Chapter 37
THIRTY-SEVEN
We were playing with fire and I didn’t even care anymore. All I knew was that I was desperate to have another taste of her, which was why I convinced her to meet me early before the game.
And why we were currently tucked into a supply closet at the rink an hour before puck drop, her back pressed against a shelf while I locked the door behind us.
“This is insane,” she whispered, but she was already pulling me closer by the front of my jersey. “Anyone could—”
“No one’s going to find us.” I backed her farther into the closet, away from the door. “Half the team isn’t even here yet, and the ones who are will be in the locker room. We have time.”
Her fingers ran over the number 27 on my jersey longingly.
“I hate that I can’t wear your jersey,” she said quietly.
We didn’t have names on our jerseys since we were a club team, but everyone knew my number, and girlfriends of players frequently wore our alternate jerseys to games.
The thought of Ava wearing mine made me even harder.
The truth was I hated it too. I hated that she had to sit in the stands in her regular clothes while other girlfriends wore their boyfriends’ numbers.
I hated that we were still hiding. That I couldn’t just claim her the way every instinct in my body was screaming at me to do.
Maybe she couldn’t wear my spare jersey out there, but there was something else she could do—something I’d thought about far too many times since we’d started hooking up.
“Take off your clothes,” I said.
She blinked. “What?”
I was already reaching for the neck of my jersey—the one I’d thrown on when I’d been sitting in the locker room early and she’d agreed to meet me.
“Take off your clothes. I want to see you in this. We have enough time.” I pulled the jersey over my head and held it out to her, lowering my voice.
“I want you wearing this while I fuck you. And then when I’m out there playing, it’ll smell like both of us.
You’ll have your claim on me even if no one else can see it. I’ll know.”
Her expression softened, and something that looked dangerously close to longing crossed her face. Then she reached for the hem of her sweater.
I watched her strip down quickly, and when she was naked, I slid my jersey over her head.
Seeing her in my jersey sent a possessive streak through me. I’d never let a girl wear my jersey before. It was fitting that she was the first when I couldn’t imagine anyone else ever being worthy of it.
It swallowed her whole with the hem falling past her mid-thigh and the sleeves hanging over her hands. But it was my number stretched across her chest, and that made me puff up with pride.
She looked ridiculous.
And perfect.
And fucking mine.
I stepped closer, crowding her against the shelf. “This image is going to be burned into my brain while I’m on the ice.”
Her breath caught, but before she could say anything, I kissed her hard.
My hands slid over her ass, lifting her up, and her legs wrapped around my waist instinctively.
She gasped against my mouth as her back hit the shelf, something clattering to the floor, but the sound barely registered because she was pulling me closer, and her fingers twisted in my hair as she kissed me back like she’d been starving for it.
The jersey rode up her thighs.
My number against her chest.
Her skin under my hands.
I was going to lose my goddamn mind.
“We have to be quiet,” she breathed.
“We both know you can do that when the stakes are high enough.”
That earned me a grin as I freed myself from my sweats and thrust into her in one smooth motion. Her mouth fell open and her eyes went glassy as she buried her face against my shoulder to muffle the moan that came out of her.
I knew we didn’t have time to waste because anyone could come looking for me, but fuck, I wanted to stay buried deep inside her forever. I held still for a moment, savoring the feeling of being inside her while she wore my number.
I knew without a doubt, I’d never felt this content, this whole, in my entire life.
“Liam.” Her nails bit into my shoulders through the fabric. “Move.”
So I moved. Fast and reckless and definitely way too loud for a supply closet down the hall from the locker room, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop or slow down.
Every thrust pressed her harder into the shelf, and every gasp from her lips made me want to drag more sounds out of her.
I kissed my way from her throat to her jaw, and then the corner of her lips.
“Fuck, you feel so damn good. You have no idea what it does to me—seeing you like this.”
She clenched around me—that perfect pussy showing me who was actually in control here—and my vision whited out for a second.
“Do that again and this is going to be embarrassingly short,” I gritted out.
Her response was to tighten her shaky thighs around me, while digging her heels into my ass, urging me deeper.
“I’m close,” she whispered.
I knew what would get her over that hill, and even though I didn’t want to stop—didn’t want this to end when she felt so fucking good—I shifted my angle, hitting that spot that always made her fall apart.
She buried her face in my neck and shattered, her whole body shaking as she clenched around me. The feeling dragged me over the edge with her, and I came with a groan muffled against her hair.
For a minute, we just stayed there—her legs still wrapped around me, both of us breathing hard, my jersey the only thing between us.
Fuck.
My jersey was literally the only thing between us. I dropped my forehead to her shoulder. “I forgot a condom.”
She stiffened slightly, but we were so close I felt it. “I’m on birth control, so we’re fine on the baby front. But…uh…”
I knew what she wasn’t sure about.
“I’m clear. I always got checked regularly before we got together, and there’s been no one but you since we started last spring.”
She nuzzled against my neck, and I felt the moment her body relaxed.
“Ava—” I wasn’t sure how to say everything I wanted to say.
“You should probably get back before someone notices you’ve disappeared.”
The last thing I wanted to do was leave, but she was right. I had to get back and get ready.
I gently set her down, but I didn’t fix my clothes or ask for my jersey back. Instead I memorized her—flushed cheeks, swollen lips, swimming in my jersey.
“I’m going to replay this moment until the day I die.”
A small smile lifted her lips and then she peeled off the jersey and handed it back to me. I tried not to stare as she got dressed in her regular clothes. When she was done, she looked like any other girl heading to a hockey game.
Just Drew’s sister. Here to watch her brother play.
And I fucking hated it.
She belonged in my jersey.
I pulled my jersey back on, still warm from her body, and the scent of her hit me immediately. Vanilla, cinnamon, strawberries, and sex.
“Good luck out there,” she said, rising on her toes to press a quick kiss to my lips. “I’ll be cheering for you.”
I caught her hand before she could pull away. “One day, you’re going to wear my jersey in front of everyone.”
Longing seemed to flicker across her face—like she thought it’d never happen, but before I could tell her how serious I was, she slipped out the door.
I waited a few minutes before following, making my way back to the locker room to finish getting ready. The guys were loud and hyped, talking shit and running through plays, but I barely heard them.
All I could think about was the jersey against my skin. The way it smelled like her. Like us.
She was with me. Even if no one else knew it.