Gemma took in a shaky breath, color rising to her cheeks. I wondered if she was remembering our last night together, after I’d brought her home from the team Christmas party. I’d had her screaming my name on repeat for hours with her pussy molded around my cock in just about every position imaginable.
“But-but—” she stammered, trying to put her thoughts into words. Gesturing to Cannoli, she said, “But you bought me a dog.”
“Yeah, about that.” I pulled on the back of my neck. “I tend to get a little carried away when I’m excited. I shouldn’t have brought him home without asking you first. I’ll get all his stuff loaded up, take him back to my place, and see if the breeder can find another home for him.”
Her body lurched off the couch. “No!”
Cannoli whimpered, his head lifting and eyes cracking open for a split second before he settled back into sleep.
“No?” One of my eyebrows arched.
“I mean . . .” Gemma twisted her hands, gaze dipping to the floor before continuing, “He’s kinda growing on me.”
There it is.
Don’t worry, baby, I know you don’t just mean the dog.
“Okay.” I nodded. “I’ll come back tomorrow and work on crate training him.”
My hand was on the doorknob, poised and ready, when she called out, “Don’t leave.”
“Gemma.” Her name was said on a groan as I dropped my forehead to the smooth wood surface before me. “I’ve made it very clear what happens if I stay.”
I forced myself not to look when I heard her footsteps padding across the room. I had to make her believe that I was giving her exactly what she wanted—sex and nothing else.
Well, with the addition of a few mixed signals, like the puppy and cooking her dinner so she got a small taste of what she was missing out on.
I wanted her off-kilter, confused enough that she began to question her choices. And hopefully, it would lead her straight into my arms. Forever.
The minute her hand gripped my bicep, the tension and apprehension left my body. Her touch centered me, made me whole.
“I know what I’m asking. Stay, Sasha. Please.” Her whispered words had the power to bring me to my knees—a place I’d happily spend the rest of my life if it meant she was in it.
A switch flipped inside me, and I spun us around. Pinning Gemma to the front door, I growled, “Right answer.”
My mouth crashed down on hers, cutting off her gasp of surprise.
This might just turn out to be the best Christmas of my life.
Chapter 20
Goose
Hate was a wordthat didn’t often find its way into my vocabulary, but I fuckinghatedthe penalty kill.
And it sure didn’t help that Wyatt Banks, our top defenseman and key member of the penalty kill unit, was the one headed to the penalty box. That meant a less experienced player would be taking his place out in front of me while we were down a man for the next two minutes.
“We’ve got this.” Jenner skated by, tapping his stick against my pads before lining up for the defensive zone face-off to my right.
We were losing by a score of two-to-one to the Wisconsin Wolves, on the road in what was our last game before heading back home to Indy. Letting in two goals was two too many in my book, so I banged the shaft of my stick against each goalpost, vowing that no more were getting past me. Not tonight.
The ref dropped the puck, and thankfully, Braxton won it back to Logan Ford, who managed to bank it off the curved glassand out of the zone. That killed at least twenty seconds off the clock as the Wolves had to chase it the length of the ice before regrouping and coming back this way.
Twenty seconds, a minute forty to go.
I’ve got this.
Digging my skates in, I kept my stance wide as the Wolves re-entered the zone. My eyes shifted rapidly, tracking the movement of each player on the opposing team as they set up their power play, passing the puck around with ease because we didn’t have enough guys on the ice to cover all of them.
