In Love with Riley Brooks
EASTON
Riley is quiet in the car for the first ten minutes.
Occasionally, I steal glances, and it’s like she’s deep in thought, processing the entire evening.
The road down from Coach’s is winding and slow, and the moon is up. Riley has one leg tucked under her in the passenger seat, and she’s twisting her fingers, tangling them in the hem of her top.
It’s the small habit she does when she’s thinking of something.
“Wanna talk about what’s circling that pretty head?” I ask, unable to help myself.
Her eyes find mine, and a gorgeous smile blooms on her face. I smile too.
I saw the way she was with everyone. Especially Emma and Quinn. I got the small satisfaction of watching her get comfortable with the people I call family.
She’s settling into my world. And I like it.
God, I love it.
“I liked them.”
That’s all the confirmation I need.
I’m keeping this woman. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s mine.
“They liked you, Riley.”
“I know.” She looks out the window. “That is the part I'm trying to figure out.”
My eyes return to the road.
“I used to have friends. Before.”
Her voice is almost silent. “I didn’t lose them all at once.
It wasn’t like that. Preston didn’t tell me not to see them.
He just made every plan complicated. Every dinner a small event I had to justify.
Every phone call something he had a comment about after.
And I stopped. Not because he told me to.
Because it was easier. It kept the peace. ”
My free hand lands on her thigh, and I squeeze gently. Her palms rest on the back of mine, and she caresses it subconsciously.
“And I did not notice until tonight, sitting on that deck with Quinn, how long it has been since I connected with people. People who simply wanted to get to know me for me, not because Preston had influence and they wanted to get on his good side. And Quinn… she reminds me of my best friend from college. Rachel. She stopped calling after graduation, when I repeatedly declined all of her attempts to meet up and spend time together. Eventually, I told myself she got busy.”
I look over.
“Text her.”
She shakes her head.
“No. I can’t… It’s too late.”
“Riley, nothing is too late. I’m sure Rachel wouldn’t mind reconnecting if you reach out. Text her. Tonight. Tomorrow. Whenever. One text. Hi... Just tell her you are alive and thinking of her.”
“I would not know what to say.”
“Two words, sweetheart. Hi Rachel. That is all. She can decide what to do with it, and you can decide what to do with what she does. But if you never try, you’ll never know.”
She's quiet.
“You’re… so different from him. You’re the opposite of everything he is, and I don’t know how to process that.”
She looks at me.
“Thank you, Easton.”
This time when she smiles, it’s soft and warm. I link our hands and raise them to my lips for a kiss. The rest of the drive is silent.
We get home late.
My shoulder is tight from the way I have been driving with it, and the small knot between my shoulder blades that lives there through preseason has grown from an almond to a plum.
The first exhibition is in nine days. My body knows it. I have been running two-a-days for a week, and I have five more to go before we open the season, and my knees are on fire.
I try to flex it off, but she notices.
“Are you good?”
“Nothing much. Just an aching knee, and my shoulders are killing me right now. Nothing sleep can’t solve.”
“Sleep wouldn’t solve all of that. Sit down. I will be back.”
“Riley…”
“Sit.”
I sit on the couch. She goes upstairs and comes back with the small tub of arnica cream I keep in the master bathroom drawer that she now apparently also knows the location of.
She sits behind me on the couch, pulls my shirt up off my back, and puts her palm flat between my shoulder blades.
“Lord,” I groan before I can hold back.
“That bad?”
“I need more of that, baby.”
She laughs. She works the cream in with the heels of her hands. She has strong hands, and they’re soft too. It’s a contrast I wasn’t prepared for. I close my eyes.
“How close is the first game?”
“Preseason opener in nine days. Home game against Vegas. Regular season opener two weeks after that.”
“Are you ready?”
“For preseason, yes. For the regular season, ask me in two weeks.”
That gets a laugh out of her.
“Are you nervous?”
“I’m never nervous the week before a game. I’m nervous the morning of. Then I’m fine.”
Her hands move up the back of my neck.
She works the knot between my shoulders with her thumbs, slowly, and I let my head fall forward. I don't think about anything for a long minute except the feeling of her hands on me.
Eventually, she wipes her hands on a towel, and I turn.
My arms are around her in a second, and I pull her to straddle me on the couch.
“Shower?” I kiss her nose.
“Yeah.”
I carry her upstairs.
The shower is slow. The water is hot.
She washes my hair like she has been doing it for years, and I wash hers, and we don't talk. She kisses me under the water once, without escalation, just her mouth on mine and her hand on my jaw.
I pull back just to stare at her.
Hair slicked back by the water, and eyes so trusting. My gaze travels over her. Her naked body. Perky breasts with the tiny rosy nipples pointing at me, and my hand moves. I cup one and squeeze.
“Easton…” Her voice is small.
“God, you’re so beautiful. I could stare all day.” I lean in, whispering against her lips.
Her arms immediately circle my neck to hold me in place, and I chuckle.
“So needy, huh?”
I walk us backwards until her back hits the wall, and I brace my hands on both sides of her head to keep her in place. Then my mouth finally claims hers.
She whimpers into it, and it drives me insane.
Her hands slide lower, resting on my torso and then my abs. One hand holds my waist, and the other slides down, past my stomach until she wraps her fingers around my aching cock.
“Fuck, sweetheart.” I groan into the kiss, but she doesn’t let me pull away.
She slips her tongue in, flicking it against mine, and when she pumps my cock, I damn near lose my mind.
“Ri-Riley…”
I fall forward when she keeps pumping, my legs weakening. My palms on the wall steady me, and I lean until my head rests on her shoulder. My lips find her sweet spot, and I suck on it.
Her body trembles against mine, but she doesn’t stop.
“Just like this?” she whispers.
Fuck.
“Y-yeah, baby…” I whisper into her neck in a deep guttural voice I don’t recognize.
I need to kiss her.
I don’t think twice.
I find her lips again, fingers wrap around her neck and I hold her in place, devouring her mouth. When I pull away, she does something that leaves my vision blurred and almost takes me out.
She falls to her knees and wraps that perfect little warm mouth around the head of my cock.
“Riley… baby… You’re… fuck…”
My hand finds her hair, gathering the tresses in one hold, and I stare down at her face.
The sight is so surreal that my balls tighten and I know I won’t last.
Seeing her glistening lips wrap around my thick length, and watching it disappear in and out of her mouth…
Lord. This woman has me in a hold.
Fuck. I’m never letting her go.
No one gets to see her this way. No one but me. Ever!
I watch her eyes roll back, and it almost tips me over the edge.
I grab her and pull her up. Before she has the time to react, I spin her around and pull her hips against me, with my body pressed to the wall.
My fingers find her slick and dripping.
“You’re so wet, baby. This is what you want, yeah?” I rub my bulbous head against her slit, and a deep moan falls from her lips, echoing around us.
Music to my ears.
I don’t wait for another confirmation. I bury myself to the hilt, and her legs tremble.
“This is what you want?” I wrap my fingers around her throat, tipping her head back while my other hand stays locked on her hips, and I begin thrusting.
Each thrust is met with her hips pushing back for me, wanton moans falling from her lips.
She looks so good taking my cock. Her body fits so perfectly against mine, like she was made for me. Divine.
My fingers move from her waist down to legs, until I find her clit and I rub it slowly, teasing her release.
“Oh god… Pl-please…”
She’s a moaning mess, and I love it.
God, I fucking love her.
Love Riley Brooks.
My little present from the universe.
The realization hits me raw and hard, and it spurs me on.
I fuck her hard, and when I feel my balls draw up again, I know I can’t hold back anymore. My lips skate across her back to her neck. One flick of my tongue on her ear is all it takes.
She gives in to her climax, shuddering and whimpering in pleasure. Her wet, warm pussy tightens around my cock, and I fall with her.
The spasms hit hard. I hold her waist tightly, arms wrapped around her.
The shower is still running, and the water is still warm. The bathroom is filled with steam, but I don’t care. Once I’ve caught my breath enough, I slowly turn her around and hold her to me, under the running water.
By the time we are in bed, the room is dim and warm, and she's in one of my t-shirts, and I’m in briefs. She settles onto her side, facing me, and puts her hand on my chest, tracing a slow line down my sternum with one finger.
“Easton.”
“Yeah.”
“I think I’m ready to meet my brother.”
I turn my head to look at her.
Her eyes are on my chest, on the spot her finger has been drawing, and her face is soft in the low light.
“Yeah. Not tomorrow. Soon. I think. Maybe arrange a date or something.” She looks up at me. “I think he would like you.”
“You think?”
She smiles. “I know.”
Something in me tightens and warms at the same time. I kiss her forehead because it only validates my thoughts in the shower.
I’m in love with Riley Brooks.
“Come to the first game with me.”
She blinks.
“The preseason opener?”
“Yeah. It’s my home ice. It’s close-controlled press, Diane will handle the entry. You will sit in the family section. You will meet a few more of the guys’ people. Quinn will be there and Emma too.”
She laughs.
“And you can take your camera and have a field day with it too.”
“Okay.”
She kisses my chest, then settles against me. Within four minutes, her breathing slows, and within six, she's asleep, and the small weight of her on my chest reminds me of what I’m still hiding.
I lie awake.
I look at the ceiling, and I look at the top of her head.
I need to tell her the truth before Maya gets to her. But for now, I’ll enjoy this bliss. Let her rediscover herself and fully settle back into the world. Her newfound freedom.
Then, after this season comes to an end, I’ll tell her. I’ll also have found a way to handle Maya by then.
She sighs against my chest. Her hand tightens on my ribs, and her leg shifts across mine, and she says something in her sleep that sounds like a piece of a sentence, and I close my eyes.
Whatever comes next, I will take.
I will take whatever she can give, for as long as she will give it.