Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Nineteenth encounter
“Don’t fall asleep, Lucas!”
“I’m not falling asleep.”
“But you look tired.“
“Because I was just physically active! You…“
But Anna no longer heard him. She had long since fallen asleep.
Lucas couldn’t remember the last time he’d woken up beside a grown woman, not next to a little girl tugging on his arm to wake up and play Sorry or make breakfast, but next to a woman who put her arm around his waist, tucked her leg between his, and pressed her lips to his neck before taking a deep breath and saying, “Mhm.”
It was a sound that sank into his gut.
He’d never stayed at Anna’s or spent the morning with her. But shit, if he’d known she would greet him like that in the morning, he might have reconsidered.
He kept his eyes closed because when he was officially awake, he’d have to push her arm away and remind her that they were merely friends.
That they could only be friends. So, he continued breathing evenly, drawing her scent deeper into his lungs with each breath, ignoring the fact that he was hard, that Anna’s lips moved as she yawned softly, and her arm tightened around him.
He was silent a lot. He enjoyed silence. And yet he had never felt as calm in his life as he did at this moment.
It’s exactly what I want. And more than enough.
Yes. He knew what she meant.
“Lucas,” she whispered, and he heard the smile in her voice. “I know you’re awake.”
Mhm. His body was probably talking to her. “Mhm?” he said.
“You fell asleep.”
“Mhm.”
“You’ve never fallen asleep, you’ve always left before.”
“You’re in my bed, not me in yours,” he whispered. He loved that he could feel her smile against his jaw, loved that she was smiling at all. And that he felt like she was doing it for him even though he hadn’t even kissed her last night.
“I know. And it’s very comfortable,” she murmured, shifting beside him. Her hand slid under his shirt, which he’d simply dozed off in yesterday.
He should move her away. Try not to get harder as she traced his abs.
But right now, he was bad at doing what he was supposed to.
“What time is it?”
“Just after seven,” she whispered. “You still have time. You can go back to sleep. Coach Gray isn’t expecting you until nine-thirty.”
He didn’t feel like sleeping.
Slowly, he opened his eyes. The room was dim or maybe it only seemed dark because a lot of Anna’s hair was in his face.
“You woke me up just after seven? On playoff-game day?” He swept her hair out of his face, brushing her temple with his fingertips.
“I didn’t wake you.”
“Oh, yeah.” Her sigh and her lips on his neck would have woken any man. It didn’t bother him. He hadn’t slept this long in ages.
He lowered his gaze and peered into Anna’s face, two hands’ widths from his. She was still smiling.
“Well, maybe a little. But like I said, you can still sleep. I can keep myself busy.”
God, the words were innocent, but to his ears, they sounded beyond dirty. He closed his eyes because looking into hers only gave him naughty thoughts.
“Do you ever wake up and have absolutely no desire to play hockey?” Anna whispered after a moment.
“So much for 'you can keep yourself busy'?”
“It’s just a question. You don’t have to answer. Although it would be rude not to.”
The corners of his mouth twitched. “Yes. I wake up sometimes and don’t feel like playing hockey.”
“So, what do you do then?”
“Play hockey anyway.”
“Ah.”
“What else am I supposed to do? Ask you to replace me? Switch places, and I have Charkov today, who’s sure to start another fight.”
She chuckled softly. “Oh, you don’t want that. I wouldn’t be a worthy replacement. I can’t even skate.”
He blinked, and his eyes widened. “What? You can’t…what?”
“Ice skate. I’ve never been on the ice.”
“What? But your name is Temple!”
She snorted. “So what?”
“Your brothers are professional hockey players and they never took you?” Those guys could go straight to hell!
“They wanted to, but…” Hesitantly, she rocked her head from side to side, absentmindedly running her fingers over his chest. “Do you know how many of their wounds I have patched up? How many cuts, bruises, and the occasional laceration they came back with from practice? I had absolutely no interest in losing teeth! So, I never went.”
“That’s because Jack and Dax navigate like idiots.”
She smiled. “Jack and Dax, the professional hockey players, you mean?”
“Yes. You might get hurt with them, but not with me.”
“Well, you don’t navigate much either, Lucas,” she said seriously, though her eyes glittered with amusement. “Mostly, you stand around and now and then, get on your knees or do the splits.”
He narrowed his eyes and pressed his hand over hers so she couldn’t glide her fingers over his skin. They were distracting. “Can you do the splits on the ice, Anna?”
She grinned and tilted her head. “No. But I can save lives.”
“Probably not yours. Because if you keep provoking me, I might lose control and earn that silly nickname Killer after all.”
That just made her laugh — and he felt the soft, light tones throughout his body. Felt his heart beating beneath her hands.
“Dax and Jack should have dragged you along,” he murmured. “Whether you were scared or not.”
“Hm. I think they thought my fear was justified. They probably believed ice skating wouldn’t be good for me and my uncoordinated legs.”
He wanted to contradict her, but her words triggered a memory.
You smell sweet. Like something you know isn’t good for you, but you still want more of it.
It must have been almost half a year since Anna had said that, but it was still stuck in his mind.
“Anna? You once said I wasn’t good for you. What did you mean by that?” It was easier to ask serious questions in the semi-darkness, but difficult to wait for the answer.
“You remember?” Anna asked hesitantly, slowly pulling her hand out from under his shirt, moving away from him slightly so she could look at him.
He missed her touch.
He hated that he missed her.
“Apparently.”
“Wow.”
“You remembered too.”
“Yes. Because…” Her cheeks turned pink. “Well, because afterward, you made me come twice with your mouth. It was a memorable evening.”
He lifted one corner of his mouth. “You said you wanted more. I took your request seriously.”
She laughed. “Yes. Very much so.”
“So, what did you mean by not good for you?”
She swallowed. “I meant…that you raised my sex standards too high.”
Oh. “I won’t apologize for that,” he said tersely.
She laughed louder. “That’s what I thought.
But it wasn’t just that. I guess it scared me that I couldn’t get enough.
That you occupied my thoughts so much that I felt…
so in your presence. Because I could do whatever I wanted with you.
Without feeling uncomfortable or embarrassed.
Without fear of being judged. I was so…free with you.
And the feeling was fantastic. But I knew it would have to end at some point — and that I would probably spend the rest of my life searching for a man who could make me feel the same way.
So, yeah…” She swallowed, “I guess you weren’t good for me. ”
“How about now?” he murmured, his voice rough but soft. The emotions her words had unleashed in him were so loud. He knew what she meant. His body and mind knew it. He felt it in his damn soul.
Freedom. And the fear that it would be over, even though he hadn’t realized that until he’d finished.
“How about now…what?” she whispered, her gaze sliding to his lips and lingering there, tugging at his control.
“Now I am good for you?”
“I think so,” she whispered. “At least, you were a good…a good friend yesterday.”
“I see.”
“Yes, and I think…” She swallowed, pulling her gaze back up, her pupils dilated. “I think we’re working out rather well, don’t you? As friends?”
“Yes. Completely,” he murmured and kissed her.
There was no point in not doing it. If he pulled himself together now, he’d lose control the next time she smiled. If he refused to give in to his urges this morning, they’d come back to haunt him in a few days at a more inappropriate moment — like in the damned team shower.
He was powerless. He still couldn’t resist her.
And, fuck, he didn’t even want to anymore.
When she wrapped her leg around his hip, put her hands around his face, and returned the kiss, it was as if someone had straightened a picture that had been crooked for weeks.
Desire washed through his body in hot waves, and he knew that Anna was the only one who could ever quench it.
She was the only one who gave him what he needed, what he wanted, simply by existing.
By burying her hands in his hair and rolling him onto his back.
By sitting on his cock and instinctively rolling her hips against his until he was so rock hard it almost hurt.
Anna’s movements were urgent and her eyes sparkled with the same heat he felt throughout his body.
Yet her touch was so infinitely gentle. Her fingers, exploring his abs, were soft, as if they were stroking not only his skin, but also his insides.
It was as if she were acknowledging everything he had never shown anyone else, and everything he’d kept to himself his entire life.
And then she smiled — and he knew he’d lost. That he would willingly give her everything she wanted from him.
And, just then, what she wanted was to take off his shirt, judging by the insistent motion of her hands.
He sat up and obliged her before removing her top and bra himself, before wrapping his arms tighter around her, and pressing her harder against his erection.
Anna moaned, her eyes rolling back in her head.
But it was the sound of her mouth alone that made his breathing quicken and the sweet heaviness in his groin unbearable.
She rode his cock through her pants as she opened her mouth over his, kissing him deeply.
She whimpered as he cupped her breasts and roughly rubbed his thumbs over their hard peaks.