Page 51 of Center Ice
“I think I want to hear your explanation.”
“You’re such a dick,” she says, but she’s smiling now.
“Go on.”
“My life is complicated enough,” she says. “Hooking up with Karl would just make things more of a mess.”
“Why, because I’d be so insanely jealous I’d probably break his face?”
Her eyes widen.
“I guarantee you that whatever this is between us, it would be so much fucking better than what you had with him.”
Now the blush is creeping up her neck and her face is full-on flushed. She looks away and doesn’t say anything.
“And you know it too, don’t you?” I ask, but she’s still looking off into the distance. I say her name forcefully, and her eyes snap back to mine. What I see there is blatant desire. “If you gave me that look in person, I’d already have my face between your legs.”
She lets out a strangled sound and her lips part. “Jesus Christ, Drew.”
“You can pretend like you don’t want me, if that’s the lie you need to tell yourself. But don’t think for a second that I don’t know…or that I don’t feel the same way.” I haven’t exactly tried to hide how much I want her, but it feels good to be so open about it—even if maybe it isn’t the smartest decision I’ve ever made. In the darkness, though, with her practically panting on the other side of my phone screen, it seems like a phenomenal idea.
“This is a terrible idea,” she says, but it seems like she’s speaking more to herself.
“What, exactly, do you think is a terrible idea?”
“Letting our hormones get the best of us.”
“What is it that you’re afraid of, Audrey?”
“Everything.” The word manages to break through the fog of desire that’s clouding my judgement. I don’t want her to haveany fears about us at all. But until I know what she’s afraid of, I can’t help alleviate her concerns.
“Tell me more. What iseverything?”
“In the most immediate sense,” she says, her voice dropping so low I have to turn the volume up to hear her, “I’m concerned about something happening between us over the phone. I’ve never done that before.”
“Me neither.” My lips spread into a small smile at the thought of us being each other’s “first” for something like this, and I can tell by the way she raises her eyebrows that she wasn’t expecting this bit of information. “What else are you afraid of?”
“Starting to care for you? Wanting more than what you can offer? You getting bored of me quickly? Graham getting hurt as a result?” She lists off her fears rapid-fire, as questions. But they’re not questions. She’s thought these things through, and she still can’t wrap her mind around the idea that this could actually work.
Until tonight, I wasn’t sure it could. But now, I don’t see how there’s any other possibility than her being mine. She’s going to fight me every step of the way—hell, that might be part of the appeal, if I’m being honest—but I’m going to convince her to give me another shot if it’s the last thing I do.
“I want this to happen not just because you’ve got my dick so hard I feel like I’m going to explode, but because I want to see where things can go between us. Your concern about Graham getting hurt if things don’t work out is valid, but everything else is nonsense. Yes, my time is limited during the season, especially with my mom needing my help. But what time I have left, I want to devote to you and to Graham. And there’s no chance that I’m going to get bored, Audrey. I haven’t so much as thought about, looked at, or talked to another woman since I saw you at Jameson’s. You’re always on my mind. Not just because I want to finish what we started that night on your couch, but alsobecause you’re you. I liked you way too much when we were in college?—”
“You did?” she cuts me off, and I huff a laugh.
“God, yes. I made up excuses to see you all the time. Homework I understood just fine? I still asked if you could meet to tutor me on it. Happening to be near your dorm and asking if you wanted to fit in an extra tutoring session at the dining hall? Totally pre-meditated on every occasion. I thought about you all the time; I just didn’t think you had any interest in me.”
“I figured being interested in you was a lost cause,” she says, tilting her chin up in defiance. “You had girls all over you. And I knew exactly what hockey players were like, since I’d spent so much time around professional players.”
I let out a low rumble of laughter. “I still can’t believe I had no idea.”
“Yeah, well, if you’d actually gotten to know me, maybe you would have.”
“I want to know younow. I want to know everything about you and what your life is like. I want to celebrate your wins at work, support you when things go wrong, spend time with you and your family, meet your friends, see you as a mom, and give you everything you need. And, I also want to remember how you taste when you come on my tongue, and what you feel like when you’re wild and needy, stuffed full of my cock.”
“Fuck.” The word is practically an exhale as a full-body shudder shakes her frame.
“You’re needy for me right now, aren’t you?” I slip my hand into my sweats, thankful I’m not wearing my briefs under them, and grip myself hard.
