Chapter 29
NOVA
“You got his feet? I have his head,” I whisper.
“Sometimes I swear this would be easier with a live version.”
Brooke and I creep down the hallway of the Four Seasons Houston with the cardboard cutout of Michael Bublé.
“When will the guys be back?” I swipe the key.
“They’re still at media. We’ve got time.”
Inside the room, we go to the bathroom. Clay’s bag is on the vanity next to mine.
The mood has been decidedly giddy since Denver’s first post-season series victory in years. Now, the team is on the road in Houston, and Brooke and I organized a mobile fan unit to rep the Kodiaks.
“So, you guys are rooming together again.” Brooke winks at me. “Does that mean all the money you saved for an apartment is getting spent on clothes instead?”
“No! We haven’t talked about moving back in together. We need to survive the season first.”
Brooke starts to position the cutout in the shower.
Except…
“Dammit. There’s no curtain,” I realize.
It’s a glass door.
“We could put up towels?” she says.
“No, he’ll notice those weren’t up before.”
“What if he thinks you had a shower?”
“I’d wait for him.”
She grins. “Yeah, you would.”
We’re running short of time. I pull up my phone and find a livestream. Sure enough, the press conference is still going on. Reporters are interviewing Jay, who’s sitting in front of a mic.
“Clay Wade had a double-double tonight, almost a triple-double with nine assists on top of thirty-two points. How much does this alleviate the team’s fears about losing Kyle in the next round?”
“This is only the second series,” Jay says. “There are two more rounds. But we have confidence going forward.”
“Nova,” Brooke starts, wary. “Is that live or recorded?”
Dammit.
Voices sound outside our room. Brooke and I scramble, setting Michael inside the bathroom door so Clay will see him the moment he comes in. Then we dive into the closet.
The door clicks, and immediately after, I hear his voice. “Yeah, it was a good—”
He’s on his phone. With whom?
Brooke grabs my arm, and I grab her back in the dark.
“You still there?” Kat’s voice, I realize when it comes over the speakerphone.
“Yeah.” The door clicks closed and Clay moves around the room. “I’m going to let you go. Thanks for the call.”
A low chuckle. “Alright. Talk soon.”
Brooke and I hold our breath. Is he not going to respond to Michael?
I hear the bed creak, then rustling.
A heavy exhale.
Then a groan.
Another.
I grab the door handle and burst out. “STOP!”
Brooke’s at my side.
Clay’s sitting on the bed, feet extended, fully clothed and idly thumbing through a magazine. “Got you.”
“Dammit!” Brooke bellows.
A knock comes at the door. I let in Jay and Miles, followed by Rookie.
“What am I missing?” Miles bursts in Kool-Aid Man-style. “Hey, Mikey B,” he adds, high-fiving the cutout.
“Clay was jerking off,” Brooke says, folding her arms.
“In front of both of you?” Jay frowns.
Miles grabs Brooke from behind, covering her face with both hands. “Aww, your poor virgin eyes.”
She screeches, prying at his massive fingers. “Stop it, asshole!”
Chloe laughs. “We’re going out to celebrate.”
“Where?” I ask. “This town is not going to be pro-Denver.”
“I rented us an entire club that belongs to a friend. Come on.”
I start toward the door, but Clay grabs my hand.
“Meet you there in thirty,” he calls out the door.
“The sight of Michael wound you up?” I murmur under my breath.
“Not Michael,” he replies.
“No. Now!” Rookie says.
I bite my lip as I take in Clay. Then I turn back to the team. I smile and try for generous. “Give us fifteen.”
They holler and laugh, and I shut the door.
“Fuck fifteen,” Clay growls, lifting me under my legs and carrying me to the bed.
“You can’t work that fast?” I murmur.
“I don’t want to. I like having you in my room.”
“Pretty sure it’s our room.”
“I’ll call it anything you want as long as you’re here with me.” He sets me on the bed, tipping my chin up, and I spot the notebook I made for him on the nightstand.
“You still have that?”
Clay follows my line of sight and coughs. “Yeah. It helped me when you weren’t here. It was like having a piece of you. When things get dark, I think about your light, and it gets me through.”
I’m overwhelmed. Every cell in my body is about to burst.
Knowing I helped him get through, even in some tiny way, fills me with gratitude.
“You almost had a triple-double tonight,” I say, unable to stop the smile.
“That’s it, baby. Talk dirty to me.” He yanks down the zipper on my dress and tugs the fabric over my head.
I shift to kneel on the bed, giving him a view of the lingerie I put on after the game as I peer up at him from under my lashes. “You went off for thirty-two.”
“Fuck, I’m about to go off for more than that.” He grabs the front of his shirt and rips off the buttons.
A thrill races through me as I take him in, his gorgeous body, his feral intensity.
He presses his thumb into my mouth and against my tongue as I drag down his pants. He’s already huge and hard, and when I suck on him, he groans.
“Fourteen rebounds,” I whisper, releasing his thumb and shifting my attention to the obvious thing between us.
Clay was a superstar tonight. He did what needed to be done for his team and millions of people.
After the game, when the door closes, I’m the one here with him.
Well, me and Michael anyway.
I wrap my hands around Clay, needing to feel him. I lick around the head of him, a bead appearing immediately at the tip. I’ll never get over how insane it is that I can make him feel this way, that I’m the one he looks at as if he needs me more than air.
“Nine assists. If you’d helped out just one more time…” I tease lightly, only because he just won.
Clay grabs my chin and drags me up until our foreheads are pressed together. “Consider this the tenth.”
He drops me back on the bed and spreads my legs. He’s ravenous. Before long, I’m coming, my body tightening with pleasure until I’m gasping.
“That fifteen minutes?” I pant as he shifts over me.
“No.” He runs a hand down my body, caressing my breast, gripping my hip.
I soak in the sight of him, his scent, the rough sound of his voice.
“You didn’t check the clock,” I point out.
He sinks inside me and fills me so completely I can’t speak.
“Everything else will wait.”
“For you?” I manage with a smile.
His eyes lock with mine. “For us.”