Page 169 of Hockey Halloween
“I’m scared,” I whisper on a shaky breath into the darkness.
“Of what?” His thumb strokes my bare upper arm.
“Falling and getting hurt.” My face heats, and I’m grateful that he can’t look at me with those piercing eyes of his.
“I’m not a perfect man, Lilith. I can’t promise you that I won’t fuck up, or hurt you, but Icanpromise you to always tell the truth, to treat you with respect, to listen when you want to talk, to make you come so hard your toes curl and your eyes roll back in your head.”
I laugh, some of the tension evaporating from my body.
“It’s okay to be scared. If you weren’t, I’d be worried. But I’m not Johnny White, and you’re not the same woman you were when you were with him either. We’ll take some time to get to know each other, and with any luck, you’ll like the man I am. Please don’t over think it and run away scared before it even gets off the ground.” He plants a kiss on my forehead. “At least give me a chance to catch you when you fall.” He’s chatty for a sleepy man.
My heart flutters at his words, but before I can answer him, hischest rises and falls with slow, heavy breaths telling me he succumbed to his post-orgasm need for sleep. I smile against his skin. That’s something I’ll have to be mindful of going forward; once he comes, he sleeps. It’s happened twice tonight, and I bet it’s not a one-off.
I lie awake for a little longer, churning over my relationship with Johnny, the fall out, and the past few days since I stepped off the plane in Cedar Rapids and met my beautiful man dressed as a Beast.
A twitch in my chest tells me I can’t leave; if I do, I’ll regret walking away from him, I’ll spend my days wondering ‘what if?’ And I don’t want to wonder. I want toknow. Is this a honeymoon phase? An instant attraction? Chemistry and hormones? Or could there be something more, something deeper, something forever between the beast and the night monster?
Mason
Lilith exists in my space like she’s always been here. Our middle of the night talk where I fell asleep on her after a blowie doesn’t seem to have scared her away. She’s standing in the kitchen of the hockey house, wearing one of my t-shirts that falls down to her knees. She’s barefoot, her hair is pulled up in a high ponytail, and her cheeks are pink as she stands over the stove making scrambled eggs and pancakes.
I lean against the doorframe, arms folded, the cool tiles making my toes cold underfoot.
“I feel your eyes on me, Mason.” There’s a smile in her voice as she speaks.
Mason. The way she says my name curls around me like a warm, furry blanket on a bitterly cold February Iowan morning.
“Get used to it, Ghost. It’s going to happen a lot. You know you’ll need to either eat and run or make enough for whoever happens to wander in here?”
She flips open the door of the stove and gestures to the trays of food warming inside. “Already on it. Someone’s been in and swiped a plate before you were even awake.”
“That was me,” Rico appears waving an empty plate. He plantsa quick and innocent kiss on Lilith’s cheek. “Best pancakes ever. But don’t tell the guys, they’ll be jealous.”
I clear my throat, making my own jealousy known. “Lips off my woman, Rico.”
He grins at me before holding his hands up. “You know she’s not my type.” He means female, but that does little to ease the barb of discomfort at seeing another man’s lips anywhere near her creamy, soft skin.
I arch a brow, and he keeps his hands up. “Okay, fine.” He huffs out a sharp breath. “Y’all get so goddamn animalistic over your partners.” He thumps his chest. “Me strong man. Me claim woman. You stay away.” He grunts and snorts like some kind of wild beast making Lilith laugh, and I almost encourage him to do it again.
Fucking love her laugh.
“I know some feminists don’t like that show of brutish possession.” She stirs the eggs.
“But?” I lean forward, drawn to her magnetic aura. Fuck. She’s turning me into a poetic fool.
“But… I don’t know.” She pushes up onto her tiptoes. “I kind of like seeing that vein bulge in your neck when you’re all alpha.” She fans her face with her hand. “Isn’t it hot?” She leans toward Rico who leans her direction, drawing a growl from the back of my throat.
He shoots his thumb my direction. “And sounds like that? Phew. Talk about spank bank material.”
It’s Lilith’s turn to arch an eyebrow. “No spanking your bank over my guy, Rico.”
He thumps his chest. “Me woman. Me claim man.”
She laughs again, then shoves him gently and jerks her chin at the dining table to tell me to sit down. “Allergies?”
“Smiling,” Rico answers for me before he moves my way and grips my cheeks between his palms. “Don’t know why, he’s adorable when he does.”
She waves a spatula at Rico. “Don’t make me beat you, hockey player.”
