Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
AUSTIN
“I’m game.” Jane kissed me. “But if anyone interrupts us, I’m saying that you corrupted me.”
I laughed. “Because you were just such a sweet little princess before I came along.”
Somehow, it made it even funnier that so many people would believe that. To be fair, she was sweet. But beneath her reserved exterior, she was far from a delicate princess in need of rescuing.
Jane stripped her shirt off and I found myself thinking once again of how good she’d look cheering for me in the stands with my number on her back.
“We’re getting you one of my jerseys,” I told her as my greedy eyes scanned her bare belly and slender shoulders.
“I’d like that,” she whispered, her expression soft.
Fuck me.
I’d half-expected her to say something sassy, but this was far better.
“You’ll even wear it when I’m playing against your brother?”
Her eyes twinkled. “We’ll have to see how persuasive you can be.”
I scooted to the edge of the chair, hefted her into my arms, and carried her to the bed. “Very.”
“Show me.”
I climbed over her and kissed her, pouring everything I felt for her into it. My emotions were cresting in waves in my chest, so unfamiliar. I was used to not caring about anything other than hockey or Hazel. It would take a while before I got used to the enormity of the feelings she stirred in me.
Her gaze caught mine through her lashes and then her eyes fluttered shut as I kissed down her neck, across her shoulders, and journeyed down her body. She lifted herself up so I could maneuver first one bra strap over her shoulder and then the other before removing the whole thing.
I kissed the pulse point on her wrist, feeling it beat rhythmically against my lips as I lingered there.
She gasped and wriggled but stilled as I kissed up to the crook of her elbow and then to her shoulder.
I did the same on the other side, making note of every freckle and anything that made her breath hitch.
My lips moved over her breasts and teased each of her nipples into peaks, then they trailed down her abdomen, over the satiny skin of her belly and to the waistband of her jeans.
I undid them and had to get off the bed temporarily to pull her jeans off.
She helped as much as she could and shoved her panties off too. The socks were last.
Finally, she lay bare on the white bedspread, her hair spilling over it like brown satin.
Determined to show her how cherished she was, I kissed the inside of her ankle and inched my way up her legs to the top of her thighs, then repeated this on the other side. When I reached the V of her pussy, I nuzzled against it.
She whimpered.
I teased her with my tongue, and she opened her thighs wider to let me in. I closed my eyes, savoring both her sweet taste and the trust she showed me.
I listened to her little mews and gasps, using them to tell me what she liked and what she didn’t. When she was wet, her hips arching, seeking more, I worked a finger inside her. When she relaxed around me, I added another and then a third.
Rubbing her clit with my thumb, I was debating whether she needed more time to prepare when she pushed me away, panting as she stared at me with eyes that verged on black.
“Enough teasing,” she huffed, grabbing at my shirt and trying to yank it off, her fingers fumbling with the buttons because she was too worked up to slow down.
I helped her, undoing them until I had enough room to pull the shirt over my head.
By then, she’d already started on my fly, and my pants were slipping down my legs.
I stepped out of them, stripped off my socks and then my underwear.
My cock thumped against my muscled abdomen, smearing it with pre-cum.
“Better.” She wrapped her hand around my cock, using the other to steady herself, and promptly sucked me in deep.
A growl tore from me, and I grabbed the bed post because the alternative was burying my fingers in her luscious hair and choking her on my dick.
Much as I loved that mental image, that wasn’t how I wanted this to go.
I wanted to come when I was inside her. We’d have to wear a condom tonight, but maybe one day, she’d let me take her without one, and wasn’t that the hottest thought I’d ever had?
“Jane,” I warned as she swirled her tongue around me like a lollipop.
She released me with a popping sound. “Problem?”
“I want you. Now.”
Her smile was slow and dirty. If I hadn’t seen it myself, I’d never have believed her capable of such an expression.
“Did you replace that condom in your wallet?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
I clambered off her and searched for the wallet among my clothes, then extricated the condom from inside. She took it from me, tore it open, and rolled it onto my length.
“Can I try something?” she asked, nibbling on her lower lip.
“Anything.”
“Okay. Lie down, please.”
I chuckled, enjoying her politeness when we were about to do something completely improper. I lay on my back and she straddled me.
My eyes widened. Surely, she wasn’t going to—
Oh.
She gripped my cock between her thumb and forefinger and started to lower herself onto me.
Apparently, she was.
I gripped the sheets as her silken walls closed around me, tight and hot and so fucking good. She lifted up a little and dropped back down.
My eyes squeezed shut. The friction was incredible.
Her hands smoothed up my chest, and I snapped my eyes open in time to see the corners of her mouth hitch up.
“I love you,” she murmured, rolling her hips again.
“I love you too.” I thrust up into her, and she threw her head back as a shiver rippled through her. She tightened around me and my vision flickered.
Fuck, that was good.
We moved together slowly. My entire universe narrowed down to the feel of her skin against mine, the warmth of her body, and the beautiful sounds she made as she rode my cock.
Pleasure built slowly between us, like a fire that flickered to life bit by bit until it became an inferno that consumed everything around it.
My fingers dug into her hips as she sobbed and shook, driving us both toward a dangerously high peak.
When I levered myself up and wrapped my arms around her, the angle of our hips changed, and she cried out and fell apart. I swallowed her noises, muffling them before anyone else could hear.
Her channel tightened around me, massaging my dick until I couldn’t stand it anymore. I buried myself in her so deep that it felt like I was touching her soul and grunted as I came.
She touched her forehead to mine and I gazed into her dark eyes with their flashes of gold and green while our breathing began to ease.
When we’d both come down from the high, she climbed off me and I carefully removed the condom and disposed of it in the bathroom.
Arms encircled my waist from behind, and I rested my hands over them, keeping her close.
“You really mean it?” she asked, strangely shy now that the storm of desire had passed.
“That I love you?”
“Yeah.”
I smiled at the mirror even though I didn’t know whether she could see me from where she was. “Yes.”
“Good.” She kissed the center of my back. “So do I. But, um, we should probably go back out with the others now.”
I let my head hang. “Time to face the music.”
I had no idea how I was going to look Pete and Alec in the eye after having defiled their daughter-slash-sister while in the same house as them, but for her, I was willing to grin and bear it.
She released me, and I turned to face her. “We should probably shower first.”
I sniffed. We definitely smelled like sex. “Agreed.”
“Is there room in yours for two?” she asked.
“Hell yeah.” I patted her bottom and went over to start the water heating up.
We showered quickly, without much in the way of wandering hands, but after we’d dried ourselves and gotten dressed again, Jane pulled me into an embrace and rested her head over my heart for what felt like an eternity.
Honestly, I never wanted her to let go.
I hadn’t believed myself to be much of a hugger, but I’d never get enough of being close to her.
I took her hand as we left my room. We followed the hum of conversation back to the living room, where Alec had gotten comfortable on the chair that Jane had left.
“That was an awfully long ‘talk,’” Hazel teased, her eyes dropping to our linked hands and then lifting to my damp hair. Her smile widened.
“We had a lot to say,” Jane told her primly.
On the sofa, Pete and Delia exchanged knowing looks. I tugged at the collar of my shirt, trying to ignore my burning cheeks and the thought that they knew exactly what I’d been doing with their daughter.
Alec snorted. “All good then?”
I looked at Jane, praying some of the red had left my face. “I think so. Don’t you?”
She squeezed my hand. “We love each other, I’m not going anywhere, and we’re making this work.”
“Excellent.” Pete cleared his throat. He got up from the sofa and stood where he could partially face both Hazel and me. “Austin, we’ve enjoyed getting to know you and Hazel over the past few days. I don’t know exactly what the situation is with your parents—although it doesn’t sound great—”
Delia scoffed. “That’s putting it lightly.”
“My point is,” he continued, his hands behind his back, “that for as long as you and Jane are together, you have a family in us.”
My legs became weak, and suddenly, I felt the need to sit down. I forced them to hold me up for a few minutes longer, struggling to draw in a breath through an airway that seemed too constricted to fuel a heart that felt like the Grinch’s—as if it had grown two sizes.
“Th-thank you, sir,” I choked out, embarrassed by the thickness of my voice. “That means a lot.”
Hazel launched herself off the chair and hugged him. “If we’re your family, then you’re ours too.”
He hugged her back. “That’s very sweet of you.” He raised his gaze to me. “And, Austin, none of that ‘sir’ business. Pete will do.”
I nodded. Jane moved closer to me, and I pulled her close and kissed her temple.
Alec slapped me on the back. “You’d better not expect me to let you win again next time we play, though, family or not.”
Turning toward him, I raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t ‘let us’ win this time. We beat you, fair and square.”
Alec smirked. “But did you?”
“Fucking yes,” I growled, knowing that he was just trying to wind me up but unable to stop myself from reacting anyway. “Even if you were nice enough to let me win, which you aren’t, the rest of your team would never go along with it.”
He grinned smugly. “Keep telling yourself that, Harris.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You can lie to me but not to yourself, Wright.”
“Boys,” Delia chided.
“How about a little side bet?” Pete suggested, smiling like a naughty kid. “You each put in a hundred.”
“On what?” Alec demanded.
Pete crossed his arms and rocked back on his heels. “Which team will do best this season.”
I looked at Alec and mentally ran through the game from earlier. It had been tight, but we’d already come such a long way this season. The Dragons weren’t as much of a mess as me, so they had less room to improve.
“Make it a thousand,” I said, sticking my hand out.
Alec clasped it. “You’re on.”
My phone rang, and I released his hand and pulled the phone from my pocket, grimacing when Stephen Robertson’s name flashed across the screen. Reluctantly, I accepted the call and raised the phone to my ear, hardly daring to breathe now that the moment of reckoning was upon me.
“Hello, Mr. Robertson.”
“What on earth did you think you were doing, Harris?” he demanded, clearly pissed.
My stomach sank, and I turned away from the others, not wanting any of them to see my face if he was going to strip me of the captaincy. I’d taken a risk, and Jane was worth it, but paying the price was going to hurt.
“I’m sorry, sir.” I strode a few paces away and lowered my voice, “Jane always gets used for her family, and I didn’t want to do that to her. I’ll understand if there are consequences.”
“Sweet.” He said the word as if it tasted sour. “But in the future, we expect you to stick to the script, and if you have a problem with that, you’d better tell us before you’re in front of an interviewer. We can’t have a captain we don’t trust.”
“Captain, sir?” My pulse sped up. Did this mean they hadn’t immediately tossed me aside?
He huffed irritably. “You’re a lucky bastard.
We’ve seen the original footage, but they cut the final version to avoid the part where you mentioned what you were ‘supposed’ to say.
All they showed was you being sweet about your girl and talking about how great the Wrights are compared to your own family.
Trent loved it. The producer thinks their audience will react positively.
For now, your position is secure, but for the love of God, don’t fuck it up. ”
“I won’t,” I promised, grinning as I walked back toward the others. “Thank you, and please thank Mr. Trent for me too. I’m sorry for going rogue and I’ll keep to the game plan from here on out.”
“You’d better.” He was quiet for a moment. “Good game, tonight. Keep it up.”
With that, he hung up.
“Is everything okay?” Jane asked, tentatively sliding her arms around me.
I buried my face in her hair. “Somehow, I think so.”
“Thank God.” Tension leached from her and she melted into the embrace. “That’s great. How are you feeling?”
I held her tighter. “Like I got really damn lucky.”
Just as Robertson had said.
I glanced up at Alec. “Scratch that, I’m in for two thousand.”
I was on a winning streak, after all.