Page 138 of Slap Shot

I grin, proud of the effect I have on him, and wait patiently for him to get back.

He’s not gone long, ninety seconds at most, and when he shuffles through the door, he’s holding a box of condoms.

“Wow.” I smirk and push up on my elbows. “Someone’s ambitious.”

“I, uh, bought these the other day. Not because I assumed anything would happen,” he adds, and I do my best to not laugh at his backpedaling. “Just, you know. In case. Wishful thinking.”

“You’re a planner. That’s a good trait to have, hockey guy.” I gesture for him to rejoin me on the bed, and he lays on his side. “What other traits do you have?”

“I like to think I know what I’m doing. When we’re together, I’ll make sure you’re enjoying yourself. I’ll make sure you finished first, and I’ll make sure to talk you through it when I’m fucking you.” He brings his mouth to my ear, teeth nipping at my skin. “Are those good traits, Maddie?”

“Yeah.” I lick my lips and close my eyes when he moves his mouth down my neck. “Those are definitely good traits.”

“Can I take these off?” Hudson’s fingers dip below the waistband of my shorts. He strokes the skin south of my belly button, and I lift my hips. He doesn’t stay on the mattress very long, choosing to drop to his knees on the floor and tug on my calves so my ass hangs off the bed. “So I can see you? So I can touch and taste you?”

“Yeah.” I’m wet, so eager for him, but some of my confidence wavers. “But only if we turn off the light.”

FORTY

HUDSON

Madeline’s hesitationmakes me frown. I put my hands on her knees and look up to find her chewing her bottom lip.

I’ve never seen her so unsure. The assuredness she usually has is gone, and I’m worried.

“Do you want to turn off the light?” I ask. “We can do that.”

“No. Yes.” She sighs, conflicted. “I’m sorry. You’re the first person—theonlyperson—I’ve been this intimate with since my ex, and I’m feeling wildly out of my element. How do I sit? What do I do with my hands and my feet? Do I suck in my stomach? My body is…” Madeline trails off, her bottom lip still stuck between her teeth. “It’s not perfect. I’m sure I don’t look like the women you’ve slept with before.”

“What?” I trace over the faded stretch marks on her hips, wondering what it’s going to feel like when I fuck her from behind and can admire them. I’m imagining the life she lived until she met me. All the incredible things her body has done and how I’m the lucky bastard who gets to be here with her. “Talk to me, Maddie.”

“I have cellulite. Stretch marks and pregnancy scars.” She gestures up and down her body. “I haven’t been to the gym in months—okay, years, I’m lying—and I didn’t think to shaveanywhere other than my legs. I’m soproudof what my body accomplished when I had Lucy and the years I’ve spent as a mother. But I know I don’t look the way I did the last time I had sex. I don’t want that to be a turn off for you.”

“You think all of those things would be a turn off?” I sit up on my knees and kiss the small white scar on her stomach. “They’re a part of you, and that doesn’t make me any less attracted to you. It couldnevermake me any less attracted to you.”

“Really?” she asks, breathless.

I take her hand in mine. I set her palm on the front of my pants, right over my dick, and she gasps.

“Does it feel like I’m havinganytrouble enjoying this, Maddie?”

“You’re so hard.” She traces the outline of my cock and rubs her thumb over the head. My hips buck forward, and I grip the sheets. “And it’s all for me?”

“Yeah, sweetheart. It’s all for you. And if you’d be more comfortable with the light off, we can turn it off. I want you. So fucking bad. And that doesn’t change if I can see all of you or not.”

“We can leave the light on. I want to seeyou.” Her smile curls at the edges. “You can take off my shorts, Hudson.”

I don’t need telling twice.

I wrap my fingers around the hem of her shorts, dragging them over her knees. I toss them at the wall then move my thumbs up her thighs.

She puts her feet on the sheets and opens her legs wider.

Forme.

Fuck.

Blowing out my last bit of sanity, I look at her. I look at every inch of her, and the decision is a terrible idea.

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