50. Just Open It
I still havea pizza hangover when I wake up. I should have known Mom was lying when she talked about making a lemongrass turkey, but honestly, it wouldn”t surprise me. For being a terrible cook, she”s always willing to try new things. I wish some of her baking skill would translate to cooking. She”s an incredible baker. I also wish I hadn”t eaten that whole large, extra sausage pizza by myself. And the other half of Lily and Chloe”s. It was so good, but I”ve been paying for it since. Before I staggered into bed, I googled ”can a stomach explode.” The internet didn”t tell me no, so that wasn”t exactly comforting.
Having Lily lie next to me, though, more than made up for it. I”m sure I overcrowded her, but from the time we got into bed, I stayed pressed against her. My dick wanted so much more, and no amount of reminders that we”re in my parents” house or that Chloe was right across the hall did anything to bring it to its senses. Of course, when Lily reached under my waistband and wrapped her hand around it, that didn”t exactly discourage it. Did I mention I have the achiest blue balls in the history of blue balls this morning too? Not a great combination.
I try to be still and not wake Lily as I twist behind me to look at the time. A little after nine. The rest of my family will be up and waiting for us. We”re all early risers. But it”s only seven back home, and I know Lily will want to sleep for at least another hour. My parents and Barrie can wait.
I settle back on the pillow and stare at the strands of wild black hair splaying across Lily”s face from every direction. It takes all my willpower to not tuck them behind her ear for her. But that would wake her, and then I wouldn”t get to watch her. I wouldn”t get to stare at the slight part of her lips. At the way her nose twitches every couple of minutes, as if something is tickling it. I couldn”t wonder what she”s dreaming about when her eyes start darting behind those closed eyelids.
How did I ever think I loved Serenity? What I felt for her was nothing like this. I could spend every minute for the rest of my life watching Lily sleep, and I would be happier than I ever was with Serenity. I liked Serenity. When we weren”t fighting, we had fun. But with Lily, it scares me how much I love her. I didn”t know feelings like this were even possible.
When she finally stirs and pulls in a long inhale that somehow captivates me, I hold my breath, not wanting to be the reason she wakes before she”s ready. But then her eyelids flutter open, and a curve cracks her sleepy lips. ”Merry Christmas.”
”Merry Christmas.”
”Do you know how much I love waking up next to you?” she asks.
”Do you know how much I love you?” She rolls her eyes, but that curve becomes a smile that I want to see every day. ”Why don”t we do this every morning?”
She draws in a deep breath, and the smile disappears. ”You know why. The team might overlook this, but the management? There”s a chance I could even have a disciplinary action taken against my license.”
”No one would have to know.”
”Brant, we couldn”t even keep it secret from the team. If I suddenly change my address with HR, we might as well put it on the internet.” She laughs to play it off as a joke, but I know the worry is constantly in the back of her mind. It seems so unfair that she could be the one punished for this. ”And I can”t leave that house. Not yet.”
I slide closer to her and drape an arm over the dip of her waist. Moving closer to her would be a lot easier if I didn”t have a fucking javelin pointing right up into her stomach. ”Your dad would never hold you to that deal. He”d want you to be happy.”
Her eyes gloss over and her attention moves beyond my shoulder. We both lie in silence until she finally breaks it. ”Speaking of family, we should go downstairs to spend time with yours.”
She doesn”t wait for me to say anything before she rolls out of the bed. Her already short pink pajama shorts are hitched up on the left side, showing the bottom curve of her ass. When she bends over to dig through her backpack before heading to the bathroom, they rise even more, and damn, I want to drag her ass back to me. I don”t care if Chloe is just feet away or if my family is downstairs or if the fucking owner of the team finds out about us. This girl is mine, and every second I can”t have her is miserable.
”I thought maybe I would show you your Christmas gift before heading down, but if you”re not interested…”
Lily peeks back around from the bathroom door, toothbrush hanging from her mouth. ”Brant,” she sighs. ”You said no gifts between us either.” Her hand is on her hip. She”s pretending to be annoyed, but I can tell she”s really not.
I pull my legs up and tap the bed for her to come sit next to me. ”It”s not like that, so don”t feel bad.”
She disappears back into the bathroom, apparently to set her toothbrush down, but then practically skips into the bedroom. ”I”m glad, because I got you something too. Close your eyes. I want to go first.” I shake my head, but I do as she says. I hear her searching through her backpack for a few seconds. Then I hear the crinkle of paper. ”Okay, open up,” she says.
The box she”s holding is so large, she has to use both hands. I have no idea how she fit that into her backpack along with everything she needed for the trip. ”Where did you find hockey wrapping paper?” I ask. The red paper is adorned with green-and-white-striped hockey sticks and silver pucks hanging like berries from holly leaves.
”Internet. I also found hockey-themed lingerie. I saved that link for later.” As if my dick weren”t already screaming for attention this morning. ”Open it.” She draws in her lower lip and works it between her teeth.
I find the seam on the bottom, and slide my middle finger along it before I slip it in, parting it just enough to make room before I stop and look at her. ”Since this was already wrapped, I didn”t have to close my eyes.”
”No, but that wouldn”t have been as dramatic. Now, open it!” She bounces up and down on the mattress like an excited kid.
”Maybe I want to take my time.” I slip my finger just a little further into the seam but then pull it out and trace it along the package. ”Maybe I want to savor it.” I slide two fingers in this time. The paper tears just a little to make room for me, but it holds.
”Ugh, I hate you. Just open it!”
I bury my fingers to the middle knuckle and move my gaze to her. ”No, you don”t.” Without taking my eyes from hers, I rip the paper. A grin sweeps over her face as I tear away the last piece of wrapping and look down.
”Lily, what is this?” Like I have to ask. I instantly recognize the gold maple leaf on the top of the mask. I pull it out of the box like I”m handling a premature baby. It”s the same red and black stripes. The same maple leaves on the sides. ”This isn”t the real one, right?” And right there—my breath catches—a signature, obviously in gold.
”It”s not the mask she wore in the gold medal game. She wanted to keep that one. But yeah, Shannon Szabados”s mask from the Vancouver Olympics.”
”How?” The same mask I saw on my television all those years ago is right here in my hands now.
”You know Tom, right?”
”Tom?”
”He works in player development? Really nice guy? Anyway, I found out he was an intern for Hockey Canada back in 2010, and he”s still friends with Shannon Szabados. You told me she was your role model, so I thought maybe you”d?—”
”She wasn”t just my role model. I worshipped her. She dominated that Olympics. Point three three goals against average. Saved ninety-eight percent of the shots against her. And she shut out the U.S. in the gold medal game.”
”So you really like it?” She”s nervously working her lower lip again. As if the smile that burst across my face didn”t tell her exactly how I feel about this.
I pull her hand from her lap and weave my fingers between hers. ”I can”t believe you got this. And had her sign it. I can”t believe you even remembered me mentioning. Lily, this is… I want to wear this all day. Hell, I”d wear it for the next game if it were legal. This is, seriously, the third best thing I”ve ever gotten in my life.”
”Only the third?”
I tease a finger along her knuckles. ”Nothing will ever beat the first two. Speaking of that, can I show you what I got for you?”
”Yes!” She bounces again as she crosses her legs under her, and it makes my stomach twist.
”It”s not like that. In fact, it”s kind of embarrassing after seeing what you got me.”
”I”m going to love it. I know I will. Do you need to get it?” She looks around the room. ”Do you want me to close my eyes too?”
I shake my head. My heart feels like it”s trying to punch its way out of me. ”Remember how I hurt my knee?”
”No, Brant. I completely forgot the terror I felt watching you lay on the ice a whole eleven days ago. Please refresh my memory.”
”Right. Of course. Well, remember after the doctor cleared me for everything, I still wouldn”t let you get too close to me?
She nods. ”Because it was sore from the physical therapy, and you were scared to push things too far. I don”t blame you for that, Brant. Honest.”
”It wasn”t that. The therapy sessions were fine. I just knew that if I let you get too close, I wouldn”t be able to resist myself. And that would lead to me taking my shirt off.”
”And you”re suddenly afraid to take your shirt off in front of me?” She chuckles.
I don”t answer. I just pull my shirt over my head. Lily”s eyes are on my face. I look down to force her to do the same.
”Brant?”
I have to pull the air in and out of my lungs. ”You think it”s silly. It is silly compared to a Szabados mask. I should have done something else.”
She leans forward and stops me with a kiss. ”Can I?”
I dip my head, and she traces the newly inked lines on my chest. I once swore that I would never get a tattoo. I never thought there would be anything I wanted on my body forever.
”You got a rattlesnake.”
”Just like yours.”
”On your heart.”
”Just like you.”
Her finger follows the coil from the head to the tail and back again. ”I got you a piece of plastic, and you got me this.”
”Fiberglass,” I correct her, ”not plastic. Maybe carbon fiber too, but I”m not sure if that was common back then.”
She puts her hand flat over my tattoo, and I”m sure she has to be able to feel my heart under her palm. ”You know what I mean.”
”You gave me something wonderful, Lily. Something I”ll treasure forever.”
She presses on my chest, and I let her guide me to my back. If she didn”t already notice my erection, she does now that she”s straddling me. ”Feels like there”s something else I could give you too.”
”Chloe”s right across the hall.”
”Nope. I peeked into her bedroom. She must already be downstairs.”
”Downstairs with my family, who are just twenty meters away.”
She slides lower, pulling my boxer briefs with her. The air is cool on my dick when she frees it. ”Maybe I can find something to put in my mouth to keep me quiet. You”re on your own, though.”
She flicks her tongue over the tip of my cock, and anything I might have said goes out with the long breath that leaves my lungs. The blood that was racing through my heart just a minute ago all flows into my dick now. It”s so alive, I wouldn”t be surprised if it”s sparking.
”I love this ridge right here.” She licks, just below its head. ”The way it”s just a little thicker than the other side. And this. So beautiful.” She sweeps her tongue along its underside, moving from base to tip. Then she blows a cool breath over my moistened cock, and a shiver rolls through me.
Her eyes lock onto mine as she wraps her hand around my base. I watch as she lowers her mouth over me, but when her lips seal, I can”t take any more. My head rolls back and tries to bury itself into the pillow. I”m so damn close already. That”s what months of fantasizing about this moment will do.
When I feel her take more of me, I prop myself up onto my elbows. She”s still staring at me. Her eyes are filled with the heat of melted chocolate. I force myself to hold her gaze this time, and she must take it as a challenge. Her cheeks hollow as her mouth moves back toward the tip, sucking every centimeter along the way. Then she swirls a circle with her tongue, lapping at the sensitive skin around the hole, before plunging down again. This time I feel the back of her throat.
I want to shift my hips, to angle myself so she can take even more, but I”ll come undone the instant I move. And I want this to last. I want to feel her lips wrapped around me forever. I want her hand to forever work the part of me that she can”t take in her mouth. I just want her forever.
She”s moving up and down my length faster now. Sucking and spiraling her tongue around me each time she comes up. And every bit of me feels like liquid fire. Burning and sloshing until I can”t take anymore.
I coil one fist into the back of her hair. With the other, I yank so hard on the sheet that it springs free of the corner. ”I”m going to come.” My breaths are so shallow, I barely get the words out. Any second, every single nerve inside me is going to explode, and I don”t know how I”m going to survive it.
Lily”s mouth moves free of my cock. ”Good,” she groans before plunging right back down. I swear her hand and her mouth are working me even harder now. But she”s still staring right at me, and it is the hottest goddamn thing I”ve ever seen. I clench the muscles at my base, trying to make this last, but there”s no way I can hold back. My body shudders so hard I hear the headboard slam against the wall as I release into her mouth.
She doesn”t stop, though. She keeps working me, taking everything I have. Working until I”m so sensitive, pain mixes with the pleasure, and I would come again if I didn”t just drain myself so completely. Finally, both of us exhausted, she falls onto the bed beside me.
Sweat dots her forehead. I wipe it and tuck away all the hairs that were stuck to it. ”That was…” Beyond words is what it was. ”You took everything I gave you.”
”I did.” She smiles a satisfied grin and hooks a leg around mine.
”My good girl took it all.” I stroke the back of a finger along her cheeks as she cuddles against me. ”Let”s stay in bed together all day.”
”Mmm, I”d love that. But this is kind of like Chloe”s first Christmas.”
I slip a hand under her and pull her up onto me. She kisses the center of my tattoo and then rests her cheek on it. ”I”m sure my parents and Barrie are doting on her even as we speak.”
”We should still probably make an appearance,” she says.
”We should. That means we need to shower. Luckily, there”s room for two in there.”
”That would save time and water. So very smart.”