Chapter Fifteen

 

Dustin’s eyes flashed. I was becoming used to that look now. It was heavy with sinful promises and bright with the need to get naked and sweaty. It was a look I couldn’t resist.

He pressed a kiss to my forehead, lingered for a moment as though breathing me in, then looked down at me with an intensity that took my breath away.

“We’ve fucked each other’s brains out,” he said, “but now, if this is all we have, here, I want to also experience making love to you.”

I thought I was going to come undone. The way he said make love in his gravelly deep voice went straight to my pussy. How could I object?

“Yes,” I managed. “But just once.”

He frowned. “Why?”

I shut my eyes and willed myself to stay in control. How could I tell him that if he made love to me more than once that would be it, I’d be gone. I could pretend once was just for the experience. More than that, well, I might start to think there really was some love between us.

And there wasn’t.

“Just…because,” I managed, “and now.” I moved toward the sun-dappled outdoor bed and he followed.

But this time, instead of tossing me onto it from a great height, he slowly lowered me down as he kissed me, his tongue searching for mine.

I let my body become heavy in his arms then soft on the mattress and loved the way he stretched out over me, making me feel small and protected.

“You make me want to rush,” he murmured, tugging off my bikini top. “But that’s not what I want to do.” He kissed down my neck to my left breast and swirled his tongue around my nipple.

I stroked his hair, arched my back and watched his pink, moist tongue tease my nipple fully erect.

“I swear,” he said, switching to my other breast, “you test my stamina more than any fucking game. Each minute trying to resist burying myself in you is harder than an hour facing down Todd Carty or Sid Gatsby.”

“You’ll have to start practicing,” I said, stroking over a set of three small freckles on his right shoulder. “For when we get back. Can’t have you randomly burying yourself in me.”

His lifted up, stared into my eyes. “Don’t talk about going back, not now, not here, not when I’m just about to do this.”

“Oh…” I gasped as he tugged at my bikini bottoms, then I helped them on their way by pushing at them with my feet.

He shucked off his shorts and settled between my spread legs. “Are you wet for me?” he asked, slipping his fingers over my belly and through my pubic hair.

“Yes, I want you to…”

He maneuvered what felt like two thick fingers into my pussy. “You want me to what?” he asked, concentrating on my expression.

“I want you to feel how wet you make me.”

“Ah, I’m feeling it, sweet cheeks.” He hooked his fingers forward and rubbed my greedy internal place. “And you’re really creaming for my cock, aren’t you?”

Damn, he was so full of himself, but I couldn’t argue. I was desperate for his cock.

I reached for his face and cupped his cheeks. “Make love to me,” I said, “the way you said you would.”

He pulled his fingers out and fisted his erection. We both watched as he fed the head toward my pussy and then in the first inch.

“Ah yeah, so fucking hot to see that,” he said, his voice tight. “Is that what you thought, earlier, when you fucked me?”

“Yes, that was hot, so hot, so…erotic.”

He grinned. “You were damn good at it. Can’t believe I’m up for hitting more home runs today.” He released his cock and pushed in some more.

We both groaned and then he pressed his belly down on mine and hovered his mouth by my cheek.

“But I’m not sure I’ll ever get enough,” he said.

He pushed to full depth, a slow, exquisite stretching of my pussy that had me holding my breath and winding my legs around his hips.

“Ah, yeah, take me, all of me,” he groaned into my ear. “I just wanna fucking stay here like this, live in you, ah Jesus…” He withdrew, smoothed back in.

“Dustin,” I managed, finding his mouth with mine and touching our lips together. “It feels so right.”

“Yeah, it’s right, really fucking right.” He kissed me lovingly, gently and then scooped his arms beneath my shoulders and held me as close to his body as he could.

I hardly knew where I stopped and he began, and when he started to move against me in a slow, seductive rock, I knew that an orgasm would soon be mine.

His body was rubbing my clit just right, his cock filling me, and his tongue, he was thrusting it in time with the lazy but solid roll of his hips. He’d made me feel possessed by him, every sense drinking him up. Nothing else existed except being in his arms, him being in me.

The pressure was mounting. My pulse was loud in my ears and thudding in my clit. I curled my toes, fisted my hands, one on his head, one on his shoulder and let him drive me to conclusion.

“I’m coming,” I gasped into his mouth. “Oh, yeah…like that…”

He moaned in response, didn’t change his movements but held me tighter, together, as I erupted in pleasure. My pussy hugged his cock in a series of powerful and delicious contractions. My clit sent darts of bliss shooting through my body that made me tremble and shake. But I was happy to let the climax do its worst as it ravaged me, because I knew he had me, he was my safety net as my orgasm unraveled deep in my core.

I gasped when he shunted harder still but then recognized the sound of Dustin coming. He kind of snorted then ravaged my mouth as he jammed balls-deep into me. A groan burst from his throat and I tangled it with my own moans of ecstasy.

He curled his hips under again and thrust upward. It was as though he just couldn’t get close enough.

I reached for his butt, grabbed it with both hands and pulled him into me as hard as I could. I felt his cock erupt inside me, warm heat spreading into my pussy.

He moaned, tensed his ass cheeks, and then slanted his head to increase the depth of our kiss. His cock burst out his pleasure again.

If Dustin had no trouble controlling the urge to “bury himself” in me when we were together then the same could be said for me wanting him to do exactly that. He knew exactly where my buttons were and how to press them. It seemed I could track his down pretty well too.

Eventually he stilled, reduced the intensity of our kiss and, with his elbows propped, looked down at me,

His eyes were glazed, his lips wet and a little swollen.

“Fuck, you make me come so damn hard, every time,” he said.

“Ditto.”

“Am I squashing you?”

“A little.” Truth was I liked his weight on me, even though when he forgot about his sheer size and let go it was hard to breathe.

“Sorry.” He started to withdraw.

“No.” I tightened my grip on his butt. “Let’s lie like this for a while.” I smiled. “I like having you inside me.”

“I like being inside you.” He tipped so his weight went onto his shoulder, pulling me with him. His cock stayed lodged inside me. “But like this, so you don’t become a human pancake.”

I closed my eyes and sighed.

He tucked my head beneath his chin and tickled his finger down my spine, then all the way back up again.

If anyone trespassed on the beach, they’d get quite a sight. Us lying on the bed, still joined, my right leg hooked over a hockey star’s hip. But I didn’t care. I was sated, sleepy and determined to make the most of my one lovemaking session with Dustin “Speed” Reed.

 

*****

 

The distant crunch of gravel roused me.

Shit.

I sat bolt upright, causing Dustin’s softened cock to slip from me.

“What?” Dustin murmured sleepily, then resumed tracing shapes on my back.

“Someone is here, out front.” I reached for my bikini bottoms, wriggled into them, and then hunted for my top. I was damp between my legs.

“Here,” Dustin wafted the top in front of me. It was hanging from his finger.

I grabbed it. “Get dressed,” I said, glancing at his nakedness. “Quick.”

“It’s probably the cleaner or something,” he said, lazily sitting up and glancing around for his trunks.

“No, the cleaner only comes once a week and she’s been already.”

He frowned. “A delivery.”

“No, the gate buzzer would have gone. It’s someone who knows the security code.”

I snapped the clasp on my bikini top and altered the cups over my breasts to make sure I was decent.

“So who else knows the code?” Dustin asked, pulling on his shorts.

“Buttercup, are you in?” a deep male voice called through the villa.

“My father,” I gasped. “Shit!”

That made Dustin move. He sprang like a mountain goat from the bed and practically landed on one of the chairs at the table. He slipped his shades and cap on and reached for the daily newspaper that so far hadn’t been glanced at. Suddenly he was engrossed.

The front door closing with a slam echoed toward me. I tucked my hair behind my ears, crossed my legs and rested back in sunbathing pose, hoping I didn’t look too disheveled and…well…just fucked.

“Ah, there you are,” Dad said, stepping out onto the deck. “Sprawled out like a cat, just as I’d suspected.”

“Hi,” I sat and put on my best snoozy face. “I didn’t think you’d be back until tomorrow at the earliest.”

“Well, I got my meds changed, Doc was happy, so we decided to come back to the villa. Giselle missed the sea breeze.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek.

I hoped to hell I didn’t smell of Dustin and sex.

“Mr. Gunner.” Dustin stood and smiled, held out his hand.

“Hey, Speed, good to see you.”

I watched as Dad gripped Dustin’s hand and tried not to recall how those fingers had been inside me such a short time ago, building me up, making my gasp for more— testing how wet I was for him.

“I’m glad things went well with your doctor, sir,” Dustin said.

“Me, too,” Dad said with a laugh. “Listen, let me grab a glass of water, take my meds and then we can have that chat you wanted.” He stepped back to the villa door. “And, buttercup, I told the plane to wait. I wasn’t sure what your plans were. Plus, Speed, I know you’ll be anxious about missing practice.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Oh, well sure…Thanks,” I said.

It made sense for Dustin to go back to Orlando, of course it did. But I could stay. The question was, did I want to if Dustin wasn’t here? Would the villa ever be the same again for me?

I suspected it wouldn’t.

Dad disappeared and I heard Giselle’s voice. She was helping him with his new meds.

“That conversation,” Dustin said, sitting back down and resting his forearms on his knees. He looked at me earnestly. “What should I say?”

“Whatever you were going to say to him before.” Damn, talk about a jolt back to reality. I’d gone from being orgasmic in his arms to negotiating his salary and contract in what felt like a heartbeat.

“No.” He shook his head. “I’ve put a different deal on the table. One that’s only for you to decide.”

“I don’t know.” I stared at my polished toenails.

“I’ll halve it, you know that makes sense. I’ll be the lowest-paid starting goaltender in the league.”

“I don’t get why you’d do that, though?”

“Because I want to stay with…with the Vipers. I told you that. My life is in Orlando, my home, my future. I’m richer than I ever thought I would be. I can afford to halve my salary and not even notice it.”

“But…”

“Say yes. Please.” He narrowed his eyes and tugged on his bottom lip.

“So,” Dad said, appearing with a glass of water. “What’s this problem your agent emailed about, son?” He sat at the table.

Dustin straightened and curled his hands around the arms of the chair.

“Hi, kids,” Giselle said, stepping onto the deck, Gucci sunglasses in hand and a Prada bag on her arm. “I hope you’ve been behaving while we’ve been gone.” She grinned wickedly and looked between us.

I frowned at her.

Dustin looked at his bare feet and then seemed preoccupied with brushing nonexistent sand from the hairs on his legs.

Tension suddenly floated in the air. It wasn’t so much what Giselle had said, it was that we didn’t respond. I caught my father’s gaze and he flicked his eyebrows up a little and turned to Dustin.

“You like the villa?” he asked.

“Yes sir, beautiful.”

“Good.” He took a sip of his water. “It’s relaxing, isn’t it?”

“Yes sir, very peaceful.”

“Makes you feel like real life is a million miles away.”

“It does.” Dustin glanced at me.

“I’ve had this place a long time,” Dad went on. “It’s very special to me. We have lots of happy memories here, isn’t that right, buttercup?”

“Yes, Dad, lots of wonderful memories.” I had a few more now.

“When Gina was a child she used to splash in the sea down there all day. Yet now she won’t go in it.” Dad shook his head. “Too scared of sharks, yet she’s so brave with other things.”

Dustin glanced at me. “She did earlier, go in, right up to her waist.”

“Really,” Giselle said to me. “I thought you wouldn’t dip more than your toes in?”

“Well, I won’t normally, but Dustin, he…he was looking out for me.”

Dad smiled. “Well done, I know that must have taken a lot of courage. And, Speed, thanks.” He paused. “It’s nice to know someone I can trust is taking care of my daughter when I’m not around.”

“Oh, you can trust me,” Dustin said with a serious nod. “I wouldn’t let anything hurt her.”

He looked at me again and in that moment I completely believed him. He really wouldn’t let anything hurt me, whether it was a mugger or a shark. But along with that knowledge came a new certainty that he was going to hurt me more than any grazed knee or shark bite. Indeed, more than anyone else ever had, because Dustin was going to break my heart. It was too late, he was in there, but he wasn’t staying. My heart was going to get shattered the minute the plane wheels hit the tarmac in Orlando.

I glanced away, feigned interest in a hummingbird and hoped no one saw the sadness in my eyes.

“So, son,” Dad said, “what is it we need to discuss about your contract?”

“Well, sweet che— I mean Miss Gunner and already had a conversation about it. I’m hoping the issue is resolved and I’ll be staying with you for the next three seasons.”

“Excellent.” Dad rubbed his hands together. “We need you, and great play the other day, you blocked Todd Carty on shots no other goaltender in the NHL could. We can’t afford for you to go anywhere.”

“Well, I really think—” I started.

Dad held up his hand. “Gina, if you’ve found some middle ground to keep this guy on board, then for goodness’ sake, stake your claim. He’s gold dust, not many like him in the world. You need him.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” I said quietly.

“So we have a deal, boss?” Dustin asked, standing and looking at me.

I nodded. “Yes, that will work for me.” And it would, it would put him on the same salary as Price, they’d be equal, it wouldn’t balance the books but it would help.

He stepped forward and held out his hand.

I took it, but instead of pulling me up for a kiss, like he maybe would have had we been alone, he shook it formally, sealing our deal.

“I’ll go and pack,” he said, releasing me and turning. “Get myself to the airport.”

“I’ll tell the driver to wait then,” Giselle said, dashing to the door. “The island cabs have a habit of just disappearing even when you’ve told them not to.”

Alone now, I turned to Dad.

He was studying me closely.

“What?” I asked, feeling suddenly exposed in my bikini and with Dustin gone.

He smiled. “Nothing, I’m just glad you worked it out with Speed, he’s a great player. The best.”

“He is, but just damn expensive.”

“It’s an expensive hobby, running a hockey team.”

“Tell me about it, and…” I hesitated. “The money is running away like water down a mountainside, to be honest. I’ve been studying the books, it’s not good.”

“Oh, it goes up and down.” He waved his hand in the air as if it were nothing, this few million deficit. “Two years ago we were making, now we’re losing. It’ll swing around again. Get inventive. See what you can do with it.”

“But, Dad, we need the money…”

“Need the money!” He scoffed. “Buttercup, we don’t need the money from the Vipers. Like I said, it’s a hobby. I’ve immersed myself in it, sure, but only because my other businesses run themselves. They don’t need me. I have the best people in place at the top so I get time for the fun stuff.”

“So you’re not worried that the team is in the negative each month?” I was shocked by this revelation. I’d thought it was one of his sources of income yet he called it a hobby.

“I can afford to bleed a little red, don’t sweat it.” He leaned forward. “But I would like to see you use that business head of yours. Turn it around, experiment. Not with the players of course, that’s not your expertise, but try new capital ventures, think out of the box, have fun with it. See what your modern brain can come up with.”

“You want me to have fun with it?”

“Sure, but don’t give yourself a damn heart attack over it, for God’s sake. Just go, see what you can do. There’s plenty of money in the pot, but it would be great to see your sharp business mind pull the team finances around. And I know you enjoy a challenge, always have.”

I sat quietly. I’d been worrying myself silly about the state of the Vipers’ bank balance yet it seemed it had been given to me for fun. Dustin had said right at the beginning that the team was my new toy. I’d been mad at him for that, but now it seemed it was true.

“But why?” I asked. “Why would you give it to me to play with?”

“Call me selfish,” Dad said. “But I like having you in Orlando, with me, and not in France. France is too far away. I was worried sick you would fall in love with a soppy Frenchman and I’d barely see you, and if grandchildren came along, well, they wouldn’t know their grandpa, would they?”

“Grandchildren are a long way off. I need a husband first,” I said with a laugh. “And I like being in Orlando, too. Being able to spend time with you is great.”

“Good, that’s settled then. No more money worries. It will all add up in the end. And don’t stress the players out, they need to be made to feel valued, special, like they’re your most cherished possessions.”

“Yes, I know, I get that.” One was more cherished by me than the others, but I wasn’t about to say that out loud, for that was a feeling that needed to be put in a hole six-feet deep and covered with earth.

“Good.” He was quiet for a long moment. “So are you going back with him?”

I glanced into the shadows of the villa. I knew the answer already despite the fact I was just torturing myself. Because where Dustin was, was where I wanted to be, even if I could only be with him for another few hours. “Yes, I think I will. There’s lots of work to get on with. New ideas to set in motion and all that.”

Dad smiled. “He’s a good guy, Speed.”

“Yes, I know.”

“Got his heart in the right place. I’d been watching him for a while before I signed him. He does a lot of charity work.”

I nodded. “Yes, he does.” My eyes were stinging. Dustin’s heart was in the right place, which was how he’d wheedled into mine.

Quickly I stood.

“Hey, are you all right?”

“Yes, fine.”

Dad scraped back his chair and walked over to me. “Sure?”

“Yes, really. Just…. I’m just glad everything is okay, with you.” I batted him on the arm. “Stop scaring me, all these urgent trips to the doctor.”

“I’m fit as a fiddle. A warning to slow down is what they keep saying and I have slowed down. I intend to continue at a much lower gear and enjoy whatever life blesses me with.”

“Good plan.” I gave him a peck on the cheek. “I should go pack.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

I put on my best smile. He hadn’t paid for all of those drama summer camps for nothing. “Absolutely, never better.”

He nodded, apparently satisfied that I was indeed never better.

How could I tell him that I felt as though I was on a runaway train, and while the journey was fun, crazy, exhilarating, soon I would reach the end of the line and hit the wall.

Pain was guaranteed.