Chapter 6 Penn
Penn
With the snow falling outside, a hush settles over us. The darkness is broken by the faint golden glow from the decorated lampposts beyond the window. The light slices across the floor casting shadows that flicker like candlelight.
I toss the pillows aside and pull Jaylynn into my arms. She exhales a breathy laugh, the sound low and unguarded, as I shift her beneath me. Her hands glide under my shirt, her fingers warm against my skin, and I swear my heart stutters.
A small smile curves her lips. “Is this a trick? Some elaborate plan to sleep naked? Because I saw how you worked Dylan earlier.”
I grin, pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “Guilty. But for the record, I want both of us naked. And let’s not mention his name again.”
She chuckles, soft and breathy, the sound curling around me and hugging tight. I feel myself harden, responding not just to her touch, but to the way she’s looking at me, like maybe this isn't just a game.
“Also,” she adds, her voice dropping, “I was thinking sex might help sell our fake engagement.”
“Oh, so that’s why you’re doing this?” I tease.
“Not exactly.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Wait, you don’t think we actually have to do it in front of people to convince them, right?”
She smacks my arm lightly. “No, Penn. God.” Her laugh is husky now, her gaze soft. “But a little… intimacy couldn’t hurt.”
“Right. So, if we’re going on the naughty list… we’re going all in, right?”
Her grin turns wicked. “We don’t half-ass anything, remember? And I think I’m really going to enjoy watching you go all in.”
Jesus.
I catch her mouth in a kiss that’s anything but fake. Her lips taste like peppermint and longing, and when she sighs into me, it punches the air right out of my lungs. My hand cups her cheek, my thumb brushing her softness as I kiss her deeper.
“Penn…” she breathes, her voice shaking a little. Her legs part beneath me, welcoming.
But first—clothes.
I pull back just enough to yank off my shirt.
She sits up, arms lifted, offering herself to me.
I strip her shirt off gently, and when her bare skin catches the soft lamplight, it feels like I’m seeing something sacred.
My hands trace over her breasts, slow and light, and when her nipples peak beneath my touch, I swallow a groan.
“This won’t do,” I whisper.
“What won’t?” she asks, voice soft, low, full of arousal.
“I need to see all of you.”
I slip off the bed, switching on the lamp beside us.
Warm amber light floods the room, wrapping around her curves.
My sweats grow tight with need, and I push them down, stepping out of them as I wrap one hand around my shaft.
She watches, her breath catching, her body answering mine without a single word.
“Now that’s better,” I say as I drink her in.
“I like seeing you too,” she murmurs, voice low and smoky, as she crooks a finger at me, inviting me back into her warmth.
Yeah. Consent has never looked so goddamn sexy.
I raise a brow. “Something you need, babe?”
She shifts against the sheets, her eyes flicking down, unashamed. “Oh, I think you know exactly what I need.”
I step closer, watching her breath hitch as her gaze lands on my cock. The room feels hotter now, like the air itself has thickened around us. I glance at the twinkling lights outside, then back at her, my voice playful.
“Could it be... a peppermint stick?”
That makes her laugh, a real one, the kind that lights up her whole face and melts something in my chest. She looks relaxed now, more herself. After everything she’s been carrying, it feels good to be the one who gives her that.
My cock twitches as she licks her lips, and yeah, maybe what I’m offering is a little harder than peppermint, but the intent is all the same.
“It most definitely could be,” she says, her voice thick with heat.
“Ah,” I say, crawling back onto the bed, “I’ll give you what you want, but right now, it’s about me.”
She angles her head, a spark of something sad, or maybe it’s disappointment. But it’s definitely a spark of something long ago in her eyes. I get it. Douche bag probably never put her first, but I’m about to show her how pleasuring her is everything I want first.
She makes a move to push herself up, but before she can retreat into that old wound, I slide my hands under her thighs and pull her toward me, settling between her legs.
She moves to prop herself up, confused, but then I slide her pants down, toss them away, and lower my mouth to her sex. Her gasp steals the air from the room.
I grin against her, licking her slow from bottom to top, feeling her legs tremble as she melts beneath me.
“Penn, oh God it’s... it’s…”
Her words tumble out in fragments, and I lift my head just enough to say, “It’s all about me, remember?”
Her head lifts, her eyes locking with mine, wide and full of something that looks a hell of a lot like disbelief, but also relief.
And then I’m gone again, tongue and fingers working in sync, taking my time, learning her with every sigh and shiver.
I spread her open, stroking her slowly, caring for her deeply.
“How is it…” she starts, but her voice dissolves.
“Because this…” I curl my fingers just right, brushing her inner wall as I take her clit between my lips, “…is all I’ve thought about since I crawled into bed with you last night.”
Her hips lift off the mattress, her body arching into me. She grips the peppermint-striped sheets, knuckles white, and when I graze her with my teeth, she cries out, raw and unfiltered.
“Sleigh all day, babe,” she gasps, breathless. “Sleigh all day…”
I chuckle into her, the sound muffled by her wet heat. God, she tastes like everything I’ve ever wanted. I add another finger, curling them deep as her body tightens around me. Her thighs quiver. Her whole body pulses. Two days ago, I thought this Christmas was going to be rough. Lonely, even.
Now?
Now I’ve got Jaylynn trembling beneath me, moaning like I’m her whole damn world. I glance up, needing to see her, to watch her fall apart for me. She’s touching herself now, fingers cupping her breasts, and something primal surges in my chest.
Mine.
The word crashes through me like a hard hit on the ice.
Yeah, those breasts are mine tonight. And I plan to claim them.
Right after she comes apart from my mouth.
I shift the pace, adjusting the rhythm of my tongue and fingers as I learn her.
Every gasp, every moan, every twitch of her hips becomes a kind of map, guiding me deeper into her pleasure.
Her fingers dig into my hair, holding me there, and I take it as the only answer I need.
Then she shatters.
A broken moan leaves her lips as her thighs quake around me, her body pulsing with release. I don’t stop. I lap her up slowly, gently, savoring every last drop like a man about to die of thirst.
“Penn…” she breathes, her voice wrecked in the best possible way.
I keep my fingers inside her as she rides out every last wave, her walls clenching around me so tight I wonder how long it’s been since someone touched her like this?
That thought lands with a hard thud in my chest. She deserves so much better in her life, and for the next couple of weeks—if she lets me—I’m going to give her everything she’s been missing.
As her breathing begins to slow, I gently withdraw my fingers and press a kiss to her inner thigh before slowly climbing up her body.
I take my time, pausing to mouth over her breasts, sucking one taut, perfect nipple between my lips.
She groans, arching into me, her nails raking down my back. It stings. I want more.
I trail kisses along her flushed skin, over the curve of her collarbone, up her neck, until I reach her mouth. Then I kiss her. Deep and hungry and possessive. My cock presses against her slick heat, and for a second, I lose myself. Every part of me is tuned to her.
Then her voice, breathless, cuts through the haze.
“Condom,” she murmurs.
“Shit, Jay… I didn’t even think to buy any.”
Her lips brush mine. “Good thing this is the honeymoon suite. They thought of everything.”
I blink, brain still fogged. “Wait, what?”
She smiles, lazy and flushed. “Nightstand. I found a box in there the other night.”
“Thank you, Jesus.” I grin and press my forehead to hers.
She laughs. “Pretty sure he didn’t put them there.”
I glance toward the little menace on the shelf and smirk before I reach over and yank open the drawer, fumbling until I find the box. “You don’t think Santa’s minion poked holes in these, do you?” I ask, only half joking.
She props herself on her elbows, smiling softly. “It was sealed. I checked. Date’s good too.”
I nod, slipping one out, still half aware of the stupid elf in my peripheral vision. I examine the foil package. I’ve seen teammates burned before. Caught in traps they didn’t see coming. Women with lies, with agendas. I’ve been wary, too. Always careful.
But with Jaylynn?
I don’t feel that hesitation.
Maybe it’s the shared trauma of going viral for the worst possible reasons. Maybe it’s the way she looks at me like she sees the man beneath the hockey gear. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t want anything from me.
Except this.
Except tonight.
And to play the part of the man who loves her—for two weeks.
She’s making it far too easy to pretend.
I push up on my knees, tearing into the condom wrapper, my pulse hammering. Seconds before I’m about to slide it on, she sits up, those small, warm palms wrapping around me. A slow, deliberate stroke that makes my head fall back.
“Fuck,” I groan, threading my fingers into her hair. She blinks up at me, sweet and innocent, but blazing with need. “Jay…”
And then her mouth is on me. Warm. Wet. Heat so intense my vision blurs. I thicken in her mouth, every muscle locked to keep from losing it right then and there.
“Christ.”
She eases off me just enough to speak, her lips slick. “This is all about me.”
My heart stutters. I touch her chin, tilting her face toward mine. “This is what you want, babe? You want my cock in your mouth?” I don’t even know how I’m managing words. She nods, eager and certain.
My thumb drags softly over her cheek as she takes me in again, deeper this time, until I’m sure I’m going to choke her. But she doesn’t stop. She wants this, wants to swallow every inch of me like she’s been starving for it.
I keep my hand on her, needing the connection as much as the friction, her mouth and hands working me until every nerve in my body is lit up, my release threatening to take me under. I pull back before I lose the fight, and she actually pouts.
“Lay back,” I murmur, my voice rough as I put on the condom. “I need to be inside you.”
Her eyes soften. “I want that too.”
She falls onto the pillow, legs spreading in invitation, and my breath catches. I slide the condom on in record time. Settling over her, I angle my body so I don’t crush her, but when she cups my face—eyes hungry, needy, open—any restraint I had shatters.
I push into her, and the sound she makes steals the air from my lungs. Her nails rake my back as her hips roll up, grinding against me, her need matching mine. She wraps around me, hot and tight, as I pull out just to drive back in harder.
When I hit deep, she opens her mouth but no sound escapes, only a sharp inhale that punches straight through me. We move together, discovering each other in a frantic, perfect rhythm. I’m on the edge, trying to hold on, when her voice breaks through the haze.
“I want to feel you come inside me.”
“Babe,” I growl, teeth clenched. “Not yet. It’s just so fucking good.”
“Yeah, I know. And I’m so happy our fake engagement comes with sex.”
Sex.
Real sex.
And damn me, while everything about us is supposed to be pretend, this is the most real thing I’ve ever felt in…
maybe ever. I thrust harder, chasing the moment, and when she clamps down around me, flooding me with heat, I can’t stop.
My arms lock around her, pulling her tight as I sink all the way in, my body letting go.
Goddammit, when we said we didn’t half-ass anything and that if we were going in, we were going all in, we were only talking about sex, right?