Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
CATALINA
"That was nice." We stepped out the front door of the restaurant, back onto the street. The evening air was cold, carrying a hint of winter. Just the way I liked it. Give me snow and mountains over beaches and heat any day.
"It was." Easton slipped his hand into mine. "Are you sure you want to see a movie?"
His fingers were warm around mine, large and calloused. The kind you'd expect from a guy who works with his hands.
"You said it wasn't a real date without a movie," I reminded him.
He shrugged and said "I did say that, but I'm flexible. We could do something else if you want?"
"I don't know, what do you have in mind?" I should probably know better than to ask, but he had me curious.
"If you trust me, I know a place." He led me over to his ute and unlocked the doors. He opened mine and helped me inside before walking around and climbing into the driver's seat.
"I don't know if I know you well enough to trust you, but I'm game," I said.
He glanced over at me and grinned. "Of course you are. Don't worry, I'm not going to take you out into the forest and throw you into a shallow grave."
"I wasn't thinking that until you brought it up." I made a face at him. "Now I'm wondering if I should get out." I put my hand on the door handle as if I was about to push it open.
He started the engine and peeled the vehicle away from the curb. "Looks like you're going to have to trust me."
I moved my hand from the door to the handle above it, holding on as he took the corner a bit too fast. "I think you missed your calling. You should have been a race car driver."
He laughed. "I like things fast."
"I figured that out about you," I said. Fast cars, fast ice skates, fast women. He might be in trouble when the Ghouls went professional. Guys like that with money and fame were too often on a collision course with disaster.
"Don't tell me you're not the same," he said. "I saw you speeding around the rink before you were rudely interrupted. You love it as much as I do."
"Speed, yes. Smashing into something and dying a fiery death, not so much." I hung on around another corner.
"We're not going to run into anything. Admit it, you're enjoying this too." He glanced over at me.
I looked back. His grin was infectious, as was his obvious excitement.
"Fine, I am, but if the police pull you over, don't claim I was encouraging you."
His eyes were back on the road as we headed out of the downtown part of Opal Springs.
"I'm absolutely telling them that," he said. "I'll tell them you were egging me on, insisting I go even faster. I told you we should slow down, but you wouldn't let me." He pouted playfully.
"You realise there's no way you'd get away with it, right?" I asked.
"I'm an almost famous, professional hockey player the whole town is invested in. I'll get away with it all right." There was no bragging, just stating a fact.
And my friends wondered why I tried to avoid hockey players. He was right, he'd probably get off with a warning. At least the first several times.
"Why does that make me think you've done a bunch of things and gotten away with them?" I asked.
"I might have done a bunch of things, but I didn't get caught. Too smart for that." He slowed at a roundabout before pulling the car onto the highway.
"Like what?" I lowered my hand to my lap.
"A bit of this and a bit of that. Mostly drag racing and hanging off the back of trains.
Some graffiti here and there. The usual stuff a bored, dumbass kid gets up to.
What about you? You have that innocent look, like you never put a toe out of place.
I know from experience, they tend to be the ones who got up to more. "
"Always the quiet ones?" I suggested. "Marley and I once got busted smoking weed out the back of school."
He glanced over in surprise, before quickly looking back at the road. "Okay, I didn't expect you'd do weed."
"I don't, we were experimenting. It was something different to the usual bottle of vodka out near the lake until we passed out." We'd tell our parents we were at each other's houses and go out and get shitfaced.
Easton laughed. "So you were a bad girl after all? How old were you?"
"I was a normal girl," I protested. "I was about fifteen or sixteen. The age where you tend to experiment with all sorts of shit and try to figure out where you stand in the world."
"Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll?" he suggested. "We went to different high schools, or I would have hung out with you back then."
"You probably wouldn't," I said. "I put on a facade of being a huge nerd. Actually, not much of a facade. I was a nerd. But I was rebellious where only Marley and I could see. I'm guessing you were rebellious out in the open."
"Basically," he agreed. "How old were you when you lost your virginity?"
"That's a very personal question," I said.
"Yeah, it is. I was sixteen. So was she. We were at a party, just hanging out. The next thing I knew we were making out and then we did it. It was quick and messy, I don't mind admitting. I had no fucking idea what I was doing."
"Who does at sixteen?" I asked. "I was nineteen. A guy from uni. I thought we were in love. A week later we broke up."
"He was an idiot," Easton declared. "If I took your virginity and you had feelings for me, I'd never let you go. I would have done everything I had to do to keep you."
"I'm glad he didn't. Looking back, he wasn't my type anyway. It never would have worked out." At the time I was heartbroken, but now I wondered why I went out with him in the first place.
"Let me guess, he went into accounting?" Easton grinned. "He wears cardigans and reads non-fiction books. And listens to non-fiction podcasts. Between playing the latest computer games. If that's the case, you dodged a bullet."
"Actually, he runs one of the fastest growing cybersecurity companies in the world," I said. "So the accountant part is wrong, but the rest of it…"
Easton snorted a laugh. "You didn't just dodge a bullet, you dodged a full blown nuclear bomb. Your type is much more the hot, confident hockey player who does a bit of carpentry on the side."
"It is?" I opened my eyes wider. "Do you happen to know anyone like that? Can you introduce me?"
"I might just do." He slowed the ute and turned onto the road that led to Opal Lake. "He's a great guy. Good with his hands and his dick."
I sighed heavily out my nose. "Shame. I was hoping for a guy who was good with his tongue."
"I have it on good authority he's that too," he said. "He's never had any complaints. The opposite, if I'm honest. But he tends to only give repeat performances to special women."
"So he's the love them and leave them type?" I asked.
"For the right woman, he wouldn't leave." He drove into a parking space beside the water and killed the engine.
My lips slid over my tongue. "How would he know if she was the right woman?" He wasn't referring to me, and if he was it didn't matter. I reminded myself this was one date. That was all. Nothing more could come of this.
"He'd just know." His gaze locked on me and I thought he might lean over and kiss me. Instead of moving towards me, he moved away, taking the keys out of the ignition and pushing the door open. He came around to my side and helped me out.
Usually, I'd protest that I could get myself out of the vehicle, but his ute was high off the ground and climbing out with heels was precarious at best.
"Thanks." I managed not to fall on my ass, and closed the car door behind me. It shut with a satisfying thunk. The vehicle was old, but it was solid.
He laced his fingers in mine, and we crunched over the gravel car park, to the expanse of grass that led down to the lake.
The water was almost perfectly still except where it lapped softly against the shore. The sound was rhythmic, soothing. Overhead, the sky was completely clear, the stars on full display. I could have stood there and counted them, one by one. The sky in Melbourne never looked like this.
"I love it down here," I said softly. "It's one of my favourite places."
"Mine too," he said. "My only regret is that it doesn't freeze over in winter so we can skate on it."
"That's true." My breath misted the air. "But it's beautiful anyway." Especially when no one else was here like tonight. It was too cold out for most people.
We stopped on the water's edge. He pulled me to him so my breasts were pressed against his chest. "Beautiful is the word." He tucked a few strands of hair behind my ear. "I meant what I said about not letting you go. That guy was an idiot, but it's his loss."
His hand slid around to the back of my neck. He grabbed a fistful of hair.
The spike of pain sent a jolt of need through me.
I'd always enjoyed being handled rough. It was another side of the 'it's always the quiet ones,' equation. I'd never been into boring sex, never minded if a partner left a few bruises here or there.
"You're so fucking gorgeous." His lips were right near my ear. His breath brushed my cheek. I shivered lightly.
He grazed his mouth over my skin, light and slow until his lips reached mine. He brushed over them once, twice then slammed his mouth down onto mine, kissing me with fierce desperation. He pushed my lips apart with his tongue and plundered my mouth.
My arms went around his neck, pulling him closer, until our bodies were so hard against each other I wasn't sure where I finished and he began.
His growing erection pressed into me, eager and needy.
Finally, breathlessly, we broke apart, fingers still tangled in each other's hair.
"So fucking gorgeous," he said again. "Your mouth tastes like heaven."
"So does yours," I said softly. He tasted sweet and salty at the same time, along with his own unique flavour. I wanted more. My clit throbbed like crazy. I wanted to feel his tongue on my pussy. I wanted to feel his cock slide inside me.
My panties were already ruined. I was wet as hell from one kiss. I needed him to fuck me, hard and fast. Judging by the size of the bulge in his pants, he'd fill me perfectly.
Fucking yes please.
"Easton…" I whispered.
He was silent for a moment, then said, "I should get you home. It's getting late and I have training in the morning."
I blinked. I wanted to protest, but I pushed away my disappointment. He was right, it was getting late. I had practice and work in a handful of hours.
"Right. Me too." I drew in a couple of breaths and blinked again, to clear my thoughts so I could think with my head, not my clit. "We should get going."
Just one date, I reminded myself. It was definitely better to end it before things went too far. Before we did something I'd regret.
Still, my vibrator was getting a workout when I got home.