Page 73 of Delayed Penalty

“No. The other part.”

I think back to what I just said. “Honey?”

She nods, the tops of her cheeks turning pink. “I like that.”

“You do, huh?” Another nod. “Well, that’s interesting…honey.”

She giggles. “Okay, stop. We’re trying to have a serious conversation here.”

“I’m sorry,honey. I’ll stop.”

“Hayes…”

“Yes,honey?”

“See? That’s why this is perfect. You’re so annoying. I could never fall for you.”

I laugh, but there’s just a hint of unease that settles into my chest, and I don’t know what it means.

“So, friends-with-benefits type thing, then, huh?” I ask.

“Yep. Just sex.”

“Just sex.” I nod.

“Flora could never find out.”

“No. Of course not. We keep her out of this entirely.”

The last thing I want is for her to get too attached to Quinn or the idea of us together because that’s certainlynothappening. We’re just having fun. That’s all.

“And when we’ve both had our fill, we walk away.No harm, no foul,” she says. I’m not sure if she’s trying to convince me, herself, or both.

“The perfect plan,” I echo.

But as Quinn tucks herself against me again and snuggles close, it doesn’tfeellike the perfect plan. In fact, it feels like I’m making a huge mistake.

Even so, I can’t find it in me to stop.

“Fuck!” Keller throws his glove down the hall, and our poor equipment manager has to duck to miss being hit by it.

We lost in overtime. Sure, it’s only our second game of the season and we still got a point, but we all know every point matters, especially when we should have had no problem beating the team we played tonight.

I can’t help but feel guilty, having taken two penalties, allowing Winnipeg the chance to test their power play against us and score on it both times. If I had just stayed out of the box, we could have won and walked away with both points. But no. I couldn’t stay out of trouble. Again.

“Hey, Kells, you dropped your glove,” Lawson says, picking it up and chucking it back at him, smacking him right in the back of the head with it. Leave it toLawson to screw with Keller even when he’s moments away from exploding.

I get where Keller is coming from though. We should have been better out there.Ishould have been better out there, but I wasn’t, and I know exactly why. My mind was stuck halfway between watching my teammates battle for pucks and remembering what it felt like between Quinn’s thighs this afternoon. We rolled around in her bed for hours, touching each other until she absolutely had to go pick up Flora. Though I hated the idea of washing the scent of her away, I hopped in the shower when she was gone, and by the time I got out, they were back and things were just as Quinn had promised—normal. There were no lingering looks, no secret touches. We went about our usual routine. There was no way anybody would have been able to tell what we were doing all afternoon.

But I knew.

Every look at her was a reminder of how soft her skin was. Every laugh or sigh was a reminder of how she sounded under me. And every time she looked at me, all I could think of was how she looked when she came, my cock buried deep inside her.

I carried those reminders with me on the drive to the arena, all throughout warmups, and not once did I shake the images as I stepped onto the ice even thoughI should have been paying attention to the game. She distracted me, and she wasn’t even here.

“I’m sorry,” Fox says as we pile into the locker room, our heads hanging low. “Fuck, I should have made those saves. This is all my fault.”

“It’s on me,” I say, taking the blame. “You were great, Foxy.”

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