“Actually, he told me that he’s retiring, and the school is having a hard time finding someone to fill the position.”
My heart starts to beat double-time, which is stupid. Jake isn’t going to take a high school coaching position. He’s going back to the NHL, to live his dream, to go back to making the kind of money he deserves after all the hard work he’s put in to get to where he’s at.
But I can’t stop the tiniest nugget of hope from lodging in my sternum and staying there, stubbornly, as Jake tells me about his plan to talk to some of the high school players, show them that with hard work, they can get out of Wildfern Ridge, get a scholarship anywhere they want.
I sit at the counter and talk to him while he cleans up supper, and I watch as he sweeps the floor and wipes the bottom of the microwave, all things I hardly ever have time to do myself.
Then, when I can’t take it anymore, I walk across the floor, set my wine glass down on the counter, and step into him, pressing my chest to his, and wrapping an arm around his neck.
“Lara,” he says, his voice deepening instantly, his hands going to my hips. “I’m doing this to give you a night off. You don’t owe me anything. I want this to be relaxing for you?—”
I raise up onto my tiptoes and press my lips against his, loving the taste of him, the sound he makes in the back of his throat, the way he grips me and moves me, pressing me to the fridge and rocking our hips together.
When he pulls away, I say, gasping a little, “I know exactly how I want you to relax me, Jake.”
He picks me up like I weigh nothing and carries me to the bedroom, setting me down on the bed gently, his mouth already moving over my skin, a shower of kisses, his hands restless and tugging, my clothes slipping off like water. I get his off, too, drinking in the body that hockey has built for him.
Last week, I saw his bare chest while we were swimming in the lake, but this is different. Now, I have him all to myself, and when I press a kiss to each of his pecs, he smiles and rolls me onto my back, kissing me deeply and notching his leg between mine, applying pressure that has the heat between my legs turning to a throb.
I’m still loose and limber from the bath, smiling from the meal, unable to stop myself from kissing each of his dimplesand pushing on his shoulder until he rolls back over and I can straddle his hips.
We’re completely naked now, and he looks up at me like he’s never seen something like this before. I rise up and sink down onto him, taking his length as far as I can, my eyes fluttering shut at the sensation, shivers traveling the length of my spine at the feeling of him deep inside me.
His hands are loose on my hips as he watches me, head craned, pupils blown out and wild, his breathing shallow and quick, eyes focused on the spot where he disappears inside me.
“Lara,” he rasps when I’m fully seated on him, and at the first roll of my hips, he lets his head fall back into the pillow.
I love being on top of him, controlling the pace, teasing him with my movements and watching how his throat tightens in response to my body.
Then, I love when he rolls us over again, and I’m on my stomach, him pulling me roughly up to him, his hand reaching around and finding my clit as he slides in from behind, the fullness and pressure of it staggering, breath-taking.
With each thrust, he murmurs something under his breath,sweetheart, baby, mine, then reaches forward and pulls me up until he’s holding me to him with one hand on my breast, the other on my hip. He rolls one of my nipples between his thumb and finger, then slides his hand between my legs again, teasing me and then circling my clit until I come apart from it all.
I fall forward, gasping and whimpering through my orgasm. Jake doesn’t stop, his fingers on my clit, his cock buried inside me, until I come again around him and he finally releases too,gripping me like I’m his life raft in the middle of the ocean, my moans and cries muffled into the pillow.
When we’re done, he returns with a warm cloth and cleans me up, kissing my shoulders and stomach, then nestles himself behind me so our bodies are touching at every point from chest to ankle.
He continues murmuring between each kiss,gorgeous, perfect, beautiful.
Then, just before I fall asleep, I swear I hear him whisperI love you.
CHAPTER 28
JAKE
I’m nervous, but I know what I have to do. This is one of the rare times over the last couple of months that I’m at Lara’s apartment door uninvited.
“Oh, no,” Lara says the moment she opens the door, already shaking her head at me. She looks pale and shaky, barely staying on her feet. “Jake, I told you not to come.”
“You really want me to leave?” I ask, glancing inside and seeing Daffy and Aster fighting over a toy in the background, their screams rising to a pitch that hurts my head, and I’m not even sick. I raise the bag in my hand, showing it to her. “I brought something to help.”
She stares at the bag for a moment, then turns in defeat. “Come in.”
I follow her in, trying not to make a face at the state of the place. I was here just two days ago, but it’s obviously been hard for her, being sick.
“At least let me take the kids off your hands,” I’d said on the phone to her last night.
“What if we’re contagious, Jake? I don’t want to get you sick.”
