“We’ll be there,” Zali promised. I could already hear her moving around. “Ry,” she called. “Fancy a flight to Sydney?”
“Sure. When?” he responded.
“Now?”
Eep! This was really happening.
eighteen
Cara
The game was inspiring. Twelve men on sharpened blades skated around the rink at the speed of light. They chased a disk the size of my palm.
Monroe’s and my seats were front row, centre ice. We were right up against the plexiglass. The spray of ice rained down on us more than once as the Seals dominated the game again.
Alec was on fire. He was having almost as good a game as his previous one—two goals and three assists. Up until the last ten minutes of the final period, the Kings were scoreless.
They hadn’t stood a chance.
My voice was hoarse from screaming. I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face, my cheeks hurting from all the grinning I’d done all night.
I was giddy with excitement.
Having Monroe right next to me, shouting right alongside me, was exhilarating. He’d touched me the whole night too. He had his hand at the small of my back or his arm wrapped around my shoulders as we cheered Alec on. Then, when the kiss cam had panned around the stadium, he’d cheered and whistled as if hecould get its attention. It hadn’t landed on us, but it didn’t stop Monroe kissing me.
On my knuckles.
The look he’d sent me was scorching. His blue eyes were dark with want, filled with so much promise that it took my breath away. His lips were parted, and his tongue swept over his bottom lip as he drank me in.
We were on our feet, and I was weak in the knees.
And wet in other areas.
Very wet.
He tugged me close, and the ridge of his shaft pressed against me. I whimpered, desperate for friction between my legs. The ache and the emptiness were unbearable.
Monroe slid one hand down, squeezing my butt through the thin layers of my dress and tights. With the other, he clasped my hand and brought my knuckles to his lips. His heated breath washed over me as he growled. The rumble sent a shiver through my body, want spiralling through me.
He scraped his teeth gently over my knuckles and my kitty clenched hard. Then he pressed a soft kiss to my hand, and butterflies went nuts in my belly. I wanted to climb him right there and then.
Music thumped through the speakers, the announcers calling out the third period and shocking me out of the spell he’d cast over me.
The rest of the game was a blur. It was as if I was floating in a sea of dreaminess. Monroe kept me on that precipice, his touches chaste enough to be decent, but teasing me in just the right way. We screamed and cheered, and I watched Alec and the team bring home the W.
After the final buzzer, we converged on the footpath and walked back to the hotel. I was surrounded by my friends. All of Zali’s men had followed her despite me only having three ticketsto offer them. Flynn and Tristan had stayed at the hotel while Ezra, Ryder, and Zali followed us to the rink. Now that we were back in the lobby bar, Flynn was sitting on Tristan’s lap, cozying up to him while Ezra and Ryder regaled them with stories of the game.
Zali faced Monroe and me, the three of us talking about how neither Monroe nor I wanted the trip to end. We were halfway through, the final game only a few days away in Melbourne. But the team was doing a promo day in Adelaide, too, visiting the Adelaide Adrenaline’s rink to do a fan meet-and-greet, then a visit to the Children’s Hospital. The high I’d been floating on popped like a balloon, and I hit the ground with a hard thump. Alec’s departure was creeping up on us far too quickly. I wouldn’t focus on the negatives—he was still with us for another week or so—but it wasn’t enough. I wanted to enjoy every moment we had left.
Monroe sat pressed up against the other side of me. It was as if he could sense the conflict inside me too. He hadn’t moved his hand from the small of my back and his touch was doing wonders to keep my mind firmly in the present. I couldn’t stop the constant flush heating my cheeks and the shy giggles that erupted whenever he skated his fingers along my spine. But I loved every minute of his attention.
It was nearly two hours after the game finished that we saw the team starting to file into the hotel lobby bar. Dressed in suits, they were imposing. High on another win, there was a lot of loud laughter and cheers, but it was the quiet one at the back who caught my attention. Alec was drop-dead gorgeous.
He wore a charcoal suit with a mauve shirt and grey tie that moulded to his body like it was tailored to fit him. It probably was, because no suit I’d ever seen fit that well.
When Alec met my gaze, I inhaled sharply. Monroe’s hand tightened on my waist, and the combination of being in hispresence and seeing Alec did my head in. I squeezed my legs together, the sudden throb between them overwhelming. How was it that before a couple of nights ago, I’d never had sex, yet now I couldn’t get it out of my head?
A few of the team members wandered straight over to us, making no secret of the way they were checking out Zali in her Seals jersey. “The sponsor girl’s friend is hot,” one of them said louder than I think they intended.
