Chapter 7
Danielle
I sit with Sophie sprawled out on our lounge room floor as we work out the last few kinks to our first Dragons article. I lay out three different photos, two from their on-ice practice and the last being my personal favourite, the locker room shot.
“Which one do you think?” I ask, studying the pictures.
“Well, the article is going to be a little controversial, so I think we should go with the locker room one,” she tells me as she grabs a few chips, dips them in gravy and devours them.
“How controversial are we talking?” I ask, suspiciously.
She lets out a small laugh. “The title is ‘Puck You! The Dragons are back!”
“You’re not serious?”
“I’m dead serious. Their reputation sucks at the moment, we want to draw people in, get them loving the team again, so why not have a little fun while we’re at it?”
“Ok, but do it in a nice way, we still want to make out like they are the kings of campus,” I tell her.
“Oh, so mentioning Jaxon’s threesome with the Titty Twins wouldn’t be good?” she laughs.
“You’re such an idiot,” I laugh. “Put something in there about the upcoming calendar.”
“Already on it, babe,” she smiles.
Twenty minutes later we put the finishing touches on our article and email it off to Professor Whitaker. I hop up and make my way into the kitchen and rifle through the fridge until my eyes land on the pretty bottle that promises me a relaxing night. I pour us both a very full, well-earned glass of wine and make my way back into the lounge room.
“Oh, for me?” Sophie asks as her big blue eyes widen in excitement.
“Mmhmm” I smile, passing the glass.
“Alright, spill… You only get me wine when you’re fishing for information,” she laughs as she packs away her laptop.
“You know me so well,” I laugh. “But you got to tell me what the hell is going on between you and Tank. You’ve broken your one rule. No. Repeat. Performances.”
“I know,” she groans, draining her glass and hoping up off the ground. She heads into the kitchen and brings the whole bottle back out. aits down and refills her glass. She lets out a breath and focuses her attention on me. “I have no fucking idea what is going on,” she deadpans.
“I think you like him,” I tell her.
“No, it’s just sex. Really good sex. Sex so great, I couldn’t help but go back for seconds,” she says, lifting her glass to her lips.
“Right. So, if he was to jump in bed with someone else, it wouldn’t bother you?” I ask.
“Nope, not at all,” she says avoiding eye contact. “You interested? You want to get your hands on that big ‘D’?”
“What?” I screech, spitting wine all over our cream carpets. “No, I have my hands full trying to keep Miller at bay.”
“Chill out, I’m joking,” she laughs as I do my best to mop up my spilled wine with the edge of my shirt. “But to answer your question, I really don’t know. Maybe I like him or maybe I just like getting with him, I’m not sure.” She takes another long drink of wine then smirks back at me. “When you said you have your hands full with Miller. Did you mean literally or figuratively? I mean, your hands would be extremely full with that one.”
I can’t help but laugh along as she raises her eyes brows in curiosity. “I saw it when he dropped his towel in the locker room and most definitely felt it pressed up against my ass at his party and let me tell you, anybody who has their hands around that would definitely have full hands. But no, I meant figuratively and you know it.”
“Seriously? What’s stopping you? He is clearly into you and it’s pretty damn obvious you have a thing for him. Match made in heaven, just do it already so you can come back and tell me how good it was.”
“God, Sophie, put down the wine,” I laugh. “And no, you know why I can’t get involved with him. He is so not the relationship kind of guy and I am certainly not ready to get trampled on all over again by another loser looking for a good screw.”
“Come on, already. You know what they say, right?” she smirks and waits for me to give her my undivided attention. “The way to get over a guy is to get under another,” she laughs.
“Oh God,” I groan. “You know my problem isn’t getting over Brett, right?” I ask.
“Oh, I know, I just really wanted to use that line, and besides, maybe Miller is the exception,” she smirks.
“You’re such a dork,” I say doing my best to ignore her comments, I mean, what if he is the exception?
She climbs onto her hands and knees and crawls along the carpet like some kind of wildcat until she is bowling me over. “You love me,” she tells me, then jumps to her feet pulling me along. “Now, you’ve got me drunk so let’s go and party,” she demands.
“Jared?” I call down the hallway.
“What?” he yells back.
“You up for a night of drinking and dancing?”
“Fuck, yeah.”
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“Alright guys, where’s Mr. January?” I ask as I make my way into the guy’s locker room to find them all topless, rubbed down in baby oil and giving me very unimpressed glares. “Hey, don’t look at me that way,” I scold. “You’re the idiots who agreed to do the calendar in the first place,” I laugh, taking way too much satisfaction out of this. My eyes land on Miller and instantly take in his impressive body as his jeans ride dangerously low on his hips, making it quite obvious that he is going commando. Which suddenly reminds me that he still holds my panties captive. His broad shoulders and hard chests, put on the perfect show as my eyes lower down his body, leading me to his sculptured abs, narrow waist and perfect ‘V’. Then there’s the arms and God, they look good, but they feel even better wrapped around my body.
Miller's eyes dance as he watches me take him in, knowing exactly the effect he has on me. I push my thoughts aside and do my best to get back on track.
Bobby grumbles something extremely inappropriate as he gets up from the bench. I run over to his bag and grab his skates and hockey stick then rush out of the room with Bobby dawdling behind, though I don’t miss the scowl Miller shoots in Bobby’s direction.
Sophie smirks when she sees us enter our little makeshift studio and begins getting busy fiddling with the lighting.
“Alright, big guy,” I tell him. “Lose the pants.”
He groans but does as he says, making sure to keep a hand covering his junk at all times. I grab his skates and tie the laces together at the ends and sling it over his shoulder, positioning it just right, so his skate covers his groin. “Ah, perfect,” I smile, grabbing his stick and laying it across his shoulders. He reaches up and casually loops his arms over either end of the stick and begins working his body.
“You’re a pro at this,” Sophie says as I get to work, clicking away on the camera. “If the whole hockey thing doesn’t work out, you should go into modelling.”
He groans at her ongoing commentary, but we can tell he secretly loves it.
I move onto the next guy, then the next, all as equally embarrassed but secretly thrilled to be there. “Jaxon, you’re up,” I shout through the open door.
Two seconds later he comes strolling out, looking as confident as ever. “Where do you want me, babe?” he asks, flexing his pecs.
Ugh. “Follow me,” I groan, leading him into the weights room in the rink. I turn away from him to adjust the setting on my camera. “Ok,” I say turning back around to find him smirking at me with hooded eyes, butt naked as the day he was born with a massive erection pointing right in my direction. “Whoa, what the hell Jaxon?” I screech, turning away again, holding a hand to my eyes to block out the image.
“Sorry babe, I’m covered in baby oil, butt naked, in a room alone with a hot chick. What do you expect?” he says, taking a step towards me.
“Hold it right there, buddy,” I say, holding both my hands up to stop his progression. “Go to the bathroom and get yourself sorted out.”
I hurry out of the room, not even looking back to see where Jaxon goes and head back down to the locker room, this time walking straight in. “Hey,” Aaron asks, spotting me launch myself through the door as he comes out of the showers. “How do I get this slimy shit off me? It won’t go away.”
I laugh and shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know. That’s a question for Sophie, go find her,” I tell him as I make my way over to Miller.
“That was fast,” he comments, noticing how quickly I finished up with Jaxon.
“Yeah,” I laugh. “He had a little trouble controlling himself, he’s in the bathroom sorting it out,” I explain.
Miller’s face darkens and I see the anger in his eyes. “Did he try anything on you?” he asks.
“Nah,” I tell him. “Well, he might have but I got out of there too fast to give him the chance.”
“Good,” he grunts.
God, I love how he is becoming territorial over me and just that little bit possessive. Could he be the exception? It would be so freaking good if he was. I could see myself falling so deeply in love with the guy, it’s crazy.
“Hey Tank” I call, he turns and grunts at me. “Can you get your skates on, I’ve got something different for you guys,” I say, looking back at Miller. They give each other a curious glance but shrug it off and get started putting their skates on.
“I’m not going naked with Miller if that’s what you want,” Tank tells me.
“Don’t stress,” I laugh. “You guys even get to keep your pants on for this.”
“Damn,” Miller murmurs under his breath as he finishes on his skates.
They both stand up and face me, waiting for directions. “Grab your sticks and pucks,” I tell them, then instantly break into laughter as they both grab their dicks, cackling at their own wit. God, they are idiots. “Your other sticks and pucks,” I confirm, turning away and heading back up the hallway to the entrance of the ice.
I open the barrier gate and look out onto the ice, trying to work out how I’m going to get into the centre without making an ass of myself. Miller comes up behind me and places his hands on my waist. “You didn’t think this through, did you?” he smirks.
“Nope.”
He scoops me up in his warm arms as he steps onto the ice, effortlessly gliding around. Tank hops on after me but doubles back when he sees Sophie approaching the gate. “Where do you want us?” Miller asks.
“Just drop me in the centre, then you guys are going to show off a little,” he smirks in satisfaction as Sophie squeals from the side. I glance over to find her hanging over Tanks shoulder as he glides towards us.
Miller puts me down and not long after, I have Sophie standing beside me, gripping onto Tank’s arm for balance. “Ok, drop the puck directly in front, then you guys come for it from either side with your sticks out, maybe spray up a bit of ice too,” I instruct, then take a deeper look around the arena.
Miller and Tank begin to take off when an idea strikes. “Wait, wait, wait,” I say. They stop immediately and turn with curious gazes. “Can we turn the arena lights off and put the spotlights on?” I ask.
“No problem,” Miller says, dashing to the side, jumping the barrier and heading into some kind of control room. The lights suddenly flick off, leaving us in darkness for the shortest while before the spotlights flick on creating big circles of light on the ice.
I shuffle over to adjust my position against the spotlight and get Tank to drop the puck right in the centre of the ice. “Can you use your stick and pretend like you’re going to hit the puck?” I ask Tank who immediately gets into position. I instantly take a few shots and pull the camera back to have a look at the screen.
“Yeah,” I say leaning towards Sophie. “Check this out,” I tell her.
She takes the camera and studies the screen as a smile takes over her face. “Far out, this is giving me a lady boner,” she declares.
Tank and Miller skate over and take the camera from Sophie’s hands, looking over the pictures. “Not bad,” Tank says and I know coming from him that is the greatest compliment.
“Thanks, just do it again, I want to try it from a lower angle, getting more of the ice,” I explain. They skate off as I get down on the ice and lay flat on my stomach. “Shit,” I gasp. I look through the camera and hate that I was right. These shots are going to be awesome. I take a few more of the guys then get them to mix it up. “Now come at each other from the sides and fight for the puck,” I order. They immediately get into action and we spend the next few minutes trying different things.
“I think Miller needs more oil,” Sophie suggests, pulling it from her back pocket.
“Nah, he looks fine,” I tell her suspiciously. When in fact, he looks more than fine.
“Nope,” she smirks. “I really think you ought to help rub more oil into his skin,” she says, flicking the bottle at me. I catch it effortlessly and roll my eyes as she calls him over. “Oh, Miller,” she sings. “Dani needs to rub more oil into your skin,” she explains, which we all know is bullshit because all the other guys had to put on their own oil, but he plays along anyway.
“Sure,” he says, skating over with a smirk to stand right before me. He leans down and wraps his hands under my arms and pulls me to my feet. Holding onto me while I catch my balance.
I squirt the oil into my palm and rub it between my fingers, heating it up before placing it on his skin. I lift my hand to his strong chest and begin rubbing. He groans and I moan aa the sexual tension intensifies. Far out. I move my hands lower, rubbing the oil into his abs and enjoying every damn second of it. “Sure you don’t need me to lose my pants?” he asks.
“Well, actually, I was thinking I could do the shot with you in the weights room that I was going to do with Jaxon,” I explain, a little breathy.
“Sure, baby,” he whispers, sending thrills through me at the way he calls me baby.
I move the oil down over his arms, then turn him so I can work on his back. “Ok,” I say, giving him a push to give me space. “You’re done,” he goes out to the spotlight once again and turns to face me. “How good is your aim with that puck?” I ask. He raises his eyebrow in question but doesn’t answer, just simply turns towards the open barrier gate, shoots the puck and slams it right into the side of the trash can. “Ok, so you’re pretty good,” I say.
He stands silently and a little smugly as he waits to find out what I need him to do. “So, you need to shoot the puck so it comes flying past my face, buy a few inches maybe.”
“Ok,” he says, focusing on me. “Just tell me when you’re ready.”
I slide back down to my stomach, feeling my hard nipples rub against the wet material of my bra and shirt and hope that it isn’t too obvious for Miller to see. I get into position and adjust my camera. “Ok, I’m good,” I tell him.
He immediately shoots and just as expected, the puck sails firmly past my face. I hear the whoosh of the air as the puck fly’s past and I do my best not to flinch. I take as many shots as possible then pull the camera away, immediately bringing up the pictures. Yep. They are awesome.
“Cool, I got it,” I smile, coming up onto my knees. Miller and Tank come over to help us off the ice.
“Who else have you got left to do?” Miller asks as he places me back down on the ground.
“Just you,” I say.
He gives me a knowing smile then turns to Tank. “Dani is finished with the guys, why don’t you send them home?” he says. Tank grunts and leads Sophie down towards the locker room while Miller grabs my hand and leads me to the weights room.
He closes the door behind him as we walk deeper into the room. He heads over to the weights then turns back to me. “What do you want?” he asks, sitting down and taking his skates off and I suddenly realize I don’t know if he is talking about the picture or our situation.
“I don’t know,” I tell him honestly. “Why don’t you try a few things and we’ll figure out what works,” I say, giving him a double meaning.
“Pants or no pants?” he asks, getting up and standing before me with his eyes sparkling in excitment.
“Up to you”
His hand slowly reaches for his button and with practiced moves, he flicks it open. His eyes rest heavily on me as I raise my camera and begin shooting. He lowers the zip and his jeans gently fall to the ground, revealing his perfect naked body.
He turns away and leans over to pick up one of the larger dumbbells, giving me the perfect view of his toned ass. My camera gets a workout as I take shot after shot of his movements. “My ass better not end up in that calendar,” he warns. “Those pictures are just for you.”
He takes a seat on the bench, leans forward just enough to cover himself and begins to curl the weight. Fuck. My mouth practically waters and I need to mentally slap myself to remember to lift the camera and take the shots. His impressive biceps bulge as he continues his set. Then switches hands, because, not working out the other side would be ridiculous.
He places the weight down on the ground beside him. “Come show me that,” he says indicating to the camera. I step up to him and reach out the camera, he goes to grab it but instead grasps my arm and gives me a tug. I fall into him as his other hand takes my camera and places it on the ground beside us. He lifts me gently and brings me down on top of him so I straddle his lap.
I feel him grow beneath me and I know I don’t have the strength to resist him any longer.