CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Jake
Back when I first started playing for the Rangers, I lived for away games.
Coming from a poor family, I’d never had the chance to travel. I loved seeing new places, hanging out with the team in the hotel bar after the game, and that sense of family that connects people who are on the road together. Even years later, after I got old enough to appreciate waking up in my own bed, I still got a rush on the way to the airport.
But this time, I can’t fucking wait to get home.
Texting and talking on the phone with Shane isn’t enough. Skyping is even worse. To be able to see her but not touch her is pure torture. Not even crushing the Blackhawks six to one and pulling off a hat trick for the first time this season is enough to keep the scowl from my face on our last night in Chicago. After touching down in New York, all I want to do is head straight to Shane’s house, lock the door, and make love to her for two days straight, until she’s come so many times she can’t move and I have to carry her into the bathroom for a couple’s shower and more orgasms.
Instead, I hurry home for a lightning fast shower and a change of clothes before meeting Shane and Denise at a cantina close to my apartment to conduct our second interview over happy hour margaritas. I expect my bad mood to linger—fielding uncomfortable questions is never my favorite pastime, and sharing Shane is dead last on my list of things I want to be doing right now—but the moment I see her the cranky haze fades away.
The bar is packed and the lights are low, but I spot her the second I step through the door. She’s laughing at something Denise has said, and she’s got that big Shane smile on her face, and she just fucking…glows.
And then she looks my way, as if she can sense that I’m standing there thinking about how beautiful she is. Our eyes meet and her smile widens until the glow becomes a shine so bright there might as well be no one else in the room because all I can see is her.
We meet somewhere between the hostess station and the crowded bar, and I kiss her like we’ve been apart way more than three days.
I kiss her long and deep, my hands skimming over her curves as I use my lips, teeth, and tongue to tell her how much I’ve missed her, how insanely sexy she looks in that tight red sweater, and how I can’t wait to have her alone and underneath me. By the time we come up for air, I’m hard enough to balance a margarita on my dick, but my gray sweater hangs low enough to mostly conceal the situation.
I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I’ve finally learned that inconvenient hard-ons are something I should take into consideration when getting dressed to spend time with Shane.
“I’m so glad to see you.” Her eyes dance as she brushes gentle fingers across my cheek. “I was starting to think I’d imagined you.”
“Glad to see you, too. You look beautiful.”
“You, too,” she says with a happy sigh. “But you’re going to look better without any clothes on back at my place.”
I laugh. “God, you too.” I squeeze her hips through her jeans. “I can’t wait to get you naked, princess. I spent the entire plane ride thinking of ways to make you scream.”
She shivers. “Soon. Hopefully this won’t go too long. I think Denise has a Halloween party to get to in a couple of hours.”
I take her hand and let her lead me across the room to where Denise is perched at a table in the corner, something prickling at the back of my brain. “I forgot it was Halloween.”
“Me, too,” she says, raising her voice to be heard over the crowd. “Totally slipped my mind until I saw the flock of princesses outside my building. There had to be twenty or thirty of them, all on their way to a party.”
“Shit,” I say, realizing why Halloween is a date that should have stuck in my head. “I’m supposed to be at a party tonight, too. The charity throws a block party every year and the kids trick or treat the street. I usually try to make an appearance for at least an hour or so.”
Shane squeezes my hand with a smile. “That’s okay. I like kids and block parties. We’ll go after we’re done here. I’m pretty sure neither of us will actually die of sexual frustration.”
“It’ll only feel like it,” I say, returning her grin.
“Exactly.” She laughs as she leans in to kiss me. It’s a quick kiss, but it still makes my head spin. This woman is my drug of choice, and I plan on getting absolutely wasted on her as soon as possible.
“Oh, you two,” Denise says with a heavy sigh. “I think you’re even cuter together than last time I saw you.”
An hour later, we’ve proven to Denise that we are indeed cuter, sweeter, sexier, and even more in love than we were the last time she interviewed us. We make a date for pictures, say good-bye on the sidewalk outside the bar, and go our separate ways just as the sun is starting to set.
By the time Shane and I catch a car headed uptown to Hell’s Kitchen, the block party is already in full swing. Kids are running down the street, laughing and shouting and clutching pillowcases full of candy, while the grown-ups cluster around the heat lamps near the food trucks. A few of the older siblings have found darkened steps and are sitting close to their boyfriends and girlfriends, stealing kisses in between bites of cotton candy.
“I wish we were sixteen,” I murmur to Shane, nodding to a pair of kids tangled up in the shadows. “And could get away with a public make-out session.”
“I don’t,” she says, curling her fingers into my arm. “If you’d gone for my butt virginity when I was sixteen, I would have freaked out.”
I smile. “I wouldn’t have made a move like that when I was a teenager. And I hate to break it to you, princess, but that wasn’t your butt virginity. That was just foreplay, getting you warmed up for the main event.”
She turns to me with wide eyes, looking so horrified I can’t keep a straight face. “I’m kidding,” I assure her with a laugh. “I’m just kidding.”
Her breath rushes out. “Thank God. A finger is one thing. That dragon in your pants is another.”
“Now you know how I really got my nickname.” I wink and she laughs, and I decide convincing her that I could take her ass and make it feel so good she’d beg me to fuck her there again can wait for another time.
Some things are better presented in the heat of the moment, with the assistance of several orgasms and some quality lube.
Stop it.
Stop thinking about fucking her pussy or her ass or any other part of her or you’re going to be that creepy guy walking around the block party with a hard-on.
“Want to bob for apples?” I ask, deciding some cold water on my face would be a good thing right about now.
“Absolutely,” Shane says. “But before we leave we have to find some kids willing to share their loot. I haven’t had Halloween candy in years.”
So we do. We bob for apples, visit with the organizers over cider, and then join a group of kids spreading candy out on the sidewalk to compare their hauls.
Shane trades her silver bracelet for three pieces of chocolate from a little girl who is clearly more impressed by the pretty woman than the boring hockey player she sees several times a year. A couple of the kids want to chat about the hat trick at the Blackhawks game, but by the time Shane swaps her cell phone case, a Starbucks gift card, the flashlight on her keychain, and her earrings for more candy, she’s the star of the block party.
At least as far as I’m concerned.
As we leave with Shane’s purse full of treats, I can’t help leaning down to kiss the top of her head. “Thanks.”
“For what?” She wraps her arm around my waist. “Scoring us candy for later?”
“For being so generous with them.”
“I have so much, Jake,” she says, her smile fading. “Giving away some jewelry and a cell phone case isn’t a big deal. It’s lame, really. I would have hit the toy store and brought some better treats if I’d known we were coming.”
“It is a big deal to them. And to me. You’d be surprised how many rich people I meet at fundraising events who wouldn’t give another person a drink of water if their accountant weren’t breathing down their neck demanding more charitable deductions for tax breaks.”
“No, I wouldn’t be surprised.” She rolls her eyes. “I run a charity, remember. I know all about misers and never-enough-itis.”
“Right,” I agree, thinking that’s the perfect way to describe those people. It’s like they’re diseased. “Even when the evidence that they’re better off than most people can even dream of being is staring them in the face, all they can think about is how to get their hands on more and keep it from everyone else.”
She sighs. “Greed is in our DNA. But it’s going to destroy us if we’re not careful. Nothing good ever came from crushing the weak to make the strong stronger. We’re all in this together. Too many people forget that.”
I stop at the end of the street, near the barricades keeping the party from the traffic on Ninth Avenue, and turn to face her, my chest tight, but in a good way. “You remember when you said you could fall in love with me because of what I said the other night?”
She nods, a hint of shyness in her eyes that makes me want to kiss her. But then, what about her doesn’t?
“I could fall in love with you for that,” I add in a softer voice. “You’re making me believe in good people, Willoughby.”
Her brow furrows as her gaze drops to the sidewalk. I’m about to ask what’s wrong, when she says, “I had Bash look into your past. Before you were eighteen. To see if you had a juvenile record.”
My throat squeezes and my tongue goes sluggish in my mouth. “What?”
“I asked him before you and I were doing more than working together.” Her fingers thread together as she lifts pleading eyes to mine. “Penny and I were having breakfast the other day and she told me that Bash found something, but I said I didn’t want to know. I want you to decide how much you want to share about your past.”
She takes a deeper breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin the night or the moment. I just needed to tell you. I’ve been feeling guilty about it, even though I swear I never would have put something like that in motion if our relationship had been personal from the start. I just didn’t know you at the time, and the fact that you were unwilling to go to the police, even after you’d been attacked, made me worry.”
I nod slowly, the tension in my jaw beginning to fade. “And how about now? Are you still worried?”
“I am,” she says, honestly. Because Shane is strong enough to be honest with the people she cares about, even when she’s saying something they don’t want to hear. “But I also know you so much better. And I trust you. So I’m willing to wait until you’re ready to talk to me.”
I reach up, brushing her hair from her cheek. “I was ready the other night, princess, but someone got naked and distracted me.”
Her lips curve. “If I remember correctly, I wasn’t the only one getting naked. I refuse to shoulder all the blame on that one.”
“All right,” I concede, threading my fingers into her hair. “I might have contributed to the distraction. I’m pretty magnificent when I’m naked.”
She laughs. “You are. Completely magnificent. So…are we okay?” Her hands come to rest on my chest. “You’re not mad?”
“Why would I be mad? I like that you’re honest with me. I like you, period.” I lean down, pressing a kiss to her lips. “I’ve also got a good idea what Bash and Penny found. I’ll fill you in on the way back to my place. We should be able to catch a cab since it’s not too late. Sound good?”
“Sounds perfect.” She pushes up on tiptoe, kissing me again, smiling against my mouth when she’s finished. “I’m glad you’re home, dragon.”
“Me, too,” I say, liking the word “home” on her lips, thinking I could get used to coming back to this woman, to her smile and her kiss and the way she makes every good thing better just by being along for the ride.
As we step to the edge of the curb, scanning the oncoming traffic for an open cab, I’m thinking about asking Shane to move in with me and wondering how long I’ll have to wait before that won’t seem fucking crazy. I’ve only known her a week and I can count the times I’ve slept over at her place on one finger, but I already know I want every night I can have with this woman.
I want her in my bed and in my life and standing beside me making me feel not-alone for the first time in years. Maybe the first time in my life.
Growing up, I felt like I had to take care of my mom and my brothers, to be the man of the house my father was too messed up to be. I put that on myself, and never resented my family for it, but I can’t deny I was glad to graduate and get out, finally putting some distance between me and all that responsibility. Taking a hard look at myself, that’s probably why I’ve never gotten too serious with a woman. Deep down, I’ve been reluctant to shoulder that kind of emotional load again.
I didn’t realize that it could be like this, that my girl could be someone I can trust to have my back, to help carry the load. Someone who might even be able to help me figure out how much of this crap I can stop carrying around.
I’ve got baggage. I’ve known that for years, but I’ve never even considered therapy. My baggage felt like armor—heavy, but necessary for my own protection.
But maybe I’ve been wrong.
I think about those blinders that horses wear, the ones that keep them from seeing anything but the track straight ahead. I think about my life and all the things my blinders have kept me from seeing—things like hope and kindness and reasons to believe the best about people instead of the worst.
I’m caught up in the sea change going on inside of me, and the feel of Shane’s hand in mine, so distracted I don’t see the guy coming until he’s grabbed Shane’s arm and pulled her away, ripping her hand from mine.