy fingers hover dangerously close to his nipple.
“Do it, I fucking dare you,” he rumbles, a barely veiled threat, and then he’s stumbling forward, groaning as I pinch him hard and tight.
“ Aisling ,” he rasps, heaving me up by my ass, and kissing me long and deep before turning us back to face the mirror.
“Look at how pretty you are,” he murmurs deeply, as I stroke gently over his stubble. “Way too pretty to take pipe from a brute like me.”
“Tanner!” I exclaim in surprise, giggling as he presses a rough kiss against my lips.
“Am I wrong?” he rumbles, chest heaving as he stares down at me. “Look at yourself, Ash. You’re so beautiful it’s crazy.”
I glance over my shoulder to look at us in the mirror and the physical contradictions only make me love him more. He looks every bit the bad boy hockey player that I spent four years knowing him to be, only now I also know that he’s a secret sweetheart.
“You know that you’re the hottest guy I’ve ever seen, right?” I ask, arching an eyebrow because I’m genuinely curious. “You’re all muscles and smile creases, and your neck’s so thick that I wanna, like… sink my teeth into it.”
Tanner swipes his tongue over his lower lip, grinning lazily down at me.
Okay, someone definitely did not need to have their ego stroked.
I’m still mid eye-roll as he drawls, “God, baby, you’re right. Former junior year hockey captain and former senior year cheer captain? You’re fuckin’ made for me, Ash. Sink your teeth into my neck, right now.”
I huff out a laugh, shoving him off of me as he squeezes my ass.
“You’re also way too cocky for your own good,” I add, squealing when he herds me into the shower, slapping on the spray and shielding me from the instant downpour.
He presses my back against the wall, steam haloing his shoulders as he smirks down at me.
“One of the perils of having such a giant cock.”
I burst into a fit of laughter as he crushes his mouth down on mine, his tongue sliding deep as the water begins pelting hard against his skin.
He cages me in with one of his forearms, resting his fist just above my head, and he rubs his tongue faster against mine, grunting as he shoves his other hand between my legs.
I gasp in shock as he rubs my clit, my fingers digging into his shoulders as heat floods my body. He rubs me fast and thorough, tearing his mouth from mine so that he can watch himself touch me.
“So hot,” he rasps, rubbing faster as he kisses his way down to my breasts. He licks over each of my nipples, ripping hungry growls from deep in his chest.
When he starts scraping over me with his stubble I can’t take it anymore.
“Tanner,” I gasp, “if you’re trying to get me wet, you r-really don’t have to. I don’t know if you can tell but I… I’m already–”
“I can tell,” he grunts. “Trust me, I can tell.”
My cheeks flush crimson as Tanner kisses me again, his arm pumping relentlessly between my unsteady thighs.
I arch my back against the tiled wall, my fingers digging into Tanner’s shoulders, and he drops his forehead to the curve of my neck, breathing heavily.
“Tanner,” I pant, my voice a whisper beneath the spray, “you d-don’t have to do that… we can… we can just–”
And suddenly I’m whimpering as he shoves his entire palm against my clit, rubbing it roughly as he hunches down and sucks hard on one of my nipples.
“Tanner!” I gasp. “I’m going to… to, like, explode ,” I squeak, fingers yanking at his hair and making him growl as he stands upright to tower over me.
He jerks his chin at me and if I was wearing panties right now it’s safe to say that they would have melted right off of me.
“Good,” he rumbles. “That’s what I was going for.”
I rake my nails down his chest and his shoulders swell, his abdomen clenching. My vision blurs into a haze of black tiles, silver steam, and Tanner’s perfect sun-kissed body as he shoves his palm against me harder, his jaw muscles bunched tight as he drives me over the edge.
“Don’t stop, don’t stop,” I whisper quickly, and Tanner all but comes with me, gripping the base of his erection on a loud guttural groan, tossing himself roughly as he watches me come undone.
“Fuck,” he rasps as soon as I’m done, slipping his tongue inside my mouth while simultaneously hitching my hips around his. “Condom,” he murmurs as he pushes the shower door open, quickly snatching the black foil square from the sink and tearing it open with his teeth.
“Ohhhhh my God,” I whisper as he spits out the wrapper, and he flashes me that cocky smirk as he carries me back inside the shower. He shoulders the door shut, drops me to the floor, and keeps his eyes on mine as he starts fisting the muscle between his thighs.
His eyes slowly rake their way down my body and then work their way back up, stopping when he reaches my chest and using that point to start rolling on the condom.
“Last night meant so much to me,” he murmurs when he finishes rolling it on, pulling me flush against his chest and then walking me backward so that I’m up against the wall. “You mean so much to me.”
I press the back of my hand against my cheeks, feeling dizzy and lightheaded.
“It’s way too hot in here,” I whisper breathlessly, “for, like, a couple of different reasons.”
Tanner shakes his head and gives me that handsome grin, before easily scooping me up in his arms so that we’re chest to chest, and positioning his hips exactly how he wants between my thighs.
“Can I make it hotter?” he asks gruffly, fisting his cock and rubbing it against me.
I press my palm to my forehead. “I don’t know if I can take it,” I wheeze.
His breathing is turning heavy, chest pumping hard in the increasing steam. “Want me to stop?” he murmurs, his erection flexing against my heat.
Cocky fa?ade aside, Tanner’s the most considerate man that I’ve ever met.
I arch my body up against his and he grits his teeth, his self-control rippling.
“I don’t want you to stop,” I whisper and he’s instantly groaning, kissing me hard while he nudges his hard muscle between my thighs. He pushes my legs a little farther back and then he’s dropping his forehead to mine, meeting my gaze in a hot and heavy silent question.
I nod my head quickly and he grunts as he thrusts inside.
“ Aisling ,” he growls, and he pulls out long and slow, wrapping one of his palms around the side of my throat as he shoves it back in.
“Tanner,” I gasp, my back sliding against the hot wall, condensation slipping over my nipples as he thrusts in harder and harder.
“Is this alright?” he rasps, his voice hoarse and eyes heavy. “I’m not… not crushing you, am I?”
I choke out a little laugh and he laughs quietly with me, brow arched in pleasure-pain as he takes my mouth with his.
“You mean everything to me,” he pants as he presses his forehead down on mine. “I can’t wait to get you in my tent tonight. Can’t wait to slow-fuck you in the middle of the forest.”
I suck in a sharp inhalation and my head drops back against the dark tiles. Tanner clutches his forearm tighter around my lower back, his other hand gripping firmly at my nape. He pumps me harder and faster against the shower wall.
“Just gonna say it,” he rumbles, shoulder muscles bunching as he thrusts deeper. “I’ve fantasised about us doing this so many times. After every training session, every game – always had this fantasy that I’d sneak you into the locker room with me and take you right there in the shower stall, our little secret.”
He presses a kiss against my lips, warm and gentle as his palm grips my jaw.
When he pulls back to stare down at me I look up at him from under my lashes, my fingers tight at the back of his neck and he rolls into me harder.
“I’m sorry for fighting this for so long,” I whisper.
He shakes his head. “Don’t be. You were real good at it.”
I breathe out a laugh but still feel my cheeks grow warmer, my eyes stinging with tears.
“I’m serious,” he rumbles, his voice deep and slurring. “Don’t apologise, baby.”
“We spent four years apart,” I whisper. “That was all my fault.”
“Four years is nothing. You’re the rest of my life.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, heart fluttering when he meets my lips with his. He kisses me so sweetly, so unlike how he’s moving between my thighs. Rough, rugged thrusts that have him moving both palms to grip my behind, his hands squeezing gruffly as he kisses me soft and warm.
“You done feeling sorry for yourself now?” he murmurs, hips driving faster.
I gasp and scowl up at him, a teasing smirk tugging at his lips.
“Jerk,” I whisper, but I can’t stop my little smile, and when his chest swells contentedly I realise how much he means to me too. I arch my neck, wanting to kiss him, and seeing my little struggle he grins and leans down.
He licks his tongue against mine, one hand roaming up to my breasts as I begin squirming.
“You’re gonna come,” he rumbles, voice low and matter-of-fact. He looks down at my breasts, squeezes one, and grunts quietly.
“Y-yeah,” I whisper, nodding my head as he caresses me.
“I still wanna fuck you in the locker room,” he says, eyes burning as he thrusts harder. “When I start playing pro this fall, you’re gonna come to my games. I’m gonna take you like this.”
“Th-that’s definitely not going to be allowed,” I whisper, “but, like, okay.”
Tanner grins before growling roughly against my throat, sinking his teeth into my neck as he bounces me hard on his hockey player thighs.
“Tanner!” I squeal, and then it’s all happening at once, my toes curling and my abdomen tightening as my body explodes in unending pleasure.
Tanner releases his teeth from my throat, licking the area while he continues pounding me.
“I’m there, baby,” he murmurs, pinning one forearm above my head, hips thrusting frantically. “Right behind you.”
I choke out a tiny laugh. “W-well, technically you’re not behind me–”
The sound that rips from Tanner’s throat is so rough that my nipples pinch, and I squeal as he thrusts me straight into another orgasm.
His big palm grips into my behind, massages it gruffly, and then gives it a spank.
I squeeze the large muscles of his chest, gasping and sighing as he ejaculates.
“I can’t wait to take you like that,” he rasps, biceps flexing as he shudders. “Layin’ you down on your belly and makin’ love to you from the back.”
“Oh my God,” I whimper, biting my teeth into my lower lip. “You have got to stop with the dirty talk or I’m going to be on, like, orgasm number four.”
Tanner huffs out a pained laugh as he thrusts slowly inside of me, jerking rougher every few seconds when he releases another long spurt.
When he finally stops shuddering he pushes my back against the wall, holding me tight against his chest as the water cascades around us, warm and never-ending.